The New Orleans Hornets have just upgraded big time on the offensive end of the floor by trading Tyson Chandler to the Charlotte Bobcats for Emeka Okafor. The Hornets have been trying to get rid of Chandler for the last few months(they even unsuccessfully traded him before the deadline only for it to fall through) because he has a high salary and he has low offensive numbers, so they were glad to finally get rid of him. Emeka Okafor gives the Hornets a solid low post scorer whose numbers should improve playing next to Chris Paul plus he still brings most of the defensive grit and toughness that Chandler had. Okafor makes about a million less than Chandler but his contract is longer which gives the Hornets more cap room over the next few years.
This move doesn't make much sense for the Bobcats who traded away their first ever draft choice and all around best player. Larry Brown wanted Chandler because of his versatility on the defensive end and is probably thinking he could turn him into a player similar to what he had in Ben Wallace in Detroit.The Bobcats were on the brink of making the playoffs last year and now they trade away their most consistent player and bring in a guy who has very little range on the offensive end, how does that help the team? Plus Chandler missed significant time last year(which was why the previous attempt to trade him fell through) and he had offseason surgery to help clean up his injury problem.
I'm sure both teams feel like they got what they wanted but I see the Bobcats taking a big step back next season and they will not be close to making the playoffs. The Hornets will improve but the West is deep and loaded and CP3 and Okafor will have to step their games up to another level for them to make any big noise in the playoffs.
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