"He's gone through a hell of a hard time," coach Brett Brown said. "I'm sure the hardest time of his life. To think that's not going to impact how you play in front of 18,000 people and go be on national TV again and go put yourself out there where you are scrutinized on your performance is quite naive, I think."
Okafor wouldn't call it a slump, but he's averaged 10.5 points and shot 31 percent over the four games he's played since the news of the fight two weeks ago. In fairness to him, he's played against teams with good defensive big men: the Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, though Tim Duncan sat out in Monday's game.
Brown is correct, by the way. Okafor is 19 years old and, until this point, had a pristine reputation around the league and in the public eye. That's gone now, and it's going to take a while to repair the damage that has been done. Just like any other person who has been publicly embarrassed, it's impossible for this not to affect him at work.
The Sixers are just going to have to be patient here. They're usually pretty good at that.
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