Bobcats and Okafor agree to $72 million deal

[tjm384]

The Charlotte Bobcats and forward Emeka Okafor are on the verge of six-year deal believed to be worth at least $72 million, according to a report by Marc Stein of ESPN.com.

Okafor was widely believed to be a sign and trade candidate, with most believing that the Bobcats were unwilling to pay the type of money that the former second overall pick was looking for.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3509028

[fluffernutter]

Seems fair. 12 a year. I'll wait for the exact numbers. "at least" could be more like 80?

6 is a lot of years... but it's probably OK. Bobcats doing OK so far with signings, assuming this is reasonably close to the real numbers (Gwall on a good contract, Okafor at 6/72 is fair).

I'm getting curious to see what Larry Brown can get out of Okafor... real curious....

[spectre_]

Done deal...change the title!!!

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

Bobcats, Okafor agree to $72 million deal

[Felton for Pres]

This is excellent news. Its also points out what a bunch of 3rd grade rumor mongers the NBA front office, agents, players, etc are.

Ok LB, the ball is in your court. Start coaching these guys "the right way"

[chabber]

WHOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WaydownSouth]

I'm happy with this deal, maybe a slight over-pay at worst. I'm very interested in seeing if this is a 'flat' contract or the usual yearly increases. I would of preferred a Bogut-like contract which had a whole heap of incentives which if he makes means the Cats are having a great year. The big guys are always going to get a little extra.

Just to see where it fits in the scale of things:

Dalembert
08/09: $11,138,564
09/10: $12,025,694
10/11: $12,192,823

Kaman
08/09: $9,500,000
09/10: $10,400,000
10/11: $11,300,000
11/12: 1$12,200,000

Chandler
08/09: $11,350,000
09/10: $12,250,000
10/11: $13,150,000

Jefferson:
08/09: $11,000,000
09/10: $12,000,000
10/11: $13,000,000
11/12: $14,000,000
12/13: $15,000,000

Bogut:
09/10: $10,000,000
10/11: $11,000,000
11/12: $12,000,000
12/13: $13,000,000
13/14: $14,000,000
* An extra $12,000,000 could be made if Bogut reaches his incentives. Believed to be making All-Star teams, leading the league in rebounding, MVP's and Championships.

Beidrins:
09/10: $10,500,000
10/11: $10,500,000
11/12: $10,500,000
12/13: $10,500,000
13/14: $10,500,000 (ETO)
14/15: $10,500,000

[_tijo_]

Wonderful news. Woke up this morning to singing birds and a bright sunshiny day, and then this. $12m is alot... gee, since when does someone say $10m a year to play a game? My feelings are hurt! Toodles!

Okafor now HAS to be the beast he is paid to be. Offensive AND Defensive boards, low post scoring, and post defending. He doesn't have to run up and down the floor (not with LB), but he'll be asked to do a lot.

[BigSlam]

Good to have the big guy long term. Now I hope we can settle down and focus on next season.

Okafor now HAS to be the beast he is paid to be.

I agree tijo. The expectations on what he does game by game just got a lot higher.

[BigSlam]

I'm giong to un-sticky the other EO50 threads and sticky this one for a while.

[Bassman]

If we were to sign Okafor I knew we'd have to overpay a bit, and that's what happened. As the other dominos fell (Bogut, especially Biedrens) the Bobcat's position was weakening. Once again they let circumstances and other actions frame up what they had to do.

Having said that I'm glad we did it. Okafor must man the center spot for us to have any chance for the playoffs.

NOW, we must become aggressive and find a starting caliber PF to pair with our $72M man.

[GoBobcats]

Good news
Fair Price

[ohara]

I can deal with $12 mil/yr pricetag. Quite fair given what lesser bigs are getting. Well done by the front office. Now, we just have to figure out our PF issue unless May has somehow received a miracle and his knees are better.

[Rich4114]

WHHOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Finally, thank you management. I don't feel like we overpaid at all, I think we got him for a fair price and it's exactly what we offered last year it sounds like. Now nobody can complain and we can move on knowing we got our big man locked in for 6 years. I gotta admit I'm a little surprised they made it happen with all of the other FA's out there not getting deals. I will take this though and look forward to Okafor's production over the next 6 years at least.

[Battery]

For that amount of money this whiny baby better bring his A game from DAY 1. Enough with the excuses.

[girlygirl]

If anyone learns how the deal is structured (front loaded, back loaded, incentives, etc.) can you please post that as well? Thanks!

$12 million is a little bit more than I think Okafor is worth, but it's not a bad deal.

[CarolinaCash]

It's not the Bobcats just offered the 12 million out of the blue. They tried to get him at a lower price but Okafor didn't budge.....they even upset him and his agent with that offer. They had to give him that 12 otherwise the team would not have been given even value in a trade and it will make the Larry Brown signing stupid.

[JMillott]

I think the Bobcats did the right thing here and that if they didn't feel his production was worth this contract before under some pretty terrible coaching that used Okafor incorrectly they will be very happy with him under Larry Brown.

I have always felt that the only thing keeping Emeka Okafor from being a 18 PPG, 12 RPG, 2.5 BPG player was a lack of touches and inconsistent minutes. This is a damn good basketball player who has been held in check by poor coaching and poor/inconsistent PG play his entire career.

I expect Larry Brown to be far more strict with Raymond Felton in keeping him both at the PG spot and making sure he understand his role is to shoot/score only as last option.

[chrbal]

Finally, its done. Contract puts him in a posistion now where he has to put up or shut up, so I like that even more.

[CoolD]

6 year contract is quite long. You guys better hope is not a Grant Hill scenario.

[JMillott]

6 year contract is quite long. You guys better hope is not a Grant Hill scenario.

I don't see how its even compareable?

Grant Hill signed that contract injured at age 28 running at max dollars through age 34 for seven years.

Emeka Okafor signed his contract 100% healthy coming off an 82 game season at age 26 with the deal ending at age 31 for six years for far less then the max.