Jul 28, 2009

Hornets Trade Chandler for Okafor

I sit around all offseason waiting for the Hornets to make a move. Brandon Bass? Nope. Glen Davis? Nope. Jennero Paro? Nope? For a while it was looking like the Hornets would enter next season with the same group of injured players that they went with last year, save their two draft picks.

But while I take my summer vacation, the Hornets were working the phones. I get up this morning and flip on the TV to see Hornets acquire Okafor for Chandler on the SportsCenter crawl. Wow. There's no way they only gave up Tyson for Emeka Okafor? I see it again and it's a straight up deal.

Great move for the Hornets, but I'm still not sure why the Bobcats made this deal. Sure, the two players aren't that different, but Chandler is an 8 and 8 guy, while Okafor is a 13-10 player every night and he's been healthy the past two seasons. Chandler, to say the least, has not.

I applaud the Hornets for not standing pat and going out and making a move. Fans have heard rumors that they were looking to make a few moves, but we thought the move would be for expiring contracts and to save money. This one is not a money saving move, but one that should improve the team.

It is unfortunate to see Chandler traded, again. He was a fan favorite when he suited up and his alley oop dunks brought fans to their feet, but he still should have been able to do more. I always thought he should be averaging 15 points and 10 boards in his sleep, but he never put it all together in New Orleans. Hopefully, this new start in Charlotte will help him. The East is now a tougher conference than its been in a while and he'll be battling Shaq and Dwight Howard instead of Tim Duncan and Yao Ming. Good luck to you and thanks for the few years of memories in the Big Easy.

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