“With the Ninth overall selection in the Two-Thousand Eight NBA Draft, the Charlotte Bobcats. . . ”
Well, what exactly happens won’t be known until a week from now. We can narrow down a few options, though.
Option A: The Bobcats select an inexperienced big man that they draft entirely on potential, but have not seen in personal workouts (SI.com / Charlotte Observer). None of these guys have a recognizable name, so there’s no simple choice.
Option B: Charlotte drafts a point guard that may or may not fit their new system (Augustin/Westbrook/Bayless)
Option C: The ‘Cats make a big trade for a veteran talent.
Option D: Jordan and the crew choose to move down in the draft and make an exchange with a team for a player with a cap relief contract or position themselves for a move later in the off-season.
Last season the Bobcats got Jason Richardson for the 8th pick. They were faced with the option of selecting an unproven big man at the 8th spot or make an exchange. Brandan Wright and Yi Jianlian both showed a huge upside, but the Bobcats didn’t need another project. Yi went before their pick and the decision to trade Wright for J Rich was probably one of the easiest basketball-related decisions they could make.
The circumstances of the 2008 Draft are a bit different, though. The Bobcats face no clear choices as several possible selections have refused to workout for Charlotte. With Larry Brown putting an emphasis on how “coachable” a young player appears in workouts, it doesn’t seem likely that they’d want to gamble on a kid that hasn’t shown Brown any of that. Without knowing Larry Brown personally, one could still assume he holds a level of respect high enough that snubbing a workout with him wouldn’t fair well for a future member of his roster.
The goal of any trade would bring a proven top-tier big man to pair with Okafor (or possibly replace him). With Lamar Odom and Rasheed Wallace rumored to be available, the Bobcats could use the draft to set themselves up to swing the right deal to make themselves very competitive next season.
First time commenter here but I would go with Option C or D. If I were in control I would see if a package of the number 9 pick, Gerald Wallace, and Adam Morrison (open to other ideas here) could get Detroit to send us Rasheed Wallace and the number 29 pick. Then with that pick I would draft Jason Thompson out of Rider to play PF/C after Sheed moved on/retires. With the second round pick either at number 8 or 29 if that would help get Sheed, I would take Josh Ducan out of Xavier, who may turn out something like a Gerald Wallace style player. At number 8 that may would be an over-draft but certainly not at 29 in the second round.
I like the idea of making a deal for Rasheed and then drafting a strong talent to learn his role and fill his spot a few seasons down the road. Not too many folks speculate on the long-term potential of draft moves. Nice first post.
As an out of control Gerald Wallace fan, it would be hard to see him go in exchange for a couple of good years out of Rasheed.