Who's available?

[Cowology]

Who are the "bad" contracts the Bobcats will likely look to move?

The Bobcats are a small market lottery team and it's been reported they are losing money. Particularly given the current climate it stands to reason they'd like to dump some salary.

Who is untouchable?

Which guys may be available for the right price?

And which players would you like to dump?

Despite the fact Okafor & Wallace are you highest paid players I'd assume you'd like to keep both as they're also your best players. On the other hand Wallace has some medical concerns I'm not sure just how badly the Bobcats need to dump salary.

I'd have thought that Diaw would be a guy you'd wanna move, but he actually played pretty well for you guys. Not sure well enough to deserve $9 mil a year though.

I'd guess you'd like to unload any of Nazr, Diop or Vlad. Would taking on one of those contracts be enough to entice Charlotte into possibly parting with one of your top players?

[Walt Cronkite]

Here's the article that you are referring to: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/bobcat ... 64652.html

As you will quickly see, it's mostly about how Johnson has made poor business decisions (earned a multimillion profit in year one but it was totally offset by his failed C-SET cable channel which also made it so that a lot of people couldn't watch the games/didn't know about them=no fans), not about the Bobcats payroll (4th lowest in the league, apparently.)

Every move that has been made this season has traded a worse player with a better contract for the opposite of that, a move you'd typically do only if you were a championship contender. We know full well that's not the case, I imagine the FO and ownership does as well, so it's a recognition that the only way the local fans will go see the team is if it's worth seeing.

That said. I imagine Diaw is the closest player to untouchable and even he shouldn't necessarily feel that safe. Worst contract is Mohammed, but he gains value after next year when he's an expiring.

[Paydro70]

From a basketball standpoint, it's hard to imagine a deal centering on giving up talent for salary. This team isn't that great anyway, to immediately turn back to "building" when we were never "built" would be a reaaaally awful move.

If Johnson is forced into it by finances, I would suppose that Wallace is the most likely to go, as he has some value around the league as a "last piece," and could thus net some prospects and cap relief. I'm not sure many teams would think Diaw was going to do the same things on a different team, Okafor is the closest thing we have to a franchise player, and nobody else makes much money.

[spectre_]

Would Detroit do Amir + 15th for Okafor?

It's hard to get a feel about LB. I think he loves Diaw so I'd agree he's probably the most untouchable. Crash also seems to have endeared himself...and honestly without those two I think we'd take a big hit in the W/L column which this franchise can't afford to do.

Emeka was signed to that deal supposedly because LB lobbied for it the previous summer, but at the end of the season he was busting Mek's chops a little. As badly as he wanted Gana it wouldn't shock me if management looked to move Mek if they could get a good return (in the above instance a pick and cap relief).

Then again...he'd be hard to replace.

[Dexmor]

With this economy I think it is alot shorter to make a list of who's not available.

Everybody is available except

Lebron
Kobe
Rose
Howard
D Williams
Paul
Wade
Rando-That is still crazy to me
Parker
Roy
Durant
Ming
JJ
Granger
Dirk
Duncan
Bosh
Harris

O.K. that list was longer then I thought espially since Pierce and KG might be on the list.

[Cowology]

Would Detroit do Amir + 15th for Okafor?

**** yeah lol

[Dexmor]

Why the hell would we trade Mek for Amir and a pick? Thats awful. They call me the Mek hater.

I know Mek is a good valuable role player he is just not the star but he is a glorified Charles Oakley.


I think available players who are big names are below but Im not saying I want all of them. I don't but some I do. * next to name means i want and - next to name means no

Ben Gorden-
Tyrus Thomas*
Carlos Boozer*
Monta Ellis*
Jamal Crawford*
Richard Jefferson*
Jamison*
Carter-
Redd-
Andre Miller-
Rip*
Prince*
Iverson*
Hedo*
Maggette-

[spectre_]

Why the hell would we trade Mek for Amir and a pick? Thats awful. They call me the Mek hater.

It's not about hating on Mek...I was one of those wanting to give him the money last year. It's about moving forward and getting cap space to do that. As I said in the other thread to make any moves something is going to have to give.

I think Boris is the most "untouchable" as well as Raja (we might move him at the deadline if we're already eliminated from the playoffs, but not before) and most likely Crash. Felton can't be traded easily and we need more than one PG. From LB's comments questioning Mek's drive I have to think that if we want to do anything significant the FO will be most apt to move him.

[Walt Cronkite]

We would dump Mek for Amir and a pick to gain some capspace to maybe pull off one of the ridiculous trades you suggest we make so we can rebuild and become a championship contender because that's the only reason to be a basketball fan is if you're following a contender.

[Dexmor]

We would dump Mek for Amir and a pick to gain some capspace to maybe pull off one of the ridiculous trades you suggest we make so we can rebuild and become a championship contender because that's the only reason to be a basketball fan is if you're following a contender.

I don't think getting cap space is the best idea considering were not getting any free agents and we just took on alot of contracts.

Walt why you being like that? I didn't say the only reason to be a basketball fan is to root for a contender I am saying if your a team you want to build to eventually compete for a championship. You disagree with that?

[Walt Cronkite]

Sorry Dex, I was just getting a little frustrated.

I agree entirely that a FRANCHISE should exist with the goal of attaining a championship and that this is what fans should shoot for. I think you used a key word though, "you want to build to eventually compete for a championship." Retooling is one thing to make a tweak here or there, but we're still going to need an MVP candidate type player to really be contenders and those guys aren't very common.

[Dexmor]

Were a wierd team. We have a bunch of guys who would be a good 3rd best option and 4th best but no 1st and 2nd. Even if it's not a superstar at least a legit allstar and creator. You know what they need.

[Walt Cronkite]

We are a weird team. We've had a lot of restrictions to deal with and we haven't made our job any easier with some of the other decisions we've made. I think Wallace, Diaw, Okafor and Felton all have the ability to be all-stars next season if the team does well.

[Cowology]

Kind of an aside, but what happened with Nazr here? Right after the trade it looked like he was pretty productive for you but then he hardly played this season and didn't do squat.

[e4Nf6]

Kind of an aside, but what happened with Nazr here? Right after the trade it looked like he was pretty productive for you but then he hardly played this season and didn't do squat.

I think he was one of the guys who didn't adjust to Larry Brown's anti-jump-shot, heavy ball movement philosophy on offense. Matt Carrol is another one who was a useful player last year and looked lost this year. I imagine the first time Naz threw up his patented ugly free-throw line jumper LB told him to never ever do that again, and it was all down-hill from there.

It's too bad really, he was a 16 PER player last year, a useful player. Now he is just a contract, dead money that could be a nice expiring after we suffer through 2 more years of non-production.

[August Us Seazr]

We are a weird team. We've had a lot of restrictions to deal with and we haven't made our job any easier with some of the other decisions we've made. I think Wallace, Diaw, Okafor and Felton all have the ability to be all-stars next season if the team does well.

Unfortunately for us, we have "just missed" on:
Dwight Howard and Chris Paul

We "whiffed" on:
Sean May and Adam Morrison

We "traded out":
Fabio, Dudley, Swish, Hammer and others

As much as we want this team to get better, sometimes those who make these decisions need to have a blueprint that is based on a common-sense philosophy. What was done during the Bernie Bickerstaff years runs counter to what Larry Brown is doing now. I expect that.

What I really want the front office- specifically the player development folks- to have is a blueprint of a complete team. One in which all of the parts match. One in which all of the parts work efficiently. Then drafting becomes a matter of filling the most pressing needs. Of course, where the debating begins is what does the content of that blueprint contain? We have had good citizen hard working types throughout the life of the franchise. But we have never gotten out of fourth place in the division.

Let's just simply say that once we can shake the "SE Division, 4th place" label, 8th seed or higher will be much easier to attain.

[princeofpalace]

Would Charlotte be willing to do Rip/Amir/15 for Wallace/Okafor?

[spectre_]

Would Charlotte be willing to do Rip/Amir/15 for Wallace/Okafor?

No. I think LB has some serious love for Crash.

Not to mention that puts Vlad into the starting group (or Amir and Boris at the 3...don't know which is worse).

[Cowology]

The deal I'd wanna do would revolve around Tayshaun, Amir, Afflalo & #15 for Crash, Okafor & Vlad.

That would trim about $10 mil off next years payroll while bringing in a guy that LB absolutely *loves* in Tayshaun to be a veteran leader. Afflalo is another guy LB would like a lot; he's essentially a Raja clone and can be the long term replacement there. And of course Amir the #15 pick to fill some holes up front.

All of that is of course predicated on the assumption that Charlotte really needs to dump salary and nobody would wanna take guys like Nazr off your hands, but in terms of value I don't think its horrible.

[Walt Cronkite]

If we wanted to dump salary, well, we could do a lot worse.