The first-ever draft pick of the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, Emeka Okafor has been the face of the franchise from day one. In his rookie season, he backed up his lofty status with stellar all-around play that makes him the natural choice for the 2004-05 got milk? Rookie of the Year award.

With averages of 15.1 points and 10.9 rebounds, Emeka was a double-double every night. His 47 double-doubles were fourth most in the NBA, behind only Garnett, Marion, and Nash – pretty good company. The 6-10, 255-pound forward finished the season tied for second in the NBA with 3.8 offensive rebounds, ranked among the league leaders with 1.71 blocks and his turnover average was the fewest of all the Rookie of the Year candidates.

But there’s more… prognosticators before the season were predicting the Bobcats would not win. Some even speculated that Charlotte would break Philadelphia’s 30-year record for fewest wins in a season. Behind Emeka, the Bobcats have surpassed everyone’s expectations and were a competitive team every night.

As a part of BobcatsBasketball.com's season in review series, we visit with Charlotte's outstanding rookie:

On his season: It was fun. It was definitely an experience. I just really had a lot of fun with it. With the way things went this year, I definitely felt like I got better. Now that we've been through things, we have an appreciation for it.

On recording 19 straight double-doubles: I wasn’t really thinking about it much, I was just going out there and playing hard. People around me were making a big deal about it, but I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself and just wanted to make sure my focus was on winning.

On whether there was too much attention on the streak: It was something to talk about. I understood that, but I didn’t want to be caught up in that and I didn’t want it to affect my game. I was having fun out there during my rookie season just doing what I do.

On receiving encouragement from fans: People just said that they appreciated my hard work and were congratulating me and giving me words of encouragement.

On receiving encouragement from other NBA players: Various players would just come up and tell me good work, keep it up. Dikembe Mutombo told me “keep working hard and you’ll go far.” He’s a player I look up to. It was nice that a veteran would acknowledge my hard work and give me words of encouragement and tell me to keep on going.

On beating the defending champion Pistons as an expansion team: That was the second time we had played them in a row and we thought we should have had them at their place. So for us, it was more about proving that we could seal the deal. It just felt good for us to come back and grab a win that we thought we should have had.

On how it felt for the Bobcats to receive league-wide recognition after the win: I just took pride in getting the win. They are a good team and I just felt good about getting a nice quality win.

On beating the Hornets in the first game against Charlotte’s former NBA team: Our perspective was that it wasn’t that much different – it was the same business-like approach. I guess for the fans it was a moral victory. I don’t know. We just went out there and played as hard as we played anyone. I was just happy to get a win.

On his best moment this season: When we beat the Heat at a time when they had the best record in the NBA. They had all their players – Shaq was playing, Dwyane was playing, no one was injured – so there was no excuse they could give. It was just real good to get that win and get some good recognition for how we’ve played and the fact that we come to play every night on the court.

On how his rookie season evolved: I didn’t know what to expect. With an expansion team, I knew that things would be different, but I didn’t have anything to compare it to. I’ve had a pretty enjoyable experience. I can’t complain at all. I’ve had a great time in Charlotte this year and it’s only going to get better, especially with the new arena and everyone having this year under their belt. The future is looking bright.

On whether he exceeded his expectations as far as play: Not at all. I knew it was a definite possibility. I’m the type of person that I go into the situation, see how I fare and then kind of make my expectations from there. I came in and didn’t have the greatest start for the first five games. So, I kind of tweaked some of the stuff I did and tried to break it down. One night, I began to start having success and then I restructured my goals again. I wasn’t surprised by the results. I knew it was possible, just by what means.

On the Bobcats coming together as a team: That’s just natural as you spend more time with each other. After spending this much time together, you are either going to get sick of each other or you are going to get closer. I’ve been on teams where stuff happens and you bicker and fight and have clashes. But this team, it was great. As the season has gone along, everybody has gotten closer. We never had any team stuff. Never had any major arguments. Everybody just meshed real well.

On his relationship with Bernie Bickerstaff and how it progressed: You just really get comfortable with each other the longer time goes. You find a comfort zone. I respect what he does and he respects what I do and it’s just great.

On his expectations for the Bobcats next year: Playoff-bound. We’re going to do it. I really have a lot of confidence in the team and the staff. We’re going to make some great strides.

On having two first-round picks in the 2005 NBA Draft: It’s a building process and we’re going to see what we can get.

On his offseason plans: I'm going to take some time off, let the body heal, recuperate and start working hard for next season.