Okafor's salary scares me a bit. And no I would not be against giving that sort of money to the right player but I just don't think he is that player. Sure he is an interior defender, rebounds, blocks shots but I don't think Okafor and Cousins could play together defensively.
I don't think either of them can guard some PFs. The player that we pair Cousins with need to be able to do all those things I mentioned at the start but he also needs to be athletic, mobile and long enough to guard both PFs and Cs. Someone like Amare would give both Cousins and Okafor fits where as Dalembert could guard Amare.
If they can't play together then all of a sudden that contract of Okafor's becomes a waste of cap space for us because there is no way that you will sit Cousins to give Okafor minutes. He is way too mechanical to be able to give us the sort of versatility that we need from that front court player. The problem is, the sort of players that could fit with Cousins are also integral to their team and there is no way they are getting traded (Noah, Horford, Chandler, Jordan, and Dalembert
).
Its not just a case of picking up a big guy that can block shots. It is also very important whether that player can play with Cousins both offensively and defensively.
