Post#23 » by AllKnowingNBAer » Sat Feb 2, 2008 7:56 pm
Well he turned down a $12 million per season extension that the Bobcats offered. Emeka's not stupid, and he was a finance major, so Emeka turning down this offer means one of two things:
1.- He doesn't want to stay in Charlotte
2.- He's a greedy mofo who wants max money simply because he is Charlotte's franchise player by default
Charlotte's in a tough situation because they thought they had the right recipe last year. They opened up the wallet for Wallace and Carrol, and thought the team would just get better. They absorbed a huge contract in the Richardson deal, which was supposed to put them over the top.
Unfortunately, they are now beginning to realize that Emeka may not be that max-money franchise player and that Felton may not be a true enough point guard to run their team to victory (don't even mention Morrison). I'm sure they would like to just forget about this season and see what happens next year with the same young squad, but they have to make a decision with Emeka NOW.
Do they overpay for Emeka, and add to the big contracts of Wallace, Carrol, and Richardson? Do they stick it out with Felton as their point guard, even though he showing signs of being more like a Mike James type PG? What do u do with Adam Morrison?
If Bobcats management truly believes in their young talent, then the decision should be easy. But something tells me that they are second guessing the talents that Okafor, Felton, and Morrison possess. They are high draft pick players, which will likely command overstated salaries as a result.
I just don't think the Bobcats truly believe that a core team of Richardson, Okafor, Morrison, Felton, Carrol, and Wallace will take them to a championship in the future...and the last thing they want to do is lock them all up into untradeable contracts.
Personally, I think that Okafor can be had for one of our PGs or Bargs plus filler n' picks. But it's more a matter of whether we'd be willing to take a $14 million dollar contract with him.