[ESPN / Stein] Sources: Chandler-Okafor deal in works

Man... Michael Jordan is turning into the poor man's Isiah Thomas.

And that poor man's name is apparently Robert Johnson.

 

I've never had a good word to say about Robert Johnson from the beginning and this closes the case. His tenure as an NBA owner should be forgotten the minute he sells the team.

I might eat some of my words if this trade is more than the straight-up, one-for-one deal being reported.

 

According to ESPN, this is now a done deal. There is a Hollinger article about it, but of course it's an Insider article.

 

Never fear! (shameless plug for rep)

"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 can actually make some sense.

This isn't one of those.

I'm just as puzzled as anyone why the Bobcats would agree to trade Emeka Okafor 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, and puts them close enough to the tax line that the Hornets 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, where the Hornets are already 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 better. Both players have consistently been honorable mention getters in my All-Defense picks, but Okafor is a superior scorer. That may 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 years, Okafor has averaged nearly five points more per 40 minutes -- that's big.

The health disparity between the two has also 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 years, 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 also score a little improves their chances of hanging with the West's upper crust, though there remains much work to be done.

As for the idea that this shows a willingness by the Hornets to spend, I'd only believe it up to a point. Yes, they could have just 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 New Orleans goes well under the cap in 2011 even with Okafor's money tacked on. Besides, by then they'll 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 was already a terrible offensive team, ranking 27th in the NBA in Offensive Efficiency a year ago. 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.

Charlotte 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 that the Bobcats' front office had that severe a change of heart over a player 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 he doesn't exude passion for the game and Brown had grumbled about this last season. Chandler is certainly 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 they 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 them 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.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insi...ist=hollinger_john&page=okaforchandler-090728

 

omg, tyson for okafor? thats crap!
we could have traded something better that tyson to get okafor!

 

Man I hate teams that just give talent away. especially to our rivals.

 

I'm surprised to be honest that the Hornets were able to get a more than decent center for Chandler when they tried to trade him for garbage back in February. You'd think such a scuttled move would kill Chandler's value.

 

That could potentially move us to second to last in our division. Bobcats had a good chance of actually cracking the playoffs this year, I thought. At least OKC will see what they lucked out on when Felton can't make the same T. Chandler that Paul did.

 

To all those who want Okafor: Look, at, his, contract. That thing is pure poison.

 

GREAT MOVE. Now we get a higher lottery position!

 

For real
60 mil for 5 years.

YOU ALL ARE ON CRACK.

Thats like saying forget what Morey is all about and head the opposite direction.

 

thats actually a great contract for a legit big man like Emeka.

Morey should have really cashed in here. Emeka can be an awesome C while Yao is out but can come back and split time between C and PF when Yao comes back. It'd be the perfect player for us as he has no range in his offense and so will greatly compliment Yao and Scola's ranged games. Emeka can defend as anyone in the league and is a monster blocking machine.

Imagine our defense with Yao and Okafor patrolling in the middle. That'd be 4 blocks per game and 25 rebounds per game just from those two. Opposition slashers will never be able to make a layup!

Emeka's contract is actually pretty good. Compare that to Andrew Bogut...Jermaine Oneal...Shawn Marion...DeSagana Diop...Eddy Curry...Brad Miller

 

Do tell. What would the Rockets have given up to get Emeka?

 

Some would argue Battier plus filler, I think we couldn't trade Landry there though because of him signing an offer sheet there last summer, I could be mistaken though.

Either way, to those that will argue Battier is a Larry Brown type of guy, I can see why you would say that, buy I disagree, also he just doesn't fit in with the rest of the roster. The only way the Bobcats could trade a big like Okafor was for another big.

 

I'll agree to disagree. For that much money we should look for someone who can create his own baskets. Emaka isnt much of a scorer from what I've seen. When Yao gets back we want someone who can take pressure off him finally.

13 ppg is something almost anyone in our lineup can do with 30 plus minutes.

Dont get me wrong, dude is Hayes times two with size but I can say almost any big man paid that much can do that or close to it.

 

Oops, looks like it was straigt up Chandler for Okafor.


Amazing, I'm sure getting out of Charlotte will give Okafor a boost in his play.

 

http://www.clutchfans.net/tipjar.cfm

 

Looks like this was a move that was made to appease CP3.

 

Exactly! The Hornets were all but giving away Chandler and now they essentially lucked out with the Thunder nixing the deal and ultimately flipped him for a much, MUCH better player in Okafor. This is smart dealing by the Hornets and complete garbage for the Bobcats. Agreed with the poster that dared a Bobcats exec to defend this trade from their perspective. You can't.