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Larry Brown told the Charlotte Observer last week he was concerned about a possible ownership change with the team apparently for sale. Michael Jordan, of course, is mentioned prominently. But franchise sales in this market are difficult, and rather than continuing to take losses, some executives believe Charlotte will follow the Memphis model and "gift" someone Emeka Okofor because of his big contract and maintain a payroll that can break even until a buyer is found Link

This thread will eventually be moved to the Southeast division thread. I'd love to see Emeka out of our division and hope they receive little to no value for him if they move him.

I don't see how Emeka would help us. We already have an offensively challenged undersized center playing for us in AL on a much cheaper contract.

I think the implication was that Emeka would be shipped out, not to here though. The only teams that could take Okafor without sending back salary would be teams under the cap. OKC seems like the likely trading partner because of cap situation and accumulated picks and young talent to send back. I wouldn't expect the #3 pick to be part of the puzzle though because of the salary that comes with it. If needed they could send a serviceable big like Collison or Krstic back, but more likely would be someone like DJ White or Thabo with picks in 2010. OKC has their own and Phoenix's (unprotected) to work with. Charlotte could drastically lower their payroll and reinvent their lineup with 3 lottery picks. OKC would be a good fit for Okafor, imo, as he would be expected to carry that much of an offensive load with that lineup.

The other thought if Charlotte goes cheap is what it might take to acquire Raymond Felton. He's a free agent and I'm wondering whether they'd S&T to get something in return instead of letting him walk for just cash savings. I'm not sure he's the answer because of his poor shooting, but I thought I should at least mention the possibility. We don't have a lot to offer, but I'm thinking a Speedy/Acie and future pick (lots of protection) scenario would allow us to offer Felton something like a 4 year/30M deal (exceeding the MLE, but not overspending horribly). He's not my preferred free agent PG, but he'd be peaking along with the core of the roster which is good. Charlotte would get Acie if he can turn it around on the last half of his rookie deal and a pick with just the added cost of the 5.2M remaining on Speedy's deal. Just a thought.