Tyson Chandler and Emeka Okafor close to being swapped

[Sunburn]

Just heard on PTI, a deal is close to being done that would send Tyson Chandler to the Bobcats for Emeka Okafor. According to many sources, we could have had Chandler for Wallace. Instead, we bought Wallace out for financial interests. What do you think about Chandler now probably going to Charlotte?

 

[Mainstreet]

I assume the Suns are content to find a veteran minimum player to fill out the roster, either a big man or another PG. The same needs as last season. The dollar rules.

I found it interesting the Nash article at azcentral written by Paul Coro dated 7-27-09 this comment was included.

When last season ended, Nash expressed a desire publicly for the Suns to obtain agile, active big men.

"You look at all the good defensive teams and they have big guys who come out and hedge hard on pick-and-rolls and are active," Nash said today. "That's an area we can improve in. Robin (Lopez) has got the talent and desire to do that. Channing has the willingness to do that as well. That's an area that Steve Kerr has talked about addressing."

Where are those agile, active big men. I have trouble believing Nash thinks Lopez and Frye are the answer. Nash talks about talent, desire and willingness. IMO, this is wishful thinking or organizational spin.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Wow. Seems to me that Okafor is the much better prospect at this point.

 

[Mainstreet]

Another trade that makes Kerr look... what shall I say... asleep at the switch. I didn't know Emeka Okafor was on the table.

 

[mojorizen7]

Sort of a headscratcher. Okafor has 4 yrs left at $10.6
Okafor is the better player at this point but I thought the HORNETS were trying to dump salary.
There seems to be something missing from this report.

 

[SunsTzu]

This is why I wish the Suns would have held off on buying out Wallace. They should have waited for things to develop and could have possibly ended up with Okafor(assuming the Hornets wanted the money savings more than they wanted him).

I wasn't a fan of the Wallace/Chandler deal because I thought Chandler was washed up and his post defense was never very good. Even though Okafor has some injury problems too he is the type of guy that could potentially anchor a defense if healthy.

 

[dodie53]

NO can have Okafor,
imo,
he's overpaid.

 

[HooverDam]

Thanks for paying attention Kerr! I wouldve love to have had Chandler or Emeka, but don't worry we've got Lopez and Frye manning the 5 spot!

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[asudevil83]

Sort of a headscratcher. Okafor has 4 yrs left at $10.6
Okafor is the better player at this point but I thought the HORNETS were trying to dump salary.
There seems to be something missing from this report.

IMO NO has two options:

1.) dump as much salary as possible

2.) unload deadweight salary for players and that can and will contribute.....spend money and compete, keeping Chris Paul happy.

they look to be choosing to compete.

although, this may be a precursor to another trade in which they unload a guy like Peja for an expiring or smaller contract.

 

[JoRain]

although, this may be a precursor to another trade in which they unload a guy like Peja for an expiring or smaller contract.

Yeah, they wish. NO would love to get rid of Peja, its just that theres no takers. He has one of the worst cotracts in NBA at the moment, along with Eddy Curry. He's untradeable.

It's hard to say who's wins in this trade, as both of those guys are injury prone. Also Larry Brown openly questioned Okafors passion for the game.

 

[krazyasiankid]

And to think that most of the NBA broadcasters were tipping the Magic choosing Okafor over Dwight Howard on Draft Night. Lucky they didnt... Still... Okafor is still a bust.. Considering his draft position.

Our Front office has no clue about anytihing.... Why not shop around Wallace some more..Rather than buying him out? I mean its not as if it was the last day of free-agency...

I'ld rather pay Okafor 10 mil a year, who will be playing, rather than pay Wallace 10mil to Sign with the Pistons..

 

[NastyOne]

If this deal gets completed Steve Kerr and Robert Saver will look like real idiots.

Say what you want about Okafor being a bust because of how high he was drafted, and how good Dwight Howard turned out to be when both were supposed to be on the same level. But the guy is a legit starting center in this league, even though he never completely reached his top potential of being a 20/10 guy thats also a defensive monster.

He can still rebound and block shots with the best of them and hes not completely useless on Offense. And thats all we really need at center right now to make us a playoff team again.

He would have been the perfect fit to help improve alot of our weakness on the boards and defending the paint.

If NO gets Okafor for just Chandler, that tells me that we had no interest at all in trading Ben Wallace to improve the roster. But only took him on to buy him out and save some money. Cause a competent GM would have known about Okafor possibly being available in a salary dump trade. And if Charlotte takes on Chandler to get out of Okafor's contract, they surely would have jumped at a trade for Ben Wallace.

NOH probably had the worst offseason out of all the west playoff contenders, and now all of a sudden they jump right back into contention with this move. And they were supposed to be hurting financially! But i guess their Owner decided winning was more important.

This entire franchise is becoming a joke. How long before Robert Sarver is thought of as the new Donald Sterling, and we are the laughing stock of the league like the clippers were in the 90's.

Everytime i think it can't get any worse something else happens that shakes my faith in this organization.

Now i fully believe that this is Amare's last season with us no matter how plays.

If he starts the season going for 30/10 he still won't get his extension and will probably get moved for a expiring contract, a couple of guys on rookie contracts and draft picks. Basically a trash package that Kerr and Sarver will talk up and act like we just got gold and how this deal is good for our future.

 

[elindholm]

If this deal gets completed Steve Kerr and Robert Saver will look like real idiots.

Say what you want about Okafor being a bust because of how high he was drafted, and how good Dwight Howard turned out to be when both were supposed to be on the same level. But the guy is a legit starting center in this league, even though he never completely reached his top potential of being a 20/10 guy thats also a defensive monster.

He can still rebound and block shots with the best of them and hes not completely useless on Offense. And thats all we really need at center right now to make us a playoff team again.

He would have been the perfect fit to help improve alot of our weakness on the boards and defending the paint.

If NO gets Okafor for just Chandler, that tells me that we had no interest at all in trading Ben Wallace to improve the roster. But only took him on to buy him out and save some money. Cause a competent GM would have known about Okafor possibly being available in a salary dump trade. And if Charlotte takes on Chandler to get out of Okafor's contract, they surely would have jumped at a trade for Ben Wallace.

NOH probably had the worst offseason out of all the west playoff contenders, and now all of a sudden they jump right back into contention with this move. And they were supposed to be hurting financially! But i guess their Owner decided winning was more important.

This entire franchise is becoming a joke. How long before Robert Sarver is thought of as the new Donald Sterling, and we are the laughing stock of the league like the clippers were in the 90's.

Everytime i think it can't get any worse something else happens that shakes my faith in this organization.

Now i fully believe that this is Amare's last season with us no matter how plays.

If he starts the season going for 30/10 he still won't get his extension and will probably get moved for a expiring contract, a couple of guys on rookie contracts and draft picks. Basically a trash package that Kerr and Sarver will talk up and act like we just got gold and how this deal is good for our future.

Let's wait and see whether the Chandler/Okafor trade happens, but if it does, this is pretty spot-on.

 

[TucsonDevil]

Now i fully believe that this is Amare's last season with us no matter how plays.

If he starts the season going for 30/10 he still won't get his extension and will probably get moved for a expiring contract, a couple of guys on rookie contracts and draft picks. Basically a trash package that Kerr and Sarver will talk up and act like we just got gold and how this deal is good for our future.

If Amare desires to leave, I hope that Kerr and Sarver would be able to get something in return at the deadline for the future! As it stands now, we are about the embark on a near impossible season and won't have a draft pick to show for our suffering.

 

[Mainstreet]

If this deal gets completed Steve Kerr and Robert Saver will look like real idiots.

Say what you want about Okafor being a bust because of how high he was drafted, and how good Dwight Howard turned out to be when both were supposed to be on the same level. But the guy is a legit starting center in this league, even though he never completely reached his top potential of being a 20/10 guy thats also a defensive monster.

He can still rebound and block shots with the best of them and hes not completely useless on Offense. And thats all we really need at center right now to make us a playoff team again.

He would have been the perfect fit to help improve alot of our weakness on the boards and defending the paint.

If NO gets Okafor for just Chandler, that tells me that we had no interest at all in trading Ben Wallace to improve the roster. But only took him on to buy him out and save some money. Cause a competent GM would have known about Okafor possibly being available in a salary dump trade. And if Charlotte takes on Chandler to get out of Okafor's contract, they surely would have jumped at a trade for Ben Wallace.

NOH probably had the worst offseason out of all the west playoff contenders, and now all of a sudden they jump right back into contention with this move. And they were supposed to be hurting financially! But i guess their Owner decided winning was more important.

This entire franchise is becoming a joke. How long before Robert Sarver is thought of as the new Donald Sterling, and we are the laughing stock of the league like the clippers were in the 90's.

Everytime i think it can't get any worse something else happens that shakes my faith in this organization.

Now i fully believe that this is Amare's last season with us no matter how plays.

If he starts the season going for 30/10 he still won't get his extension and will probably get moved for a expiring contract, a couple of guys on rookie contracts and draft picks. Basically a trash package that Kerr and Sarver will talk up and act like we just got gold and how this deal is good for our future.

This is a really good post.

In regard to Wallace, I think the Suns bought him out quickly because they were afraid he might change his mind about a buyout. These type of decisions is where a good GM earns his pay. A good GM always knows what's on the table.

This might be similar where the Suns traded KT and two first round draft picks to save money not realizing he had positive trade value.

 

[Ollie]

Larry Brown couldn't stand Okafor, so it makes sense for the Bobcats (will be "fun" watching Diaw become an All-Star next season ) but really weird for the cost-cutting Hornets.

A rebuilding city can always use more bricks, I guess.

 

[Mainstreet]

Okafor would have made the Suns a legitimate contender. He need not have been a star with the Suns.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

This is a really good post.

In regard to Wallace, I think the Suns bought him out quickly because they were afraid he might change his mind about a buyout. These type of decisions is where a good GM earns his pay. A good GM always knows what's on the table.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4361334

Done and done. Amazing, New Orleans, a team with worse revenue issues and a team that was supposed to be unloading significant contracts, magically upgrades their team, and does it by getting creative and making a deal. Now New Orleans is back in contention in the west.

Amazing how the Suns FO ******* and moans about the Gasol deal, and a deal like this, yet does NOTHING about it, and while Kerr among others talks about getting an active defender at the 4 and 5 spot, our starting center at this point will be either Frye or Lopez, both laughably poor options. Anyone out there looking for a minimum contract? Hopefully Sarver can break into the piggy bank and scrape up a couple pennies so we can make it happen. Just absolutely disgusting.

New Orleans proves again that you don't necessarily have to be rich to make moves to improve the team, but you have to be clever. The Suns are neither these days, which is a frightening combination.

It amazing how quickly the Suns have gone from one of the premier NBA franchises to an afterthought. Kerr can cry all he wants about salary constraints and other issues, but the bottom line is, this is a results league, and his results have been pathetic. When the Warriors are playing you like a fool, you can begin to see how sad the situation is. Unfortunately, when you're main focus in the bottom line, and winning comes second, your results usually reflect that.

Anxiously counting down the days until Sarver sells the team, he's the worst thing that ever happened to the franchise and there really is little hope until he is gone.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Are we really freaking out about Emeka Okafor? He's an average player on a bad team signed at $12 million per for the next five seasons. That would really be brilliant, having a quarter of the cap (or considerably more than half if we re-sign Amare) being occupied by Okafor when Carmelo, CP3, or Deron Williams enter free agency in 2012.

Since the organization is refusing to rebuild, I have no problem with their current course of action which is treading water until the 2012 FA bonanza. Sure as hell beats taking on a bunch of bad long-term contracts in a futile attempt to take on the league powers.

 

[binkar]

Are we really freaking out about Emeka Okafor? He's an average player on a bad team signed at $10 million plus for the next five seasons.

Since the organization is refusing to rebuild, I have no problem with their current course of action which is treading water until the 2012 FA bonanza. Sure as hell beats taking on a bunch of bad long-term contracts in a futile attempt to take on the league powers.

I don't agree with people "freaking out" about Emeka Okafor, and he isn't an amazing player, but he is above average. But that's not the point. Average players can still be of huge importance. No one is arguing that Okafor is the kind of player that your build a team around. However having a center who has averaged 14 points (which he probably wouldn't with us), nearly 11 rebounds, and nearly 2 blocked shots during his career is EXACTLY what this team needs. I am not big into getting pissed and whining about the shoulda, woulda, coulda crap, but I understand why having Okafor on the Suns would be extremely appealing.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

You're right that production would help this team in the near future, probably get us up to the 5/6 seed in the West while Nash is in uniform. Unfortunately after that we'd then have Okafor getting paid up to $13-14 million a year from 2012-2014 when he's on the downside of his career and the organizations needs money to replenish the talent supply.

Big picture here folks.

 

[Ollie]

Are we really freaking out about Emeka Okafor? He's an average player on a bad team signed at $10 million plus for the next five seasons. That would really be brilliant, having a quarter of the cap (or considerably more than half if we re-sign Amare) being occupied by Okafor when Carmelo, CP3, or Deron Williams enter free agency in 2012.

Since the organization is refusing to rebuild, I have no problem with their current course of action which is treading water until the 2012 FA bonanza. Sure as hell beats taking on a bunch of bad long-term contracts in a futile attempt to take on the league powers.

:notworthy

Okafor is a stone-handed undersized center, a slightly above average player (and thus overpaid). According to his head coach, he seems more interested in Pilates and yoga than basketball, and he's not even a good fit for the Hornets on offense (High screen-and-roll and alley-hoops with Paul? Seriously?).

 

[shazaam6]

I'm freaking out........................................................

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Are we really freaking out about Emeka Okafor? He's an average player on a bad team signed at $12 million per for the next five seasons. That would really be brilliant, having a quarter of the cap (or considerably more than half if we re-sign Amare) being occupied by Okafor when Carmelo, CP3, or Deron Williams enter free agency in 2012.

Since the organization is refusing to rebuild, I have no problem with their current course of action which is treading water until the 2012 FA bonanza. Sure as hell beats taking on a bunch of bad long-term contracts in a futile attempt to take on the league powers.

My frustration isn't with Okafor, it's with the overall direction (or lack thereof) of the franchise.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

My frustration isn't with Okafor, it's with the overall direction (or lack thereof) of the franchise.

I'm obviously concerned as well, although I do think that many teams who are patient right now are going to get some bargain deals later this summer much like the patient baseball front offices did earlier this spring. Not sure the Suns are going to be one of those teams but jumping into the fray right now is somewhat foolish.