Does Emeka Okafor + Chris Paul = Karl Malone + John Stockton?
Chris Paul is definitely going to miss Tyson Chandler, one of his best friends. It’s a tough situation to be in when an important part of any team gets traded, and it’s even tougher when a core part of the locker room gets traded. Paul and Chandler’s ability to know what the other is thinking on the basketball court is an uncommon thing. Teammates that know each other that well do not just shoot hoops together. They’re together on the court and off the court. Their friendship is what helps them improve each other’s games. But the fact of the matter is Chandler’s out and the more talented Emeka Okafor’s in. Can Okafor develop the same chemistry with CP3 and give Jazz fans something to reminisce about?
Chris Paul mentioned he could just lob passes up and knew where Chandler would be. He also said he’s excited about having the same kind of on court connection with Emeka Okafor. Okafor is an extremely hard worker as his 3.75 GPA at UConn can attest. According to his teammates, he’s a pretty nice guy too. Paul and Okafor will put in the time on the court for practice and off the court. This class act duo will do what it takes to make sure when tip-off happens at the beginning of the season, there will be plenty of alley-oops going around in New Orleans. And by plenty I mean 82 games worth that Okafor played last year, not the 45 games that Chandler was able to play in last year. The race for playoff seeding was so close last year, had chandler played all 82 games like Okafor did for the helpless Bobcats then the Hornets could have easily moved up from a 7 seed to a 5 seed. The 5 seed would have pitted New Orleans against Portland in the first round and most likely would have meant a conference semi-finals appearance for the Hornets.
With about 3 months of prep-time available for the Hornets, there s
hould not be any issues that involve a lapse in team chemistry. No botched plays, no missing screens, not many bad shots or stolen passes. Byron Scott will undoubtedly have this team firing on all cylinders when it comes out to compete for an NBA championship this season. This was a crucial characteristic of Sloan’s tightly run ship in Utah during the Stockton/Malone years. Both Hall-of-Famers knew the plays and each other like the back of their hand. Bad passes hardly happened if at all which resulted in more quality plays (and helped Stockton solidify his all-time career assist record of 15,806)
CP3’s disappointment about losing Chandler was expected and unfortunate, but his excitement about playing with Emeka Okafor is something that fans can get excited about. Both of these competitors are excited about learning every aspect of each other’s game and developing that intangible Stockton/Malone-like chemistry, except the Hornets’ tandem should be able to win a couple of championships. Look forward to a completely gelled New Orleans Hornets team from the very beginning and a legitimately strong run for the championship amidst the Boston and L.A. powerhouses. The Hornets can compete.
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