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I would take Okafor over Noah, as Okafor can really anchor a defense. But you still need to find an offensive four, unless you want to swing Deng at the 4, Salmonella at the 3, and Gordon at the 2.
Sure. But do you want 140 million wrapped up in Deng and Okafor? Thats almost half your cap number per year (24 mil per), on two guys, who are a third or fourth cog in a good team at best. Okafor makes our defense a bit better, but to me, its money in the wrong place. Save that for Rose or a big time free agent. IMO, Noah will be just as good as Okafor in a year or two anyway (2008/2009 : noah was at 6 and 7 w 24 mins per game, while okafor was at 13 and 10 with 34 mins per game).
Id argue that you are better off keeping Noah on a MUCH smaller salary, with almost as much production, which will allow you to put those funds elsewhere.
IMHO, you need to assume Rose will be at 15-20 mil per season down the road, and if we want to be a serious team, we need 15-20 mil available for another premier player to put with Rose (hello amare). Adding Okafor makes that more difficult.
If anything, we should be looking to unload our 6 year, 72 million dollar anchor ASAP (and Im a Deng fan, but i dont want him on this team at 12 mil per year). Not add another one.