<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">What are the results? ?Generally speaking, I guess in layman?s terms, the one thing that has been concluded is that all the doctors seem to be in agreement that there is nothing in his back that ever needs to be fixed, he is never going to need back surgery. It is basically the formation of the bone, a piece of bone, in the bottom of his back Whether it was at birth or was irritated through playing is tough to tell. The consensus is it is conceivable that he could have back pain from time to time, so he will have to do strengthening and stretching. Pushed to give me an answer on whether this will ever require surgery, is he ever going to have a problem, all doctors seem to be in accordance that he?ll never need surgery, it is not anything of that magnitude. We?re taking that as pretty good news.? How special can they be? ?I think Emeka is a special person, like in the way Ben Wallace is a special person. Some times those attributes are a little tougher to quantify in an environment like this. I think Howard is a special talent. When they do those high school tours, playing 17 games in 20 days, it is common for the quality of play to break down towards the end. You have guys playing one out of every three games. Watching those games, he keeps up the integrity of his game. Even on day 19, game 16, he is contesting every shot, getting every rebound, running the floor in transition every time. From a talent standpoint in that kind of way, he is a special kid. Obviously he is younger and we know a lot less about him as a kid. We?re anxious to get him in and talk to him.? Why does everyone talk about Howard?s potential but not much about Okafor?s? ?I think because people have a tough time talking about upside in a guy that isn?t offensive. I sort of like empirical data. The most transferable statistics from college to the NBA historically, by far are rebounding and shot blocking. If you rebound and shot block at a high level in college you are going to do it in the NBA. There are very few examples of where a guy is suddenly unable to shot block or rebound. Scoring, assists, how you fit into the fabric of a team, those are the wild cards. Because Emeka is less of an offensive player is makes it tougher for people to see him in that multiple all-star type of light.? Do you think Okafor can be an offensive threat? ?I spoke to Jim Calhoun for the 20th time yesterday and he sure does. It?s interesting, because we read this chronological 36-page report we have of scouting Okafor starting in his senior year of high school. From the very beginning it is, ?this guy can block shots and rebound in the NBA right now but he is not going to be a great player, he can?t score.? You read, and read, and now he can score. It doesn?t look like he can score, but he had 28 last night. He got a little defensive at dinner last night when I asked about scoring. He said, ?I think I averaged 22 points in the Final Four, did that not look pretty enough when I did it?? Jim Calhoun, being in the Big East, seeing a lot of guys go through there developing into pros, actually compares him favorably to Alonzo Mourning, which is pretty lofty. The point he was making though is that his offensive development has been so rapid. Two years ago he said this kid offensively couldn?t play at all. In two years, he just worked so hard, and was so committed to it, that he really feels strongly that the offensive part will come.? What is missing, what does he need to add? ?I ask every kid that, I asked him that last night. Coming to the league and making the adjustment, what is your biggest anxiety? If you fail, why are you going to fail? I?m always curious how accurately kids size up their own strengths and weaknesses. I think he knows it?s that offensive side of his game. He is a little mechanical, it doesn?t come natural to him. He rattled off a bunch of guys that were mechanical, and didn?t come natural to them and they found a way. He said, ?if a way can be found, you can bet I?m going to find it.? So he is an impressive kid in that regard.? </div> I go even more for Okafor now, about 90% let's see what people have to say about the 18 yrs old kid. Read everything is worth the reading to get a really good feel. Wesbroid Comments Davis Comments Okafor Comments
The "Davis Comments" link is messed up. Here is the working one... The article is pretty good. Okafor seems like a pretty nice guy. Can't wait for Dwight to work out. At this point, I gotta go with Okafor...
I'm starting to lean a little bit to Okafor, but let's see tomorrow with Dwight before I make my decision.
I've been with Okafor since the start. But my concern is will they still want to play for the Magic now that Tracy wants to leave as bad as they wanted to when there was a chance he would stay.
I honestly think we will be a much better team when Tmac does get traded. We will be more complete. We will still get a couple of really nice players for him, IMO.
