GT: Charlotte @ New Orleans 8:00 PM Wed, Apr 7

[W_HAMILTON]

Boy is that a case of "with friends like these, who needs enemies?"

I'm sure some of the people that just defended Chandler love to have you reposting a thread reminding everyone of the fact that they hated the trade as much as everyone else.

What's amusing to me, though, is that -- needless to say -- it's not like Chandler has had a great season. Outside of him missing the entire season, it really couldn't have been much worse for him. As bad as the trade looked then, if I told you that Chandler was going to play in 40-something games and average like 6/6, it would have looked even worse.

But some of the guys that were against the trade to begin with just were defending him.

I'll chalk it up to what someone pointed out after the Felton debate, which basically is that I am a very evil person and I have a manner whereby I could attack Satan in a way that would have Christians coming to his defense.

[Battery]

Boy is that a case of "with friends like these, who needs enemies?"

I'm sure some of the people that just defended Chandler love to have you reposting a thread reminding everyone of the fact that they hated the trade as much as everyone else.

So what? Fans are allowed to change their minds once they realize how much better off we are without Emeka Okafor and his bloated contract.

What's amusing to me, though, is that -- needless to say -- it's not like Chandler has had a great season. Outside of him missing the entire season, it really couldn't have been much worse for him. As bad as the trade looked then, if I told you that Chandler was going to play in 40-something games and average like 6/6, it would have looked even worse.

Nobody ever said Chandler is having a good season. This is part of the fantasy that you've conjured up.

But some of the guys that were against the trade to begin with just were defending him.

So what???? At least they aren't being stubborn like you. They can admit how much better off we are going forward.

I'll chalk it up to what someone pointed out after the Felton debate, which basically is that I am a very evil person and I have a manner whereby I could attack Satan in a way that would have Christians coming to his defense.

No, it's called being delusional.

[W_HAMILTON]

We're paying Chandler more than Okafor for this season and next.

Chandler has been at best a non-factor.

A person missing a couple of fingers could count on one hand how many impact games Chandler has had this season -- and still have a finger left over.

If it's only money that matters, we should have just kept Okafor and benched him -- we'd be saving millions this season. Or, spend the 25m that we will be paying Chandler this season and next and buy out Okafor.

[Battery]

We're paying Chandler more than Okafor for this season and next.

Chandler has been at best a non-factor.

A person missing a couple of fingers could count on one hand how many impact games Chandler has had this season -- and still have a finger left over.

If it's only money that matters, we should have just kept Okafor and benched him -- we'd be saving millions this season. Or, spend the 25m that we will be paying Chandler this season and next and buy out Okafor.

You never answered the most important question...Are you enjoying this season?


As for Chandler, he is playing his best ball of the season and finally looks somewhat healthy. If we can get Nazr back, then we will have 3 centers to throw at Howard. TC's length, Ratliff's shot blocking capabilities and Nazr's offense all pose different challenges for Howard. If we had Okafor the midget sucking wind for 30 plus minutes, you know Howard would just toss him around like a rag doll. Now LB can do what he does best and that is mix and match. Dumping the Yoga Queen gave us more depth and ironically more flexibility too.

Why don't you get behind TC and support him? What is wrong with you??? We're in the playoffs!!!

Hopefully you're at least enjoying the great weather we've had this weekend.

[fatlever]

ham, you've brought up the november record several times in your defense against tyson, saying look at our record when he played in november etc... however, we all know he was nowhere near being healthy back then. using your similar logic, i could point to our record since he has returned - finally healthy AND mentally over the injury. tyson returned to action on march 5th and has been very healthy and active since returning. we are 15-6 since his return. we are also 8-4 in those games when tyson has played 20+ minutes. so using the same logic to bash him from november we can also use the same logic to praise him in march and april.

but thats not the point i want to make, because i understand that tyson is not the sole reason we played horribly in november nor is he the sole reason we have played since coming back 100% healthy.

im just sayin' if you are going to blame him for causing us to suck in november then you should praise him for causing us to be awesome since march 5th. you cant have it both ways.

[Battery]

Hamilton doesn't care. We could make it to game 7 of the NBA finals and that morning he will blame TC for costing us home court advantage.

[W_HAMILTON]

you cant have it both ways.

Actually, you can.

And I haven't just brought up November. I'm talking about the entire '09 start of the season (October, November, and December). Tyson was our starter those first few months. We relied on him more than any other center on the roster.

You can praise him if you want. Him sucking certainly hasn't prevented that any other time this season, so I wouldn't expect it to start now. But fact is, even since he's been "healthy," the record shows that we are a better team the less he plays.

Actually, I would say it just goes to prove that he is a complete non-factor. I don't think you want an oft-injured non-factor whose team is better the less he plays to be your highest paid player. Dude's got eight more gameballs this season than I do. I remember you saying a few months ago how it was sad that Augustin just recently passed Derrick Brown in gameballs; Chandler needs three more to accomplish that feat. He's been an abject failure up to this point. Here's hoping going forward he actuallys plays well enough to earn some of that praise he's been getting from you guys.

[fatlever]

since the season has started i have not suggested that chandler is the sole reason we are winning. what i am saying is that you cant suggest our loses are his fault by merely pointing to our record when he played in november while at the same time not giving him any credit for the wins since he has been back. now you change your story and say he's a non-factor, which would suggest that the loses in november werent all his fault by more a product of many factors such as: boris being out of shape, felton shooting terribly, wallace starting slow, chandler being hurt, dj regressing etc...

what i have said is that i am happy with our center position and i think we are in a better position today at center than we were one year ago. you can analyze that statement however you wish. i dont care how we got to this point or who is to blame or not to blame. all i care about is that we are deeper, more diverse at center now than ever.

so while i can agree that chandler has mostly been a non-factor this year (while i do appreciate his skillset more than you and many others on this board), i would also suggest that perhaps okafor was pretty much a non-factor all those years before, despite his more impressive statistics. and i would suggest that okafor has been a non-factor in new orleans the same way he was a non-factor here.

neither okafor or chandler is good enough to impact games routinely. neither is worth their contracts. chandler makes slightly more, okafor is owed many more years. we can sit here an argue forever about what gives us more flexibility, less money now or less money down the road but none of us can back that up so its pointless.

what i like about our team now vs when we had okafor is that we can throw many looks at teams. we have chandlers athletic ability, we have nazr's offense and theo's raw shotblocking. we can also go small with diaw, which has proven to be very effective at the end of games. when okafor was here it was almost as if we felt required to play him 35+ mins a night due to his draft position, trying to prove he was as good as howard or to justify his contract. but the truth is, okafor, on many nights didnt warrant playing that many minutes due to matchup problems or ineffective play. by moving him we freed ourselves up to play so many more styles at the end of games and i believe that is one of the reasons for our success this year.

i just dont see how you cannot be thrilled with our center position right now.

[W_HAMILTON]

I'm not changing my story. The less Chandler plays, the better we have been. That is a fact. This is the same reason I got on that other guy for saying I was forecasting instead of simply stating the facts. I think as bad a player as Chandler is, he shouldn't make our team suck as much as the record shows, this is why I was being gracious when I called him a non-factor. But reality has shown otherwise this season.

As a comparison, since some of you are obsessed with Okafor:

When Okafor plays 30mpg or more this season, the Hornets are 23-17.
When Okafor plays less than 30mpg, the Hornets are 13-28.

This mimics the same sort of effect Okafor had on our winning percentage when he played big minutes.

To recap:

The more Chandler plays, the worse we are.
The more Okafor plays, the better the Hornets are.

They are not the same. There is a reason Okafor had the asses of Mohammed and Diop planted firmly on the bench, and it damn sure ain't because Larry Brown wanted to prove Okafor was better than Dwight Howard.

i just dont see how you cannot be thrilled with our center position right now.

It's the same center rotation we had with Okafor, except we exchanged him for Chandler and added Ratliff. We could have added Ratliff regardless, and Okafor >>> Chandler. You certainly weren't thrilled with our centers last season, so it's comical that you are thrilled with them now. I guess expectations have been lowered. Chandler gets gameball votes for games that would have gotten Okafor a "brown frown" last year. Apparently crappy white Europeans aren't the only thing you have a soft spot in your heart for.

[Battery]

Hamilton you can chirp all you want about Chandler's poor season, but right now he is playing his best ball and he is playing better than Okafor who once again has mailed it in. Look at Okafor's pathetic game logs for the past 10 games. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/gamelog?playerId=2399 New Orleans is 3-7. Charlotte is 7-3. Look at all the points New Orleans has given up!!! Also Chandler is shooting 77 FG% 80 FT% in 6 April games.


It's not where you start, but where you finish. And Chandler at this point in time is the better option heading into the playoffs as we all know Okafor cannot defend Howard and he can't score on him either. He stinks against Boston too.

[fatlever]

The more Chandler plays, the worse we are.

are you sure about that statement? by my count...

Bobcats overall record: 43-37 = 53.75%
Bobcats record when chandler plays: 27-22 = 55.1%
Bobcats record when chandler doesnt play: 16-15 = 51.6%

its seems the numbers contradict your statement.

[W_HAMILTON]

Uh, no they don't. I've already stated the stats.

Bobcats with Chandler starting << Bobcats with Chandler playing 30mpg << Bobcats with Chandler playing fewer than 20mpg

You can stick with your logic, but of course that means you look like a hypocritical doofus for defending Chandler from the losses that came when he started and/or played big minutes, all the while you are wanting to give him credit for wins in which he played seven minutes, ten minutes, twelve minutes, etc.

And Battery, I don't know that you want to compare the two's last ten games, seeing as how Chandler is "playing his best" while Okafor hasn't, and the numbers are still comparable. Having said that, Okafor scored seven more points last night than Chandler's season high You can point to their records, but the one game out of the last 10 that Okafor played 30 minutes, they won. It sounds like you want to blame Okafor for their losses because they aren't playing him and they are worse off because of it, all the while praising Chandler because his team is good enough to win when he's not on the court.

I am almost ashamed for wasting so much life arguing the obvious with you people. At his worst, Okafor is a better player than Chandler has been. The more Chandler plays, the worse we are. The more Okafor plays, the better the Hornets are. These are the facts. It was a horrible trade. At least Chandler will have the chance to make up for a season's worth of sucking when we go against Howard, eh?