great grantland article on bobcats

[powerforward]

Zach Lowe is one of the best NBA writes out there and I thought this was a fair and well done article on the bobcats..

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/956 ... bcats-plan

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

There was a lot from Big Al in there.

Honestly I'm not sure what to expect from the team this year. They might be really bad again. They might be much better than folks expect. I'll be really interested to see how things go. My personal feeling is that the team is going to be better than folks expect mainly due to better coaching and an improved offense. I think that what is going to make or break the season is how hard other teams tank. Boston for example still has a really strong defensive team ... Are they going to surprise or tank? That's the kind of question we could ask of several teams ... and is going to have a huge impact.

I also strongly think that the team needs to at least start trying to win now. Being bad for too long carries its own problems.

[fatlever]

and that stun, is why zach lowe is the best NBA writer around. he is fair and he does his research. he reports on the low level teams like the bobcats with the same intensity that most only reserve for teams like the heat.

one thing that is very refreshing about jefferson is his self awareness. he knows who he is and who he is not. he owns his weaknesses as well as any player i have seen. you can't begin to address your weaknesses if you don't acknowledge they exist. thats important.

we have touched on this before and its clear the bobcats saw the recent success of the pacers, nuggets and grizzlies and decided to try and go that route rather than the OKC model. the only thing that frustrates me a little is that we continuously seems to change our strategy based on trying to emulate teams that are having success.

1) the 2004 pistons era - felton, wallace, diaw, okafor etc... lets build a great defensive team full of no stars and great chemistry. it was mildly successive but peaked as a 7th seed with no cap space and no assets.

2) massive capspace superfriends era - trade for the DUST chip (dampier) and try to trade for chris paul and melo to charlotte to team up. there was a week of intense rumors a few summers ago suggesting this scenario was in play. obviously it never happened.
(reminder: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4232 ... -went-down)

3) the OKC model - blow the team up, stockpile high draft picks and hope for a durant/westbrook like combination in the draft. the lottery gods laughed at this plan. and there is only so long you can stick with this route before you lose all your fans.

4) the pacers model - similar to the pistons model, but done by making smart draft picks in the late lottery and middle rounds enhanced by one or two key free agent signing at the right time, but always keeping salary cap in check.

it feels like we are always chasing the next big thing rather than just sticking to a plan. personally i think trying to follow the pacers/nuggets/grizzlies model is probably the best course of action for this franchise at this time. we need to become a respectable franchise sooner than later. there is no telling how long an OKC model rebuild would take to work. it could be 1 year with wiggins or we could be stuck in this cycle for for years upon years while eroding fanbase and further worsening our reputation around the league and costing us the trust of our current young players.

[Robot Rock]

That story is just more evidence Kemba is one of the league's three most underrated players. Maybe THE most underrated.

[Walt Cronkite]

Very good read. I'm inspired by the Bobcats' moves this offseason. Hard-working character guys that are hopefully fun to watch. Have been advocating for a fun product over wins for ages, hopefully this season is the one.

[MPM]

it could be 1 year with wiggins or we could be stuck in this cycle for for years upon years while eroding fanbase and further worsening our reputation around the league and costing us the trust of our current young players.

this. I was whooping it up on top of the tank the last couple of years, but became concerned towards the end of last year about how it would begin to impact our young talent base. When Kemba said he "almost shed a tear" when we signed Big Al, it was telling. I think we're in a good position over the next couple of years - with the picks we have coming to us, cap space, no long term contract commitments, and now a fairly good mix of vets and youngin's, we have not entirely abandoned our rebuild while putting a foundation in place that could actually be parlayed into some real success if we luck into that last piece or two - a highish lottery luck that turns star, a strong FA signing next summer, etc.

great article - love Mr. Lowe.

[fatlever]

But it's easier to suggest a third straight year of languid losing from the outside than to experience the corrosive effects of all that losing from the inside — on players, coaches, the front office, and on fans of a small-market team with so little history of success they are moving to reclaim the nickname of the team that bolted town.

this is a very important line

[JDR720]

its good to see an NBA writer know what he is talking about

[Ribalding]

***edit***

User error. My bad.

[JDR720]

yea i think Charlotte is trying to go for the Pacer model now, Al is Charlotte's David West (a better version of West), Kemba is better than their PG's, MKG is Paul George without the shot, Zeller is a younger David West, just gotta find our Roy Hibbert he might be sitting in the 2014 draft or Biz might become a defensive stopper like Roy but still needs to find offense.

[EwingSweatsALot]

Great article. Lowe is the best out there because he lives and breathes the game of basketball. He basically takes no time of from studying the ins and outs of the game and the franchises.

I might have a minority opinion on this, but I am not to keen on this new change of direction. I understand it, and I don't mind it, but I don't like the timing of it. I would have taken one more shot, which is still there just longer, at the top pick. If Wiggins and even Randle were not in this draft then I would be OK with moving on now. I would just take one more shot and getting a player that could transcend this franchise because we don't have that and it will be the only way to have staying power in this league.

I'm just not keen on shooting for the 8th seed, 7th at best.

I really hope this works out for the franchise. Charlotte is a better place when there is a good basketball team. Just jumping ship on directions constantly eventually leads you to a bad place. It has happened once, and striving for mediocrity leads you to where we are now.

At some point, you cannot continue to be the bottom dweller. You can't continue to be the punching bag and you have to do something about it. I just think waiting one more year would have been the best move.

[vorbis]

agree with him or disagree with him, what i respect about zach lowe is that his opinions are his, and he comes to them by primary research of watching and analyzing games. he'll do a bit of piggybacking popular arguments ("MKG can't shoot at all", which is not entirely true), but in general he'll contribute original thought on the subject.

[Eoghan]

Great article but there are two things that bother me:

1) All the talk about Jefferson signified that Higgins and Clifford were gung ho on getting him. Is this a Higgins' move?

2) Abandoning the OKC model too soon to try the Pacers model b/c you're not hitting on your draft picks is extremely troubling b/c the Pacers model revolves around getting great value at mid-late 1st round picks, something Charlotte HAS NEVER BEEN GOOD AT. If we can't draft well within the top 5, why do we expect to do any better lower down?

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

The Bobcats seem to be getting better at drafting. I have more faith in them hitting the mid to low picks now than I did say 5 years ago.

I also want to note that plenty of the Thunder's meaningful picks were not top 5 picks. The timing may be terrible in terms of how good the next draft is, but timing wise the Cats are at the point where they need to start improving.

As for Al ... I think that they had to have someone like him to really make Clifford's system work. And of course Higgins is going to be excited about moves that make the team better (and support the coach) ... that's what he has always done coach wise.

[countryboi]

and that stun, is why zach lowe is the best NBA writer around. he is fair and he does his research. he reports on the low level teams like the bobcats with the same intensity that most only reserve for teams like the heat.

one thing that is very refreshing about jefferson is his self awareness. he knows who he is and who he is not. he owns his weaknesses as well as any player i have seen. you can't begin to address your weaknesses if you don't acknowledge they exist. thats important.

we have touched on this before and its clear the bobcats saw the recent success of the pacers, nuggets and grizzlies and decided to try and go that route rather than the OKC model. the only thing that frustrates me a little is that we continuously seems to change our strategy based on trying to emulate teams that are having success.

1) the 2004 pistons era - felton, wallace, diaw, okafor etc... lets build a great defensive team full of no stars and great chemistry. it was mildly successive but peaked as a 7th seed with no cap space and no assets.

2) massive capspace superfriends era - trade for the DUST chip (dampier) and try to trade for chris paul and melo to charlotte to team up. there was a week of intense rumors a few summers ago suggesting this scenario was in play. obviously it never happened.
(reminder: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4232 ... -went-down)

3) the OKC model - blow the team up, stockpile high draft picks and hope for a durant/westbrook like combination in the draft. the lottery gods laughed at this plan. and there is only so long you can stick with this route before you lose all your fans.

4) the pacers model - similar to the pistons model, but done by making smart draft picks in the late lottery and middle rounds enhanced by one or two key free agent signing at the right time, but always keeping salary cap in check.

it feels like we are always chasing the next big thing rather than just sticking to a plan. personally i think trying to follow the pacers/nuggets/grizzlies model is probably the best course of action for this franchise at this time. we need to become a respectable franchise sooner than later. there is no telling how long an OKC model rebuild would take to work. it could be 1 year with wiggins or we could be stuck in this cycle for for years upon years while eroding fanbase and further worsening our reputation around the league and costing us the trust of our current young players.

That pacers/pistons model is next to impossible if it were possible ever treadmill team would be doing it

[HornetJail]

The Bobcats seem to be getting better at drafting. I have more faith in them hitting the mid to low picks now than I did say 5 years ago.

I also want to note that plenty of the Thunder's meaningful picks were not top 5 picks. The timing may be terrible in terms of how good the next draft is, but timing wise the Cats are at the point where they need to start improving.

As for Al ... I think that they had to have someone like him to really make Clifford's system work. And of course Higgins is going to be excited about moves that make the team better (and support the coach) ... that's what he has always done coach wise.

?????

Durant, Harden, and Westbrook were 2nd, 3rd, and 4th picks. Ibaka was an early 20s pick, but that's the only great pick they've made outside of that. Reggie Jackson looks okay, maybe Perry Jones, Mullens didn't do jack for them, Aldrich was useless.

[Diop]

are we trying to emulate teams though? Or are we just assessing and making decisions as we go along.

They apparently considered tanking again, but MJ was sick of losing as well as a lot of fans. We got rid of the old big contracts, they decided to start building now.

I think the Jefferson signing is also important as its the first big free agent that we have convinced to sign here.

Hopefully at the end of the rebuild we can call it the Bobcat model.

[JDuaneWayne]

are we trying to emulate teams though? Or are we just assessing and making decisions as we go along.

They apparently considered tanking again, but MJ was sick of losing as well as a lot of fans. We got rid of the old big contracts, they decided to start building now.

I think the Jefferson signing is also important as its the first big free agent that we have convinced to sign here.

Hopefully at the end of the rebuild we can call it the Hornets model.

Fixed, but I agree with what you said here. I think team direction or model is always fluid when you're in the lower half of the league.

[MKGsMotor]

As long as there's improvement every year since we bottomed out, I could care less about "abandoning the rebuild." If there's a season where we don't improve and we're not at least a sixth seed, then we should consider making moves with the assets we've acquired. I love where we're at though. It's gonna be fun from here on out.

[yosemiteben]

Just chiming in to say that was a fantastic article. Love Lowe's work.