<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Emeka Okafor: I?d like to let you guys know how happy I am to be here. I?m getting a real nice feeling and a real warm welcome. I?m looking forward to being part of this new franchise and new family and having a lot of fun with the people here in Charlotte, North Carolina. What does being selected to play for the Olympic team mean to you? It?s a great honor. It kind of came out of nowhere, I wasn?t really expecting it. I?m going to have an opportunity to do a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Who else can say they are an Olympian at age 21? The fact that I will be with a lot of NBA players before the season starts means that I can learn a lot from them and I can start the season off with a running start. Take us through what you went through mentally when you realized you were going to be selected by Charlotte. Up until 7:30 p.m. when it started, I was calm as can be. After I heard Dwight Howard?s name, I knew that my name was going to be called by Charlotte but I still felt jittery. I was like, ?Oh, dang. This is for real. This is not a test run. I?m actually about to be drafted,? Once I heard my name, I got up and hugged my parents and started walking, I was like,?Dang, I?m finally here. Let?s get it started.? Knowing the history of basketball in Charlotte and now that you?re part of an expansion team and you have a new arena and there?s a lot of excitement now that you?re on the team, are you feeling extra pressure? Not at all. I feel like I can handle it. It?s all fun to me. If wasn?t challenging and there wasn?t any pressure, where?s the fun in that. There?s a lot of buzz, a lot of uncertainty and that?s what makes things worth doing. What are your strengths on offense? I?m a good back to the basket player. I?m very strong once I get myself situated. I feel comfortable with my back to the basket. My face-up game could use some work, which I plan to work on. </div> It looks like Emeka is looking forward to play on the team, I think he will contribute alot to the bobcat team. I am glad that he is looking to aprove in baskebtall along with a team that will learn alot.
It's a Good thing for the Bobcats that happy, we don't want a player on our team who doesn't like the city he plays for. Hopefully Emeka can contribute right away while learning more and more and getting better and better. Good luck Emeka.
Emeka has nothing but an upside to the Bobcats, he can do everything and he says he's been working on his offensive touch(I read in an article, will post if I can find it).
I am glad to see that someone in the NBA is working hard at there skills, you do not see much of that at all from the Rookies.
We will need him to be able to contribute on the offensive end right away, so this is a good sign for us. I think Emeka is a workhorse, he was super smart in school and his basketball IQ is great aswell. Let's hope he doesn't stop working now, or his back injury will catch up to hiM!
I managed to catch the press conference this morning, Emeka certainly didn't look too upbeat about joining the Bobcats franchise. Looked quite dissapointed he would be starting his NBA career off the back of a NCAA title on an expansion team. I just hope Charlotte can be competive next year, many feel the Sixers 9 win season could easily be broken. Okafor will be able to make a sudden impact on both ends. He will get the offense started with his defense, with the right free-agent signings the Bobcats won't be as bad as people expect. They will still most likely be the worse team in the NBA but as long as they compete.
From the way he was talking it sounded like he was glad he was playing for the Bobcats. I guuese i was wrong.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">From the way he was talking it sounded like he was glad he was playing for the Bobcats. I guuese i was wrong.</div> Same here. I've only been hearing good things from Emeka about joining the Bobcats. Emeka is disappointed he wasn't the No. 1 pick in the draft, but he is looking forward to playing for the Bobcats from what I have heard. It would be really out of character for him to be disappointed about whichever team he was going to play for. It's not like he's Eli Manning... <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I just hope Charlotte can be competive next year, many feel the Sixers 9 win season could easily be broken.</div> Many people said that last season about the Utah Jazz, and look a 42-40 record... Now I know the Bobcats will not get anywhere close to Utah's success last season but there will definitely not be a repeat of the Sixers 9 game win season. Just look at the division they are in...
TO me winning only 9 games the whole season is like Impossible, you have to work at losing. I think the bobcats have the heart to win some games.
Word man, I don't think winning only 9 games in an 82 game schedule is even possible anymore. If that were to happen I would lose respect for the team, coaches, management and players. From my point of view Emeka seemed happy to join the Bobcats...
When he was at the press conference he is proablly so tired of the Media is tired and proablly wants to go home agian, he could of just been tired and maybe he is happy with the bobcats. Who knows?? Your going to ask him.
Normally when a player is joining a team he is all smiles and states how happy he is to be there. I certainly didn't get that impression with Okafor. You put yourself in his shoes, he is coming off a NCAA title and comes into a franchise who could be lucky to win 15-20 games. He knows that the Bobcats won't be decent for at least 3 seasons. Not the best situation for him to jump into.
I know he came from a great season in college but sometimes you have to play the game for the future. Sometimes you have to suck it up and play to get better not, he is a rookie, No rookie gets what they want, he has to work to get better than he can start b*tching about what sucks. He just has to suck it up and play.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Normally when a player is joining a team he is all smiles and states how happy he is to be there. I certainly didn't get that impression with Okafor. You put yourself in his shoes, he is coming off a NCAA title and comes into a franchise who could be lucky to win 15-20 games. He knows that the Bobcats won't be decent for at least 3 seasons.</div> Okafor was a possible No. 1 pick in the draft. Do you think any No. 1 pick believes they are going to go to a team that is going to win many games? Besides, the season hasn't even started. How can you make such definite predictions? There is free agency you know. If the Bobcats sign the right free agents, it is possible they could win anywhere around 30 games. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Not the best situation for him to jump into.</div> Oh, it's a great situation for Okafor. They will build the team around Emeka.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AllNet:</div><div class="quote_post">Normally when a player is joining a team he is all smiles and states how happy he is to be there. I certainly didn't get that impression with Okafor. You put yourself in his shoes, he is coming off a NCAA title and comes into a franchise who could be lucky to win 15-20 games. He knows that the Bobcats won't be decent for at least 3 seasons. Not the best situation for him to jump into.</div> I didn't get that impression either, but I don't think it means much, I know Okafor might be dissapointed he won't be winning more than 30 games every year for the next couple of years but I think he understands and is happy that the team is being built around him, meaning they want him to be their franchise type player. I'd love to jump into this kind of situation. Play on a weaker team and learn the NBA game, your opponents and such, they gradually get better players around you and go far.
