Sources: Chandler-Okafor deal in works

List his mistakes as the Bobcat's coach.

 

he's made decent moves here, but that doesn't mean his whole career is not relevant. Did you miss the whole NY Knicks episode where he and Isiah destroyed them for 3-4 years? Did you miss in Philly where he pushed Billy King to give big contracts to Kenny Thomas and Aaron McKie?

The bottom line is that he is NOT infallible and has made godawful decisions in the past when it comes to personnel. I reserve the right to say that was a shit trade. That WAS a shit trade. The only thing the Bobcats gain is a smaller guaranteed contract and a little length.

 

We'll see.

 

if nothing else Chandler plays with more emotion than Okafor. I think it was time for a change of scenery. LB's comments at the end of the season about the "A in pilates " was the first thing that popped into my mind. he also had other hints of displeasure with Okafor " I wish our center could set screens". I don't know if its buyers remorse, but the Bobcats had to pay market value for Okafor or they would lost him for nothing. this trade is pretty much a lateral move but unloads a lot of salary.

plus Chandler is from Compton!

 

Did you miss the whole NY Knicks episode where he was there for not 3-4 years, but 1 year, and the knicks were already pretty terrible?

 

Yep the Bobcats fucked themselves. From ESPN Insider

Usually when a trade happens, I'll write something like, "On the surface, it makes no sense," and then proceed to walk you through all the cap ramifications to show why a seemingly lopsided deal actually makes some sense.

This isn't one of those.

I'm just as puzzled as anyone why the Bobcats would agree to trade Emeka Okafor to the Hornets for Tyson Chandler, because in terms of both basketball and cap implications, the deal makes a lot more sense for New Orleans than it does for Charlotte.

The Hornets pulled off the rare feat of saving money while becoming a better team. Yes, Okafor's contract runs three years longer, but that matters much less than the near-term implications of having a lower payroll this year and next year because of the luxury tax calculations.

He'll save the Hornets $1.1 million in salary and another $1.1 million in luxury tax this year, and he puts them close enough to the tax line that they could put themselves under by bribing somebody to take Antonio Daniels at the trade deadline. That will be difficult, yes, but it's not impossible.

Ditto for next year. The Hornets already are threatening the lowered tax threshold for next summer, and the trade would give them an extra $1.2 million in wiggle room to add players. (This presumes Chandler doesn't opt out of the final year of his contract at $12.7 million, which, based on his present production, would be fiscal insanity.)

And, as I mentioned, Okafor is the better player. Both players consistently have been honorable mentions in my all-defense picks, but Okafor is the superior scorer. That might not be saying much -- both players are somewhat limited offensively -- but Okafor can score on post-ups occasionally and make short bank shots, while Chandler's range ends at the charge circle. Over the past three seasons, Okafor has averaged nearly five more points per 40 minutes -- that's big.

The health disparity between the two also has been mentioned, but look closer, and I'm not sure there's any difference. Okafor has averaged 66 games per season over the course of his career, Chandler 67. Chandler has a bad toe that already nuked one trade, but Okafor has a problematic back. Okafor has played 82 games each of the past two seasons, but over their careers, their injury histories show little separation. Age isn't an issue either -- they were born four days apart.

Nevertheless, the Hornets have to be stoked. Getting a not-quite-All-Star caliber center who will do the dirty work on D and score a little improves their chances of hanging with the West's upper crust, although there remains much work to be done.

As for the idea that this shows a willingness by the Hornets to spend, I believe it only up to a point. Yes, they could have done a straight salary dump of Chandler to ease their way under the tax line, so in that framework, their striving to keep the team competitive merits applause. But they did cut their payroll the next two years with this deal, and the ones after that don't matter nearly as much -- based on present deals, even with Okafor's money tacked on, New Orleans will go well under the cap in 2011. Besides, by then, the Hornets will be in a new arena in Las Vegas, and money won't be so tight (kidding, people, kidding ... back off with the knives).

As for Charlotte, I don't get it. This already was a terrible offensive team, ranking 27th in the NBA in offensive efficiency this past season. Chandler is a demonstrably worse offensive player than Okafor, and his one offensive skill -- throwing down dunks off pick-and-rolls -- doesn't seem to mesh terribly well with the Bobcats' personnel.

Bobcats fans will point out that they freed up some cap space for 2011; of course, that space might have been more easily obtained by not signing Okafor to a six-year, $72 million deal a year ago when they were bidding against themselves.

It's hard to believe the Bobcats' front office had that severe a change of heart in just 12 months, especially when Okafor put up a pretty typical season by his standards. This is prime golfing season in northern Illinois, so you know Michael Jordan wasn't pushing for it, and Rod Higgins is too sensible to pull such an overnight 180.

That brings up two other plausible possibilities. The first is that this is a classic Larry Brown grass-is-greener trade. Okafor is a good player but doesn't exude passion for the game, and Brown grumbled about this past season. Chandler certainly is more passionate, and perhaps Brown -- infamous for wanting to trade everybody on the roster -- convinced management to make the swap. (And by "convinced," I mean "whined incessantly about it until management finally agreed to do it just so he'd shut up.")

The other possibility is that it was driven by owner Robert Johnson's need to sell the team. In that case, clearing the $40 million owed on the final three years of Okafor's contract removed a potential liability from his books, possibly making it easier for him to unload the team sooner. If that ends up happening, Bobcats fans might still feel like they won the trade.

Whatever the motivation, it sure as heck doesn't make the Bobcats a better basketball team. There isn't a wide gulf separating these two players, but Okafor has been consistently more productive, particularly at the offensive end. For a team that desperately needs to find more scoring, it was an odd way to try to improve. And for the Hornets, it's a tremendous opportunity to keep pace with the heavy hitters out west.

 

Okafor needs way more shots and a lot more time with the ball to come up with those 5 ppg over Chandler. I think Chandler is a better fit for us offensively as he's a more active offensive rebounder and has much better hands so Diaw can actually pass him the ball while both are in the paint. For everyone crying about what we lost on the offensive end, it wasn't a whole hell of a lot besides mechanical post moves that take forever to develop and are routinely blocked. Chandler can actually hit a FT as well.

If we get Iverson as some rumors are suggesting we'll have plenty of guys to shoot. Now we've got a guy who can grab an offensive rebound and finish in tight without having to reset the shot clock.

For what it's worth (don't watch a lot of Hornets if I can help it) I think a healthy Chandler is a better fit for NO too. Now they have an undersized 5 to go along with an already small 4, and the 5 is no longer athletic. He won't be grabbing perfect alley oops on the break, he won't be beating his man down the court. Some NO fans are thinking Okafor might average 20 ppg playing with the best PG in the NBA, I don't see that happening at all.

Of course, all this is meaningless if Chandler has a messed up foot and can't return to what he was doing a couple of years ago. We'll see.




As far as what PP highlighted, I mentioned this on another board. If MJ is the leading suitor for the team, and he has control over are personell, isn't that a conflict of interest? He could trade away all our assets for nothing, effectively driving the asking price even lower. Just a thought.

 

It will e nice to see someone who can pick & roll w/ Felton...

 

exactly.

 

I was saying that in that one year, he set them back 3-4.