EO50's defense?

[caneaddict]

Hey all, heat fan here.

I've been thinking about trades and just wanted some info on Okafor - his game, not his tradeability or value.

Since we will probably take Beasley, I'm interested in learning more about the top low post defenders to put next to him. Alot of Heat fans are interested in Biedrins. I've always loved Okafor's game since college (I thought Orlando was nuts for taking Howard i was wrong there!)

My question is how has he held up defensively against the top front court players in the league, specifically the taller ones? I don't get to watch all your games so I haven't seen some of these match ups. How has he done when facing Howard, Garnett, Duncan?

[BigSlam]

Thanks for dropping by caneaddict.

EO50 has always done a pretty good job against guys like Howard. Maybe he gets himself up for the Magic games because of the history, but he plays really well against them. Guys like Bosh, Garnett etc gives him fits because they beat him off the dribble and with their quickness and also with their range.

EO50 is a much better "at home" defender than he is out in no man's land. His post D is wonderful because he has a great understanding of close in moves, patience and timing.

Here's the funny thing about him:

On offense we all get frustrated because EO50 isn't aggressive enough. He doesn't go up strong enough and isn't powerful enough.

On D it's the total opposite. He will challenge any shot, any dunk, any person, any size. He has no fear when defending the hoop. He takes pride in it. The reason you see You Tube clips of him getting dunked on so often is because he hates to get dunked on so he trys to block every dunk attempt and will never shirk the issue.

I love that about him. I love that he is willing to, from a position of weakness (which a shot blocker usually is), try and stop shots at all costs.

[BigSlam]

P.S.

Forgot to add: Unless the #2 pick is coming back our way, you can't have him!!

[fatlever]

my fav thing about okafor, besides the fact that he is smart, humble and stays out of trouble, is his rebounding.

[TheBobcatDan]

Okafor is one of the more consistent players on our team (if you understand what he's going to give you night by night). If you expect him to be a 20/20 guy...then it's not happening with Okafor. But, Okafor definitely is one of the better defenders in the league. He actually puts up nice resistance against Dwight Howard and that's hard to do!

Okafor is a 12-15 ppg, 10-12 rpg, 1 spg, and 2 bpg kind of player and it is very valuable to have someone like Okafor on the roster. Pair him up with a post scorer prescene like Boozer and the chemistry will be great.

AND what everyone else said about his attitude...it's phenominal! He's one of the better role models in the game.

[caneaddict]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the input. As I thought it seems he would be great paired up with Beasley. Beasley would be the more athletic quick guy that would guard bigs away from the basket and Okafor could guard the paint. On offense, Beasley would be the scorer so Okafor wouldn't be counted on to be a major scoring option.

Now I can dream, it's only dreaming since the only realistic way for us to get him would be if he plays out the one year tender and becomes a UFA. I don;t think we are giving up Wade or Beasley, and I would imagine there is nothing else we have that could land Okafor in trade.

[TheBobcatDan]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the input. As I thought it seems he would be great paired up with Beasley. Beasley would be the more athletic quick guy that would guard bigs away from the basket and Okafor could guard the paint. On offense, Beasley would be the scorer so Okafor wouldn't be counted on to be a major scoring option.

Now I can dream, it's only dreaming since the only realistic way for us to get him would be if he plays out the one year tender and becomes a UFA. I don;t think we are giving up Wade or Beasley, and I would imagine there is nothing else we have that could land Okafor in trade.

I'm sure most of our fan base was dreaming the same thing happening in Charlotte with Beasley and Okafor paired up. Maybe Brown makes a huge risk and trades up for him.