It's really the Ben Wallace comparisons that excite me about Okafor. Yao is the center of our offense. We don't need to run our offense through Okafor. As long as Okafor can hit the boards and nail a consistent mid-range jumper, anything else he can contribute on the offensive end is gravy. Our defense was league-leading this year; can you imagine how good we'd be with a Wallace-type PF?
The problem is to get Okafor we'd have to give up Stevie. We lose too much offense in order to gain rebounding and defense. The beauty about Elton Brand is that he does all three: scores, rebounds and blocks shots. He's also proven he's a 20/10/2.5 player in the NBA, while Okafor is an unknown.
Unless it's pretty sure that Okafor has the potential to be a 23/11 type of player, it should be Elton Brand, otherwise why taking the risks?
If you are a GM, and you have the number one pick in the draft, do you trade the pick and a bad contract to Houston for SF? I wouldn't. Raven
Like others have said, I'd take Brand because we know what he can do. On the other hand, if we somehow ended up with Okafor... groovy! (If we got either one it'd be a miracle)
Okafor...for most of the reasons already mentioned. And IMO there wound be a better chance of a Lottery GM sending Okafor and salary matching contracts for Francis than there is of Donald Sterling trading Brand for Francis. Since Francis is from the Baltimore area, here's something that is very close capwise if WAS gets the #1. Francis to the Wizards Gilbert Arenas to ATL (they are under the cap) To HOU... WAS #1 pick, one of Stackhouse, Laettner, or Hughes (last contract year for the latter two), Steve Blake (backup PG), and from ATL...a reasonably re-signed Stephen Jackson (or Chris Crawford) and a future 1st.
So much this summer obviously rides on which team gets the #1 pick. Well, or even the #2 or #3. Still, Okafor is the prize, and he's the sort of dude that JVG would like to put alongside Yao....as long as there is a halfway decent dude as the other power forward on the team. Washington, Atlanta and Chicago could hold the cards. You know that Washington getting the #1 pick in the draft would be perfect. Atlanta with all that caproom could help us free up cap space to pursue players that we really want to sign, if they'd take Steve and Cato or Mo for the #1 (Jason Terry will probably be gone to the Jazz for one of that team's multiple first rounders). As long as we don't wind up with Stackhouse or Arenas on the Rockets.
The Wizards might because of Francis's connection to the DC area, he's a potential EC All Star who will put fans in their arena and because they have not exactly struck gold in the draft. Unfortunately, the Wiz are coached by Eddie Jordan who is a decent offensive basketball mind and was Byron Scott's main assistant at NJ. IOW, E Jordan wants to uptempo and may quickly recognize that flaw in Francis's game. Back on topic.... One of the most hated opponents on this board is Amare Stoudemire so I'm sure this will greeted with a lot of bad responses. If I could have my choice of any current WC PF to play next to Yao (with the exception of KG)....Stoudemire is it. Duncan is a better player, but Stoudemire is a better fit next to Yao. I will admit to not seeing much of Okafor. Assuming Yao is untouchable, if Okafor's game at all resembles Amare....do the deal yesterday.
If Clippers won the lottery, I can't see them needing both Brand and Okefor. Since no way would Sterling pay for 2 Max contracts, there would be a decent chance for a SF-Brand trade. Personally I prefer Brand, I think Okefor would do well to become a Brand type of player, and that's not a given. Also I don't know why people insist Brand is injury prone. 2 out of 5 years he missed about 20 games, for injuries he recovered very nicely from. The other 3 he played full seasons, that aint' bad. Meanwhile Okefor has BACK problems! That's more scary to me.
I'd take Brand. His offense is much more advanced. I don't think Okafor has much of, if any of an edge defensively. Brand, himself, is a good shot blocker as well.
I would take Brand over Okafor because Brand is a sure thing as a NBA player, you know what you are getting. Okafor has yet to prove what he can do at the NBA level, and has the possibility of being a bust. He is undersized for a NBA PF and is not yet a great offensive player. At best, I think Okafor will be as good as Brand.
