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Okafor is a very good player. If you can get him for cheap, go ahead, his contract is expensive though.

I don't get why people think Okafor sucks. He's one of the best defensive bigs in the NBA, and he's good for a very efficient 10-15 pts a night. A consistent double double guy every year he's been in the league.

I'd love to have him on the Raptors. A big rotation of Bosh/Bargs/Okafor would be incredible. Hell, even an Okafor-Bargnani frontcourt would be solid should Bosh leave.

I think a lot of you guys in the trade Bargs camp are underestimating how difficult Bargnani is to move this year because of his poison pill provision. It's not quite BYC difficult, but it's not simple either. NO isn't looking to take back 5 year contracts for Okafor anyway IMO.

Bosh/Bargs/Okafor would be sexy, but is it 40M+ sexy? I don't think so.

i would trade anyone but Reggie Evans to get CP3. they would be the best balls-busting duo in the NBA

TOR receives Okafor, Posey, Tyreke
NOH receives Thomas, DD, Hawes
SAC receives Bargs, Jose

^Sacramento doesn't touch that.

bryant08 wrote:^Sacramento doesn't touch that.

Why not?

balleramil wrote:

Test of Wills wrote:Woah. If that happens, BC needs to call Jeff Bower about CP3 ASAP.

Bargs, DeRozan, Calderon and Future 1st.

cp3 is a top player in this league but hes not worth all of that

We take out the future first then. But i think that package still doesnt get cp3.

Okafor is grossly overrated. But what you guys have to consider in any trades is that we don't have much financial flexibility next year. We may not avoid the tax as is, but giving up expirings like Wright and Amir and taking back 2010-11 salary is not going to happen except, maybe, for a Chris Paul level talent who would sell tickets and take us deeper in the playoffs. And I don't see a team like NO moving a Chris Paul and not saving most or all of his salary in addition to whatever positives they get, like a high lottery pick and a couple of quality players.

If I was Oklahoma City, I'd offer Westbrook, Harden, OKC's next #1 and expirings for Chris Paul.

Paul, Durant and Green would be an unbelievable young core.

IMO NO doesn't move Paul until he comes out in public demands a trade and probably has to dog it a bit in games too. The PR behind trading a guy like Paul at this point in his career, no matter the state of your roster, is just too brutal. IMO moving Okafor isn't about moving Paul, but placating him. After Okafor, you try to package West/Posey for one less year in deals. Then you fire your GM and sit Paul down, show how you admit things were screwed up, but moving Okafor has put the team in a position to rebuild as quickly as possible. No deals beyond next season of any significance outside of Paul is the target here, not moving Paul himself. That'll only happen if he comes out and makes them do it.

As for the value of Thomas vs. Okafor, it's about 4 years and 53 million dollars on Okafor in the future, not this year. Can the Hornets find a better player to spend that money on, either through another trade or FA? I think it's pretty hard to argue that they can't. Throw in that while the deal is on the books it becomes hard to get the cap space needed to do lots of kinds of moves with the other below-tax space and I think it's a no brainer. IMO keeping Chandler for 2011 was the best move simpy because he was ending the same time as Peja and Mo and a few others. If they'd realized their roster was closer to full rebuild than contending this offseason, which they obviously didn't, they should've focused on moving West and Posey for 2 year deals, which IMO might've been workable, and they'd have gone into next year's FA market with like 50 million in expirings, which is a big step up from where they are right now.

satyr9 wrote:After Okafor, you try to package West/Posey for one less year in deals.

I'm betting West opts out in 2011 anyway. I doubt he's going to be too happy with 7.5 million that year. They're still screwed this year and next year due to Peja.

I said this before, NO is going to tank hard this year and try and get a plum like John Wall or Derrick Favours to play with CP3. It's their only way of keeping him long-term.

could it be possible that hornets think paul's injury is much worse and they are calling it a season. man, if this trade goes through jason thompson beastly numbers are gonna drop.

Fairview4Life wrote:

satyr9 wrote:After Okafor, you try to package West/Posey for one less year in deals.

I'm betting West opts out in 2011 anyway. I doubt he's going to be too happy with 7.5 million that year. They're still screwed this year and next year due to Peja.

That's' probably a very likely outcome with West's deal, but I think if you're trying to send a message to Paul you want to clear the books regardless and I think West is the piece you use to get Posey off as well. Personally I'd be talking to CLE about West and Posey for West and big Z if you can move Okafor first, but that's pure speculation. I'd almost rather an extra year on Ilgauskas to make everything come off together, but if you moved Okafor for KT you're already into sub 45 committed next year (that's with KT, Z, and buying out Delonte instead so I'm way into make believe land right now) and maybe you can work some more interesting deals next offseason. You won't have straight cap room, but you will have a tremendous amount of flexibility and enough expiring stuff to get things done.

Because the deals like Peja and Mo run through 2010 it's not ideal, but I think the only way you sell your star on the rebuild is by showing an all out commitment that says we've got all this expiring money for S&T's next offseason, but we're committed to doing it right so if we can't get who we want, we'll have to wait another year for true FA. Throw in a high pick or two over that period and before Paul's current deal is up they've got a squad put together again that Paul is comfortable playing with. It's hardly ideal, but IMO it's the best way to deal with a truly awful situation.

At this point, the Hornets are probably tanking the season and trying to rebuild again to save money. We don't have any huge expiring contracts that will interest the hornets.

The only deals that look viable are Reggie Evans' 2 year contract, Amir Johnson's expiring for Okafor. I checked it out on the trade checker and it works. But that would be a steal for us. So they would probably want a draft pick in there as well.

dagger wrote:If I was Oklahoma City, I'd offer Westbrook, Harden, OKC's next #1 and expirings for Chris Paul.

Paul, Durant and Green would be an unbelievable young core.

and it's trades like these that will keep Toronto from every getting CP3. OKC could even sweeten the deal by taking back Okafor's contract in exchange for Collison and Krstic. This trade could even appeal to Paul due to his experiences in OKC when the Hornets played there.

There are just too many teams that have expirings and are overstacked with young assets to compete against us.

Outside of Derozan, we really don't have anything appealing. We can't trade our pick because of Miami, can't trade Bargs, Turk, and Jose due to their long contracts, we have few very expirings, and Bosh is a FA so nobody will trade a key piece for a rental.

Won't happen.

Kings can't even afford Okafor's contract, this is why their team is mainly built on rookies and second/third year players. They're rebuilding financially as well, and there are talks of the team moving elsewhere (such as Anaheim). Thompson/Hawes are doing a great job, there is little incentive to gain by hindering their development and bringing in a player who's done little over his career except average a double double.

dagger wrote:If I was Oklahoma City, I'd offer Westbrook, Harden, OKC's next #1 and expirings for Chris Paul.

Paul, Durant and Green would be an unbelievable young core.

I think Oklahoma City should be going after Okafor if New Orleans is really just trying to dump his salary. They have a big expring in Etah Thomas and some mid-level prospects to offer the Hornets and Okafor would be a perfect fit along side Durant, Harden, Westbrook and Green.

Maybe something like Etah Thomas + BJ Mullens for Okafor?

I would give up Bargnani, Calderon, Amir, DeRozan and Wright for Paul ,Okafor and Posey.

We take two large contracts off their hands in Posey and Okafor. We give them 3 promising young players in Amir, DeRozan and Bargs and we receive the best player in the trade.

Paul/Jack/Banks
Belli/Posey
Hedo/Posey/Weems
Bosh/Evans
Okafor/Rasho

I don't know how that is not a Top 3-4 team in the east. Most definitely better than Cleveland and can compete with Boston and ORL.