Emeka who?

[MattD]

I was debating putting this up, but I think it warrants its own discussion. Not only was our fourth quarter colapse and then comeback to win by five tonight exciting, it was done without emeka on the floor. He had a couple great blocks, but thats about it shooting poorly and all. Nazr outplayed him, so at the end of the game with about 4 minutes left the lineup looked like this:

ray
carroll
Has a j and is rich (:))
Gerald
Nazr

then as we had and kept the lead

ray
jrich
duds (who had a great block)
gerald (who had many great blocks)
Nazr

Okafor was on the bench, and looking glum in my opinion. He didnt even stand up and cheer with the team like McInnis and Hollins as the team cheerleaders were doing. What is our 13 million dollar turn down doing riding the bench in the 4th quarter comeback? Yeah its one game, but frankly I think both these lineups looked better then ones with him in it. I was thinking as I left:
A. Gerald Wallace is underpaid compaired to the NBA, a steal still at 8.5 mill (we all know that but still)
B. No way in hell is emeka worth a max deal or anything close, maybe 8 but I dont know, if he cannot accept that, fine bye bye
C. I'm really liking Nazr and Duds

One win is one win, but still I'm exciting to see this turnaround from going from blowing the 4th quarter to now being able to come back after blowing the forth quarter.

All Felton had to do was drive and get fouled, it worked pretty well tonight

Thoughts?

[spectre]

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves now...only one game. Nazr's going to have some bad days, and Mek's going to have much better ones.

But yeah...tonite Nazzy did good.

[MattD]

Yeah its one game, but frankly I think both these lineups looked better then ones with him in it.


..

[Alex]

Your whole point is sort of irrelevant if you're gonna say that it's only one game. Emeka had a bad night, it happens. He could come back on Friday and put up a 20, 15 and 5 against the Knicks while Narz puts up 8, 6, 1.

Relax...

[Muttley]

Maybe it pissed him off. Maybe he'll play pissed on Friday and stuff it down NY's throats.

It was one game. No worries.

[MattD]

yeah but at the same time, when was the last time emeka was consistent and played well over a many game period... his rookie season? This instant obviously a one game thing, but overall his play, its a worry

[Mustachio]

Matt your way off buddy. Emeka isnt Dwight Howard and isnt gonna get a max deal. But he is a guarenteed double double every night bro. He is solid, and if he gets hurt... youll see just how wrong you are.

Ray
Rich
Crash
Mek
Nasty Nazr


FINALLY a lineup i can be proud of. We are finally a team with legitimate players at every position.

[Muttley]

Matt your way off buddy. Emeka isnt Dwight Howard and isnt gonna get a max deal. But he is a guarenteed double double every night bro. He is solid, and if he gets hurt... youll see just how wrong you are.

Ray
Rich
Crash
Mek
Nasty Nazr


FINALLY a lineup i can be proud of. We are finally a team with legitimate players at every position.


Don't ya love it?

[davcbow]

Matt your way off buddy. Emeka isnt Dwight Howard and isnt gonna get a max deal. But he is a guarenteed double double every night bro. He is solid, and if he gets hurt... youll see just how wrong you are.

Ray
Rich
Crash
Mek
Nasty Nazr


FINALLY a lineup i can be proud of. We are finally a team with legitimate players at every position.


Don't ya love it?



Yep :g:

[Alex]

Exactly! People who expect him to average 25 and 15 are gonna be dissapointed. I think if a player isn't gonna show he's capable of that in 4 years of NBA ball then it's quite obvious that he won't be capable of that. Personally I'm happy with what he gives us now and with Nazr at the C I think we have a very nice front court, one of the best in the East

[Wallace15]

With the way Oak played tonight we wouldn't have won if we hadn't traded for Narz. Anyway, Oak just had an off night. He's usually an automatic double-double so nothing to really worry about. Just imagine how much better we would have played tonight if Oak had his usual 15-11-2 game.

[MattD]

People who expect him to average 25 and 15 are gonna be dissapointed. I think if a player isn't gonna show he's capable of that in 4 years of NBA ball then it's quite obvious that he won't be capable of that.


so then he is a bust? He was predicted to be great, now he is not even good in comparison for a power forward... My point is Emeka turned down 13 million... wow, hes not worth 8 still, a constant double double isnt that hard to find, and when its so incosistent thats a problem, deny all you want.

There are games where mek goes out and drops 12 and gets 11 rebs, but the most important piece to look at is does he change the game. In my opinion, yes and no, he was our only post presence for a while, so thats a tough job, but he wasnt really making the difference that a 13mm player is. My whole point is, the organization should not pursue an overvalued emeka okafor, hes not that good and hes not close to that expensive.

Scoring wise emeka has been decent in december, the first games he had 21, 10, 10, 19, 14, 25, 16, 14, and then utahs 6. But his rebounding doesnt follow that. there are games when he grabbed 4... 4. hes averaging in december less then 10 rebounds per game. Guaranteed double double... no, however his best games of the season where he has 25 and 23 are reasons why we want him so much. But without and yes i will say it again, the consistency to help the bobcats, he may be hurting us in the long run. There my thoughts, hatem if you want, they have been forming over the whole season, spurred by the utah game. may we, peacefully disagree if we must

[TheBeagle]

Has a j and is rich (:))
A virtual tip of the hat to you, Matt! No complaints here. JR had a phenomenal game and looked like he was comfortable for a change. Also, he and GW gelled like they haven't all year, and it was a beautiful sight!!!! I have officially retired my name for JR that you make reference to, and will start a new thread in his honor!

[MattD]

cough cough

[jaxatax23]

matt im with u all the way...i too am starting to question okafor...like alot of yall here i thot once we got jrich in the offseasn, that we had a good shot at 7th or 8th spot in the east...then we struggled with our big men situation an it was apparent that we needed somebody to play with okafor...so we got nazi which turned out to be a great pickup

but now im also wondering how this okafor situation is going to end up...lets face it...his offensive game is weak! 82nd in the league in scoring with 13.7 a game...among forwards, he is 37th....his rebounding is good being 8th in the league...but like matt said, he is not consistant!

an to think that he is asking for the same contract as dwight howard leaves me speechless! who the hell does he think he is?? he is no where near that level...an like matt said in the long run, okafor could end up hurting us....now yall can go ahead an call me stupid or watever for thinking that but i just dont think okafor is as good as you guys think he is

[dav7z]

I don't know the problem we have. All i know is we have one . Naz has posted better numbers than OK with Naz in a Bobcat uniform . OK got killed last night by West and Buttler on both sides of the ball. More games than not hes getting beatin most match up this year.
Im begining to think like a few others we might should start to think about trading him while his value is very high.
If we could get a better tahn average player and a first round pick . I to think im ready to let ok go.
I a hudge Carolina fan but Felton might be another to start to think about leting go . He shows so many flashes but is so inconsistant. I know both are core players . But i can't help but wander after signing Naz if we can't get as good of a player at a cheaper price. Looking at the play of Pargo and Bobby Brown v/s Felton last night.
I have not give up on either so far , but am starting to wander.

[123together]

I don't know the problem we have. All i know is we have one . Naz has posted better numbers than OK with Naz in a Bobcat uniform . OK got killed last night by West and Buttler on both sides of the ball. More games than not hes getting beatin most match up this year.
Im begining to think like a few others we might should start to think about trading him while his value is very high.
If we could get a better tahn average player and a first round pick . I to think im ready to let ok go.
I a hudge Carolina fan but Felton might be another to start to think about leting go . He shows so many flashes but is so inconsistant. I know both are core players . But i can't help but wander after signing Naz if we can't get as good of a player at a cheaper price. Looking at the play of Pargo and Bobby Brown v/s Felton last night.
I have not give up on either so far , but am starting to wander.




i agree. its tough to see who we should keep and what direction we should go with the players we've drafted. we locked up wallace which was huge, emeka is gonna get overpaid but will we be the team to do it?
if we can get our hands on rose or mayo, that would push felton a lot and he may then become expendable

[MattD]

I don't know the problem we have. All i know is we have one . Naz has posted better numbers than OK with Naz in a Bobcat uniform . OK got killed last night by West and Buttler on both sides of the ball. More games than not hes getting beatin most match up this year.
Im begining to think like a few others we might should start to think about trading him while his value is very high.
If we could get a better tahn average player and a first round pick . I to think im ready to let ok go.
I a hudge Carolina fan but Felton might be another to start to think about leting go . He shows so many flashes but is so inconsistant. I know both are core players . But i can't help but wander after signing Naz if we can't get as good of a player at a cheaper price. Looking at the play of Pargo and Bobby Brown v/s Felton last night.
I have not give up on either so far , but am starting to wander.




i agree. its tough to see who we should keep and what direction we should go with the players we've drafted. we locked up wallace which was huge, emeka is gonna get overpaid but will we be the team to do it?
if we can get our hands on rose or mayo, that would push felton a lot and he may then become expendable



get rid of ray and okafor, they are choking this team slowly but steadily, jrich is a great pickup, nazr is great, gerald is underpaid and was great. Morrison eh dont like him, right now thats the blotch on jordans record imho and maybe the 6 years for matt carroll 6 years is a long time, but hopefully he can get out of this nasty slump hes in

[davcbow]

Something needs to be done.

[ohara831]

I am beginning to think that Okafor may have lost so much of his confidence that he is afraid to shoot. Notice that he is getting the ball when he is not in position to shoot, so he must pass the ball out. Then, when he gets the ball in position to shoot, 1/2 the time he doesn't. I am thinking it may be psychological. If he has lost his confidence, that can be an NBA career killer.

[wil]

It's not an issue of Confidence or Psychology man!!! Okafor is just not a primetime scorer!!! I think you have to start accepting that!! He is a Defender and A rebounder who scores occationally!! IT IS NOT IN HIS GAME! period! Trade him if we want a 20 10 guy in the paint!! :afro:

[Keetch]

I think for this year Felton should be our PG and Okafor should be out Center. Both are legitimate NBA players at those positions. Put Felton at SG and Okafor at PF as Vincent has done and you've relegated them to CBA status.

Our fundamental problem is we do not currently have anyone on our team big enough with any reasonable skills to play on the front line with Nazr or Okafor. By removing Hollins, Dudley and Davidson from the rotation, Sam's telling us that we just don't have anyone that can play NBA basketball at the PF position. Thus we are a seriously flawed team.

We need Sean May. But we never should have remotely trusted Sean May to play this year. Not picking up a PF this summer was suicide for this season. If I remember pretty much everyone figured Hermann would be our starting PF. Unfortunately the Bobcats didn't think so; but why they didn't make any moves to get one is completely beyond me.

If Okafor cannot play PF, and apparently he can't; I'd rather we go with Hollins or Dudley rather than McInnis. I would use McInnis only to sub at PG for Ray. That's enough time for him. I would never play Ray at SG. I guess that's why I'm not an NBA coach. :biggrin:

[dav7z]

Mcinnis killed us last night . 32mins 3pts 3 ass. And he all so let a second stream point flat out kill him . Mcinnis had no clue, Fellton should play only point ,live or die by him so we will know for sure if hes the point of the fucture. No more experments of playing two points.
OK50 is playing average ball at best . No where near a max contract. If he's a four play him at four and determine by the end of the year how good he is .
Nas has proven he's a back up center at worst. So start him at the five to see if hes starter material .
Hollins should back up Naz to see if he can play in this league.
Just let Dudley back up Wallace and Ok to give him experiance.
As well as giving Carroll time backing up Rich and Wallace.
Fact is we may as well get experiance because who ever we play is not going to matter much. By doing this it will show our strenths and weakness befor next year . So we can make the right desions for next year.
Right now for me OK and Ray are both a big ?
We need to decide on quickly. Mcinnis sure as hell is no where near a answer.

[Icky Thump]

I was a big fan of Emeka and hopeful he could be a cornerstone of our team but I think we need to trade him or something. It just doesnt seem that he is going to be anything more than an average player at this point. Before he found himself getting injured and being out many games he would play with some fire which would allow himself to overcome the fact he doesnt really fit in at either post position (too small for center, not enough moves at pf). Now he doesnt seem to play with the hustle he came into the league with. As the injuries build up (his back was a big concern for me from the start. small center with back probs???) and his age increasing I just dont see paying anywhere near max money especially with what appears to be his lack of fire and hustle that made him a good player initially.

Damn, our team has not had any luck at all so far in the drafts and definitely hasnt made any luck for ourselves either. :-\

[MattD]

another terrible inconsistent game for emeka... edit ah how quickly some more rebounds come, meka now has a decent stat line

however I will say this, I have more sympathy for mek after seeing how Vincents been running the show, or management or who ever you want to blame, its too bad

[babyj42]

something just doesn't seem right... his energy is not there... i am wondering if the tension between he and vincent is beyond repair

[BobCatsFanInTx]

I was a big fan of Emeka and hopeful he could be a cornerstone of our team but I think we need to trade him or something. It just doesnt seem that he is going to be anything more than an average player at this point. Before he found himself getting injured and being out many games he would play with some fire which would allow himself to overcome the fact he doesnt really fit in at either post position (too small for center, not enough moves at pf). Now he doesnt seem to play with the hustle he came into the league with. As the injuries build up (his back was a big concern for me from the start. small center with back probs???) and his age increasing I just dont see paying anywhere near max money especially with what appears to be his lack of fire and hustle that made him a good player initially.

Damn, our team has not had any luck at all so far in the drafts and definitely hasnt made any luck for ourselves either. :-\
I have read all your post on how EmOk isn't what we expected and he is overpaid and I agree.The problem as I see it with EmOk is that he is a lazy player most nights. When he does come out with a little passion he shows signs of greatness but that is rarely. I feel EmOk has the skills but his desire is missing. When he was in UConn many thought he would achieve greatness so it wasn't really a fault that upper management thought as many did that he would be great.

Dwight Howard turned out to be much better but at the time EmOk was chosen that was not so obvious. DwiHow was after all was coming straight out of highschool.

Anyway, I agree with all of you on EmOk being a disappointment but not on the fact that he can't be better. I just think he is showing little to no heart and passion . If he played with half the emotion of Dwight Howard I think he could be nearly as good and if he matched his intensity he could be better. I don't however think EmOk has it in him to play that way, at least not for our team. My biggest worry is that the best of EmOk may come with another team and what we get in return or after he is gone will be an improvement over the way he played for us but not over how he ultimately plays for another team. Hopefully that does not come to pass and we can get something better in a trade before the season ends. He just does not make a difference, when he should be a game changer at times. I say we trade him and Jared Dudley for a better scoring PF/C or PF. JDud is not getting much playing time on our team anyhow and maybe if we added him in a package with EmOk we could get a solid post threat with some decent rebounding. We need a PF with a good outside shot. A PF who can shoot inside of 15 ft as well as score in the post would really open things up for our deep shooting and for drives from our drivers. I don't know if anybody who fits in the cap is out there for a trade but if we can get something like what I have mentioned I say we make a move.

While we are at it I say we keep RayFel but we get a solid pg to back him up. Earl Boykins I feel would fit in well with our team. That can be open for debate but that is my opinion.

That is my 2 cent take on this :biggrin:.

[amour217]

Where in the WORLD was Okafor tonight?

Nazr, off the bench, played circles around him tonight

[MattD]

Gone again in the Celtics win... you guys said I was overreacting... care to take it back? He is not the clutch championship player we all expected him to be... seems Nazr filled that role nicely tonight though... whooo that hook over KG dirty...


even if hes good enough, hes not consistent enough to be great

stat line from tonight... 23 minutes, 4-10 3 rebs 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers 8 points... not so good mek, we need the rebounding

nazr had 18 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes, whys he not starting again?

[ALong13]

I've never seen Okafor as a great center/power forward, but he's still good IMO, and is one of the only players averaginga double double this season, sure he's not worth a max contract never was IMO, but to say he's average is just a bit mean....I think Coaching also has a deal with it...when guys like McInnis is playing a good 10 minutes over him..that's just sad...One night he scores 17 points and we are very happy another point and he scores 8 and we are upset....He's still averaging almost 13 points per game and IMO that's enough for him to start...

[MattD]

I've never seen Okafor as a great center/power forward, but he's still good IMO, and is one of the only players averaginga double double this season, sure he's not worth a max contract never was IMO, but to say he's average is just a bit mean....I think Coaching also has a deal with it...when guys like McInnis is playing a good 10 minutes over him..that's just sad...One night he scores 17 points and we are very happy another point and he scores 8 and we are upset....He's still averaging almost 13 points per game and IMO that's enough for him to start...


no, its fine if he can only score 8 a night, and he gets 8 a night, occasional terrible game of 4, occasional great game of 15 sure whatever... its not ok that one night hes scoring 17 and 10, then 8 and 3, 3 REBOUNDS... come on hes an NBA PF at 6'10 he can get more then 3 rebounds, its inexcusable, looking at his averages dont do justice, his inconsistency is his biggest flaw, not his abilities, he is no solid rock for a team to depend on, not even close....

thats why he has rarely (yeah the pacers game tap nice...) played at the end of close games this season

[123together]

i was disappointed to see he only had 3 rebounds tonight, but nazr played great tonight. okafor needs to just be more consistent. i've said this before, he is a secondary post threat, we still need a true post player with go to post moves like may provided (for 50 games in 3 seasons). i hope we could get kevin love to score in the post for us

[timang]

i was disappointed to see he only had 3 rebounds tonight, but nazr played great tonight. okafor needs to just be more consistent. i've said this before, he is a secondary post threat, we still need a true post player with go to post moves like may provided (for 50 games in 3 seasons). i hope we could get kevin love to score in the post for us


love from USC? or was it UCLA? :g: