Our Franchise Direction?

[mcaponi2]

I never said Lillard wasn't good. I was simply stating that you can not put the entire teams success for lack a better word on his presence.

[Snidely FC]

AAAAh! Stop with the Damien The Omen Lillard hijacking! I'm serious. Why has he hijacked our Future Direction thread?!

This is the CHA thread! Blaze a trail to the POR thread if you want to talk Lillard. Get the heck outta here.

Our Future Direction is UP, baby.

Kemba, Hendo, MKG, CodyZ, JT, Big Al, Ramon, McBob, Biz, Mucha Jannero. Are you kidding me? Win or lose, this is one likable squad.

[Liver_Pooty]

Didn't Lillard lead the league in minutes played last season? Give Walker those extra 4 or so minutes to match the amount that Lillard played and I guarantee you he gets the additional 1.5pts/game needed to surpass him in that department as well as adding to his assist total that hes already ahead of Lillard in, not counting playing better defense

[fatlever]

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2013/08/05 ... edition/2/

sheridan hoops ranks the cats #28 in their power poll.

[JMAC3]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/ ... talent-nba

Insider article, ranks us 15th in terms of talent under 25. Its not a very good list. He tries to claim since we do not have a star player that is what hurts our rank, but yet the Jazz rank 3rd on the list.

"15. Charlotte Bobcats

Players: Bismack Biyombo (20), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (19), Jeff Taylor (24), Kemba Walker (23), Cody Zeller (20)

Charlotte is an excellent example of why I give more weight to teams with a star in hand than teams with a collection of solid young players. Despite having several nice young pieces, the team has struggled lately to find success. Even so, I am still optimistic about Kidd-Gilchrist's chances of developing into something special. I defended him as a prospect on TrueHoop TV at Summer League, but forgot to make the most important point: He's not even 20 years old!

Taylor is a solid 3-and-D candidate who is also a high-level athlete with the ability to create off the dribble; Walker has the skill, leadership and charisma to play bigger than his diminutive size; and Biyombo might eventually become a defensive specialist. Finally, adding Zeller in the draft could be the missing piece needed to tip the Bobcats from "awful" to simply "bad.""

[Eoghan]

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2013/08/05/sheridans-summer-power-rankings-august-edition/2/

sheridan hoops ranks the cats #28 in their power poll.

Sounds about right to me. God, I hope we don't overachieve this year.

[No-Man]

Sheridan power rankings are delusional, mygod.

In my mind, Power Rankings for next season at this point,

Miami Heat
OKC Thunder
LA Clippers
San Antonio Spurs
New York Knicks
Chicago Bulls
Houston Rockets
Brooklyn Nets
Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers
Golden St. Warriors
Minnesota Timberwolves
Dallas Mavericks
Washington Wizards
Detroit Pistons
Cleveland Cavaliers
Portland Trail Blazers
Denver Nuggets
Toronto Raptors
Atlanta Hawks
LA Lakers
New Orleans Pelicans
Milwaukee Bucks
Boston Celtics
Charlotte Bobcats
Orlando Magic
Phoenix Suns
Sacramento Kings
Utah Jazz
Philadelphia 76ers

[ball teacher]

Didn't Lillard lead the league in minutes played last season? Give Walker those extra 4 or so minutes to match the amount that Lillard played and I guarantee you he gets the additional 1.5pts/game needed to surpass him in that department as well as adding to his assist total that hes already ahead of Lillard in, not counting playing better defense

Lillard may have had more minutes, but he also played with Aldridge and Batum, he was probably the 2nd to 3rd option every night while Kemba was the main scoring option who had a whole offense designed around helping him get open looks.

[Liver_Pooty]

Didn't Lillard lead the league in minutes played last season? Give Walker those extra 4 or so minutes to match the amount that Lillard played and I guarantee you he gets the additional 1.5pts/game needed to surpass him in that department as well as adding to his assist total that hes already ahead of Lillard in, not counting playing better defense

Lillard may have had more minutes, but he also played with Aldridge and Batum, he was probably the 2nd to 3rd option every night while Kemba was the main scoring option who had a whole offense designed around helping him get open looks.

Lillard had a top 5 PF and a better overall team to help him get open looks.

[lmcguir5]

Since we can drone on about the Lilliard-Walker debate until kingdom come and this is the Franchise Direction thread, I thought I would help change gears. This morning in the Al Jefferson thread, I defined what I thought would be a successful season. I know we have discussed before what we think the Bobcats will finish record wise, but this is more of a progression question. Will the young guys improve their decision making? Does Clifford show he is the right decision for head coach? Will someone have a breakout year? Will we possibly make the playoffs? What will have to happen along these lines for you guys to consider the 2013 season a successful one?

[James Gatz]

I think the playoffs this season are unrealistic. I think we'll improve to something like the 23 to 25th best team. Then we have the potentially to add in 3 1 round picks. I'm hopeful for the future.

Either way, I'm just really looking forward to watching some basketball again. I like football okay but it's been a tough summer without sports.

[Elden Payton]

Since we can drone on about the Lilliard-Walker debate until kingdom come and this is the Franchise Direction thread, I thought I would help change gears. This morning in the Al Jefferson thread, I defined what I thought would be a successful season. I know we have discussed before what we think the Bobcats will finish record wise, but this is more of a progression question. Will the young guys improve their decision making? Does Clifford show he is the right decision for head coach? Will someone have a breakout year? Will we possibly make the playoffs? What will have to happen along these lines for you guys to consider the 2013 season a successful one?

I think in terms of the young guys, we've deliberately drafted players who are intelligent people and have a great work ethic, these guys will only improve with experience.

People forget that one of the biggest reasons MKG is considered an elite prospect is because he is the type of guy that shames people into working hard every day but that makes me wonder how hard Biz works if they have to ask him to leave the gym?

Point being that Cho has identified culture as something that needed to be changed and he's stopped the rot and brought in the right influences, I don't know how successful Clifford will be as a HC but he's shown great signs of being a very good leader and has attracted great staff to our franchise.

I think JT has shown the signs of being capable of having a breakout year, I think Cody Zeller will come into the league "broken out"

I think the tank effect comes into play this season and no way we make Playoffs.

Pretty much we're geared up for a successful season already, as long as we win enough games to keep everyone happy and have a chance in the lottery, we win while losing.

Detroit's moves make this upcoming draft very interesting.

[Nanogeek]

Since we can drone on about the Lilliard-Walker debate until kingdom come and this is the Franchise Direction thread, I thought I would help change gears. This morning in the Al Jefferson thread, I defined what I thought would be a successful season. I know we have discussed before what we think the Bobcats will finish record wise, but this is more of a progression question. Will the young guys improve their decision making? Does Clifford show he is the right decision for head coach? Will someone have a breakout year? Will we possibly make the playoffs? What will have to happen along these lines for you guys to consider the 2013 season a successful one?

The dream season to me would be for all our young guns to improve incrementally. Biyombo, MKG, Henderson and Walker. If they each improved 20% from their prior year output this team would begin to strike terror in other teams. I'd love for coach to be conflicted about whether to play Biyombo or AJ big minutes at the 5. If Zeller can give us 16/9 and all of the above - that'd be a dream season.

[MasterIchiro]

Success to me would be breaking out of the bottom 5 worst teams with a core of under-25 players at every position: Kemba, Taylor, MKG, Zeller and Biz. Not many teams out there can say that. So if we finish with the 6th worst record I will consider the season a success due to our youth and potential.

I think finishing 25th would help us spin all the smack talking that damages our brand and transform it into occasional positive coverage that would generate optimism for our fan base heading into next season.

I want to still have a pick around 5 plus the DET pick around 10 and the POR pick around 13. And then a huge chunk of cap space opens up when Gordon expires. We can turn that space into a solid veteran, high-character guy.

I just want to go into 2014-2015 with a playoff-bound team and we can totally accomplish that if we add to this young core multiple talented players with picks and money.

So my measure is

*Finish 25th

*Generate optimism and fanfare

*Position for a playoff team in 2014-2015 when we become the Hornets again

Bonuses (these are more individual than team)

*Kemba All-Star
*Zeller ROY
*Taylor 6th man award
*MKG most improved player award

[BigSlam]

Bad Offseasons

Charlotte Bobcats: Signing Al Jefferson was fine but it seems strange that the team did not use their general lack of salary to build picks and talent considering how desperate other teams were to create more space. Intriguing prospects like Thomas Robinson and Royce White were given away for nearly nothing and Charlotte has plenty of roster space to add on players like that. Taking Cody Zeller at No. 4 over Nerlens Noel made very little sense with their roster and committing two years to Josh McRoberts and three to Gerald Henderson was strange and unnecessary considering how many holes the team has to fix before players like them will make a big difference.

http://basketball.realgm.com/blog/22941 ... on-Rundown

[HornetJail]

Bad Offseasons

Charlotte Bobcats: Signing Al Jefferson was fine but it seems strange that the team did not use their general lack of salary to build picks and talent considering how desperate other teams were to create more space. Intriguing prospects like Thomas Robinson and Royce White were given away for nearly nothing and Charlotte has plenty of roster space to add on players like that. Taking Cody Zeller at No. 4 over Nerlens Noel made very little sense with their roster and committing two years to Josh McRoberts and three to Gerald Henderson was strange and unnecessary considering how many holes the team has to fix before players like them will make a big difference.

http://basketball.realgm.com/blog/22941 ... on-Rundown

Whoever wrote that really doesn't know anything about this team. Noel made no sense on this team.

[Elden Payton]

Terrible Rundown.

I think he meant to write something like.

Charlotte Bobcats: Signing Al Jefferson was a strange move at first glance but it should be fine considering his post offense is amongst the best in the league and the Bobcats have filled their biggest need whilst using their cap space wisely. General Manager Rich Cho did fine by not filling his roster with "intriguing" prospects like Thomas Robinson and Royce White who were given away for nearly nothing for a reason considering they can't afford to waste roster places to add on players like that. Taking Cody Zeller at No. 4 over Nerlens Noel made great sense with their roster and committing two years to Josh McRoberts and three to Gerald Henderson for so cheap was strange and necessary considering how many holes the team had to fix and players like them will allow Kemba Walker, Cody Zeller and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to make a big difference.

[MPM]

Hoopsworld Season Preview: http://www.hoopsworld.com/2013-2014-cha ... on-preview

Not a lot new here, save for the first rumblings of some viking love.

[Bassman]

Our direction is to become a balanced team with some impact players, greater depth and (hopefully) an eventual all-star. Mission #1 was to extablish a post game so our offense wasn't one-dimensional. I like the Zeller pick a lot. Is he a star? No writer or observer believes he is that talented, but I think he could get be a key player. Big Al is almost a throwback given where the league direction is run, run, run. as long as he can deliver the production we've seen previously I like him on this squad. Jefferson established scoring and rebounding down low. He can teach our young guys some valuable lessons. He's a great locker room presence and community model. I see Al as our "now and later" selection; production now, investment in rest of team produces later.

Hendo was a good value. I still want to find our next star at the 2 or 3 spot. Hyphen is a contributor but everyone acknowledges his poor shot is difficult to fix. Match a prolific unstoppable scorer at the 2 and MKG can be a super asset. If we can't shoot from outside he becomes less of a factor on offense. If Kemba can continue to improve while developing his P&R game, we will win a lot more.

The next drafts are absolutely critical. We likely won't get our lucky lotto ball and receive the obvious star, so making the right selections matter a lot. Using our cap space or a trade to get a star is still a possiblity. The direction is to continue building...and hope we finally get lucky.

[fatlever]

i see on twitter that ESPN has ranked us dead last again in the future power rankings. how many years in a row is that? not sure how the 76ers or suns are ahead of us.