Chad Ford's Mock 3.0

[ohara]

Came out this morning. Still have us taking Brook Lopez at #9. This is with Westbrook and Randolph still on the Boards. Love went #5. He says the word he gets is the Cats want a Center so they can move Okafor to PF. Westbrook is our backup plan if Lopez is gone.

I just cannot understand this talk of Okafor at the PF. He is a Center. His tools are Center oriented, not PF. Offensively, he has no game outside of 5 feet from the basket. Defensively, he is not quick enough to guard the more athletic and quicker PF's he will have to quard.

Am I the only one with reservations of Okafor at the PF slot? If you think he is a good PF, explain to me please. I dont see it. I would rather keep him at Center and draft Randolph for a PF or Westbrook to back up our PG and SG positions.

[ohara]

By the way, IF Okafor can play PF, and we want a Center, I would be happy with Lopez at #9. I think I have more trust in him than DeAndre Jordan. I think Lopez will prove to be just a good as Brad Miller once he gets a year of two under his belt. He does have several solid low post moves and can play with his back to the basket. Not a major liability on Defense, but not a Defensive star. During the yr. I saw Stanford play a few times. The guy does hustle his butt off the whole game and works hard. Good work ethic.

[W_HAMILTON]

Is he the good twin or the bad twin? If he's the good one that was supposed to go as high as #3, I guess it wouldn't be so bad, but if he can only play center, I don't see how we can work that out. If we can't play Mohammed and Okafor together because neither can guard quicker players away from the basket, I don't see how we can play Lopez and Okafor together, unless Lopez can guard those types of players, which it sounds like he can't.

[fatlever]

i have a bad feeling that this info is true. i dont think it was just vincent who wanted okafor at pf. okafor has said himself he wants to play pf.

good centers are hard to find, so i guess i can accept lopez at 9. he certainly would represent tremendous value at that point. but the major concern is still our speed at pf/c. nazr/okafor/lopez is just an insanely slow-footed trio. drafting lopez also just makes the nazr trade that much worse because now we'd be paying 7 mil for a backup center. everyone of us can see okafor and the team play at their best when okafor is a center. why cant the FO see it?

[powerforward]

5 years ago Okafor is a pf- now most 4's are guys who can step out and hit jumpers- who can take it to the rim, etc- things okafor can't do- what he is able to do (rebound, defend the paint, score inside) he does well and can do even better imo.

Put him at 5 and he is a multiple time allstar- put him at 4 and he is a slightly better version of charles oakley or antonio davis.
If we think he is a 4- we need to trade

He should be our center and we should be looking for an upgrade at the 4 spot (draft or trade)

[ohara]

Well, it seems we are all in somewhat agreement. Brook Lopez is the "good" twin who is expected to go b/t #3 and #9. I have no problem with him as a starting Center as I think he will be more effective than Nazr. But I see this as mentioned above, a very slow trio of big man with Okafor, Nazr and Lopez. Make it 4 if you add Hollins.

My feeling is that Nazr may be part of a trade if this is planned, or the Cats are planning a S&T with Okafor for a major PF addition.

Not so sure how I feel about it all right now. Our front office just cannot be so inept as to not see what we the fans see, can they? There has to be something planned, or this whole Lopez talk is a smokescreen so someone will not try to trade up ahead of us to grab Randolph or Westbrook. *That might be what's happening. It might be a smokescreen. Thoughts?

[_tijo_]

Lopez at #9 is great value. Okafor at the 4 is fine, once we establish Larry Brown's system. He had Ben Wallace at the 4 playing alongside Okur or Mohammed. I would rather have Beasley, but we aren't in that position.

We can all talk about a trade with our pick, but there isn't much out there. JRich fell onto our laps last year, because GS had to reup Monta Ellis and didn't have room for JRich's salary. And we were able to do that because of our cap room. Neither of those things are true this year. Look out there. Which team has a 4/5 they want to unload for a top 10 draft pick? And they can't make much money or the team has to be willing to take salary back. Can't think of one that would be a lock to help our team. Unless Boston wants to give us KG. They have to re-up Rondo and Perkins sometime...

We are going to make our pick this year. It will be someone with potential to play right away, either Lopez, Westbrook, Augustine, or Randolph.

[fatlever]

maybe they are still very uncertain about okafor re-signing and added lopez would hedge against losing okafor. or maybe they are quietly looking to move okafor for a more natural pf.

hollins isnt slow, quite the opposite, he just cant stay out of foul trouble.

ben wallace played along okur only briefly before okur was traded. but even then okur was coming off the bench. wallace started at center next to sheed. wallace never played with nazr. nazr was signed after wallace left.

add lopez and okafor immediately becomes the second best low post option in the lineup. most all low post touches should be going to lopez. so what the hell does okafor do on offense besides set picks and crash the glass? this is where having a decent 10-15 foot jumper would help. so now we are paying 12+ mil for a slow pf who is out of position defensively, where he is at his best and who will be less involved in the offense than previously.

talk about a crowded paint. this also adds another body in the paint to get in the way of wallace posting and driving the baseline, what he does best. this leaves only jrich to stretch the defense. we would become a grind it out defensive team, which may win games, but my god it will be boring/ugly to watch.

its just wrong on so many levels..... but its still great value.

what to do?

[ohara]

Fatlever:

I guess Hollins is not too slow. But when I watch games, he just seems to be awkward and somewhat uncoordinated when things get crowed with action around the basket. Like he does not yet have full control of his large body. Maybe that just makes him look slow to me.

You hit the nail on the head - it is a real conundrum in which we find ourselves. I know some see Lopez as bust material. Honestly, I dont. His low post game is pretty sound, and I do think he will be a fine Center. Not All Star material, but better than Nazr at the position. This whole thing with Okafor is turning my stomach. S&T? Hate to see him just walk, but I really dont like the idea of paying him $12-$13 mil to be a PF who is really more suited to Center.

The more I think about it, the more I think this is a smokescreen to prevent someone from moving up ahead to try and get Randolph or Westbrook, or - if the BB Gods smiled on us, Eric Gordon falling to us. It just makes the most sense. Certainly, if all of us can see Okafor is not well suited to play the modern day PF position, our front office has to see it. I cannot think they would play Lopez at C and Okafor at PF. It just seems to smell of a deal brewing or a simple smokescreen.

By the way, I've seen a couple recent mocks with Eric Gordon falling to us. If Augustin, Westbrook or Jordan go earlier than expected, it could very well happen. God, would that ever give us freedom to make some serious moves in the trade dept and shore up our PF ills via trade. Gordon has the handles to play a decent PG, but his SG skills are out of this world. Just a terrific stroke of fortune if we got so lucky.

[Walt Cronkite]

I'd say Ford's information is best analyzed by two possibilities.

1. The FO is not convinced that Okafor will be an easy negotiation (like Fats mentioned).

2. This is a smokescreen.

It's not that I refuse to believe the FO truly thinks Okafor is a center, because I wouldn't put that past them... but really?

Does anyone intimately involved actually watch the games?

[Rich4114]

Okafor needs to play center, he's fit in the best with this team at C. Not to mention he can't really operate outside of 6 feet except for setting screens.

which reminds me, is this the year we finally learn how to set screens with LB as coach?

[chrbal]

Finally looked at this. I like Lopez, but if 9 and 10 wound up like that...couldn't you just see people down the road saying "remember when the Bobcats passed on Randolph for Lopez...what were they thinking?"

Is it wrong that I wouldn't mind seeing Charlotte get a late 1st and add Roy Hibbert or Serge Ibaka to the roster?