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he Charlotte Bobcats are keeping their center, at a considerable cost. Early this morning, Bobcats general manager Rod Higgins confirmed to the Observer that the team has agreed to a six-year, $72 million deal with Emeka Okafor. Higgins expects the contract to be signed in the next few days. Charlotte Observer

Higgins said he felt it was crucial for the Bobcats to retain Okafor, their best defensive player at the rim. “You need that big guy to defend the Tim Duncans, the (Shaquille) O’Neals, the (Kevin) Garnetts,’’ Higgins said. “The big guys control the game in the post, and that’s our guy when it comes to doing that. “The way this team is set up with (new coach) Larry (Brown), this was important. Larry is very defensive-oriented.’’ Charlotte Observer


After all this talk about a S&T Okafor stays in Charlotte. Good deal for the Bobcats

http://www.charlotte.com/209/story/733240.html





So much for wanting out of charlotte, looks like it was a great negotiating ploy.

He's overpaid, but it seems all big men are overpaid nowadays....

A little too much for my liking. I realize this is the going rate. But we are talking about a guy who's massively injury prone. And while he is their defensive anchor, he leaves a lot to be desired in terms of where he came out and how good his defense has become.

I count my blessings every season...the Dwight Howard gamble paid off...

Malinhion wrote:A little too much for my liking. I realize this is the going rate. But we are talking about a guy who's massively injury prone. And while he is their defensive anchor, he leaves a lot to be desired in terms of where he came out and how good his defense has become.

How many games did he miss last season?

it's a reasonable price IMO for a guy that will get you dbl dbl.....just the health problems that can be a concern

That's a fair contract in my opinion. I actually think Okafor is a bit under-rated. As far as being able to shine individually, he's in a pretty bad situation in Charlotte with a 1-2-3 of Raymond Felton/Jason Richardson/Gerald Wallace. All those guys are scorers which doesn't leave many scoring opportunities for Okafor who is way more efficient then any of them. I mean just think about it, Okafor is producing less then his rookie year and for a character guy who works as hard as he does, that just doesn't add up.

That's not bad for him.

They are getting a guy who has been horribly underutilized offensively, but he can score, he's not Camby or Wallace, he has a nice post game that needs to be used, but you know he's going to grab about 11 boards, bring elite post defense, and be a hell of a help defender.

I think he can be as effective a player as a young Alonzo Mourning, maybe a bit less offense, but I think he can top out at about 20 ppg, on around 50%.

Edit: And Larry Brown is going to absolutely love him, wasn't he on team USA straight out of college when Brown was the coach?

Walt Cronkite wrote:

Malinhion wrote:A little too much for my liking. I realize this is the going rate. But we are talking about a guy who's massively injury prone. And while he is their defensive anchor, he leaves a lot to be desired in terms of where he came out and how good his defense has become.

How many games did he miss last season?

He missed 0....he started all 82 games. I don't know where all this injury prone garbage is coming from.

Malinhion wrote:A little too much for my liking. I realize this is the going rate. But we are talking about a guy who's massively injury prone. And while he is their defensive anchor, he leaves a lot to be desired in terms of where he came out and how good his defense has become.

How did you work that out? He had one really bad season (05-06), and he played all 82 games last year. How does this add up to massively injury prone?

Good contracts for both Okafor and the Bobcats. One one side, Okafor is going to make lots of money. On the other, the bobcats really aren't paying an exorbitant amount for a very good center who's been mid-used a bit the last couple years. ICLO, with some touches, Okafor would show that he's worth every bit of $12 mil per year.

CarolinaCash wrote:

Walt Cronkite wrote:

Malinhion wrote:A little too much for my liking. I realize this is the going rate. But we are talking about a guy who's massively injury prone. And while he is their defensive anchor, he leaves a lot to be desired in terms of where he came out and how good his defense has become.

How many games did he miss last season?

He missed 0....he started all 82 games. I don't know where all this injury prone garbage is coming from.

Over 4 years of play, he averages only 62 games a season, im not sure if that's "prone" but, missing 20 games a season on average is pretty significant...The 07-08 season was his first fully healthy run after missing 9 games his rookie year, 56 games his sophomore season and 15 games in 06-07...hey if he's good now, he's good and that's great news for himself, the team and the fans...but injuries are a concern when considering history...not really something to take to heart...

I'm a huge Okafor fan and this is definitely not overpaying. This is just the market price for 7 footers who have already shown something and have shown that they can be all stars. I see him being a 20/12/3 BPG big man with outstanding defense. Larry will love him and I'm sure he will get a lot more oppurtunities because of that.

He could probably play at the end of his sophomore seqson but that made no sense for team. They weren't playing for playoffs so although they weren't tanking they decide to keep him off the court to heal his re-injured ankle completely and let him work on his play for the next season.

And the injury was ankle, a type of injury which can happen to anyone.

NO-KG-AI wrote:That's not bad for him.

They are getting a guy who has been horribly underutilized offensively, but he can score, he's not Camby or Wallace, he has a nice post game that needs to be used, but you know he's going to grab about 11 boards, bring elite post defense, and be a hell of a help defender.

I think he can be as effective a player as a young Alonzo Mourning, maybe a bit less offense, but I think he can top out at about 20 ppg, on around 50%.

Edit: And Larry Brown is going to absolutely love him, wasn't he on team USA straight out of college when Brown was the coach?

i think emeka is a good starting center, and may even improve some still. but he is NO alonzo mourning. yes, emeka is known for his defense, but he only had one season where he averaged even 2 blocks per game, and his overall defense just doesnt compare to alonzos. on top of that, alonzo was a great 20 point scorer since the get-go of his career, and was consistently one of the top 2-3 centers in the league during his prime. emeka, i'd say is a good starting center, and could be a poor man's alonzo mourning, which is definitely still a valuable asset to have.

That seems cheap to me. I thought he'd get a contract with annual raises starting at around $12 million. Instead he gets a deal that averages $12m. It's a bargain for the Bobcats IMO.

Red Robot wrote:That seems cheap to me. I thought he'd get a contract with annual raises starting at around $12 million. Instead he gets a deal that averages $12m. It's a bargain for the Bobcats IMO.

A $12M starting salary with 10.5% raises give Okafor a contract totaling $93M over 6 years, which IMO is wildly overpaying.

Good signing, there wasn't an aggressive enough market out there for him to get a better deal frankly. I really hope Coach Brown and get the best out of him.

Good signing. Big men get overpaid in the NBA anyways plus Okafor has DPOY potential.