About to throw a TV at Mek....

amcoolio · Post #1 » by **amcoolio** » Tue Nov 4, 2008 6:00 am

Oh my god....

DUNK THE BALL!

It is so ridiculous how every time he goes up with the ball he quits right after he jumps, and if someone touches him he lets go of the ball. No wait, he does it when no one is guarding him too!

Just horrid on defense tonight too, although he had two 6'10'' to cover for (although Dudley did a decent job). What has happened to Mek? Why does God curse us like this?

Post #2 » by **BigSlam** » Tue Nov 4, 2008 11:42 am

Ridiculous is how quickly people flip flop on players around here. He'll have a big game within the week and he'll be peoples hero again.

While I said at the time and maintain still that $72 mil was too much for him, you make out he is the next Hoffa.

Bassman · Post #3 » by **Bassman** » Tue Nov 4, 2008 1:40 pm

Mek does not have a quick leaping ability when holding the ball and going to the rim, which is surprising for a guy that blocks so many shots. I think it's more than a training issue. When Mek holds the ball it's seems to take away some of his athleticism. Open armed (as on defense) he's more free to use his entire body to maximize explosive leaping.

Mek also does not have great hands, which forces him to concentrate on his catch and release. Contested close to the basket his jump height is shortened, forcing him into soft releases and/or getting blocked more often. I'm sure coaches have worked on this with him but by now I suspect it's a physical limitation beyond his ability to correct.

Post #4 » by **BigSlam** » Tue Nov 4, 2008 2:34 pm

He used the head fake quite well last night, something he hasn't really done in the past, which resulted in him getting to the line 6 times - which he converted at a good clip.

amcoolio · Post #5 » by **amcoolio** » Tue Nov 4, 2008 7:38 pm

Ridiculous to turn on Emeka when he has a bad game? He is dunkily challenged. You can't defend that performance last night or anything like he has done the past two seasons. The guy doesn't know how to dunk. He has no intensity. Watching last night it was clear Maxiell and Amir were bounds above Okafor in terms of talent and intensity. It shouldn't be that way. Okafor is smarter and athleticly gifted and drafted #2 overall. He is better than that.

He really has earned his toodles nickname now, even though I tried to defend him from it earlier.

Post #6 » by **BigSlam** » Tue Nov 4, 2008 8:26 pm

amcoolio wrote:You can't defend that performance last night or anything like he has done the past two seasons.

I don't have to defend him. The fact that he is one of only 3 players to average a double double in the last 4 years does that for me.

You make him out to be a total dud.............but base that whole and soley on his ability to dunk???

Sure, there are things that I don't like about him and I thought and still think that we over paid for him, but if the alternate is trying to replace him, good luck with that!

Felton for Pres · Post #7 » by **Felton for Pres** » Tue Nov 4, 2008 9:24 pm

If you did literally throw a TV at Mek, at least you know he won't catch it and it'll probably hit him on the knee or foot and then bounce out of bounds.

GoBobcats · Post #8 » by **GoBobcats** » Wed Nov 5, 2008 8:16 am

BigSlam wrote:Ridiculous is how quickly people flip flop on players around here. He'll have a big game within the week and he'll be peoples hero again.

While I said at the time and maintain still that $72 mil was too much for him, you make out he is the next Hoffa.

I agree with that. In the offseason everyon was afraid that we lose him. And now guys jump on him cause he did not dunk the ball.
He is what he is.
A double double Guy who can block and has ones in a while a good offensive game.
I am quite happy with him .
Him, Wallace, Felton and jason are the core of the team and i stay behind them.

Battery · Post #9 » by **Battery** » Wed Nov 5, 2008 6:37 pm

Nobody cares about his double doubles. Even when he gets them, he rarely impacts games in a big way anymore. We throw up soooooooooooo many bricks, he's bound to grab a few of those. And we're sooooooo inefficient on offense, it creates more opportunities for the other team on offense to miss more shots.

And teams don't exactly bring their A game when they play us because their B and C game works just fine. Gives Mek more opportunities to get his whopping 12 PPG.

We could have gotten a nice package of pick(s)/player(s) before last seasons trading deadline. Now all we have is a bloated salary cap with under-performing players.

Post #10 » by **BigSlam** » Wed Nov 5, 2008 7:01 pm

A whopping 12ppg on an equally whopping 6 shot attempts per game is pertty darn good.

Wouldn't you think?

You obviously don't remember what is was like when he was out for a while a couple of years back? That Portland game at their place really sticks in my mind.

e4Nf6 · Post #11 » by **e4Nf6** » Wed Nov 5, 2008 9:31 pm

As per usual, good defensive players are underrated....

Mek is:
1. An excellent man defender
2. An excellent help defender
3. A very good rebounder
4. A decent but limited offensive player

If it was reversed and he scored 20ppg while being unremarkable on defense everybody here would love him.

Who is the second best rebounder on this team right now? Nazr or Andre Brown? Neither of whom are getting much minutes? That's the reason we always get killed rebounding, Mek does his part. This is what happens when you go small against good rebounding teams. (not the heat)

Go ahead and trade him and see what happens to our interior defense. Watch teams out-rebound us by 30.

We are already EXTREMELY thin up front, trading Mek is the last thing I want to do.....

Post #12 » by **Walt Cronkite** » Wed Nov 5, 2008 9:38 pm

Nah man, get rid of Brickmeka Jokafor, trade him for beans, we'd get better from the addition of his subtraction, he's useless! garbage! Double doubles? Pffffff! Bobcats are terrible is the only reason he looks good at all!! Just like Gerald Wallace! Just like Rich!

Get this loser off my team!!

Bassman · Post #13 » by **Bassman** » Wed Nov 5, 2008 10:05 pm

e4Nf6 wrote:As per usual, good defensive players are underrated....

Mek is:
1. An excellent man defender
2. An excellent help defender
3. A very good rebounder
4. A decent but limited offensive player

Who is the second best rebounder on this team right now? Nazr or Andre Brown? Neither of whom are getting much minutes? That's the reason we always get killed rebounding, Mek does his part. This is what happens when you go small against good rebounding teams. (not the heat)

We are already EXTREMELY thin up front, trading Mek is the last thing I want to do.....

Generally agree with everything E4, and I certainly do not call for trading him. He is slightly overpaid for his production, but that's just how it goes. I would call him a limited offensive player without using the term decent. Mek just doesn't have go to moves or consistency to be called decent. But he does get his double on average, and I suspect it will rise if he continues to hit free throws at the improved pace he is currently showing. I might also call him a very good help defender. EO50's challenge is his size when matched with bigger 5's. I would love to see what his stats are when playing against 7 footers, or against the better 5's in the league. It seemed early on he sort of held his own with Howard but that has become a routine "NO CONTEST".

The players around you DO MATTER, so it can't all be hung on poor Mek's neck.

Post #14 » by **Walt Cronkite** » Wed Nov 5, 2008 10:08 pm

Seriously though, he doesn't dunk. He should, but he doesn't. I don't know what's wrong with him, maybe he's bought into the injury plagued talk and he's worried that if he dunks the ball too much he'll hurt himself. Maybe he's so old school he thinks dunking is still illegal.

He's stayed on the court for most of his NBA career, outside of missing most of his sophomore season, which was likely due to keeping the long term investment healthy and not destroying his ankle to play on a crap team for no reason. He blocks shots, rebounds and defends his man and others while staying on the court (ie. not fouling)... while never having another big man to help him out.

I'm not in love with his deal, but by judging it vs. what other guys were getting, it's definitely reasonable. He is what he's always been, a solid big man with his prime ahead of him.

Post #15 » by **Paydro70** » Thu Nov 6, 2008 1:12 am

Just for the record, this whole talk of him not dunking is really exaggerated. Last year Emeka dunked on 16% of his shot attempts, which over 82 games translated to 123, good for 8th in the league. Here's a crazy stat: that's more (raw and per game) than JOSH SMITH.

Who is a guy who dunks an acceptable amount? Biedrins? David West? Tim Duncan? Chris Bosh? Carlos Boozer? Yao? Al Horford? Because ALL of them made dunking a smaller part of their offensive game than Okafor did last year.

The reality is that Emeka is not Tyson Chandler, he's not Amare Stoudemire, he's not Dwight Howard. He's not going to posterize people every time. But he's also not Brendan Haywood or Kendrick Perkins, a guy who has zero responsibilities on offense except to make wide open putbacks; he has to take non-dunk shots.

Emeka's problem is much more fundamental (and frankly much more devastating) than an unwillingness or inability to dunk... it's that he's not good at getting post position and has no jump shot whatsoever, so he really has three things he does... dunk if he's open, take a 3-foot hook shot, or put up something completely hideous that we all cringe to watch, like an attempted turnaround.

Anyway, generally speaking I agree with those defending him... a limited offensive player who plays good defense and is an elite rebounder is a very valuable piece. The question, of course, is whether he's even that good on defense, because last year it sure didn't seem like he was. Hopefully this year under Brown he'll return to his previous status.