Another reason to be thankful

by Lee for three on Jul 28, 2009 1:59 PM EDT

The deal just went down today that will ship 2004 #2 overall pick Emeka Okafor to New Orleans for Tyson Chandler. It's just another point to sit back and reflect on how the course of our franchise really changed on that year's draft night. I'll be the first to admit, I wanted the Magic to draft Okafor. I knew nothing about Dwight and was impressed with what Emeka had done at UConn. But if I had my way back then, who knows where this team would be? Probably less likely that Rashard comes in. We definitely wouldn't have pulled the Carter deal this year. We'd probably still be struggling to get out of the first round of the playoffs. So as the Okafor era comes to an end in Charlotte, let's be thankful it's not us looking to ship the center out of town.

This FanPost was made by a member of the Orlando Pinstriped Post community, and is to be treated as the opinions and views of its author, not that of the blogger or blog community as a whole.

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Amen!

I too was one of those who knew nothing about Howard and wanted Okafor, but thank goodness I’m not the GM and thank goodness for the great management that brought Dwight and our great team we have today together =)

by Rebounder on Jul 28, 2009 3:28 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, I was thinking about that last night when I saw the trade go down.

The Okafor era is over in Charlotte, and I found that supremely ironic.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 28, 2009 4:11 PM EDT reply actions

Well...

I am very proud to say that I immediately agreed to draft D-12 over Okafor once I saw and 18 yr old put a quarter at the top of the backboard. Instant Classic!! Thank God we are finally on the good end of the Karma stick!!

by pianolady on Jul 30, 2009 9:35 PM EDT up reply actions

I wanted Okafor after the Kwame Brown disaster

the “experts” thought Dwight’s fun loving personality meant that he didn’t care.. Oh how they and I were wrong

by Souwantmyname on Jul 28, 2009 10:20 PM EDT reply actions

I feel horribly for Bobcats fans

That trade just sends such a horrible message to them. Okafor’s the closest thing they had to a franchise player, and they dump him for an inferior player just to save a few dollars. Charlotte’s in a small market, so I understand that cutting costs is extra important there. But the way to do that is to not trade for ridiculous contracts. The ’Cats traded for Nazr Mohammed and Vladimir Radmanovic in consecutive seasons. Those are the guys they should try to move, not the franchise center.

For the record, I do think Okafor’s worth the $63 million he’s owed over the next several seasons.

Third Quarter Collapse: An Orlando Magic blog at SB Nation | Brandon Bass: "I just play hard."

by Evan Dunlap on Jul 29, 2009 12:34 AM EDT reply actions

That franchise is a mess.

.. and has never been the same since the Hornets left.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 29, 2009 6:11 AM EDT up reply actions

Being sold

Dumping salary any way they can to increase the value of the franchise. They’re done for 5 years.

by eltharion_doa on Aug 2, 2009 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions

I didn't even think of that

but it’s really the only explanation.

It's not a dunk unless your hand makes contact with the rim. Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, "Superman..."

by ben_gleicher on Aug 6, 2009 12:37 AM EDT up reply actions

One problem with the Cats

Mohammed and Radmonavic are nearly untradeable because of their terrible contracts

Okafor was really the only that had any value left..

Charlotte is riddled with bad contracts… Michael Jordan is a terrible GM

by Souwantmyname on Jul 31, 2009 11:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Okafor isn't a franchise player for any team

He’s reliable, consistent, durable, team oriented, humble, intelligent, and amiable. He plays excellent defense and has an adequate post game. He’s everything you want out of a third best player on the team. But without a first rate facilitator and a big time scorer, he’s doomed to mediocrity. His talent goes completely to waste. He was such a great player coming out of UConn, and that’s because he had Marcus Williams and Ben Gordon (not to mention Villanueva and Hilton Armstrong.) He goes completely unnoticed without a superstar. With a superstar, he turns into an absolute beast. He has that in New Orleans now with Paul and West. Charlotte wasn’t getting a superstar. Okafor was going to keep wasting his career. At least this way Charlotte has some flexibility in two years. Okafor wasn’t drawing tickets and he wasn’t winning games (although they would be a lot worse without him.) So why commit for the next 5 years? That being said, they could of pulled off a better trade.

It's not a dunk unless your hand makes contact with the rim. Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, "Superman..."

by ben_gleicher on Jul 29, 2009 1:04 AM EDT reply actions

Michael Jordan=GOAT in my opinion as a player.

He’s the Olowakandi of GM’s though.

"Fun fact: Larry Hughes, who couldn’t stay healthy if all his human parts were replaced with bionic implants, is out for the next four weeks with a bruised leg. Do you think that Willis Reed ever reads about all these players missing time with bruises and sprained fingers and throws up in his mouth a little?"

by Diosnomeama on Jul 29, 2009 10:17 AM EDT reply actions

Pretty much.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 29, 2009 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Star players-turned-GMs... are any of them good?

I mean, you have a lot of guys who were second-tier players and became good GMs — Otis, Danny Ainge, etc. But then you look at the teams led by Hall of Famers… you’ve got Jordan, you’ve got Kevin McHale in Minnesota, you’ve got Isiah… Larry Bird (who’s kind of the de facto GM, even if it’s not official) is perhaps not as bad as those guys, but you can’t say the Pacers have been in great shape recently. And I tend to have a lot of sympathy for Elgin Baylor, who was basically stuck with a no-win situation under Donald Sterling in LA… but it’s a bit of a stretch to argue that he was some kind of genius whose plans were thwarted. He probably wasn’t a very good GM either.

I mean, the only exception I can think of offhand is Jerry West. Am I missing anyone?

He's currently two-thirds man, one-third amazing. Which, let's face it, is still a pretty good ratio.

by 3.3seconds on Jul 30, 2009 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions