TSN Season Preview : Charlotte Bobcats
Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:34 pm
PF - Gerald Wallace
Wallace is a superb talent that gets very little recognition (outside of Charlotte and fantasy leagues) because of where he plays. There is a chance that he would be less effective on a better team that wouldn't let him freelance so much, but any player capable of putting up averages of 19.4 points, 6 boards, 3.5 assists, 2.1 steals and a block a game have some real talent on their side to work with. Wallace's biggest issue is that he can't stay healthy enough to keep his team in the hunt. He's averaged just 65 games per season since arriving in Charlotte and the sheer variety of his injuries - from his shoulder to his groin - keep anyone from expecting durability after healing from Wallace. Perhaps in a system with less weight on his shoulders, he could find an easier time of staying on the active roster (he averaged 38.3 minutes per night last season banging with power forwards) but Charlotte would have to be willing to trade their most talented two-way player to find out. While they were ready to do it for Ford just before the draft, it is unlikely that many others players would tantalize the Bobcats enough to let him ply his trade elsewhere.
C - Emeka Okafor
Okafor has turned out to be exactly the player that he was projected to be when he came out of college four years ago. Minus the injuries, people figured he'd be a dependable big man who could play solid defense and block some shots while putting up decent offensive numbers. They said that his 'upside' was nil and it is turning out to be true. The good thing is that he played all 82 games last season for the first time in his career, but he also saw his scoring, rebounding and shot blocking numbers dip from the season before. Larry Brown has made solid NBA players out of guys like Dale Davis, Antonio Davis, Theo Ratliff and Tyrone Hill in his past coaching stops, and perhaps that is the perfect mold for Okafor. He may be the most talented of that bunch, but it is looking increasingly like that is the bunch that he belongs in - despite expectations and his hefty new contract.
http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=249240&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nba