We need this guy. Okafor article.

Word is, is that Chicago will trade their pick to try to get an established star. Makes sense that they would not want another young player in the mix. I think Okafor is a can't miss. Also he is from Houston. Worth a shot.



By Greg Garber
ESPN.com

The cynical reporter has heard and read the stories.


Emeka Okafor, they all insist with varying degrees of breathlessness, is a gem -- on the court and off. Unique. Special. Incredible, even.


"When you spend some time with him," said Dr. Ted Taigen, the academic coordinator for the University of Connecticut basketball team, "you will absolutely love him. "When people first come in contact with Emeka, there is a sense of incredulity.


"He can't be that nice."


Well, yes, he can.


As it turns out, Chukwuemeka Noubuisi Okafor is not only, in some minds, the national basketball player of the year, but the certified academic All-America of the Year with a muscular 3.76 grade-point average. This is a ridiculous double-double equaled only by Shane Battier (2001) over the past decade. The College Sports Information Directors of America, who bestow the academic award, aren't quite sure if it's happened any further back. Bill Bradley, they say, is a possibility.


Irony aside, here's some sports information that is beyond debate:



The 6-foot-10, 260-pound Okafor leads the nation in blocked shots (134), and his average of 4.47 per game is seventh all-time among NCAA players. Two players ahead of him are David Robinson (5.24) and Shaquille O'Neal (4.58), and three fellow Big East stars who stand behind him are Patrick Ewing (3.98), Dikembe Mutombo (3.83) and Alonzo Mourning (3.61).



Okafor not only is first in blocked shots but is second in rebounding (11.6), and he led the country with 19 double-doubles during the regular season. He's shooting 60.3 percent from the field, which ranks 22nd in the country.



While Okafor is among four active Division 1 players to produce more than 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, he is the only one who is a junior.


In Connecticut, the status of Okafor's tender back has been the subject of an investigation at least as aggressive as the one pursuing embattled Governor John Rowland. The cause of his pain baffled a succession of medical experts until a stress fracture was discovered before UConn's Big East tournament opener against Notre Dame. Okafor was limited in the regular-season finale against Syracuse -- a game that would have given UConn a share of the Big East regular-season title. He did not play in the Huskies' first two Big East tournament games but returned for the successful final against Pittsburgh, and although he was not at full strength, he will play in the Huskies' NCAA opener against Vermont on Thursday.



Emeka Okafor doesn't block every shot, but led the country with over four swats a game.


Okafor was the consensus preseason choice for national player of the year, but the ascendance of Saint Joseph's under the hand of guard Jameer Nelson seems to have split the vote. Nelson, who clearly has a thinner supporting cast, has been lauded for returning for his senior season. It is worth noting, however, that NBA scouts say Nelson wouldn't have been drafted last year as a junior. Those same scouts told UConn head coach Jim Calhoun that Okafor would have been a top-five pick -- as a sophomore -- and yet he returned to finish his degree in Finance.


If his back problems prove to be the short-term issue that doctors insist it will, Okafor could well be the first player taken in this spring's NBA draft.


Okafor, 21, has been widely applauded for graduating in just three years, but the fact is he effectively has done it in five semesters. He entered this semester only four credits short of graduating. He's getting three credits for an internship in the school's Heart Program, an outreach effort in which he meets with school children and fellow students to talk about the dangers of substance abuse and other issues. Okafor will get two credits as one of a select group of Finance majors that controls the asset allocation of the school's $500,000 Student Managed Fund.


One of Calhoun's biggest disappointments this season was the late-arriving crowd for what almost certainly was Okafor's last home game on March 1 against Seton Hall.


"There were some traffic problems, and the game was on ESPN," Calhoun said. "But it was unfortunate how many missed it when the seniors were introduced. You may not see Emeka's like again. He's such an unusual kid."


Calhoun, a finalist for this year's class at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, is not often given to hyperbole when it comes to his players, but he has two words to describe Okafor: Bill Russell. Even for a guy from Boston, this is a staggering comparison.


"He's Russellish," Calhoun said, when asked about it. "I was told by every scout that he could come into an NBA game tonight and block shots and rebound. There's a picture out there (in the hallway), where he's above the square against Carmelo Anthony. Above the square is above the square. It translates. It's the NBA.


"No one changes a game the way Emeka can. He bench presses 350 pounds, weighs 260. He's got great feet. And he usually ignites our fast break with a blocked shot or a rebound. He's made some amazing, amazing athletic plays."


And yet, UConn's associate director of athletics, Tim Tolokan, believes that Okafor's contribution to society may come after a professional career.


"I don't think Senator Okafor is a real stretch," Tolokan said. "He's that focused."


How did this happen? How did a guy who wasn't even the best player on his high school basketball team back in Houston rise to post one of the great college careers in history? Where does that focus come from?



A big 'head start'
For a 30-month period in the late 1960s, Nigeria was consumed by a brutal civil war with Biafra. A teenager named Pius Okafor joined the federal army because it was the only way he could count on regular meals. The final death toll after all the shooting, disease and starvation was estimated as high as three million.


After the war, Pius and his wife, Celestina, left for the United States. They had about $200 between them. Today, Pius is a certified public accountant and, although he is in his 50s, is closing in on his doctorate in pharmacy. Celestina is a registered nurse.


Emeka Okafor, a massive but graceful presence, materializes at the appointed hour in a room just off the court at Gampel Pavilion. Practice is still 90 minutes away, so he is dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans. He settles into a chair and folds his hands in his lap. His voice is soft yet deep -- almost regal.


“ I've heard people say that success can be your first step toward failure. You can get complacent and you forget what got you to where you are. So I have to remind myself, 'Keep working. Keep working, Keep working.' ”
--Emeka Okafor,
UConn junior center


"That's what my parents did, that's the story of their life," Okafor says. "That was how it was. It was real, real rough. They had to have the mentality to just tough it out and, you know, work. Gradually, my father worked himself up."


This is as close to a mission statement as you'll get from Okafor. In a word: work.


He has no use for self-absorbed people who have had it easy. He thinks those so-called reality shows are a waste of time. He is purely, undeniably old-school, because that's where he comes from.


"In my mind, I've been given a big head start," he says earnestly. "I don't have to worry about where my next meal comes from. I don't have to worry about a shell coming through my roof. I don't have to worry about falling sick of any major disease. These were the problems my parents faced.


"I don't face anything. I come home, have a hot meal, go outside and play."


Calhoun, in a college coaching career that spans 32 seasons and more than 600 victories has seen his share of spoiled kids.


"People ask him all the time, 'Were you born in Africa?'" Calhoun said. "He tells them he was born in Houston. And yet he brings with him more of an appreciation for coming to America, obviously, than the American kids do."


Ben Gordon, UConn's talented shooting guard, who helps carry the scoring load with Okafor, has been his roommate and best friend at Connecticut since their freshman year. Gordon knew Okafor was smart -- he scored a 1,310 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test -- but he didn't know he was obsessed.


"Coach," he told Calhoun that first semester, "it's the strangest thing. He goes to bed at eight, nine o'clock, then he wakes up at one. He's making these noises."


"What's he doing?" Calhoun wanted to know.



Emeka Okafor is the big man on UConn's campus, but a scholar-athlete who strives to improve on flaws others can see.


"He's studying," said Gordon. "He studies for three hours, then he goes back to bed and gets another three, four hours of sleep."


Said Taigen, "There's such a sense of composure about getting things done. It's the way he sets goals and then follows through and thinks and analyzes carefully. It's an unusual combination."


For Okafor, it's simply business as usual.


"My personality is I like to strive to be the best," he explained. "I'm not comfortable with just kind of being bottom-tier. If I work my butt off and I'm bottom-tier, that's the best. I tried. But I feel inside I can do big things, therefore I try to go out and do that."


It is Okafor's ability to focus on the task at hand that seems to amaze people the most. Most players like to chat in the weight room. Not Okafor. On the court, he doesn't want to talk about weight training. Some days in practice, he won't block a single shot; he'll focus on using only his left hand. Relaxing with friends, he doesn't like to talk about basketball. His confidence in all of his abilities -- particularly away from the court -- borders on the unnatural.


People in the UConn basketball office like to tell this story:


During Okafor's freshman year, he gave Taigen a copy of a paper he had written and asked the academic coordinator to check it for grammar. This is standard procedure, and Taigen set to the task of correcting it.


"It's pretty good," Taigen told Okafor later. "There's only two things here you need to change. But Emeka, your conclusion, I think you have to maybe take it a different way."


Okafor shook his head.


"Hold it, doctor," he said. "I asked for the grammar. Leave the content alone."


Calhoun, sitting behind his gleaming desk, laughs. His face starts to turn redder than usual.


"For him to tell a Ph.D. at the university, our academic adviser for 10 years, 'Doc, just the grammar, leave the content alone,'" Calhoun says, wiping his eyes. "That's one of the funniest stories I've ever heard."


Taigen insisted it was instructive and revealing.


"The formula that he uses for success is always sort of the same," Taigen said. "It doesn't matter if it's basketball or academics or social relationships, it's always the same. He analyzes what he has to do, thinks carefully about what has to happen, and then he follows through on his plan in a very linear way.


"Emeka's a very linear thinker, he's sequential in the way he knocks the tasks off. Conquers one thing, takes the next step, gets that under control, takes the next step. He knows all along where he wants to go."


“ He's 'Russellish.' I was told by every scout that he could come into an NBA game tonight and block shots and rebound. There's a picture out there (in the hallway), where he's above the square against Carmelo Anthony. Above the square is above the square. It translates. It's the NBA. ”
--Jim Calhoun,
UConn head coach


Taigen wrestled with Okafor as a freshman when he wanted to carry 18 hours of classes -- more than a full load for a regular student, much less one with the full-time job of basketball. He wanted Okafor to take 105 Calculus, but Okafor, saying he didn't want an "A," but wanted to learn something, insisted on 106 Calculus. His lowest grade at UConn was a B, in a course in business math with a single test, based on the reading of the textbook. Most students with a high grade-point average wouldn't risk a grade on a single test, but Okafor saw the upside in terms of risk vs. reward.


Clyde Vaughan arrived as an assistant at Storrs before Okafor's second season. He thought it curious when Okafor begged out of a movie screening last year, saying he had to get some homework done. Not any more.


"A lot I see in Emeka, I try to install in my son, C.J.," Vaughan said. "Trying to be the best at whatever you want to do in life -- that's what Emeka represents."


Okafor's drive, purpose and focus is an example that could well improve the curriculum at Connecticut.


"They teach organizational management here," Calhoun said. "I can help them all out -- just follow Emeka around for a week. He'll show you how to get things done."



Giving it a shot
Okafor could always go up and get the ball.


Blocked shots and rebounds were never a problem. But his shot, well, in those informal workouts before his freshman season, in the immense shadow of Caron Butler, anything outside of six feet drew laughter and, sometimes, screams. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"


"I didn't shoot at all my freshman year," Okafor said. "I missed more shots this year than I took as a freshman."


Well, almost.


Okafor was a tidy 105-for-178 (.590) from the field as a freshman. He took 27 more shots than he missed this year (229-for-380), but you get the idea. His range was about a foot -- dunks and layups. With the help of Vaughan and his hunger to improve, Okafor went to work on his offensive game.


"I'm the kind of person, I like challenges," he said. "I just don't like not trying something. I just needed the mind-set and the confidence, and getting the respect of the coaches and teammates, and I'd be all set. I knew the team would need it. Guards shooting and big men scoring. So I figured, why not?"


When Vaughan got his first look at Okafor, he said, "Everybody's telling you you're a great player. You're a good player. But you have to work on your offense."



The only thing Emeka Okafor can't seem to control in his life are the back spasms that could sideline him at any time in the NCAA Tournament.


Today, Vaughan reports, Okafor is a great player. He has a nice little six- to eight-foot baseline jumper from either side; he can consistently knock down a shot facing the basket from 10-12 feet out; he is lethal with his back to the basket; after the catch, he can go either way to the goal with smooth and sneaky moves that Vaughan taught him.


With Okafor missing in the first two Big East tournament games, the ethereal Gordon stepped up and set a tournament scoring record -- breaking Allen Iverson's mark -- but Okafor has the better average overall: 18.5 to 18.1.


But, none of these accolades seem to register with Okafor. He makes a point of ignoring them.


"You have to," he said, laughing. "I still have a lot of work to do. I still have a long ways to go. I've heard people say that success can be your first step toward failure. You can get complacent and you forget what got you to where you are. So I have to remind myself, 'Keep working. Keep working, Keep working.'"


Last year, after playing in the Dominican Republic for USA Basketball, Okafor told Calhoun he was going to take a week off. Four days later, he was pounding the weights. He means the world to this team that some believe can win the national title. On a team with as much talent as Duke or Kentucky, Okafor has the best scoring and rebounding averages, blocks and shooting percentage. Against Army on Dec. 6 he had 18 points, 15 rebounds, 10 blocks -- in 28 minutes.


He insisted he will not grow complacent.


"Just the way things have happened to me, I'm not even worried about that happening," he said. "I got to where I am because work became a habit. That's just become a part of me. I know what it's like to be on the other side. I know both sides, so I have an appreciation and I know what I have to do.


"Whatever amount of money someone hands me, for me to stop and relax -- that's just not me."


After pursuing the national title, Okafor will turn his attention to the NBA. He has always stopped short of making it official, but there is no doubt Okafor will matriculate to the professional ranks. Is there anything that could possibly change that course of action?


"I don't know, man," he said. "You don't know what's going to happen. I never like to put things in cement. I don't want to count my chickens before they're hatched."


There is evidence that Okafor is not yet a finished product.


"I tell this to the pro scouts: As good as you guys think he is now, he's going to be so much better," Calhoun said. "Only because there's no reason to think that all of a sudden his desire to be the best is somehow going to leave him."


When Pius Okafor put his son into sports, he had no idea that it would one day provide him a living.


"He used to talk about these shows, you know, 'I want to make my kid a pop star,'" Okafor said. "You know what, you can't really do that. You either become one or you don't."


But, in a very tangible way, the children of a horrific civil war did create a champion. From top to bottom, from the inside out, they instilled a philosophy, a work ethic that has stopped, quite literally, at nothing.


"If Emeka thought he was getting along without challenges, it wouldn't be a complete day for him," Calhoun said. "Thus, you've seen what we see every day."


Yes. He is that good.


Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

 

I don't think it's impossible to get him. I think Chicago would accept a deal of Francis for Hinrich, cap filler and their first round pick. It's a win win. Francis would tear up the eastern conference. He would have a great partner in Crawford. We would get depth. Of course it depends where Chicago fall in the lottery.

 

Why would they keep their draft pick? Even if they get the number one pick, the player they select would not help them immediately. I think we underate SF3's value talent wise as well as economically. He has been a starter in the all star game 3 years in a row. With Francis, Chicago makes the playoffs in the east. Hinrich would be more valuable to us than to Chicago. Francis is an Iverson type player that needs to have a team built around him. Hinrich is only a high level role player. SF3 is having a bad season but let's not forget how good he is.