Jahlil Okafor is going to be a star. You could tell he was not happy on draft night when the Los Angeles Lakers passed on him and the poorly run Philadelphia 76ers grabbed him, but he has now put that behind him and has started to work hard.

Maybe one performance in Summer League play is too early to pronounce the Lakers foolish for passing on the big man. Keep in mind that Okafor gave himself a C-minus grade for his debut. That means he felt his 20 points and 9 rebounds on 9-for-21 shooting could’ve been closer to 30 points and 15 rebounds. He also turned the ball over on a lot of possessions in which he usually will set up his teammates for a wide-open shot. In short, the Lakers made a huge mistake.

“The only thing different is the 24-second shot clock,” Okafor said of the transition to the pros. “But pretty much all those guys are all college guys that I recently just played against. The only thing that was different was the 24 seconds, a couple times realizing that it was already five seconds left, and I’m used to, obviously, the 35-second shot clock. But other than that, it wasn’t too bad.”

The translation to this quote basically means that the level of competition won’t be something Okafor worries about. Obviously, playing against a guy like Tim Duncan will be a far greater test for the big man out of Duke University, but the early signs are looking good for Okafor. He can score with either hand on the low block and showed some nice shooting touch in his debut as well. The one big question mark about him coming into the draft was his conditioning, but he looked spry in the second half despite the game being played in Salt Lake City’s high altitude.

The Sixers will probably not be a playoff team next season, but I fully expect Okafor to win Rookie of the Year and the Lakers to regret their decision to pass him up in the draft.

Dave Daniels is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter: @AllDave_AllDay, like him on Facebook here or add him to your network on Google.