NEW YORK — There is no truth to the rumor that the winner of Saturday’s game between the 3-10 Knicks and 0-11 Philadelphia 76ers will advance to face unbeaten Kentucky on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
But the loser of that game will take a step closer to possibly landing Jahlil Okafor in next year’s NBA Draft.
The Duke big man is the projected No. 1 pick in 2015 and, perhaps not coincidentally, he will be playing about 3 miles away from the Sixers and Knicks on Saturday when Duke competes in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Barclays Center.
The Sixers and Knicks have the NBA’s two worst records and — along with 3-10 Oklahoma City — lead the Tankathon race.
Sitting at his locker at Bankers Life Fieldhouse Tuesday night after Duke beat Michigan State in the Champions Classic, Okafor laughed when told some of the Tank Mottos that have sprung up around his name.
“Lose Some More for Okafor.”
“Choke Some More for Okafor.”
“Forget How to Score for Okafor.”
“I don’t have a favorite one but they’re all pretty funny,” Okafor said when I asked him if he had a favorite.
To be clear, nobody thinks the Knicks are actually tanking. They’re just not very good. They’ve lost nine of their last 10 games and just lost to the 3-win Minnesota Timberwolves by 16 points even though the Wolves were without three of their top four players.
As for the Sixers, we don’t think their players are intentionally trying to lose games, but their front office has certainly set them up to lose. And lose often.
It’s an open question at this point whether this team can win five NBA games this season, much less the nine that their 1972-73 incarnation won.
Still, imagine if the Sixers got their first win Saturday over Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks?
They’d be laughing all the way from 7th Avenue to Broad Street.
But the loser of that game might actually turn out to be the Draft Lottery winner.
In the 6-foot-10 Okafor, some team will be getting a player who has been compared to Tim Duncan and who grew up modeling his game after both Duncan and Hakeem Olajuwon.
“Tim Duncan, that’s one guy who’s still in the NBA right now,” Okafor said of NBA players he’s tried to learn from. “My dad, he got me up to date with Hakeem Olajuwon, giving me video footage of him and we watched some tapes of some of the older guys.”
Asked if he thought the comparison to Duncan was fair, Okafor said, “That’ s a helluva comparison and I have a long way to get there but that’s a long shot.”
Some have joked that Okafor would have to get hurt in order for the Sixers to draft him. After all, as part of their long-term rebuilding plan, the Sixers have already drafted injured big men Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid, who may not play at all this season.
Can they really take on another center?
Maybe the “Cede the Day for Mudiay” or “Play Less Manly” for Stanley in order to get a guard or a wing like Emmanuel Mudiay or Stanley Johnson instead.
As for the Knicks, who missed out on last year’s first round that featured Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker at the top, they will be a totally different team next year and will need a center after Samuel Dalembert comes off the books.
Okafor sure would look good in orange and blue.
“He does some unbelievable stuff, especially in practice,” Duke freshman Justise Winslow, himself a projected Top 10 pick, told me in Duke’s locker room late Tuesday. “He’s a very special talent and that’s why we try to play through him a lot. It just makes the game easier.”
Asked what impressed him the most about Okafor, Winslow said, “Just his touch. He has very soft hands. He has the ability to knock down tough shots and his touch around the basket. The ball just seems to bounce around the rim a lot and just go in. He has unbelievable touch, that’s what makes him special.”
For the immediate future, Okafor has one goal in mind for Duke, which lost its first game in the NCAA Tournament last year.
“A national championship. that’s the main reason I came here along with Tyus [Jones],” Okafor said. “We wanted to do something special.”
The Sixers and Knicks could be in for something special as they hurdle toward Losing Some More for Okafor.
Photo: US Presswire
