RealGM

Rank them, in your opinion, from best to worst. Here are mine:

#1 (best): 2004 = Emeka Okafor
The fact that we managed to move up from 4th to 2nd without having to really give anything up (Drobniak)

#2 = Jared Dudley
Although we didn't really reap the rewards, he was a great get that late in the draft.

#3 = Ryan Hollins
It's pretty unusual to draft a player at #50 that actually sticks in the NBA. Twiggy gave us some good energy and "I'm a puppy on speed" moments.

#4 - Brandon Wright
Only because we gave him up for JRich - who we needed at the time. In saying that, I still think we gave up too much.

#5 - Derrick Brown
The kid was the 40th over all pick, and while he might only ever be a role player, he still very much looks like a legit NBA'er and like he actually belongs.

#6 - Alexis Ajinca
Jury is still out, but he's a young kid with a heap of upside. The only way this will be a bad pick is if the future 1st we traded for him ends up falling in the top half of the 1st round.

#7 - Gerald Henderson
Another guy it might be too early to have a good read on, but at this stage he still seems the best of the best considering what was left on the board and what we needed when it was out turn to pick.

#8 - DJ Augustin
Maybe a starting PG, maybe a back up PG, but at worst he is a serviceable PG. The stinger here is passing up on Lopez when he was on the board who would be much better for us today.

#9 - Raymond Felton/Sean May
Felts has been below average but just came off a pretty strong 5th season. May was a total bust. The worst thing is though we know for a fact that those two picks could have been traded for either Chris Paul or Deron Williams.

#10 - Bernard Robinson Jr
We hardly even knew ya!!

#11 - Kyle Weaver
Surprised you didn't stick around considering LB's hard on for 3rd string SG/PG's.

#12 - Robert Vaden
Who?

#13 - Adam Morrison
The less said the better.

How would you rank them?

1 = Gerald Wallace (Expansion Draft so we technically drafted him)
2 = Emeka Okafor
3 = Ryan Hollins (Like Slam said, it's rare to get anything out of a 50th pick)
4 = Brandon Wright (J Rich)
5 = Jared Dudley
6 = Raymond Felton (Forget about who we "could of had", he's been better than many top five picks)
7 = DJ Augustin (Passing up on Jason Thompson was unacceptable but still a good pick)
8 = Alexis Ajinca (Better than Kosta Koufus)
9 = Derrick Brown
10 = Sean May (Showed potential when he was healthy and played)
11 = Gerald Henderson
12 = Kyle Weaver (Underrated due to an injury, sad we traded him)
13 = Robert Vaden (Good college player, netted us some cash)
14 = Bernard Robinson Jr (Average second round pick)
15 = Adam Morrison (Showed promise early but cannot justify using a top pick on a player that plays the same position as your franchise player)

I will just grade each draft and mention a bit about what I recall wanting the Bobcats to do and with hindsight what they should have done.

2004 EMEKA OKAFOR
Grade = B-
Commentary: Strong shot blockers are often cut down to size in the NBA so no one should have been counting on Okafor to deliver lots of blocks per game. His limited offense in the college game should have been a portent of what was to come in the NBA.
Who did I want the Bobcats to pick? Okafor
Who should the Bobcats have picked? Al Jefferson

2005 RAYMOND FELTON & SEAN MAY
Grade = C-
Commentary: Management positioned itself beautifully with two picks and then squandered them on some homegrown talent.
Who did I want the Bobcats to pick? What do I know? I wanted the Bobcats to package the picks to Atlanta and take Marvin Williams.
Who should the Bobcats have picked? Bynum at #7 and Danny Granger at #13

2006 ADAM MORRISON
Grade = F
Commentary: I was a big critic of Morrison. I thought he was too slow and too unathletic for his college game to translate over. He probably is the next coming of Bird. But Bird would get his ass stomped in today's game - just like Morrison did.
Who did I want the Bobcats to pick? Brandon Roy
Who should the Bobcats have picked? Brandon Roy (Rondo is a close second)

2007 BRANDAN WRIGHT
Grade = F
Commentary: We squandered this pick and our cap space to get Jason Richardson. I see this draft as worse than the 2006 draft because I think this move set us back more than anything. Sure you can say we turned Richardson into Bell and Bell into Jackson but we also took on Diaw's contract to boot.
Who did I want the Bobcats to pick? Joakim Noah (I should caveat this that I had no idea Noah's game would translate so well to the NBA. I thought he would be a good big man off the bench and give us energy and length.)
Who should the Bobcats have picked? Joakim Noah

2008 DJ AUGUSTIN & ALEXIS AJINCA
Grade = D
Commentary: This is the only draft where I literally screamed at the TV when the Bobcats made their selection. I was overjoyed when Lopez fell to us and then horrified when we passed on him for Augustin.
Who did I want the Bobcats to pick? Brook Lopez
Who should the Bobcats have picked? Brook Lopez

2009 GERALD HENDERSON
Grade = Incomplete
Commentary: This was a shallow draft and at #13 the Bobcats would be hard pressed to produce a real contributor. The jury is still out on Henderson but things are not looking good.
Who did I want the Bobcats to pick? Gerald Henderson (Yes, I agreed with the Bobcats on this one.)
Who should the Bobcats have picked? Ty Lawson?

BOBCATS if they had gone with my picks?

Emeka Okafor
Marvin Williams
Brandon Roy
Joakim Noah
Brook Lopez
Gerald Henderson

Obviously, things look a little odd since we were consistently needing big men.

BOBCATS if they had the Flux Capacitor:

Al Jefferson
Andrew Bynum
Danny Granger
Brandon Roy
Joakim Noah
Brook Lopez
Ty Lawson?

mezo - great stuff, but i take great offense to one of your statements "bird would get his ass stomped in today's game". that is entirely false. he may not have been quite as successful being defended night in and night out by more athletic defenders of today's game, but he would still be an all-star level talent. his first few years in the league he made the all-defensive teams, he could rebound with the best of any forward in the league and he is still the best passing forward to ever live... oh, and he would still be one of the best 3pt shooters alive. shooting, passing, rebounding, defense... those things will translate from generation to generation. even when bird was playing with a bad back late in his career and he could barely run and jump, he was still unstoppable, because he was smarter than anyone on the court. totally unfair to assume that since ammo was a bust that bird would also not be able to cope with today's game.

carry on... sorry to derail the discussion.

i do agree 100% with the F on the jrich/brandon wright draft. i was not happy about trading that pick, and more importantly all our cap space for jrich, an average sg at best. we bailed gs out. we needed noah and we passed on him. we could have signed someone as good or better than jrich with our space.

best draft has to be okafor by default. he is the only lottery pick who came close to living up to his draft selection, but even okafor was a disappointment compared to the hype surrounding him coming out of college.


pick vs pick value
1. okafor
2. dudley
3. felton
4. hollins

Very good discussion, and it demonstrates the sad state of this team. Our drafts have been poor overall, and talent wins in this league. Okafor was a no-brainer at that time. So many ways we could have/should have picked, but the most glaring mistakes are when you pick players for reasons other than HOW THEIR SKILLS, BODY AND GAME DEMONSTRATES THE CAPACITY TO PLAY NBA BALL!! Morrison was hype and ticket sales; Felton and May were local talents & names but with key concerns about matching up to this level (especially May); DJ was clearly too small in size/body to handle the point in this league, especially considering Lopez was there for the taking; Ajinca had proven nothing when selected, and so far has done nothing, but he still has a chance to show us something this year. Too early on Henderson, but UPS was a steal in round 2 (I was shocked they took the obvious talent for once).

I would say Dudley may have been their best selection value-wise.

You guys forgot elusive JerMareo Davidson. I remember some of you had high hopes.