NBA Rookie Jahlil Okafor Charged For Reckless Driving

NBA Rookie Jahlil Okafor Charged For Reckless Driving

NBA Rookie Jahlil Okafor Charged For Reckless Driving:  Jahlil Okafor has been leading a storied life so far but he is now encountering the criminal justice system.  Okafor went to high school in the Chicago, Illinois area.  He lead his high school to the Chicago Public School Championship.  Okafor was given all sorts of accolades, trophies and awards.  Colleges recruited him with great intensity.  Okafor is one inch shy of seven feet tall but moves with the finesse and speed of a much smaller man.  Okafor ended up going to Duke.  At Duke he lead his team to the ACC Championship.  Once again he received all sorts of accolades, trophies and awards.  After leading Duke to the 2015 National Championship Okafor announced for the 2015 NBA Draft.  Okafor was drafted by the Philadephia 76ers.  He attended the Summer NBA Program and scored 20 points in his first summer game.  When Okafor came up to the NBA he scored a double double, more than 20 points scoring and more than 10 rebounds.  #NBARookieJahlilOkaforChargedForRecklessDriving

NBA Rookie Jahlil Okafor Charged For Reckless Driving: Okafor was stopped for driving over 100 miles per hour on Benjamin Franklin Bridge that links Philadelphia with Camden, New Jersey.  At the location he was stopped the posted speed limit is 45 miles per hour.  Okafor was charged with reckless driving and excessive speed.  Okafor has also gotten involved in other negative activities like street fights.

The 76ers released this statement about Okafor’s mindset:

“I will say this. When you look at Jahlil, he most definitely is pained. He is not proud of what has come out in the national media. The people that really know Jahlil know that at his core he is a good person. When you look at his face now, when you talk about it, and I talk daily with him, and he is pained. It’s just one more example of, he’s pained because he cares enough, he’s smart enough, he knows he messed up. We’re going to help him through this. We’re with him. Right now, he’s probably in a personal bad spot, kind of as he should be We are with Jah. He’s mine, he’s ours. In a weird way I’m sort of privileged to have the responsibility to help him.

“That’s not Jahlil. That isn’t Jahlil. Everybody can get caught in a bad spot. All of us. And he was. He regrets it. In a strange way maybe this is a turning point for him, to get hit on such a repetitive basis that maybe it’s just that much more dramatic. Maybe the point is made more violently and viciously. This is, right now, a situation that we have to talk through and help him. He will come out just fine, I’m confident of that. We’re very proud to have him as one of us. We’re proud to have him as a 76er.” #NBARookieJahlilOkaforChargedForRecklessDriving