Will we ever sign a big name "superstar"?

[W_HAMILTON]

No one, even though you might try to prove it, thought Paul and Deron would be this good quickly, or that Felton would be less than comparable with the other two.

Oh, I can prove it.

If the Jazz thought all three PGs were all similar, and thought their great coaching and tutelage would mold any of those PGs into great PGs, they would have stayed in place, and happily selected whichever PG was going to be the leftover (which would still be Felton).

But they didn't believe that, which is why they traded three first round picks to keep from being stuck with him.

A few years later, history has proven them right.

[amcoolio]

That still doesn't show that they knew that Deron would be good this quickly. Deron actually didn't have a stellar rookie season.

Plus there was no guarantee one of the three PG's would still be on the board at 5. Portland could have made another deal or could have bit the bullet and selected Paul even though they wanted Webster.

[W_HAMILTON]

Why do you dispute "what-ifs" that actually happened, or had a very real possibility of happening, yet use random "what-ifs" that had little -- if any -- chance of happening?

If they wanted Felton, they could have stayed at their current position, or traded up like they did and drafted Felton.

It's obvious they didn't want Felton.

[spectre_]

Stockton chose which PG to pick for Utah (and they probably moved up on his recommendation)...who would know more which PG would work best with Sloan's system? He also worked extensively with Deron in his first offseason.

[zoned unc]

this horse: ees pinin' for the fjords.

[Rich4114]

YES.

See:

http://www.nba.com/bobcats/draft_centra ... 50628.html

And specifically:

(On the Portland-Utah trade) We allowed them to make the deal this morning because we pulled out of it. We feel that we had held up everything long enough, so we called this morning and said we

[Rich4114]

I'm not sure where this thread is going. Everyone here would've picked Paul over Felton or Deron for that matter. Utah was willing to hand over a mid 1st round pick to move up. We would've had to hand over a higher pick plus Portland would only have to drop down 2 spots. I personally would've done the trade because I felt Paul was good enough to warrant it. I was definitely wrong on Deron, I didn't think he'd amount to much.

We can beat this dead horse all day every day though and it's not going to get us anything. I think most people are happy sticking with Felton for now since he's considered in the upper half of NBA PG's, but yes it does sting to have missed out on Paul given how things worked out for us.

[chrbal]

I'd like to ask this more, " will this franchise ever get it?"

Year 1- franchise had 3 young frontcourt players and THAT was their entire rotation. Sure they would swing Wallace over, but come on. Then of course there were the following names on the roster; Tamar Slay, Cory Alexander, Theron Smith, and Jahidi White *this has nothing to do with the fact that I still think the Bobcats should've taken Jumaine Jones, Dahntay Jones, and Juan Dixon in the expansion draft. That and keep Predrag Drobnjak, yeah him, rather then trade him for a 2nd round pick.

Year 2- waited until about Feburary to address the frontcourt problem (just about all of them missed significant time due to injury.

Year 3- Biggest need is at SG, team drafts Morrison. *I'll be honest I wanted the team to take Foye, not Roy and run essentially a 2 PG set. ** something they had been doing since DAY 1. Also Portland got the 27th pick in this draft for CASH CONSIDERATIONS. Now looking at the next 5-10 picks in that draft (27 on), its not exactly a "whos-who" of upcoming stars. But it still would've been nice.

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Yes, I do realize I bring up these ideas more then quite a bit.

[August Us Seazr]

luck, we need to get lotto lucky in years where big name players declare.

We didn't even have the chance to draft CP3 so at least we haven't passed on any stars in the draft.

The Garnett thing was a rarity. These days stars are looking to join forces instead of a team just "building" around 1 really good player. Shaq joined Wade, Garnett and Allen joined Pierce, Shaq joined Nash. It is really tough to compete at a high level in this league without guys that consistently can win a game for you down the stretch.

I know market size makes a difference but not that much. San Antonio is not a huge market but people want to play with Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli so they are always signing solid players.

So i guess i'll go along with the rest. We have to get lucky in the draft. I'm sure it will happen someday, but not anytime soon.

And when we do, we absolutely must have the infrastructure in place to help him grow as a player. By this, I mean the appropriate position coach in place to a) help the transition from college ball to the NBA, and b) whether this player be a point guard, power forward, or center, he needs to continue to grow his skills at an accelerated pace. He must have a lunch pail work ethic. He must be a leader. He must hit free throws at a high percentage. Anything else will depend on the position and is basically gravy.

[Bassman]

Outside of the draft or a trade (hello J-Rich!), it will take an extremely unique circumstance to bring a free agent here that becomes a superstar. Note I said "becomes"....we will never get an existing star to come to Charlotte until we become a regular winning, contending team for championships. Jordan being here has meant ZERO relative to free agents...even when we had plenty of money to spend. Now we're cap poor. We dream of Jamison coming for the MLE because he'd love to live and play in his hometown. Even if that's true, money rules, and Jamison will not be here unless it's a S&T.

[Rich4114]

I'd like to ask this more, " will this franchise ever get it?"

Year 1- franchise had 3 young frontcourt players and THAT was their entire rotation. Sure they would swing Wallace over, but come on. Then of course there were the following names on the roster; Tamar Slay, Cory Alexander, Theron Smith, and Jahidi White *this has nothing to do with the fact that I still think the Bobcats should've taken Jumaine Jones, Dahntay Jones, and Juan Dixon in the expansion draft. That and keep Predrag Drobnjak, yeah him, rather then trade him for a 2nd round pick.

Year 2- waited until about Feburary to address the frontcourt problem (just about all of them missed significant time due to injury.

Year 3- Biggest need is at SG, team drafts Morrison. *I'll be honest I wanted the team to take Foye, not Roy and run essentially a 2 PG set. ** something they had been doing since DAY 1. Also Portland got the 27th pick in this draft for CASH CONSIDERATIONS. Now looking at the next 5-10 picks in that draft (27 on), its not exactly a "whos-who" of upcoming stars. But it still would've been nice.

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Yes, I do realize I bring up these ideas more then quite a bit.

We've made more serious mistakes than those IMO, though yours are good points (and honest ones, I remember people saying Foye was the next Wade, lol)

[fatlever]

i was very high on foye that draft.... i think its still too early to tell with him... he's been rocked by injuries so far.