Charlotte
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Emeka Okafor will not play in Connecticut this upcoming season but there will be plenty of opportunities for Huskies fans with access to automobiles and gas stations to see him in neighboring states. One of Okafor's first games will be an exhibition in New Jersey on October 19, though his first real nearby NBA game will be in Boston on November 12.
The only other game in Boston will be March 4, 2005. On Boxing Day, December 26, Okafor will make his first appearance in Madison Square Garden. He will make his last appearance of the season there the day before Valentine's day, on February 13, 2005.
He will visit the Meadowlands only once, on February 25.
So there will be a handful of opportunities for UConn fans to see Okafor nearby. And if the playoffs get crazy, the Bobcats might visit Boston, New York, or New Jersey at least two more times.
TEAM NOTES
The Bobcats have released their 2004-2005 season schedule.
Michael Persinger ofThe Charlotte Observeranswers some frequently asked questions: The NBA isn't new here, but the Bobcats seem to be trying to separate their image from that of the Hornets.The Bobcats created some excitement by trading up to get Emeka Okafor in the draft. Team president Ed Tapscott says season-ticket sales and suite sales are going well, though he hasn't given any numbers to support that statement. The team is popular on our Internet site, www.charlotte.com. Based on their summer league performance, I expect coach Bernie Bickerstaff will have them playing hard every night. Will that translate into reader interest similar to what the Hornets had most of their time here? We'll see, but I expect it will. The Observer will be with the team, home and away, every game. Rick Bonnell will be the team's first beat writer. The Bobcats often will take a spot on the front that would have gone to something else since the Hornets left, which will make our decisions about story presentation more difficult.
The Associated Press writes inThe Charlotte Observer: The U.S. men's Olympic team lost most of a 14-point fourth-quarter lead against a Turkish team missing Hedo Turkoglu, one of its two NBA players, before winning 79-67 Sunday... The Charlotte Bobcats' Emeka Okafor did not play.
John Jeansonne ofNew York Newsdaywrites: Brown's team of volunteers is surprisingly small, with only one true center, incoming NBA rookie Emeka Okafor, but Brown insisted, "I like my chances."More and more, so does the rest of the world.