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"I Get My Shot Blocked?"

Friday morning I asked Charlotte Bobcats center Emeka Okafor why so many of his shots were blocked last season. The question mystified him.

“You think I get my shot blocked a lot?'' he replied.

Why, yes, I told him, about once a game. Then I passed along a statistic published on espn.com: That 12 percent of Okafor's shots were rejected last season, the highest such percentage in the NBA.

“It's a fluke,” Okafor said with a shrug. “That's all I can say about it.”

and this brings us to a segment we like to call "really?" with seth and amy

are you guys sure okafor is smart? i mean really? he does realize he gets his shot blocked alot. really?

at least we have a coach who is finally doing something about it by working with okafor on his post moves. what the hell did bernie and sam do for the past 3 years? "you're doing great big big fella. keep going up soft, fading away and shooting off your back foot."

thats like felton saying "you think i shoot too much for a point guard?"
or ammo saying "you think i'm a bad defender?"
or wallace saying "you think i have an ugly jumpshot?"
or may saying "you think i'm fat and out of shape?"

It's not just a river in Egypt....

btw, I wish I had thought of the "It's a Fluke" excuse myself when I was about 5years old and got in trouble.

"Did you steal a cookie?"
"No"
"There is a cookie missing and you have chocolate all over your face"
"....Well......It's a fluke that's all I have to say"

i'm gonna try it the next time i get in trouble at work.

boss: fat, (not that they call me fats at work), did you turn in your TPS report today?
fat: what, you dont think i do my TPS reports?
boss: um... no. in fact you havent turned in your TPS reports in over a month.
fat: well, its a fluke thats all i have to say

hahahaha

I'm incredulous that there isn't somebody in the Bobcats organization who is responsible for "stats" and for applying "stats" in ways that might help the teams/players.

For example: hey Okafor, you get blocked way a lot. Look. See. Work on it.

Hey Felon, you suck beans shooting 3's from the right side. Either practice there or stop it. Thanks.

Hey Wallace, every time you drive 12 times or more in a game, we have an 80% win rate.

Etc.

The kid uses "toodles" as a sign off. Of course he lives in alternate state of reality!!

All he had to add here was "you think I don't attack the rim with power and aggresion?"

In Okafor's defense, he actually did finish #8 in the league in dunks.

I'm interested by ESPN's stats... according to 82games, Okafor got blocked on 12% of his shots, which is at least behind some players. His chances of getting blocked inside are actually pretty low, but he's 10th in the league at getting his 2pt shots blocked (9% of the time). Anyway... not sure who to believe.

He talks like an athlete. Won't accept failure. People do experience failure, but they don't have to accept it. He's being a athlete about it. Or just being stubborn. Not an issue to worry about.

i'm just sayin' that i would have preferred the interview go something like this...

bonnell: hey emeka, how come you get your shot blocked so much?
okafor: you know rick, that is something i have really been working on this summer, refining my post moves, releasing the ball at the highest point, attacking the rim instead of fading away. i also spent a week working with raymond showing him where i like the ball and working on reposts in order to get better scoring chances. i've also spent a lot of time on my conditioning. there were times last year that i got winded too fast and i think that hurt my explosiveness around the basket. but mostly i have spent a lot of time working on my free throw shooting, knowing that teams are aggressively coming after me looking to get a block or at worst a foul. if they are concerned about my free throw shooting they will be less aggressive in going after the block. i think all of these things will help my offensively, which will help the team.
bonnell: great. thanks for your time.

i mean, at least adam admits he needs to work on his defense. at least may admits he needs to work on his conditioning. okafor is strange dude.

for the record... thru 3 games okafor has been blocked 4 times (may 4, wallace 5) in 16 fg attempts. wallace leads the team, but also has about twice as many fg attempts.