Denver Needs To Go After Emeka Okafor!

[KRAYZIE]

As you all may know, I'm pretty high on this dude and I really believe that he is the perfect replacement for Marcus Camby. My initial feeling about the Camby trade was something like "WTF Camby for nothing?" just like many of you,
here's an example:

Originally Posted by A.M.G.

Soooooooooooooo... Marcus Camby for nothing starting to really sink in yet? If you need more time, I'll understand.

but what we really gained in the Camby trade, which could actually help make this team even better is the $10 million Trade Exception. Think about it, Emeka's game for a long time has been compared to non other than Marcus Camby. If he were to fill Camby's role on the roster, then it's a definite upgrade for the team. He can do everything that Camby can, block shots, rebound, better man-to-man defender, etc... Not to mention that he is alot younger, cheaper, and better than Camby offensively. Okafor is only making $7 million next year and if Denver were to trade for him, then they could use their TE which would cost them no money. Plus he is an expirer too, which can help Denver in the future with all their salary woes. If Denver wants to make the playoffs next year in the stacked Western Conference, then I believe that they really need to go after him.

The only problem is, who do we give up in a trade for him? would Charlotte be willing to take Kmart/Nene's contract? or would we have to lose Kleiza + draft picks to get a guy like him.

Good News:
http://www.charlotte.com/507/story/722943.html

As things stand now, Emeka Okafor will be an ex-Charlotte Bobcat by the end of next season, if not sooner. Negotiations between Okafor and the Bobcats are at an impasse, an informed source told the Observer, with the team offering less now than the $12 million-plus annual salary it did a year ago. A restricted free agent, center-forward Okafor now wants a sign-and-trade to another team, the source said, and is not inclined to remain with the Bobcats long-term. Okafor's alternative would be signing a one-year qualifying offer with Charlotte, worth roughly $7 million, then becoming an unrestricted free agent in July 2009.

He wants a sign and trade! c'mon Warkentien, go after him.

Denver Nuggets 08-09:
AI/AC
J.R./Atkins
Melo/Kleiza
Nene/K-Mart/Kleiza
Okafor/Hunter

[CaptainOwlClub]

i understand your reasoning, but i really dont like okafer to fit the nugs

okafor does not imo complement kmart & nene, and to be honest he is not as good of a player as either and is just as injury prone

if we were able to add a 3rd big guy of real nba caliber i think is has to be a player who can shoot the ball and spread the court a little- the problem we have now is 4-5 defenders clogging the lane- okafor would just be another player who would not be able to keep the double teams off melo

imo we have few choices to add the perfect big
-rasheed wallace
-bargnani
-krstic

i think any of those 3 would be a much better fit than okafor- my first look if it was up to me would be to trade 3 picks and an expirer for bargnani- portland thinks they are the team of the future but they wouldnt even be in the same league as
-a pg (hinrich or draft one next year like brandon jennings)
-sg-jr smith
-sf-carmelo
-pf-bargnani
-c-nene
-6th man- klieza & kmart

- melo & nene would have all the space in the world to operate w 2 of jr, klieza,and bargnani spreading the court

as far as the 10 million dollar trade exemption- i think you could only use that now on a top line player- hinrich, billups, rasheed, or josh smith- josh smith is the perfect example to me of a situation where you would just take the huge talent over a player who would complement melo &the rest perfect- smith would be a little too much the same as kmart and kind of melo, but he is so good that i would still do it

ps- the perfect replacement for camby? we already gave him away- ALEXIS AJINCA the "unneeded" 20th pick in the draft- i couldnt avoid seeing ajinca as anything worse than a top 5-7 talent in this last draft-

[KRAYZIE]

You do realize that you can't use the TE on Rasheed & Billups right? because they both make more than $10 million.

[CaptainOwlClub]

Originally Posted by KRAYZIE

You do realize that you can't use the TE on Rasheed & Billups right? because they both make more than $10 million. I'll add more later, gotta go.

i do, i assume that a peice would have to be added- does the trade exemption not apply to the 20% rule in a trade?

i guess i also misunderstand what getting okafor in a s&t would be about- is that 7 mill his qualifying offer? isnt his whole point in getting a s&t to find a team to pay him 12+mill?

mostly my thought is that i really dont like the idea of commiting to okafor long term- maybe if it was that 1 year 7 mill, i just assumed to get him in a s&t would require a long-term commitment, and doing that would be way too much like the kenyon martin deal

[KRAYZIE]

Originally Posted by CaptainOwlClub

ps- the perfect replacement for camby? we already gave him away- ALEXIS AJINCA the "unneeded" 20th pick in the draft- i couldnt avoid seeing ajinca as anything worse than a top 5-7 talent in this last draft-

I'm sorry, but you would have to be a fool to think that a guy like Ajinca is the perfect replacement over Okafor. As of now, Ajinca is not only hurt(left knee sprain), but has proved absolutely NOTHING in the NBA. Okafor meanwhile, has, the dude gives you 14 ppg, almost 11 rpg, and 2 bpg, that right there is Marcus Camby stats!.
And please, if he really was top 5-7 talent, then he wouldn't have fell that deep(20th) in the draft.


You do realize that you can't use the TE on Rasheed & Billups right? because they both make more than $10 million.

Originally Posted by CaptainOwlClub

i do, i assume that a peice would have to be added- does the trade exemption not apply to the 20% rule in a trade?

I'm not familiar with the 20% rule in a trade crap, but yeah you can add cash and include draft picks.

Note this exception is for single player trades only, though additional cash and draft picks can be part of the trade.

I don't see Denver adding more money or draft picks just to acquire Rasheed or Billups, remember they're trying to save money, not spend.

Originally Posted by CaptainOwlClub

i guess i also misunderstand what getting okafor in a s&t would be about- is that 7 mill his qualifying offer? isnt his whole point in getting a s&t to find a team to pay him 12+mill?


mostly my thought is that i really dont like the idea of commiting to okafor long term- maybe if it was that 1 year 7 mill, i just assumed to get him in a s&t would require a long-term commitment, and doing that would be way too much like the kenyon martin deal

I don't think it's about money for Okafor because he was offered a contract worth around $60 million, which would've payed him $12 million a year last year, but turned it down. I know that alot of players have only one thing in their mind and it's, money, money, money, but Okafor has never said anything about wanting more money. Maybe rather than being payed $12 mil a year on a crappy team, he wants to join a good team with less pay?.
Bottom line: He doesn't want to be in Charlotte.

And yeah, that $7 million is his qualifying offer and has nothing to do with S&T. However, he could sign that qualifying offer worth $7 next year and ask for a trade, which would make him a free agent in 09-10(I prefer this ), but not likely.
I'm guessing that if they do decide to a new S&T then the new contract probably won't be worth as much as the previous one($12 mil/year) that was offered to him last year, but here's a big problem if he chooses to a new S&T:

As if this Emeka Okafor situation won’t get complicated enough already, I’m told by front-office folk from two other NBA franchises that an NBA salary-cap rule – base-year compensation – makes it challenging to trade a restricted free agent for fair value.

Base-year compensation hasn’t been much of an issue here because both of Charlotte’s NBA franchises – the Hornets, then the Bobcats – tend to be frugal, which means they’re often under the salary cap. That typically reduces the impact of base-year comp.

Here’s the deal, in as simple a way as I can explain this: When a player signs a contract that dramatically raises his salary (as Okafor seemingly would in any sign-and-trade), he can’t be traded for at least the next six months for a player of comparable salary.

Essentially a team acquiring Okafor would need the cap room to absorb his entire new salary, while sending back roughly half that to the Bobcats.

Of course, there are ways around this: Teams can add other players into a trade to balance the salaries.

They never make these kinds of things easy, do they?.