Greg Oden

[JMAC3]

With the Bobcats heading into the offseason they should have two picks just outside the lottery. I think that we should forget about drafting a big in a draft class that is really lacking quality center. Every post player in this years draft is most likely a projected power forward. Instead of taking a lesser talent to fill a need I would much rather load up on quality wing players. I would take any two of these guys with our first two picks---Tyler Honeycutt, Kawhi Leonard, Alec Burks, Perry Jones, Terrence Jones, Jordan Hamilton. Then with our second rounder grab a decent value pick with a backup point guard, foreign player or center prospect like Keith Benson. I really like Demetri Mccamey as a backup point guard in the second round.

Then as free agents we should try and target Greg Oden and offer him about 6 million per year for three years or so. Then grab Sonny Weems for about 4 million for 2 years. Resign Kwame and Cunningham. Maybe try and package Boris with Carrol clearing up more cap room for a late first round pick and an expiring contract.

Charlotte Roster Breakdown
PG- DJ, Mccamey, Livo
SG- Hendo, Burks, Weems
SF- SJax, Honeycutt, Weems
PF- TT, DJW, Dante, Najera
C- Oden, Kwame, Diop

Then depending on how well the team is doing you can look at trying to trade Jackson at the deadline. I mean honestly this would put us in a really great place for the future. Our bench would be a force to be reckoned with. Even if we traded Jax we could cover his minutes with Honeycutt, Burks, and Weems. Our second unit would be really young, but Mccamey is a really good passing point guard for this unit and white could clear out post for Kwame. with Mccamey facilitating to Honey and Burks on the wings.

[Diop]

you forgot Diaw. I don't think Portland will let Oden go unless we really overpay.

[ohara]

One of our picks will be in the Lottery, not outside of it, as there is nno way this team will catch Indiana. Queston is, will the Bucks and Pistons pass us. A Western team may pass our record as well. We will pick somewhere between #7-#10.

First option for me would be Kanter if we can get him. But that would have to be a bit of luck getting him at #7. I think the next player we would likely look closely at would be Kemba Walker, unless for some reason one of the Top 5 slipped down to us. Not seeing that happen. There is a chance that Leonard or Hamilton could still be on the Board in the #15 - #17 range, if we can get lucky with NO falling on hard times at the end of the season. If that happened, and we were to get lucky with landing Kanter, it would be a most successful draft for Charlotte.

[bobcats3wallace]

I'm not against Oden. However we absolutely cannot throw loads of money at him. I would put a 3-4 million dollar cap on ANY contract we sign him too and it must be a 3 year deal. Nothing atrocious because until he prooves he can play without getting injured, he is useless. he has shown he can play though with the time he has been healthy. He would be a nice addition down low IF he could stay healthy. I would go for it.

As far as Kanter goes, I think it's HIGHLY unlikely he drops anywhere past 5, which we have no prayer of getting that high up.

[BobsBuddy]

Greg Ogen? Are you kidding me? He is another McMay waiting to happen.Check out his medical record! Kanter maybe but we will probably have to trade both picks and a good player to get him?He may or maynot be worth the investment.
Ilike the following:
If there is a way we could get Chandler Parsons 6'9" 215 SF Florida with our first pick with the idea that we would trade Jax and our second pick in the 2011 draft for an expiring Centers contract and 2012 first. I think we would be better financially and rebuild for the future. trade checker 5852752 Jax and Najera to La Clippers for Kamen. Jax Has 2 years left on contract and Kamen has 1 which will free up money a year earlier. If we resign Kuwamee, add Kamen and Diop as our 3rd option we would be set at center next year and have money to sign free agent the next year and have a late teen/early 20 first round pick in 2012.

[bobcats3wallace]

:lol: Greg Ogen? Are you kidding me? He is another McMay waiting to happen.Check out his medical record! Kanter maybe but we will probably have to trade both picks and a good player to get him?He may or maynot be worth the investment.
Ilike the following:
If there is a way we could get Chandler Parsons 6'9" 215 SF Florida with our first pick with the idea that we would trade Jax and our second pick in the 2011 draft for an expiring Centers contract and 2012 first. I think we would be better financially and rebuild for the future. trade checker 5852752 Jax and Najera to La Clippers for Kamen. Jax Has 2 years left on contract and Kamen has 1 which will free up money a year earlier. If we resign Kuwamee, add Kamen and Diop as our 3rd option we would be set at center next year and have money to sign free agent the next year and have a late teen/early 20 first round pick in 2012.

Chandler Parsens probably won't even be drafted, why the hell would we take him with our first pick? I'm a huge florida gator fan, and I love parsens, but he is a facilitator in the NBA, much like Diaw. We need a go to scorer type. If we want him we can grab him AFTER the draft, not in the top 15!!! Jeeze, what are you smoking?

If you sign Oden to a small contract, there is very little risk to bringing him over. So you won't sign Oden for small money, but you will throw our first pick ( top 15) away to draft Parsens? Makes no sense.

[dmutombo321]

When healthy, Oden is a defensive stalwart, rebounding and shot blocking force in the same class as Dikembe Mutombo (just more foul prone). The problem is that he has shown no propensity to stay healthy and has already sustained season ending injuries in two of his first 3 seasons. Even the one season where he was "healthy", he missed over a quarter of his games to injury. I have a bad feeling that he might not even be in the league 3 years from now. Moreover, Portland has given every indication that the intend on overpaying to retain him. I think it would take alot more than $3mil per to snare him and with his medical history, that would be too big a risk IMO.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the only young FA center we'll be able to afford is Spencer Hawes. This is admittedly underwhelming but its reality. To all of the people who moan and groan at the mere suggestion, I'm all ears for any alternatives; since we won too many meaningless games, Kanter and the other Euro center will likely be gone before we pick. We dont have sufficient cap room to lure a Marc Gasol. And Kwame, who's nearing 30 isnt a long term answer and we may lose him to a higher bidder anyway as he's only earning the minimum and will be due for a raise. That would leave us with Diop who may not even be healthy himself.

Provided Hawes could be had reasonably for $4-$5mil per year, charlotte should do it. He's younger than Oden and even younger than a few of the upperclassmen declaring for the draft this summer. At 22 yo, he would be like us having another first round pick. He's slow footed and lumbering but he rebounds, blocks shots, has a good jumper, an above average post game and is one of the best passing centers in basketball.

Philly fans seem to differ on what his ceiling is with some projecting a young brad miller and the more pessimistic sticking to just a servicable plug at the 5.

People forget that Chris Kaman never even averaged double figures until his 3rd year in the league and never averaged over 12ppg until his 5th season. $4-$5 mil per year would be a minimal price to pay for Hawes, a low risk, high reward player. And even if he never developes further, he'd still be a reasonably paid servicable starter with no major health concerns who would fit in with our impending youth movement.

Highlight videos are to be taken with a grain of salt of course but these do highlight some of his skillset:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw-g0Lsaeu8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3cLkTZp ... re=related

[captaincrunk]

^ What makes some games meaningless and some others fruitful? Would every game up to and including game 7 of the finals be meaningless if we lost that game 7?

[dmutombo321]

Here's my metric, which i just incidently posted on another thread just a couple minutes ago:

I'll take a lotto pick over a playoff bid every year until such time when we actually have a realistic chance to beat someone to advance. Once its apparent we've reached that level talent wise, I'll eagerly root for us to win every game we play. And even if we fall short and lose in a closely contested first round match up, I'll still be fine with that since we werent just fodder spinning our wheels like we were last year against Orlando.

There are a number of old school Charlotte Hornets fans like myself who feel this way because we watched 2-3 Hornets teams who had a legitimate chance at making the NBA finals. Now the odds of those teams winning titles were still slim with legendary teams like the mid 90s Knicks and Jordan Bulls standing in the way. But they were players and their odds were exponentially higher than any of these Bobcats teams.

I think Jordan aspires to eventually be in the same class as SA, DAL, LA, OKC, BOS, MIA, CHI and ORL are this year. Those 8 teams are in a tier of their own and everyone else is JV. Obviously only one of them can win the title but the fans of all those teams have something to be excited about because, respectively, they all have legitimate shots. Once the Bobcats have ascended into the ranks of teams like this (and the Hornets were there on a couple of occasions), they will have arrived.

Until then, they need to focus on building responsibly through the draft and mid-major Free Agency to reach this point and resist the temptation of taking shortcuts.

[countryboi]

aint oden going to be a FA this off season? i wouldnt mind bring him in but its going to cost ya

[JMAC3]

Kanter is more a power forward than center as many people think he Al Horford, but he will be a top five pick. Why would we take him at the deepest position on our team. We have absolutely no wing players. I would throw money at Oden because he would solidy our center position if we could get him. He would be a huge defensive presence and 12 pts and 10 boards a game easy is his floor if he plays. He is a number one pick who could sign for 6 million a year. I would use our mid level exception on Sonny Weems. Weems would give us a really nice scoring punch off the bench. Augustine is only legit starter for the future so why would we draft Kemba when we have so many holes to fill. I think Burks is a good lottery pick because he is gonna be better than Hendo at SG and then Honeycutt as the future SF can be picked with the hornets pick after they lose in first round playoffs. Harrison Barnes will be gone before we pick, Terrence Jones has a slow and unorthodox release. Kawhi Leonard is like a Gerald Wallace type player, but I think we would be better to grab a guy who has an offensive game. Leonard is a great rebounder, but once Jax leaves we will need points. I think David Lighty would be a good pick in the second round because of his defense and length. Lacedarius Dunn would be instant offense off bench for a second rounder. McCamey is a really poor mans Deron Williams but would be a good backup to DJ. Etwaun Moore is a lot like Nolan Smith but will go in the second round for some reason. Nolan Smith would be a good pick too, but he is a combo guard so Im not sure if I would like that.

[Marvel]

Screw you guys, i'm going after Kanter/Kaman.

[Walt Cronkite]

Im not stoked about this idea. We don't seem to have a Suns-esque training staff. I have to think any money we'd spend on Oden would be a loss due to injury.

[doc.end]

6M per year? And there was time this board could believe how many bad MLE contracts we have. Not that long time ago. We already have Diop. No need to double that big-center-sitting-on-injury-list position. We even have underachieving former No.1 pick too.

[Diop]

Dikembe321's post was sensible and realistic, Oden is a massive risk medically and we probably couldn't get him anyway because Portland can't afford to let their number 1 pick walk just in case he does turn out well.

I didn't mind Hawes when he was at Sacramento, but haven't heard much good from his time at Phillie.

But could our coaching staff be the right mix to toughen him up and improve his game? If we can get him for the MLE, I'm all for it.

[doc.end]

You guys are crazy. Nobody know how new cap rules will look like and you want to offer MLEs just for the lulz. That would be slapping Crash in the face. No gamble on bigs till we unload what we have already. Please.

[Jaruff]

I'd sign Oden to do a porno but that's it. We built this franchise around a banged-up guy once; we don't need to do it again.

[JMAC3]

IF thats the case of not spending money until we unload our other contracts we might as well forfeit the rest of games until Carrol and Diop are off the books. We need to start rebuilding now. That involves taking risks and drafting you talented guys. We do not have a franchise player for the future right now. Augustine, Hendo, and Tyrus are all questionable starters on the bobcats let alone a serious playoff contender. If Oden were to play he could easily be a top five center in the NBA.....6 million is not even whole lot of money for a starting center in the NBA. He is still really young and obviously he has had injury problems, but so does everybody for Portland. I think he would sign somewhere else just to get a fresh start and out of this injury prone shadow. We are going to have to give Kwame close to 4 or 5 million to continue sucking. Why not take a chance on Oden what is a better option and somebody who would actually come to Charlotte especially if we take David Lighty his friend from Ohio State in the second round. Our front line with Thomas and Oden would lead the league in blocks, and Augustine might get some assists with somebody who can finish when fouled cough couch Kwame. Just use money from Pryzbilla expiring contract to sign Oden. Im not so sure Portland will be dying to resign him after he has barely played for them. Also, with Oden blocking shots it would lead to more run outs for Augustine to use his speed and hit Hendo for Dunks and possibly the super athletic Honeycutt if we got him. We could turn into a really good fast break team if we draft well and sign Oden. Augustine, Hendo, Honeycutt, Tyrus are all athletic and run floor well. Throw in a guard who can get buckets off the bench....Burks, Dunn, or Marshon Brooks and this team has a new identity and youth. With more draft picks to come.

[doc.end]

IF thats the case of not spending money until we unload our other contracts we might as well forfeit the rest of games until Carrol and Diop are off the books. We need to start rebuilding now. That involves taking risks and drafting you talented guys...

I didn't read further because you are missing the point. If you want to draft franchise player or to be able to sign him, that's just one more argument for not signing Oden. Rebuilding shouldn't mean gambling becuase you just got more cap room to play with. That would be the best way to start rebuilding again in near future. We need to start rebuilding now but spending money is not the way. Unless you are a Chicago Bulls' supporter then I could see what you want Bobcats to do.

We have some nice young pieces and potentially up to 5 first round picks in next 3 drafts and limited ability to have cap sapce till 2013. Why do you want to damage those assets by bringing some washed up veterans or guys with bad knees is beyong my understanding. Picks won't get better if we win few more meaningless wins preferably to get swept in first round again. Prospects won't get better by sitting on the bench neither the club will get a better read on them that way.

With Augustin - Henderson - possibly frustrated Jackson - Diaw being Diaw - Kwame we are going nowhere right now (I hope) so we just have a chance to test and probe young talents (the more holes in lineup the better) if for nothing else than to gather a strong bench, getting needed starters via draft with some luck (3-5 picks, don't start the Bobcats can't draft BS) and even if not then we would have the room to sign FAs in 2013. Or trading picks for players in 2013 as the last resort (yes we can, if Portland one wouldn't hit the protection).

[fatlever]

i agree with doc on this one... gambling on oden would be a risk that is too great. if we missed on oden it could set us back another few years. even with his injury history i still think he wouldnt be cheap. unless his contract is set up so that the team has a team option after 1 year then i wouldnt even consider him. just way too risky. plus, i dont think the upside is worth the gamble. even when healthy he hasnt shown the skills to warrant his hype.