“I pray to my mother before every game. She passed away when I was 9, but I always consider her my wings on the floor, my extra step, my extra focus, my extra everything, to watch over me when I’m on the court. It takes some pressure off you when you feel like you have your mother above watching you. And I always pray to God for guidance.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Being in the city of New Orleans, meeting the people, it’s been nothing but hospitality and a lot of love.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I shoot a lot of bank shots and a lot of shots around the perimeter. There’s a lot of things I like to work on, but I know my bread and butter when it comes down to it, and that’s in the post.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I get that every game. High school. At Duke. When I do the introductions, I get a little butterflies. Once I step on the floor, I’m fine.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Playing games and watching film, I’ve been able to see the improvements I can make and how much better I can be. It’s exciting to think about it.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’m not a perfect player.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I set really high expectations.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“People in New Orleans have been so supportive of me and the team. I love walking around here, because the people have been great.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Shaquille O’Neal was probably my favorite athlete growing up. I loved how dominant and unstoppable he was, but also his charisma off the court. He was someone I gravitated toward.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“My rookie season, I wore 8 because I had wanted 15, but it’s retired in Philadelphia. I had worn 15 in college.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“In college, when you lose one game as a top team, it’s like the end of the world.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’m a big fan of black uniforms.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Chicago is home for me.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“My aunt, who plays the role of my mother now, she got her Ph.D.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“My father has his master’s degree. My uncle does as well.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I wasn’t always a willing passer.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“In eighth grade, I pretty much didn’t want to pass. I was 6’8′.’ I was always bigger and stronger. I was getting triple-teamed, and the results weren’t good. I wasn’t helping my team. I was forcing shots. Then I started passing it out to my team, and they started hitting shots and slashing, and that’s when things opened up for me.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’m just trying to get better each game.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve had a lot of struggles in the NBA, so to have some type of success, it just feels good, and makes you want more.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“At the end of the day, I know what my bread and butter is and how I can be effective.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“That’s one of things I’ve heard about Brooklyn – how good they are at developing players.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I definitely feel like I’m the scapegoat for a lot of The Process issues.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Speeding obviously is illegal. I know that’s not what you’re supposed to do.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“There are things that I need to work on, that I have worked on, and that I’ll continue to work on.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Coming out of college, I got a lot of notoriety for being the old-school center.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve always gotten credit for being a big man who doesn’t want to shoot threes. Throughout my entire basketball career prior to coming to the NBA, I was praised for doing that.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I can score from 18 to 20 feet out, handle the ball, pass. I don’t consider myself an old-school center.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I can play with my back to the basket, but I can face up as well.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“When I found out that I’d been traded to Brooklyn – it was pretty much the best feeling in the world.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“For as long as I remember, big men have dominated the NBA.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I shoot all kinds of shots. I just don’t stay on the block and do layups and dunks when I’m in the gym by myself.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve been playing basketball my entire life, so I feel comfortable doing what is asked of me.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I didn’t think I was going to be doubled my first NBA game. I knew it would happen eventually, but I got off to a hot start, so as a result, I got double-teamed.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“You have half a second to make your mind up to know if you’re going to shoot, pass, drive. Don’t hold the ball too long, and make your decision quick.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve always been the tallest guy in my age group, which always made me go right down in the post.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Around sixth or seventh grade, I fell in love with Tim Duncan and his all-around game. That’s when I started watching him. Then my father introduced me to Hakeem Olajuwon. Those were the two guys I modeled my game after.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“When I found out dairy was an inflammatory, which I had no idea about, I cut that out.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“When you’re friends with somebody, it’s really easy to tell them ‘Help me do this; help me do that.’ It’s not an uncomfortable conversation.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Every game is going to be different.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve always been a physical player.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“It’s nice to be able to go against bigger guys and be able to bang.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I don’t worry about individual matchups.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“First time we played together was when I was in seventh grade, he was in eighth. There was a lot of buzz in the city about Jabari Parker, rightfully so. He’s obviously a major player. I was just blessed to have him one year ahead of me, so everything I did, he already finished. I’ve been really blessed to have him by my side.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“The games are really long when you’re not out there.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I think I can play power forward; I think I can play center as well.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“It feels good when your teammates are telling you on the bench that they’re hyped.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve always won. I’ve won the state championship, national championship, all that stuff.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Being the No. 1 pick isn’t that important to me.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“When you have a dominant big man, that changes the aspects of the game.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I didn’t want to go to any school but Duke: the best of the best.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I think I’m a great teammate.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Ever since third grade – I never even noticed it until after the game – people were telling me how crazy my dad is. I think I’m so locked in when I’m playing on the floor, I only hear him maybe during timeouts or when we’re up 20 or 30 and I’m on the bench. But when I’m in the game, I don’t hear him.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’m a winner. I’ve always been a winner.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I have videos of me playing basketball in diapers.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve always been a basketball player. My earliest memories are of playing basketball. I was born playing it. It’s why I’m so comfortable on the floor.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“My main focus, my pride is right there on the block. That’s where I’ve always played and my focus has always been.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“When I pictured myself in the NBA, I always imagined myself with an older guy taking me under his wing.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’m definitely not the caliber player that LeBron is, but I find it funny how people can criticize him and the way he plays the game. So it’s pretty easy to criticize me if they are still able to criticize LeBron.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“There’s a lot of pride I have coming from Chicago because so many great players have done so many great things in the league. I definitely want to keep that tradition going. So yeah, I want to represent Chicago in the best light possible.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I just think that playing in a championship game and playing in every game in March Madness, that’s just more time for critics to watch you and more time for them to nitpick at what you don’t do well or what they feel you don’t do well.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Rankings, for most players, are like adversity because we all want to be the best. So you’ve just got to approach it like you would a tough situation on the court. You just have to respond.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I never had to worry about putting a target on somebody else’s back. Usually, the target was on my back.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I never take a day off.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’d like to win Rookie of the Year.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’m definitely used to being the centerpiece of a team.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I became a better talker on the floor, being at Duke, being in leadership with Coach K, and I think I got better defensively as the season progressed.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I like playing in the post, so a system that plays to my strengths is important.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I want good players around me because it’s all about winning.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I definitely want to play for a school that throws the ball in the post.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I just want to go to the right environment for me and the right team.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve talked to a bunch of big men who told me they didn’t really start playing basketball until seventh or eighth grade. That wasn’t the situation with me.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“There’s three banners I want to hang – ACC regular championship, ACC tournament championship, and, of course, the national championship.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I think from losing my mother, I appreciate having good people around me.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I try to make really close bonds with people.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“He’s been the greatest father for me. Going around the streets of Chicago with my dad, people always tell me they can’t believe how much my dad has matured. Or, ‘You wouldn’t believe how your dad used to be.’ There’s always lots of words about how much he’s changed.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I do three different workouts a day. In total, it’s about six or seven hours.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I just want to win.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I don’t want to say why I should be picked over somebody. I just want to say why I should be picked for any team.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“My defense is a criticism, but we won a national championship at Duke, so it wasn’t that bad.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Coach K was fine with the way I played defense.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Being an NBA player, a lot of stress comes with that: realizing there’s a lot of pressure on me and accepting that for what it is, realizing that I might need help, I might need somebody to talk to, accepting that there’s nothing wrong with that.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I have a lot of eyes on me because of basketball, a lot of young people looking up to me. It’s made me grow up faster.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“You see a lot of guys in the NBA make dumb mistakes.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve done this a couple times, been to a couple different camps and a couple different AAU practices to talk to kids. I tell them you have to be dedicated, have to decide if you want to be a serious basketball player or not. They always ask, ‘What if you get discouraged?’ You have to remember what your goal was in the first place.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I think, yeah, Chicago is the best basketball city in America.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“One time, I palmed some medicine balls, just because people wanted to see if I could do it.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve always been a Kobe fan; he’s one of my favorite players.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I love LeBron, but Kobe was the first player I actually considered my favorite.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I think, when I was younger, I might have scored on the wrong basket. That wasn’t too smart.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“That’s always been my interest – things of the unknown.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“My dad is the opposite of me. He’s so outgoing and so loud.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“My goal is to be the best. That’s my thing I want to achieve – the best that I can be – and hopefully, that’s the best player in the NBA.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I always knew I wanted to be in the NBA and play myself in a video game. That was my goal when I was a kid.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I’ve been working on all my aspects of my game.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I was a big sweet-tea guy.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Of course, in college, you’re traveling, especially when you’re with Duke basketball, but in the NBA, it’s on a whole entire level.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“There are guys like Chance the Rapper; I’m a big fan of his.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Being from Chicago, an inner-city kid, I’m fortunate enough now to be able to help the kids here when I come back, when I’m in town.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“I remember my first camps when I was in high school, freshman year. I did a LeBron James camp, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever.”
― Jahlil Okafor
“Basketball was my thing I was always able to use to forget everything.”
― Jahlil Okafor
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