Could What You See (Be What You Get)

[Bassman]

All who love our current team...this might be your dream! Thanks to average drafts, bad contracts, a few decent trades, and our cap position this year and next, the Bobcats are going to sign.....

.....NOBODY WORTH A FLIP.

How can they? While BJ tries to sell, he's got marching orders to the lighthouse caretaker to not venture anywhere close to luxury tax land. Once they re-sign Felts and our draft picks, we're practically DONE! Unless we can make a trade to clear cap room with one of our starters, we won't sign anyone worth a flip. Actually, we'd probably do a cap reducing trade for a PF and still not sign anyone good.

I've been a dunce...looking hard at the options, speculating on deals we could make, people we might sign. I'm only kidding myself.

You guys want equal value in a cap clearing trade with Wallace or Okafor? No way that happens! Forget dealing Nazr or Diop or Vlad. NOBODY WANTS THEM OR THEIR CONTRACTS! That leaves us with the dregs at the bottom of the pool. But, that's what we had last year with McMay. Shame we didn't pick Ryan Anderson last year at #20..we wouldn't be having such concerns.

[misterglover]

Bassman I agree with the majority of what you said...not sure to what extent you seem a little angry...but the overall point your trying to make I agree with. I think this upcoming season is setting up to be a huge dissapointment becuz so many people are assuming that we were gonna make the playoffs based solely on last year but all the teams around us have improved or at least tweeked their rosters and we have done nothing...think the end result will be us on the outside of the playoffs looking in again... Even Rick Bonnell is backing off his belief we are a playoff team.....

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/206/story/821935.html

[BobCatsFoLife]

I agree that there really aren't any deals that we can make right now that can actually be promising for the team. We are not going to get something for nothing!! I do "assume" we are going to make the PLAYOFFS next year considering that we did our "tweeking" last year when we got Raja and Diaw. Yes everyone in the division got better, even us. A healthy BobCats team will definitely be in contentions for at least an 8th spot next year. Even in one of, if not the toughest, division in the East! Yes, I said it. With Gilbert back we are in one of the toughest divisions in the East!

[misterglover]

I do "assume" we are going to make the PLAYOFFS next year considering that we did our "tweeking" last year when we got Raja and Diaw.

BobCatsFoLife we did tweek last year which was like a can of Red Bull in that all the trades were good then but can they sustain it?? I think Raja is Raja he's always gonna be consistent you know what he's gonna give but is Boris gonna come back in shape & motivated?? he's a good player but if you've followed his career he doesnt really have good seasons back to back and has an issue w/ laziness...Can Diop improve? we are like his 4th NBA team and everyone liked him at first but sours on him, does he really want to improve!? and is Ramanovic gonna be what we say here over the last few months of the season or is he the guy at the end of the lakers bench?? Those are all legitimate questions for this team....

I like all the moves we made last year but that was last year and let's be honest none of those guys are stars...they all have questionmarks there's a reason that when all the trades went down people were like what are the Bobcats doing and why we were viewed as the losers when the trades were announced, over time all the trades ended up benefiting us the most but that was last year.....

[dmutombo321]

I am not optimistic about next season at all. I posted in January that I didnt think we'd make the playoffs this past season and nothing I've seen lately makes me think its likely to happen next year either.

1) Cleveland
2) Boston
3) Orlando
4)Chicago
5)Atlanta
6)Miami
7)Washington (with a healthy Arenas (even at 80% effectiveness), Haywood, Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Jamison and Caron Butler, anyone who doubts this team's playoff chances compared to ours suffers from the worst kind of delusional optimism.)

That leaves us competing for the final spot with
* Detroit (who already have Prince, Hamilton just added Gordon and Charlie V and are rumored to have talked to Utah about acquiring Boozer
* Philly (who have a talented young roster that gets better by the month, Speights, Young, Iggy, etc.. and now theyll be adding a healthy Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday)
* Toronto (who has some positional overlaps but should be competitive with a roster including Bosh, Calderon, Bargs, Turkoglu, Derozan)

Bonnell's article really echos my sentiments perfectly. We're a well coached team with some decent pieces but overall, talent wise, we're not close to competing.

In the unlikely scenario that we do make the post season next year, it will likely be because one of the aforementioned teams suffered injuries. Then all we have to look forward to is a 4-0 sweep at the hands of a team like Cleveland followed by the forfiture of our 10' selection in next year's stronger draft.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I would gladly trade our entire roster and cap situation for Oklahoma City's. Since dealing Allen and Lewis a couple seasons back, they've rebuilt patiently, purposely endured some bad seasons to accumulate talent through the draft and in 2-3 years, they have pieced together a more promising team than we have in 5 years.

They've got a future all star in Durant who is capable of taking over games - something we've never had, along with a great complementary cast (Westbrook, Green, Krstic, Harden, Mullens {great value at #26}). We might taste the post season before them but 3 years from now while we're still wallowing in mediocrity, they'll be going deep into the western conference playoffs.

Our team could learn alot from the methodical patience of Oklahoma City's front office and Sam Presti, their 32 year old GM.

[thruthefire]

OKC, along with having some luck, has just drafted better. Had Howard or Paul fallen to us, would you be saying any of that? I think the Bobcats have tried the patience approach, unfortunately not a single lottery pick, not including Augustin, has materialized into the player the FO thought they were getting. Okafor's never found a go-to move, Felton hasn't solved his shooting problems, May is May, and Ammo is Ammo.

Also, the Sonics had trade-able assets (Allen, Lewis) from the get-go, we didn't.

[Walt Cronkite]

Just gonna write what I pretty much always write in this situation:

Before TFKAS moved, they had a really solid fan base because they have decades of history. We're a recent expansion team. We cut too many corners early on and we've been paying for them. The televised broadcast issues, poor drafting, bad cap management, head coach was the gm, etc. We absolutely have to make the playoffs. If we're out of the picture by the trade deadline... then we should blow everything up.

[dmutombo321]

I think the Bobcats have tried the patience approach, unfortunately not a single lottery pick, not including Augustin, has materialized into the player the FO thought they were getting..... May is May, and Ammo is Ammo.

That's exactly what the problem is: May should be Granger, and Ammo should be Roy or Gay; thats not just hindsight speaking either. Me and a number of the other posters here were incensed when they passed on Granger on draft night back in 05'. Most people here were highly in favor of dealing both those 05 picks to move up and get Chris Paul, but, once again, they didnt.

Bad draft decisions aside, impetuously dealing Walter Hermann to take on Nazr's albatross contract, signing a marginal bench sub like Matt Carroll to a 6mil/per long term deal, refusing to admit failure on the Ammo selection by picking up his $5 million contract option dont qualify as patience.

And granted, while OKC did have some assets to work with, trading Ray Allen for an unproven commodity in Rookie Jeff Green was a very bold move. But it alligned with Presti's successful philosophy of taking one step back in the immediate future to take three steps frowards in the long term.

Brown may be able to squeeze 40 wins out of them and improve on last season but I just dont think this roster has what it takes, talent wise, to win a playoff series.

If we're out of the picture by the trade deadline... then we should blow everything up.

Since it appears they're already set to go for broke with respect to making the post season, I agree 100%; If it becomes clear the post season is out of reach by mid season, they should go ahead and open up shop. So long as they're well structured deals that could land us cap relief for further trade flexibility and/or a young stud with go-to potential, I wouldnt be opposed to moving anyone

[BobsBuddy]

Hot dang there duto123... You and Bassman should be down in the Bobcats war room tellin em what to do. Betcha work for a hellofalot less than Higgins gets.
Yep the ol kittys are really in need of MORE revamping.. I still hear that Marc Gasol might be had along with that Grizzly with the pretty wife... Jarko somebody and maybe a 2010 1st rouinder? trade em Okafore and then send Nazr/ and that there Radomonvic Russian fellow to Philly for that Dalembert rebounding dude.. Yep ..then Bob would have so much cap space next year it would be like an Obama stimlus package DESIGNED just for the kittys.

You're the man duto123...Yall need to wake up DOWNTOWN and DO SOMETHING!!!

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

OK, guys. Enough.

Yes the team has squandered draft picks, given bad contracts out, and made at least one questionable trade. With the right moves we could have been one of the top 3 teams in the East.

But it’s not like the team is messed up forever. Even if the team does NOTHING exciting FA wise they get out of Raja’s contract next year. Radman & Nazar’s the year after that. And Diaw comes off the books in 2012 (Wallace & Diop have player options that year but I’m assuming the take them). With any sort of OK Felton contract this year then in 2012 they will be right around cap level. By 2013 or 14 they will be in a real position to start over.

In the mean time trades can alter this picture and the Bobcats will have all but one of their future draft picks.

On top of all this let us remember Chicago from a few years ago. Everyone thought that they were ready for the next level and the team imploded. Something like that happens every year. There is always at least one good team if not two or three that get derailed. Sometimes it’s an injury bug other times it’s chemistry getting messed up after a big trade. So all those teams that are better than us are NOT a lock at this point.

Finally the Bobcats are not a bad team. They have good depth at both guard positions. SF is fine. Big man wise Okafor and Diaw are plenty serviceable, even if the depth behind them is very questionable at this point.

Remember the winning streak at the end of last year. That team is mostly back with more depth at SG, the one position that lost the playoff spot last year when Raja got hurt. They’ve had time to get adjusted to one another and it’s the 2nd year under Brown when teams tend to really put things together.

I don’t expect to win the division or anything, but I am confident that this team will do better this year than last.

[BobCatsFoLife]

:I still hear that Marc Gasol might be had along with that Grizzly with the pretty wife... Jarko somebody and maybe a 2010 1st rouinder? trade em Okafore and then send Nazr/ and that there Radomonvic Russian fellow to Philly for that Dalembert rebounding dude.. Yep ..then Bob would have so much cap space next year it would be like an Obama stimlus package DESIGNED just for the kittys.

This actually makes sense!!

[Rich4114]

I think the biggest thing that everyone keeps forgetting is management has basically been saying that they realize they have no star, and that the players they do have need to get better and someone needs to turn into a star.

Sucks, but it's the truth. I can see why they wouldn't bother with the MLE this year, maybe we're better off using it next year instead. And I agree, if we're not in a good position for a playoff run 1/2 way through the season then start shopping our main guys and acquire expiring contracts and draft picks. Okafor and Wallace would bring in a ton of long term assets if we needed to go that route.

But all in all, look at the teams we're competing with. Why would you think the Bulls would end up as a higher seed this season after losing their best player? Detroit just hired a coach with zero experience, forget them this year. Atlanta isn't going anywhere special, and Washington isn't making that huge of a leap after the season they had with another unproven coach. Philly probably won't be that tough either. We've got a coach who almost always makes the playoffs his second year, so I have faith.

Would a quality FA help us? Absolutely, but I think it'll be more like a Keith Bogans type of player instead of an Allen Iverson one.

[Bassman]

Rich, I hope you're right about those teams, but Atlanta will be tough, Philly and the others are improving. I don't discount that we can improve with a collective camp and all hands on deck from day one, but expecting Diaw, Felton or Okafor to step up and become all-star players just isn't going to happen. Wallace has the best potential to be at that level, but his shooting will never let him reach that "go-to player" position we need, night in and night out.

But the dead weight of our marginal player contracts (Nazr, Vlad, Diop) along with those multiple year deals for our starters (Mek $11M+, Diaw & Wallace, $9M each, Felton $6M+) are craming us into a corner.

Every move in free agency (or every trade) brings us closer to the fact that we have no options. By next week the Cats will be hitting the bottom of the PF bucket. Oh well, it could be worse.

[SWedd523]

The 3 years we had a top 5 pick we just didn't do what we needed to do in order to get the best players (whether it be bad luck or stupid drafting)

We missed out on Dwight and got Mek as a consolation (Mek isn't bad--but he damn sure isn't Dwight)

We got Felts and I'm extremely happy with that. But if our FO had a pair then we'd have someone like CP3 or Deron Williams. Hell we could've just drafted Granger and I'd be perfectly fine with that.

And with the 3rd overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft... The Charlotte Bobcats select... The biggest loser in the history of the game


Since then, we just haven't been bad enough to get a top tier talent. We're a perennial 30-35 win team which puts us in the 10-14 position which puts us in a position to remain a mediocre team.