...Khalifa didn't have great hops but the trade off was he used his girth well In establishing position, getting to his spots and pushing opposing bigs off of their spots and he had a super high bball IQ.
Along with his ability to establish and hold good position, he had moments where he used his size well as a help-side shot blocker.
Pope also highlighted many times his greatest strength on D was his super high ball IQ and communication on the backline of the D. His high-level communication of what was happening behind the perimeter defenders was super effective and helped them play like they had eyes in the back of their heads, almost like they had Spidey-sense. I know from experience how valuable that is. It makes the entire defense better.