Is the future that bleak?

[ohara]

Cannot paste the article because it is an ESPN Insider and they wont paste. But Chad Ford and John Hollinger over at ESPN.com just did a "future prospect" ranking of all the NBA teams. How they see the status of each team from 2010/2011 season thru the 2012/2013 seasons. Portland ranked #1. And the Bobcats? How about dead LAST! That is right. They have us labled the most troubled team with the bleakest future in the NBA. Everything from poor drafting over recent years, bad Contracts, etc...

Thanks for the kick in the balls there guys! Really needed to read that today!

[fatlever]

ouch, that is rough.

but hard to argue

- bad owner
- bad front office
- bad fan support
- bad contracts
- bad cap space situation for next 3 years
- losing a future 1st pick
- bad drafts in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009
- no young potential studs to build around

what exactly is to like?

but are we dead last? that is debatable, but at least we are bottom 5.

[spectre_]

- bad cap space situation for next 3 years

Less than 2 years. One year and 7 1/2 months give or take.

[Felton for Pres]

In my view, it all hinges on the new owner. We've all said the team needs some sort of new start, heck some even want to blow up and start over. I'd argue a new owner could put some spark in the team and the city and could very quickly change some of those rankings (like money and market).

That being said, if it still Bob, maybe dead last is about right.

[BobsBuddy]

Remember Its just an opinion.. I know we can be a playoff contender in the east and possibly make it to the second /round over the next three years, but to do so will require the team to be changed after the Christmas player trade restrictions expire. Everybody is licking their chops over the 2010 free agent class, but the real oppotunity for us is the good players teams dump tp free up cap space to buy them. If we position ourselves right by grouping and trading our veterans to contenders this season, we will make the playoffs.. After Dec 22nd its time to trade Felton.. there are teams that need him this year to get past other teams in the playoffs that will give up young promising players and possibly a first round draft pick... Raja is great to have on this team , but he has the same value as trade bait. We need a couple of young 2-3 swing men to go alongside Henderson and DJ. Also a solid back veteran point in his late twenties.....I have always liked GW especially his heart, but if an opportunity to dump his 60 million contract arises and get a 3 and/or 4 in return we should do it.
Lets face it we have had losing seasons the last 5 with GW doing what GW does..Time for change..
Diaw has changed the chemstry of this team and is definitely a keeper tpo start at 3 or 4.
TC is here to stay for at least two more years so work on a scoring power forward to put next to him..

If moves are made like above in 2010 we will be a playoff team the following two years.. if not then we will see more of the same..

[99problems]

Can't argue too much. Really nobody on the team that gets you excited for the future. Some good role players but this team is missing at least one all-star caliber player to have anything to look forward to. That player needs to come from the draft or free agency.

Also the team needs players who can consistently shoot the ball and create their own shots. Flip Murray isn't carrying this team anywhere. Hell, even Jodie freakin Meeks would have been a great addition for this team.

[KeithMoonsLiver]

I'm not even sure that it's debatable that we are anything but dead last. All the other doormats at least have talented young players they can attempt to build around. This franchise literally has nothing going for it. The front office has consistently made terrible decisions over the Bobcats entire history; so there's no reason to think that things will change while they are still in charge. The only way to fix it is a complete overhaul starting at the top.

[spudwebb]

I just moved back to NC after 12 years. Being a big NBA fan, I was thinking about going to some games but after watching 2 games on TV, I don't think I can stand to watch any more games much less actually pay for them.

I don't know how anyone can be a fan. The roster is complete garbage. There isn't a player to get excited about. Usually when teams suck this bad, they are developing some young talent and there is some glimmer of hope. There is nothing here. And ownership sucks.

Even in the Kelly Tripucka/Rex Chapman era, the team might have been complete garbage but redneck fans were excited, the games were sold out, you could cheer for Mugsy and Rex Chapman hot dogging and hitting some crazy shots. But what is there to watch here? I've fallen asleep during both games.

[W_HAMILTON]

Yes, the future is pretty bleak. At least before, we had about three players that could be starters on a championship caliber team. We just needed to fill out around them. Now, outside of Wallace, none of our players could start and be a big contributor to a championship caliber team. They are niche players -- role players at best. The ideal role for most of the roster would be as the 5th most important starter on a really good team, or a bench player.

It might not have been so bad if we sacrificed those players for better players, but we traded them for worse players. Diaw and Bell might have worked out because of their skill-sets and because they provided depth, but we would have been better off keeping Richardson and getting a serviceable PF to play alongside him. The Okafor/Chandler trade served no positive purpose. The Diop trade was awful because Diop is awful.

We traded good players for lesser players that our coach hoped would fit into his system and make his team better, but that hasn't happened. We aren't especially young, we don't have cap flexibility, we don't have many good players, we aren't bad enough to get a superstar draft pick, and we aren't good enough for the playoffs.

I would say the future is pretty bleak. I would say that we maybe do have the gloomiest future right now.

On the bright side, at least things can change quickly (see: Celtics).

[doc.end]

We should play hack-a-Shaq with Diop fouling. That's the only way how we can talk someone into that he is useful (I wouldn't go that far saying his trade value would rise but it is a way to go).

[thruthefire]

Let's get J-Rich back!

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachi ... Id=ydzfjms

I don't know why it isn't coming up, but it was Richardson for Augustin, Bell, and Radman.