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Using the position of the planets and transmissions from stars at the time of each players birth we may be able to determine how a player should be used and what teammates bring out the best in each other. Put on a tinfoil hat and let’s suspend some disbelief.
In this piece I’ll breakdown the deep rotation players — Solomon Hill, Frank Jackson and Jahlil Okafor. Using the Jovian Archive and comparing those findings to NBA stats, analytics and eyeball tests we will search for a potential X-factor.
Note: Before diving into this piece please take time to read the introduction to the concepts utilized below in Part 1. Also, if you missed Part 2 where I broke down Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday and Elfrid Payton — click here. For Part 3 where I dove into E’Twaun Moore, Nikola Mirotic and Julius Randle — click here.
Solomon Hill
Image courtesy of https://www.jovianarchive.com
Manifesting Generator: Like Elfrid Payton and Rajon Rondo, Solomon Hill is a manifesting generator. Hill isn’t tasked to create like those two, but there is something that connects these three players — not living up to their defensive reputations. All have had moments of greatness defensively, but none have consistently been the lockdown defender their tools, IQs and reputations say they should be.
I’m not trying to hate on Hill — I actually like him — he just hasn’t consistently been able to be the defender Dell Demps and I thought he’d be. There’s not much else here in his design type that seems to tie back to the court other than that and perhaps a bit of struggling to straddle the line of knowing when to lean on his manifesting traits and when to lean on his generating traits. It also could be that Hill hasn’t figured out how to live as his true self yet — we will discuss this more later.
6/2: Hill draws more similarities to Payton and Rondo in his profile. Solo’s profile is also split into three life stages; however, these stages are slightly different than those of Pels’ point guards past and future. At age 27, Solomon Hill will exit the first stage of his life cycle in March. The 6th line profile suggests that he is currently in an introspective and experimental stage in his life — which is similar to Payton — but with the 6th line paired with the 2nd line this makes him a reserved and quiet scientist. Though 6/2(s) often have sudden bursts of expression and an explosion of energy from their predominately reserved personalities. Does this sound like the Raptors series that got Solomon paid? Or this night against Houston?
Or this one in Memphis?
The 2nd line has a strong pull in the direction of hibernating. However, the 2nd line’s community consistently tries to pry him away from his desire to be alone.
In the next stage, Hill should also be heading for the roof, but unlike Elfrid Payton’s 4/6 profile, the 6/2 gives up all experimentation. While Payton’s roof time offers promise of learning from others, the roof time in store for Hill is often described as being aloof. The roof feels muted and less engaging to the 6/2 — though they are too trying to learn through observing other’s experiences. While on the roof, their inner hermit enjoys a pattern of withdrawing and then being called out. This learning from others perhaps offers some chance in a positive shift for Hill, but it isn’t as promising as Payton’s. Still, Hill should absorb more wisdom, but will be more reserved in sharing it in his third stage because of the 2nd line hermit tendencies — Hill seems destined to not play with aggression.
Sacral: Being sacral means that you are instinctual — you need to act without thought. Solomon Hill seems to not be living to his true nature in this regard. Hill is the guy that bangs threes in shoot around, but shoots in the low 30s in games. He waits too long to react. He lacks confidence and decisiveness. When he is confident — like against Houston and in Memphis — he reacts much faster, he drives with purpose and he doesn’t overthink his shot mechanics. You can see that when he plays instinctual, he has the ability to be a solid wing, but too often he’s overthinking and questioning himself.
Bonus Crime Scene Video:
Frank Jackson
Image courtesy of https://www.jovianarchive.com
Manifestor: There has been a lot of tongue-in-cheek — and some truly heartfelt — talk this summer about Frank Jackson being a superstar. Well, the Human Design System may be jumping on the Frank Jackson train. Only 9% of the population are manifestors — Anthony Davis and Frank are in that percentage. Manifestors have quick energy so it isn’t much of a surprise that the two best athletes on the team are both in this category. The belief that manifestors are the reason a thing or system exists bodes well for the potential of Jackson’s career — I mean Coach Mike G has compared him to Bo Jackson so...
1/3: As a 1/3, Frank is very inward focused. He’s constantly questioning how experiences have affected him. He’s had many impactful experiences early in his basketball career — unfortunately those have been of the bad luck/injury variety. The 1 line is very motivated to know all of the details that he’ll face in every interaction. He needs to have a foundation to work off of. This seems imperative to Jackson living as he should. It’s a tough task for the staff and Jackson to deal with at this stage in his career because he has had so little on court time. Alvin Gentry and Chris Finch don’t have much history to work with, but in order to make Jackson comfortable, they need to construct a plan of how he’ll be used. Will it be as an off-ball cutter and spot up shooter like we saw against the Bulls or will they task him with more of an initiating on-ball role? Being decisive and not having him juggle more than one role should allow him to be more comfortable.
The 3 line in Jackson’s profile is investigator. He’s driven to learn through experiences and experimenting. The 3 line quickly learns and repeats the positive experiments and naturally sheds bad habits. With the help of Coach Mike G and the Holidays, Frank is quickly adding to those positives and removing the negatives. Here are a few quotes from Oleh’s interview with Mike Guevara.
“We got him on a few of the same tests he took at the Combine and he was able to match those numbers — and even improve on some of those vertical jumping sets in less time than he was given at his pre-combines,” said Guevara. “So what this means to me, this dude’s ceiling isn’t a ceiling, it’s a sky.”
“Whenever Jrue speaks, Frank is wide-eyed, looking straight at him. Frank wants to be Jrue — and I mean that in the most humble, most honorable way. Frank loves Jrue Holiday to death.”
Not only has Jackson improved on his already stellar athleticism, but he’s also absorbing lessons from an All-NBA defender and hustler.
The planning, experimenting and streamlining of procedures to remove all negative impacts that are characteristics of the 1/3 suggest that Jackson, like most 1/3s, should become an expert in his field. Also, the ability to learn from his own experiences enables the 1/3 to be able to guide others in what to do and what not to do in life situations using tangible examples from their lives — making them very effective informing manifestors. The Human Design System projects Frank Jackson to be the focal point and leader of a team some day.
Single Definition: Also, like Anthony Davis, Jackson is singularly defined. Jackson does not feel the need to seek another person to complete the energy flow through his defined chakras. Jackson feels like he is whole and should be able to shine without much outside help.
Bonus High School Footage:
Jahlil Okafor
Image courtesy of https://www.jovianarchive.com
Manifesting Generator: There’s something about the Pelicans and their manifesting generators. Elfrid Payton, Solomon Hill and Jahlil Okafor at this point in their careers are all guys who seemingly have the tools, but haven’t put it all together yet.
Jah was the third overall pick in 2015, but was possibly on his way out of the league when Philly struggled to find a trade partner for a guy who was once a consensus blue chip prospect. Two years after being the third pick in the draft, Jah was traded with Nik Stauskas and a 2nd round pick to the Nets for Trevor Booker — and Trevor Booker alone. Booker is a fine player, but consider that the Sixers were moving Okafor and another recent top 10 draft pick while having to also give up a 2nd for a veteran bench big that is solid yet unspectacular — well, the haul didn’t bode well for Okafor’s longevity. This was compounded as he found himself struggling to get minutes on a Brooklyn team hoping to hit on other team’s hasty castoffs. The barrier for getting on the court was substantially lower in BK than Philly. Much of Okafor’s failures to this point in his career could be attributed to mental health issues — which he recently opened up to the Athletic’s Shams Charania about.
“A week before the season ended, I looked at myself in the mirror and knew I not only had to get my body right but my mind right,” Okafor said. “I went straight to Miami and changed my diet and worked out. But most importantly, I started talking to a therapist to help me get through the depression and anxiety that I was going through, and it’s something I’m still dealing with. But I’m coping with it a lot better, and I’m learning ways to continue to feel good.”
There’s a lot at play here — anxiety and depression can surely hold a player back from reaching their potential, but with the lack of energy and drive that stems from depression, this can be very bad for a manifesting generator who is supposed to keep busy and constantly do. With his depression likely sapping him of that drive, it certainly hindered his ability to live as he was designed. However, luckily for Jahlil, these issues were discovered and he’s found a regime that has him in incredible shape — losing 17 lbs and reshaping his body — and he’s begun to shed that lack of work ethic that hurt his reputation but also had him living in a way that isn’t conducive to his design. Okafor being back on track to live as intended bodes well for a possible X-factor role with a playoff team. It could possible help him redefine his career.
View this post on Instagram
My summer of transformation: First off I want to thank @idanwan & @dzandertraining for getting after it with me the moment my season ended. Grateful to have two of the best in their respective fields work with me all summer. Although the physical changes in this photo are evident, their has been extreme growth unbenounced to the eye. I’ve learned how to identify and manage different stressors such as anxiety. Learning how to identify certain stressors has also allowed me to over come them. Often times because of my size and profession people may view me in a certain way, but in reality I deal with the same struggles as countless others. Mental health awareness is a cause I will fight for the rest of my life and if you’re struggling today don’t be afraid to speak with someone and seek help. I would like to thank @kevinlove and the @playerstribune for helping me identify my feelings and informing me what I was dealing with was in fact normal. 6 weeks left in the off season; with a lot more work to do!
A post shared by Jahlil Okafor (@jah8) on Aug 17, 2018 at 11:44am PDT
Emotional-Solar Plexus: Having an emotional-solar plexus as your inner-authority means that you ride your emotions heavily until you get clarity at a later date. Once clarity is achieved, these people will redo the hasty decisions that derailed them — correcting their approaches to situations. Aside from working on his mental health and rebuilding his frame, Jahlil also explained to Charania how he initially resisted the need to fix is jumper until that clarity came through for him.
“It was the most difficult thing. Once you shoot a certain way for so long, it’s extremely difficult to change your shot. When my trainer, Idan Ravin, first tried to show me the way he would like me to shoot, I had pushback. It was so uncomfortable, and the first week, I was really frustrated. He wanted me to shoot this way that he thought looked better, but I wasn’t even getting close to the rim — airballing. Of course, then, I would just resort to my old jump shot. I would either make it or get close to making it, and he would say, ‘No, no. That’s not it.’
1/3: Okafor — like Frank Jacskon — is an inward investigating 1/3. His interview with The Athletic and his summer rebrand are signs that he is learning through his experiences, and he is also living true to his 3 line profile by sharing what went wrong for him with others as he works to improve himself with the results of his investigations.
Split Definition: Jah being split definition makes a lot sense. He was seeking someone to help connect his areas of definition. However, the culture in Philly lacked leadership. There were no veterans for Okafor to lean on and learn from. No one to complete him. The locker room in New Orleans should make it easier for him to find a sense of wholeness.
Right Angle Cross of Eden 4: This incarnation is meant to educate. These educators experience the heaviness of the physical world and teach others how to fight through it. Jahlil seems completely locked into this role at the moment.
Bonus Mad Professor:
Thank you for indulging me in this series of oddity and exploration. If you are interested in the charts of other players feel free to hit me on Twitter (@kevinbforbounce) and I’ll break them down for you.
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