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Bobcats re-sign Okafor
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT J
Charlotte Bobcats General Manager Rod
Higgins announced last week that the team has
re-signed restricted free agent forward/center
Emeka Okafor to a multi-year deal. Per team
policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"It was important for us to get a deal done,"
Higgins said "Securing Emeka demonstrates
that Bob Johnson and the rest of our ownership
group are committed to building a winning
franchise in Charlotte. Any time you have a
player who consistently ranks among the
N'BA's best in rebounding and shot blocking,
you want to keep a guy likejhat around."
The second overall pick in the 2004 NBA
Draft, Okafor earned 2004-05 NBA Rookie of
the Year honors, becoming just the third play
er from an expansion team to win the award.
The 6-10 Okafor has played in 248 games over
four seasons with the Bobcats, averaging 14.3
points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots.
"This is a great opportunity forme to con
tinue my NBA career^Vith the franchise that
selected me back in 2004." Okafor said. "The
Bobcats and the entire Charlotte community
embraced me from day one. and it's exciting to
enter this season with a Hall of Fame coach
and teammates who are committed to win
ning."
Okafor is one of only four NBA players to
average a double-double in each of the last
four seasons, along with Tim Duncan, Dwight
Howard and Steve Nash. He is the Bobcats
all-time leader in rebounds, blocked shots and
double-doubles, and ranks second in scoring,
field goal percentage and minute^- played.
Okafor will enter the 2008-09 season with
active franchise-record streaks of ?3 consecu
tive games played and 92 consecutive games
started. ?
Okafor averaged 13.8 points, 10.7
rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots during the
2007-08 season, while shooting a career-high
.535 from the field and playing all 82 games
for the first time in his career. Okafor ranked
sixth in the NBA in rebounding, tied for 10th
in both blocked shots and double-doubles and
File photo
The Bobcats were able to re-sign Emeka
Okafor, the club's first draft pick.
12th in field goal percentage. He was one of
13 players in the NBA to average a double
double for the season.
After becoming the first draft pick in
Bobcats history, Okafor averaged 15.1 points
and 10.9 rebounds in 2004-05, leading all
rookies in both categories. One of 11 NBA
players to average a double-double for the sea
son, he ranked third in the league in offensive
rebounds, fourth in rebounds and double-dou
bles and 14th in blocks. Okafor was a three
time winner of the Eastern Conference Rookie
of the Month award en route to Rookie of the
Year honors.
Hill
from page B1
keep leaving yourself
those 15 to 20 yard chip shots.
If you 're better at 90
to 120 vards. then a
that's where you
should try to leave
your approach shot
to the green. In life,
why would you take
on a job that you
know you're inca
pable of doing?
Ynii'rp invt ^Pttinu
yourself up to be
fired Be realistic
and choose something that
you can excel at. Realize too
that patience, practice and
commitment can improve
your chances in both situa
tions.
Golf is a game that
requires absolute positive
thoughts,. If you have a six
inch putt but think that you
can't make it, you probably
won't. And. negativity comes
in a lot of obscure ways. For
instance, a friend of mine
says; "I don't want to miss
this putt on the right side, so,
I can't putt the ball too far
right." Look at how negative
that thought is. Needless to
say, he won't miss it on the
right side but he probably will
miss on the left side. Either
way, he's likely to miss the
putt.
I played with a guy at
Tanglewood the final day of
the Forsyth and he was a ball
of negativity. I tried to con
sole him by telling him that
no matter what he does he
shouldn't get too upset about
it because he doesn't know
what the other guys in his
flight are doing. You can't
control what anybody else
does but you should be able to
control what you do. Being
positive about every thought
gives you the best chance to
realize positive results. You
can t get too high when you
make an eagle or birdie and
you can't get too low when
you make a double or triple
bogey. A lot like life. Don't
get too down on yourself
when you make a. mistake.
Ask for forgiveness and move
on. Life like golf is a series of
peaks and valleys How well
you live your life or play golf
depends on how well you han
dle those peaks and particu
larly those valleys. Both are
unavoidable occurrences. You
have to maintain a flat line
emotional pattern.
Even though I think I
could have scored a lot better
I still enjoyed the fellowship
and the challenge of the com
petition. Every time you com
pete you should learn some
thing about yourself that you
can improve on. I saw people
throwing clubs in the lake at
Tanglewood, banging clubs
on their bags at the Lake and
cursing (not me though).
Those types of behaviors
won't help your score at all.
They don't work
well when you re
trying to make it in
life either.
The Forsyth
tournament com
mittee is to be con
gratulated for their
great work in put
ting on this event
Pollack
for the 60th straight
year. I think one of
those guys on the
committee, John, has been
there since day one. He does
n't look a day older than 90.
God bless you.
Ernie Pitt is the publisher
of The Chronicle and the head
of the N.C. Association of
Black Publishers. Reach him
at erpitt@wschranicle .com.
Parkand's Pollack getting
national attention
'Preciate that Mr. Pitt.
That's my man. I need to men
tion Parkland's rising senior
girls basketball standout
J'Nfia Pollack.
She was invited to play in
the Summertime Invitational
Tournament last week in Las
Vegas. The July 25-27 event
was hosted and directed by
longtime boys' event coordi
nator Joe Keller of Phenom
Basketball Inc.
The event was tabbed as
the first-ever elite girls camp
for Phenom 150. The camp
had talented players from
California to South Dakota.
Pollack was chosen to play in
the camp's all-star
game .which was made up of
40 of the camp's 160 players.
Pollack, who made the
starting lineup for the Red
squad really impressed a lot
of the scouts and coordina
tors. They noted that she was
a slick 6-1 left-hander with a
smooth style of . play. Shout
out to Pollack for doing her
thing. There's no doubt she's
well on her way to some big
things. Check her out this
year.
Anthony Hill is the sports
editor for The Chronicle. He
can be reached at 722-8624
(ext. Ill ) ? or
ahill@wschronicle .com .
AUGUST SPECIALS
PLAY ALL DAY
Monday-Friday (Excluding Holidays)
(provided space available )
$37 Championship (includes cart & green fee)
$25 Reynolds (includes cart & green fee)
$27 Ch
$20
Pm,'?.TrfK
cart & green fee)!
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& linn.
Mil 21-U
EWDCD
Photos by Jeff Sides
Makaila Roberts stretches ahead of the pack during a hurdle race.
Tri-City
from page B1
Additionally, Roberts fin
ished fifth in the Sub-Midget
girls 80 meter hurdles and
eighth in the Sub-Midget girls
high jump.
Ashlei Clodfelter, a rising
senior at North Davidson high
school captured Tri-City's
second gold medal by out
throwing the competition in
the Young Wpmen's (17 - 18
year old) javelin competition.
Clodfelter had temporarily
been bumped into second
place during the competition
before unleashing a throw of
1 18*8. Despite being one of
the shorter competitors,
Clodfelter combined her
sprinting speed, strength and
high level of skill to beat the
competition. One of her com
petitors commented as they
were walking to the awards
ceremony: "Did that little girl
just beat all of us?"
According to the final scores,
Clodfelter did just that.
Charles Lindsay
(Parkland, '07) finished sec
ond in the Young Men's 400m
hurdles. After having only the
fifth fastest time going into
the finals, Lindsay upset the
field by employing an attack
ing style hurdling technique
to earn a silver medal.
Tri-City's youth boys (13
- 14 year old) earned a trip to
the podium by placing sixth in
the 4x800 meter relay. The
team of Perry Cabean, Steve
Stowe, Emmanuel Patton and
Nick Colebaugh ran a nice
time of 9:01 . Stowe ran a per
sonal best split and passed
three kids before passing the
baton to Colebaugh, who kept
the sixth place position as five
teams finished under 9:00.
Here,Ashlei Clodfelter performs the long jump event.
"This was one of the
fastest fields ever in AAU'\
said Cabean. "Last year, 9:01
might have won it."
Ila Mumford showed the
rest of the nation that she is a
force to be reckoned with.
Mumford finished seventh in
the Sub-Midget girls long
jump with a leap of 13' 10".
Mumford, who is coached by
North Forsyth's Alan Rice and
mom Michelle Mumford,
jumped to her personal best
during this competition.
The talented Bryce
Sherman finished seventh in
the Young Men's 100m with a
time of 10.87 and concluded
his outstanding career as a
Tri-City athlete. Also, Denard
"Hurricane" Williams, Jr. fin
ished seventh in the Sub
Bantam boys (9 year old.)
high jump by clearing the bar
at 3'6". The victory gave the
young and talented athlete his
first All-American honor.
Note: Select details from
the meet and quotes were pro
vided by Tri City Relays
coach Perry Cabean.
1
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(across from Evergreen Cemetery)
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