Okafor Re-Ups and More

Charlotte Bobcats’ fans can breathe easy now that Emeka Okafor has agreed to a 6-year, $72 million deal that will keep him in Charlotte for the foreseeable future.  I have to admit that I was mildly surprised when I read that they had reached an agreement this morning as everything being printed in the media the past week or so implied that both sides were at an impasse and a deal was not imminent and that the ‘Cats were pondering whether or not they should explore a sign-and-trade deal for Okafor. 

After inexplicably passing on Brook Lopez in favor of point guard D. J. Augustin in the draft the Bobcats had to re-sign Okafor if they have any hopes of making the playoffs next season.  Okafor is the only real offensive threat on the low post for them and he is the team’s best rebounder and shot blocker to boot.  They had to realize that they were not going to be any kind of a threat if they were to rely on Sean May and Nazr Mohammed to hold down the middle for an entire 82 games.

With Okafor back on board next season could be the breakout year the Bobcats have been looking for.  They have enough talent to make a playoff run and there is no reason why they cannot compete with teams like Washington and Toronto for that 5th or 6th seed in the east.  They had the talent last year until Sean May and Adam Morrison went down due to injury.  Once they lost May and Morrison they lost their top two options off the bench and when Gerald Wallace missed an extended period of time due to injury they had nobody to fill his spot in the starting lineup.

NBA Free Agent Frenzy

Wednesday marked the first day teams could officially sign free agents and execute agreed upon trades as the moratorium on roster moves was lifted as of 12:01 this morning and there some major transactions going down on Wednesday.  The most notable of which was Elton Brand officially become a Philadelphia 76er.  Corey Maggette accepted an offer from the Warriors reported to be worth $50 million over 5 years which is what Maggette was probably wanting all along.

The other major transaction that went down Wednesday was the official execution of the agreed upon trade between the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors.  Indiana receives T. J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston and the rights to Roy Hibbert in exchange for Jermaine O’Neal and the rights to Nathan Jawai.  This deal does not make a ton of sense.  In T. J. Ford the Pacers finally get someone who should be able to unseat Jamaal Tinsley whom they have been looking to displace for a couple of years now.  But, to do so, they give up the only real post scoring presence and best rebounder they had which kills any chances they may have had at making any kind of a playoff run.

From the Raptors stand point Ford was expendable as the franchise has become enamored with the idea of Jose Calderon being the starting point guard.  Jermaine O’Neal, however, has seen better days and by trading for him the Raptors now have little to no cap flexibility for the next couple of summers.  O’Neal is still owed over $40 million on the remaining two years of his contract and the Raptors are going to have to decide what to do with Andrea Bargnani by the time O’Neal’s contract expires.  O’Neal can still give a team quality minutes when he is healthy, the problem is he is rarely healthy enough these days to give a team more than 30 minutes a night for 50 or so games.  I have a feeling the Bryan Colangelo may live to regret taking on O’Neals contract for the next two years.

Sizing up the NBA Free Agency Market

Free agency started today with the Sixers, Grizzlies, and Warriors having the most money to spend. Here is a list of available free agents:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/s…2008FreeAgents

There is not a whole lot to be excited about with this year’s group.  Elton Brand, Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas, and Corey Maggette are about the only real difference makers available on the un-restricted list.

Davis and Maggette are as good as gone.  Davis opted out because he is probably still upset over being benched for the entire second half in a late season game against the Suns.  Besides, the Warriors really see restricted free agent Monta Ellis as the future anyway and they would rather match any offer he gets in lieu of placating Davis and giving him the money that he wants.  Davis is supposedly lobbying for a sign-and-trade that would send him to the Knicks though I don’t know what the Knicks could offer aside from potential picks and Marbury’s contract which expires after the upcoming season.

Maggette has supposedly butted heads with Dunleavy since day one and I doubt he whas any interest in staying with the Clippers.  It is being rumored that Orlando is his top choice as of right now but the Magic would have to agree to do a sign-and-trade in order to fit him under the cap and I don’t really see who they would be willing to part with at this point to get him.

Brand supposedly is intent on staying in LA but the Sixers are supposedly going to make a competitive offer to see if they cannot lure him ot Philly.  Although if you are content to stay with the Clippers then why opt out?  Why not make an attempt to negotiate a contract extension if that is where you truly want to be.  If both parties are truly committed to each other then this should not be an issue, right?

Arenas supposedly wants a max deal and it was being reported on SportsCenter last night that the Wizards are willing to give him $100 mil over 6 years.  Arenas is a bit of a dicey proposition though.  When healthy he is as good of a scorer as there is in the league, unfortunately he was only healthy enough to appear in 13 games last year.  Do you take the risk of signing him to a big deal hoping his knee gets back to where he can give you 38 to 40 minutes a night or do you try to sign him to shorter contract? 

One name of interest to keep an eye on from the unrestricted list is Gerald Green.  He is only 22 and looked poised to have a breakout year after averaging 10 points in 22 minutes a game coming off the bench for the Celtics in the ‘06/’07 season.  He got buried on the bench in Minnesota and never got the chance to show what he could do out there. He could easily be a 15-20 ppg scorer on the right team next year and he could end up being a steal of a signing for someone since he is going to command relatively low salary.

Initial Thoughts on the ‘08 NBA Draft

The Bulls still need to make some moves for the Rose pick to work for them.  I still think Micheal Beasley made more sense from a need perspective.  They need to leverage Hinrich or Gordon to get some frontcourt help otherwise they will continue to be a fringe playoff team at best.  The frontcourt of Deng, Gooden, Nocioni, Noah, Aaron Gray, and Tyrus Thomas strikes fear in the hearts of nobody.  As it stands right now they are looking at their top 3 paid players being bench players and now have a logjam at the guard position with Hinrich, Larry Hughes, and Ben Gordon and unless they do something they will be counting on someone like Noah, Gray, Cedric Simmons, or Thomas to step their game up and be able to give them 30-35 productive minutes a game.

I am intrigued by the moves Boston made.  Ainge is either going to come away looking like a genius for grabbing J. R. Giddens and Bill Walker or a fool for taking a wildcard like Giddens in the first.  Giddens is an amazing talent but he comes with a ton of off-court baggage.  Walker comes as a second rounder so there is nothing to lose on him and I think he has the chops to be a quality player if he stays healthy.

I don’t understand Memphis’ thinking at all unless they are going to be flipping someone for a big man.  Kevin Love may never be anything special but he is probably, at the very least, an upgrade over Darko.  Darrell Arthur is a nice talent but he is not much of a rebounder and Memphis needs someone who is going to hang and bang under the basket for them and Arthur is not going to be that guy.  Between Gay and Miller the Grizz had plenty of perimeter scoring and with plenty of point guards in the fold already I am just not sure how Mayo significantly improves this team.  They basically gave up an elite 3-point shooter and low post help for another scorer.

On the flipside I love the move for the Wolves.  Sure neither Love or Jefferson is the ideal size for a center but it gives them the opportunity to let Jefferson play some at the PF slot where he is more suited to play and they pick up Mike Miller who gives them the elite perimeter shooter they have been lacking for a few years now.  Minnesota was going to have to figure out what to do with the 3-headed monster of Foye/McCants/Mayo so moving Mayo solves that problem as that may not have played out so well if McCants or Foye are healthy and losing minutes to Mayo.

Sam Vincent Out in Charlotte

The Bobcats have fired Sam Vincent after one disappointing season in Charlotte. This seems a bit of a raw deal for Sam Vincent given that he only got one season to show what he could do.  While it was a disappointing season, they have the talent to be a playoff team in the East, the Bobcats did seem to be coming together towards the end and did win 8 of their last 14 games including wins in Toronto and LA, against the Lakers, and closing the season with a win at home versus the Sixers.

Vincent being fired, so soon after Larry Brown re-signed his post in Philly, has of course, led to speculation that Brown is going to be the next coach in Charlotte.  My gut reaction to this is that the firing of Vincent is nothing more than a PR move.  The ‘Cats are struggling to keep attendance numbers up and, in fact, saw attendance drop this year despite the fact they are playing in a fancy new arena.  Hiring Larry Brown gives the team some instant credibility and they already have enough talent on the roster to be a playoff team in the East and Brown’s track record of getting teams into the postseason sooner rather than later is a pretty good one.  The Bobcats need a postseason appearance if they want to build any kind of momentum and build a fan base in the city of Charlotte.

The big question would be whether Jordan’s ego would let Brown have input on personnel moves or whether Brown’s would acquiesce to letting Jordan call the shots.