Uncontested Shots: The Latest on Okafor, Chandler, Iverson, Warrick, and LeBron

I apologize for not filing an Uncontested Shots this past Friday but there really wasn’t much to write about. Lamar Odom is still unsigned, Ramon Sessions, David Lee, Nate Robinson, and Glen Davis have received no love on the open market yet and the Mavs have added Drew Gooden and Tim Thomas.

On to today’s Uncontested Shots, or should I say, “Things I was thinking about while watching the Grizzlies Hamed Haddadi go nuts on some poor Lebanese dude at the Jones Cup.”

One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s…Trash

Maybe that’s a little harsh. But Monday’s Emeka Okafor-for-Tyson Chandler trade is a classic case of two teams just trying to shake things up for the sake of shaking things up.

I don’t hate either guy. I just can’t keep thinking about Larry Brown’s comments that Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer posted about Okafor at the end of the season:

“I always tease that (Okafor) has an ‘A’ in stretching, Pilates and yoga. I’d like him to have an ‘A’ in basketball’. He’s got to work at his game. There’s no better guy than him. I want him to have a passion (for basketball) because it ends so quickly. He analyzes everything he does. I think he’s just got to play.’’

I just don’t understand why the Cats would be willing to trade for DeSagana Diop’s horrible contract but trade away Okafor’s.

Will Okafor’s game improve at the same rate that his contract escalates? Usually when someone brags about a player averaging double-doubles it’s because they don’t want to tell you that the guy averages only 13.2 points per game and just barely 10 rebounds.

His career averages of 14 ppg and 10.7 rpg are both lower than his averages as a rookie (15.3 and 10.9). That doesn’t really bode well for a guy going into the second year of a six-year, $72 million deal.

Chris Paul has the ability to make any center better so Okafor should post better numbers. But that’s my point. Why not go after someone that other teams have given up on that’s signed for a lot less money? Okafor is a much better player than Samuel Dalembert but Dalembert only has two more years left on his contract. Okafor is a better than average center making superstar money.

One thing I know is that I’ll never utter the phrase “Untradeable Contract” again. Not after seeing Shaq, Zach Randolph, Ben Wallace, and Okafor all get traded this summer.

Almost Accurate

I read both parts of Bill Simmons thoughts on the NBA off-season and a lot of what he wrote I agree with. The one thing I find funny is his take in Part I on the Lakers being worse with Ron Artest than they are on Trevor Ariza. It’s funny but less than three months ago here’s what he had to say about Trevor Ariza:

“For all the wide-open shots Ariza takes, he should be at 40 percent minimum. He’s just not that good.”

Now Ariza is a “total steal” and “the quintessential athletic swingman who can play defense and hit 3s in the playoffs” and “the best defensive swingman (who) doesn’t care about his numbers”.

About a month ago, Fansided’s LakeShowLife asked me, as a Lakers season ticket-holder, what my thoughts were on the Artest-for-Ariza move. Here’s what I wrote:

“My wish list for the Lakers after they lost to the Celtics in the 2008 Finals was that they got older. I wanted to see them bring in one or two veterans hungry for their first ring. That team had one player on its roster in his 30s (Derek Fisher) compared to the Celtics who had nine. They never added that veteran but fortunately for them they played an Orlando Magic team sorely lacking in Finals experience and eliminated them in five games.”

I think Mitch Kupchak felt the same way. He realized that Orlando was the perfect match-up for his young but experienced squad and figured his team might have to play the Celtics or Cavs in next year’s Finals.

What Simmons forgets to remember is what Carmelo Anthony did to Ariza in last year’s Western Conference Finals. Anthony’s scoring log: 39, 34, 21, 15, 31, & 25.

What the Lakers got in Artest is a guy that might not be able to handle the smaller quicker shooting guards but can still handle the bigger small forwards and even a few power forwards.

Simmons mentioned that Artest had one of the worst shooting percentages amongst those who qualified but that has a lot more to do with how many shots Artest had to take. His 1,037 shots were the third-highest total of his career. Surely his numbers would have been better had Tracy McGrady not missed 47 games.

With Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, Artest’s numbers should better resemble the 43 percent he averaged when he played alongside Reggie Miller and the still-in-his-prime Jermaine O’Neal.

Notice how Simmons also only mentioned Artest’s two-point shooting percentage. Why? Because Artest’s 40 percent shooting from downtown was ninth-best among small forwards.

LeBron to the Clippers?

In Part II, Simmons brought up the possibility of the Clippers going after LeBron James next year with all the cap room they’ll have after moving Zach Randolph.

It’s funny but a year-and-a-half ago here’s what I wrote on Bleacher Report about the Clippers and LeBron James after the Clippers let Corey Maggette and Elton Brand go and made the trade for Marcus Camby. This was in response to a Knicks fan who thought the Clippers had acquired Camby to trade him to the Knicks:

“The Clippers won’t trade Camby. He’s a dream come true for them. A great defensive player that creates space for Kaman and he has a cap-friendly contract that expires in 2010 when the Clippers are suddenly the league’s biggest player. By not having to re-sign Brand or Maggette and getting Camby, the Clippers will have Baron, Kaman, Thornton and Gordon under contract with a lot of cap space. Say what you want about the Clips not being a realistic destination for free agents but LeBron would leave behind the greatest legacy if he could turn the Clippers into a World Champion. They’re not the Lakers but they also play in the 2nd largest media market in the country.”

It’s still a long-shot but the Clippers are probably the only team with a ton of cap space in 2010 that would be instant contenders the moment they added LeBron. You can’t say that about the Knicks, Nets, or Heat.

Overlooked Transaction

One move that was made last week that really went below the radar was the Grizzlies decision to rescind their qualifying offer to restricted free agent Hakim Warrick. In doing so the Grizzlies now have about $9 million in cap space.

While there aren’t any available top-tier free agents that would choose to play for one of the league’s worst franchises there is the possibility that the Grizzlies additional cap space will allow them to help facilitate a trade involving Carlos Boozer.

The Jazz have the Knicks first-round pick in next year’s draft so the Grizzlies might be able to acquire both the Knicks pick as well as another first-round pick from whatever team tries to acquire Boozer in a trade with Utah.

For example, the Jazz could send Boozer to Miami and the Knicks pick to Memphis, the Heat could send Udonis Haslem and James Jones along with their first-round pick to Memphis, and Memphis could trade the aforementioned Haddadi and a huge trade exception to Utah.

Sure the Jazz would prefer to hang onto the Knicks pick but it’s a small price to pay for not having to pay the luxury tax on Boozer’s contract.

In doing so, the Grizzlies would have their own pick, the Knicks pick, the Heat’s pick, as well as the Lakers first-round pick from the Pau Gasol trade.

Keep your eye on Memphis because right now GM Chris Wallace is probably the most popular man in the NBA.

As for Warrick, he might be the Lakers number one target if Lamar Odom decides to go to Miami.

The Answer to What?

While the Grizzlies and Clippers seem to have lost interst in Allen Iverson I’m beginning to think the best move Iverson can make is to sit out the start of the season and wait for the best situation to arise.

With so many teams over the cap there will be many more suitors for Iverson if he’s willing to sign for a prorated amount of a team’s mid-level exemption because those teams would only have to pay the luxury tax on that prorated amount.

That could be Iverson joining a team to replace an injured starter or it could be as a sixth-man on a title contender that would give Iverson maximum visibility throughout the playoffs to show that he’s a good soldier and still capable of playing at an elite level.

Uncontested Shots will run every Tuesday and Friday from now until at least the start of the season. For up to the minute updates on all free agent happenings and random brilliant thoughts and observations follow Andrew Ungvari on Twitter.