Okafor is honored as rookie of year

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Back two winters ago, when Bernie Bickerstaff first scouted Emeka Okafor, Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun made a simple promise:
Okafor would always be where he's supposed to be, when he's supposed to be there, doing what he's supposed to do.
That's common sense, right? Except it's not common enough in pro sports, and that character helped Charlotte Bobcats forward Okafor win NBA rookie of the year Wednesday.
"He's very professional, there's not any pretense about him and he already had a [structured] routine. This was something he deserved," said Bickerstaff, the Bobcats' coach-general manager.
Okafor received 77 of 126 first-place votes from media covering the NBA. Chicago's Ben Gordon, who played with Okafor at Connecticut, finished second and Orlando's Dwight Howard, the top pick of the draft, was third.
Bickerstaff believes Okafor's consistency -- he was one of just eight NBA players to average a double-double (15.1 points and 10.9 rebounds) -- grows from his work ethic. Okafor says that's a quality his parents instilled at an early age.
"As long as I can remember, that's just the way I've been," Okafor said at Wednesday's presentation. "Just understanding the importance of other people's time."