Clippers could lure Bobcats' Okafor

LAS VEGAS -- Busy as the Charlotte Bobcats are here, with 16 players to coach, it doesn't take long for the conversation to wind back to the most prominent player who's absent:

Emeka Okafor.

The staff hangs on the latest gossip just like fans do. A couple of them asked me in the hallway the other night whether I thought Okafor was in Los Angeles, being schmoozed by the Clippers. I said I thought the Clippers were busy recruiting the Atlanta Hawks' Josh Smith, but in the end, what do any of us know?

That's the imprecise world of NBA free-agency.

I'd say there's an 80 percent chance Okafor is a Bobcat next season and a 50 percent chance he's around for the long haul. It takes courage and conviction to turn down the $60 million-plus Okafor did last summer, to become a restricted free agent.

Now he gets to enjoy being wooed by the Bobcats and others.

Any negotiation can get prickly, but this one has been courteous. Okafor went out of his way last season to say he appreciated what the Bobcats offered and that his preference is to stay with the team that drafted him four years ago.

Still, there's no sense reaching free-agency unless you're open to changing teams. The flavor of the moment is the Clippers, whose loss of Elton Brand leaves them short a power forward but holding abundant salary-cap room. I'm told it would be no problem for the Clippers to start a contract in the $10 million to $12 million range, so with annual raises they could offer at least as much as the Bobcats did.

The Clippers had Smith in for a visit, and he seems to be their priority. Smith is smaller than Okafor, but more of a runner and leaper. You sign Okafor to get more rugged, and the Clippers already have a big-bodied rebounder, center Chris Kaman. Maybe they're thinking Smith's dunking and shot-blocking have sparkle appeal for a franchise always challenged to sell tickets.

Hawks management has indicated it would match whatever another team offered Smith. What else would they say?

The Bobcats' best chance of maintaining some control is for the big money to run out soon. The Philadelphia 76ers used their cap space on Brand. The Golden State Warriors paid up for Corey Maggette, plus an offer sheet to Los Angeles Lakers restricted free agent Ronny Turiaf. Unless the Memphis Grizzlies become big spenders, that leaves the Clippers as the major player.

Bobcats coach Larry Brown has a big stake in this -- who wants to start a makeover by losing your shot-blocker? -- yet Brown's position is to stay out of the fray.

"I have no control over that,'' Brown said. "He's a terrific kid and plays a position where it's really hard to find capable guys ... "I'm sure we'll do what's right, and hopefully he'll be here.''

Translation: What's the point in fretting about someone else's choices?