Okafor isn’t winning over new teammates

[davcbow]

What did mek get a paper cut on his toe?

[BobCatsFanInTx]

Emeka Okafor's Prolonged Absence

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=14132


Emeka Okafor was publicly blasted by his former head coach in Charlotte on more than one occasion for being very particular about his body. He's one of those guys who doesn't go unless he's absolutely 100 percent. While that can sometimes prevent re-aggravation of injuries, it's also something that tends to irritate coaches, especially old school coaches like Larry Brown.

Okafor was traded to the New Orleans Hornets in the offseason in a move that Brown likely didn't shed any tears over. It was also a trade that had many folks in New Orleans excited. However, Okafor did not play in any of the team's eight preseason games and hasn't practiced with the team, either, save one walk-through. This puts the Hornets in a tough place heading into the season given the fact the Hornets haven't had a chance to get used to Okafor's presence on the floor.

Things could get worse very quickly, too, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports

{"(Okafor) better practice Sunday or he could lose some guys," one Hornet told Spears late last week.}

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of their new teammate, huh?

The Hornets are in a tough spot heading into this season with a lame duck coach in the final year of his contract in Byron Scott. The last thing this team needed was a player who was supposed to be an upgrade over the oft-injured Tyson Chandler missing the entire preseason.

This season has slow start written all over it for New Orleans. And given the various situations and circumstances surrounding the Hornets heading into the campaign, a slow start could be catastrophic.

[spectre]

http://www.bobcatsplanet.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9768

[BobCatsFanInTx]

Sorry I missed this Spectre. I would not have posted this if I had seen your thread.

Today is exactly 1 week since my mom and best friend passed away at 66 years of age. I guess I am a bit off due to that.

You can always have this thread deleted.

I am just trying to find some sort of normalcy in my life again. I am not looking for sympathy I am just explaining how I miss certain things and the such at this time. I was bad to begin with but I imagine I will be much worse for a time.

Bare with me.

[davcbow]

Dont this thread go into the around the league forum?

[spectre]

Sorry I missed this Spectre. I would not have posted this if I had seen your thread.

Today is exactly 1 week since my mom and best friend passed away at 66 years of age. I guess I am a bit off due to that.

You can always have this thread deleted.

I am just trying to find some sort of normalcy in my life again. I am not looking for sympathy I am just explaining how I miss certain things and the such at this time. I was bad to begin with but I imagine I will be much worse for a time.

Bare with me.

Sorry to hear that Tex.

And it's not a problem...I'm sure a mod will come along and merge them up.

[teej]

Merged.

And sorry to hear about your loss, tex.

[BobCatsFanInTx]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

As far as this Bobcats team goes I have a feeling that what we saw in the pre season will mean jack squat once the regular season starts. I say that after 20 games of the regular season our Bobcats team will be at or near 500%. On the other hand I don't think the Hornets pre season issues are a mirage. Look for the Hornets to be at least six games under 500 20 games into the season. Maybe they pick things up but I do see slow start.

For them chemistry is already an issue and that alone can cause problems for a team.