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There is a point in every marriage when you start getting tired of one another. After seeing each other every day for many years, you really start getting on each other's nerves. You start wondering if this is all there is, and whether this is really enough.
Let's say your spouse doesn't play the pick-and-roll very well. And his hands are small and he doesn't always catch the basketball cleanly. And he misses close to half of his free throws. And he sometimes has trouble getting motivated. And his offensive moves look like they were designed by Mr. Roboto.
Then, if you're the Charlotte Bobcats, you might just overlook all of Emeka Okafor's good points – the career double-double average, the durability, the certainty that his name would never show up on the police blotter – and trade him to New Orleans for Tyson Chandler.
That's what the Bobcats have all but done. This trade only needs to be finalized today before Okafor goes the way of the old Charlotte Hornets and disappears with George Shinn into the Big Easy. And Chandler – three inches taller, less durable and more agile – leaves a team that has been trying to trade him for months to come try to help the Bobcats make their first playoff appearance in 2009-10.
Good deal or bad deal?
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.
So I would say this is a worthwhile gamble for the Bobcats. On its face, it's not a good deal. But I think it ultimately will become one (and it certainly clears out a lot of salary space down the road).
But there is one major caveat – Chandler's health. The Bobcats' doctors better work him over in the pre-trade physical. Chandler would already have been traded to Oklahoma City this year except that he failed that physical because of a bad big toe.
Let's put it this way: Chandler can be more of a difference-maker than Okafor, but only if he is healthy. Okafor hasn't missed a game in two seasons. Chandler missed 37 last season.
To me, this trade provides evidence that coach Larry Brown got frustrated enough with Okafor that he just didn't feel like he could win with him in the middle.
For all of Okafor's smarts – he was an academic star at Connecticut and carried a dictionary with him on the road – his basketball instincts were suspect. His numbers were pretty, but the Bobcats never went anywhere with him. And it's not easy to come up with a list of, say, Okafor's three best moments as a Bobcat.
Chandler, though, can also be a tease. He and Okafor were born just four days apart, and both will turn 27 before next season begins.
Chandler (7-foot-1, 235 pounds) at least will be better-equipped to defend Orlando stud Dwight Howard. But Chandler's numbers are worse than Okafor's, even though he had Chris Paul at point guard in New Orleans.
Another big factor to this trade: Okafor's guaranteed contract runs far longer than Chandler's. If Chandler doesn't work out, the Bobcats can go get somebody else in a couple of years. But they are about to get out of a contract that paid Okafor like the all-star I don't think he was ever going to be.
Still, Okafor is a classy guy, and he has all but left the building. That's a little sad. But it would be a whole lot sadder if the Bobcats had won anything worth winning during his five seasons here.
