76ers select Jahlil Okafor with the 3rd pick in NBA Draft

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The Philadelphia 76ers selected Duke center Jahlil Okafor with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft on Thursday night.

The decision by the 76ers to take Okafor seemed solely based on the fact their presumptive first choice, D'Angelo Russell, went to the Los Angeles Lakers at No. 2. It came as a shock to many given the presence of both Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid in Philly, but general manager Sam Hinkie simply went with the best player available.

Embiid foresaw it after the Russell pick, tweeting this:

It actually turns out Embiid's clairvoyance dates back to Wednesday, when was in touch with Okafor.

The presumed No. 1 pick for most of the season, Okafor was the victim of a ridiculous surge from Karl-Anthony Towns rather than any decline of his own. The Sixers should be giddy to land the man most pegged as the top prospect for months at No. 3, even if he may have come out on the bad end of a head-to-head against a potentially generational talent.

Okafor's gifts are obvious, as freshmen don't average elite numbers on historically strong shooting percentages without having a special blend of talent. He averaged 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting 66.4 percent for a national championship team, at age 19, while acting as the fulcrum of the country's No. 3 offense.

Blessed with enormous hands that are unfairly soft, Okafor projects as a great finisher and post scorer. While the NBA has begun to move away from treating such players as core pieces, that could be due in part to a dearth of players with the requisite abilities. Okafor should change that for the Sixers, likely requiring a double-team from opening night and helping open up the offense with his terrific passing and vision. He'll need to work on his free-throw shooting - he knocked down barely half of his attempts - but otherwise, there's little to quibble with on offense.

However, Okafor slid to No. 3 partly because of concerns over his defense. Those may be manageable in the right scheme, and they may be overstated in general - Duke didn't task Okafor with great defensive responsibility because they relied so heavily on him on offense. He does lack quickness and may not have the versatility and range to be an elite pick-and-roll defender, but there's a good chance he can be better than he showed with the Blue Devils.

You can read more about Okafor in our scouting report.