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Okafor shows progress in second summer-league game

SALT LAKE CITY - Jahlil Okafor is healthy. He's on the court learning the system and producing. It's a scenario the 76ers have not had with their top draft acquisitions in each of the last two summers. That's why there's a lot of excitement surrounding this season.

Boston Celtics' Jonathan Holmes (68) defends against Philadelphia
76ers' Jahlil Okafor (8) during the first half of an NBA summer league
basketball game Tuesday, July 7, 2015, in Salt Lake City. (Rick Bowmer/AP)
Boston Celtics' Jonathan Holmes (68) defends against Philadelphia 76ers' Jahlil Okafor (8) during the first half of an NBA summer league basketball game Tuesday, July 7, 2015, in Salt Lake City. (Rick Bowmer/AP)Read more

SALT LAKE CITY - Jahlil Okafor is healthy. He's on the court learning the system and producing. It's a scenario the 76ers have not had with their top draft acquisitions in each of the last two summers. That's why there's a lot of excitement surrounding this season.

With Okafor on the court, the Sixers' future looks brighter.

"With every possession, he's going to grow and grow," said assistant Billy Lange, who is coaching the team in the Utah Jazz Summer League. "We've been preparing him for [the idea that] everybody is going to try to come in and try to make a name for themselves against him. And he wants to win."

Okafor's attributes were on full display again Tuesday against the Boston Celtics at EnergySolutions Arena. The third overall pick out of Duke finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, and a steal in 28 minutes of a 76-62 victory. His performance came 15 minutes after the Sixers announced that he had signed his rookie contract.

The salary this season for a No. 3 pick is $3,818,900. He could make 120 percent of that, according to the rookie scale.

Okafor did not duplicate the 20-point, nine-rebound, two-block performance he had Monday against San Antonio. He struggled from the field, making 5 of 12 shots.

A day after grading his performance a C-minus, Okafor gave himself a C-plus against the Celtics.

"I think I got better than what I did yesterday," he said. "I was working on stuff the coaches asked of me, which was spacing the floor, rolling hard, trying to work better with [Furkan Aldemir] and building some chemistry. So I feel I got better today."

Okafor and the Sixers realize this is going to be a process. They're just happy that he's going through it now. Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid did not have that luxury.

Noel did not play in the summer league in 2013. He had torn his left anterior cruciate ligament during his lone season at Kentucky. Noel ended up missing the 2013-14 season to rehabilitate after surgery.

The Sixers drafted Embiid out of Kansas last summer shortly after he had surgery on his right foot. The center has yet to participate in five-on-five scrimmages. There's a chance that he won't play this season after he suffered a setback in healing.

"I'm learning a lot," Okafor said. "Luckily, Nerlens [who's with the team, but not playing] is on the bench with me. So he's been in my ear, telling me certain things. He has a year in the NBA under his belt."