The Charlotte Bobcats are finalizing a trade that would send Emeka Okafor to the New Orleans Hornets for Tyson Chandler. New Orleans is seen as getting the better end of this one (at least on the court), as Emeka is a career 14 and 11 guy to Tyson's 8 and 9 (even his best season was 12 and 12, the only time he averaged more than 10 points a game). Financially, the Bobcats shed a long-term commitment and pickup a medium term one: Why make this deal if you're the Cats? Well, Tyson Chandler may not score much, but he is an elite defender. Chandler is possibly even more limited than Okafor. He’s taller and more agile, probably a better one-on-one post-defender. Skill-wise, that’s where the differences stop. Chandler is equally as inept as Okafor on the offensive end, scoring mostly on lobs from Chris Paul and putbacks. Like Okafor, Chandler has no low-post game of his own and no ability to hit a mid-range jumper. Despite the fact that Okafor has been more productive over his NBA career than Chandler, I've not been a huge Okafor fan for the past several years. I would argue that he never really improved since that standout rookie season. He was one of the only drafted Bobcats left [besides Gerald Wallace from the dispersal draft] but it would be a whole lot sadder if the Bobcats had won anything worth winning during his five seasons here. Now they just need AI and playoff contenders.
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