Chandler and Ajinca Traded – Wow

carroll-returns

A Big, Unexpected Trade With Dallas

The Charlotte Bobcats have traded Tyson Chandler and Alexis Ajinca to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Eduardo Najera, Matt Carroll, and Erick Dampier.

Wow, this came out of nowhere. ESPN coverage here. Bobcats have posted a Release on their site, as well.

We’ll give this further analysis later today, but here are my first thoughts :

• Matt Carroll is back!
• Shaq used to call Erick Dampier “Ericka.”
• This has got to be a set up for another deal… Let’s see what’s next.

-Mike

POLL : What Should Bobcats Do With Erick Dampier?

Waive & Save $13 Mill
(16%, 35 Votes)
Waive & Resign
(12%, 26 Votes)
Trade For Point Guard
(55%, 124 Votes)
Trade For Draft Picks (17%, 39 Votes)

Total Voters: 224

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Bobcats May Be Active In 2010 NBA Draft

Bobcats 2010 NBA Draft Cap : Will Anyone Wear This?

This Thursday’s NBA Draft will mark the first day of the “John Wall Era” for the league. The dismantled Washington Wizards will have the good fortune of adding the talented point guard to center the foundation of a rebuilt roster. Elsewhere in the Southeast Division, the Charlotte Bobcats have prepared to sit this one out despite the challenge to improve on last year’s success.

Coach Larry Brown has openly confirmed rumors that the Bobcats would like to pick up a second-round talent in the Draft, or sign an un-drafted prospect. Reports say that the team has been working the phones in search of a trade partner, as well. So, there’s a strong possibility that the Bobcats might make some news in the next couple of days. If Jordan and Brown are handling such preparations, what do the Bobcats want in the 2010 NBA Draft?

REASONS FOR THE BOBCATS TO GET INVOLVED IN THE DRAFT

• CHEAP LABOR : The team might be very close to the top of the salary cap even if they pull off a trade (to unload a contract). A second-round rookie could be useful to an organization so tight on funds.

• RESERVES : Charlotte needed their two best players (Stephen Jackson & Gerald Wallace) to play nearly every minute of every game last season. Considering that Wallace plays dangerously and may never change his style, the team can only protect their All-Star by securing a capable, young reserve to give Gerald a few more chances to rest and repair his body throughout the season. The same idea should apply to Stephen Jackson, who is only getting older and will need to get some opportunities to rest in order to avoid injury over the next season.

• INSURANCE : During the upcoming NBA Free Agency period, Charlotte might find the opportunity to trade away one of their big contracts or find a remedy for their point guard problem. The result of such a fortunate deal could leave the team with a lack of depth at one or multiple roster positions. If the team could pick up a second-rounder and a cheap free agent, the Cats would have a couple of safeguards in place and some hungry players heading into training camp.

REASONS FOR THE BOBCATS TO SIT IT OUT

• DRAFTING IS A WEAKNESS : The Bobcats are exceptionally bad at the NBA Draft. Their Draft history is just about embarrassing; Raymond Felton, Sean May, Adam Morrison, DJ Augustin, Alexis Ajinca, and Gerald Henderson. Maybe the sparkle displayed by their second-round selections Jared Dudley (2007 : now with Phoenix), and Derrick Brown (2009) have made Rod Higgins and Michael Jordan feel like geniuses of Round 2? That might explain why a late selection is so appealing to these guys.

• WASTING MONEY: It sounds like the Bobcats might be in the hunt to buy a Draft selection from another NBA club. This is probably a bad idea. The rumored rate for a second-round pick is about $1.5 million. Maybe Jordan and Larry Brown can identify the distinct qualities between a player that wasn’t fit for the first round and an un-drafted talent. From a fan’s perspective, the difference between those two types of players seems very small, but maybe MJ wants to bet $1.5 million that he can spot the difference. Then again, this might just be an easy way for the team to avoid staying at home and at least have a ticket to the dance on Draft night.

• PLAYING TIME : Let’s get back to two of the Draft selections mentioned above – Gerald Henderson and Derrick Brown. Both of these young players showed great athleticism, skill, and energy during their sparse minutes on the floor last season. Still, the Charlotte Bobcats are coached by a guy that just simply prefers veterans over rookies. If the Cats really want to acquire a pick this year, it’s very likely that the youngster will spend all but garbage-time on the bench this coming season. Any rookie acquired on Thursday or during the off-season should find rare playing time unless Coach Brown leaves the team.

IS DRAFT DAY JUST THE START?

We can’t expect to know what exactly is going on with the Cats this summer until the first domino falls; the late-night trades and fallout on Friday morning. With Free Agency beginning on July 1st, the changes will continue around the league and it appears that Michael Jordan and Rod Higgins want to be active with trades this summer. The unfolding of the Raymond Felton dilemma begins next Thursday and the team’s actions should provide some insight into their plans for the upcoming season. Fortunately, the latest news about Tyrus Thomas’ desire to stay with the team sounds encouraging, but Charlotte might need to pinch some pennies to work out a long-term contract with their new power forward. The club’s current payroll might limit their ambitions this summer, but we should expect to see a few more headlines about changes to the Bobcats roster.

LINKS:

Charlotte Bobcats may get in NBA draft (Charlotte Observer)

Bobcats busy on trade front (Inside the NBA – Rick Bonnell)

Thomas wants to stay with Bobcats (ESPN.com)

Questions Arrive With The Bobcats Off-Season

What Is Next For This Team?

Bobcats Baseline has spent the past few days adjusting to life without Bobcats basketball and wondering what topics should be explored after the end of the team’s 2009-2010 campaign. There will be a more fitting time, deeper into the post-season, to review the team’s outlook. A summer of recuperating and Bobcats-detox should allow for a better perspective on the situation. So now, we can only address the questions that stare the team in the face.

For a little while, the Bobcats have been given some down time. The players will rest up, the management will check out, the beat writers will go silent, yet the bloggers will just keep typing up speculations. Who will leave? Who will stay? Who will win?

The Big Question

Rumblings of next season’s big changes have already begun. More specifically, the rumblings about a change of scenery for Bobcats Coach Larry Brown. First, they were just online reports from inconsistent sources such as Yahoo! Sports or a blogger for a regional newspaper’s web site. Somehow, these built up enough steam to become common assumptions spread by national television commentators and the common Charlotte-area sports fan. From your co-worker that loves to hear (and repeat) bad news about the Bobcats to golf fans at the Quail Hollow tournament, so many folks around the area have asked “Is Larry Brown going to leave Charlotte?”

It doesn’t seem like too many people know what will be next for Coach Brown. One doesn’t usually follow their boss around the golf course before quitting the job. Then again, one doesn’t usually make such an effort to answer a simple question with loophole-laden remarks like “I’m not going to coach for anyone but Michael.” Ultimately, there’s really nothing the team can do about this situation other than just play it cool. This is something that Jordan is very capable of handling.

If Brown decides to leave the team, the Bobcats will be in a scramble for a new coach and will likely follow with additional personnel changes. This would allow the team to shift their roster to fit the new coach’s preferences, but probably not a drastic overhaul. It would be assumed that Jordan hired Brown to install a type of “system” for the Bobcats and the next head coach would be expected to practice a variation of the current system. Beyond the coaching change, the steady player personnel changes will continue. Therefore, it’s safe to assume that GM Rod Higgins won’t see his job get easier any time soon. With Larry Brown or without Larry Brown, the Bobcats will continue to rework their roster.

Roster Changes

The coaching situation certainly impacts the next roster moves for the Bobcats. Still, the team will be forced to make a couple of important decisions regarding free agent veterans Raymond Felton, Larry Hughes, and Theo Ratliff. As the free agent season activity heats up, there will be plenty more to analyze about these moves – the toughest being the status of Raymond Felton.

Beyond free agency, this team will likely be involved in trade talks to shift their financial obligations for future opportunities. Fans should hope that this won’t impact the overall level of talent on the roster next season.

No Draft For The Cats

The Bobcats have no selections in this summer’s NBA Draft. At first, this seems like a bad thing. But, we have to consider that this is the Charlotte Bobcats organization. The only opportunity this team will be missing without Draft picks is the opportunity to fail. Charlotte has decided that they aren’t going to let you look back at the Bobcats in three years, and ridicule them for not selecting some under-the-radar prospect. They’ve traded their picks, and now we’ll see what they get for them. As compensation for no newcomers from the Draft, Charlotte will work to test the young Alexis Ajinca (1st round pick traded to Denver in 2008 Draft) and retain fellow Frenchman Boris Diaw (2nd round pick traded to Phoenix with Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley for Raja Bell and Diaw last season).

Additionally, the Bobcats have two 2009 rookies that have hardly found playing time. It could be argued that these players (with a year of NBA experience) are as valuable, and as ready to contribute as almost every lottery pick in the upcoming Draft. If the team doesn’t expect playing time to open-up for one of these young talents, it’s likely their value will be worked into a trade to help the team in the future.

In Perspective

While the Round 1 series sweep surely burns, the Cats shouldn’t overlook what was accomplished this season. The team executed one of the best defenses in the league, set a home winning record, and a franchise record for wins at 44-38. The team’s early exit from the Playoffs was largely due to the incredible play of the Orlando Magic, who serve as a fine example for what makes a true NBA title contender. Charlotte was able to match Orlando defensively, but Jameer Nelson and company excelled with a superb offense. For the Bobcats, their first Playoff series was simply a “Welcome to the Post-Season” kind of hurdle for a young franchise.

In the case that the leadership or the roster undergoes major changes this off-season, the team should be proud of the big leap they made. As a losing club for five years, the Bobcats had suffered through such slow, incremental attempts at progress. The 2009-2010 season finally marked a winning season. Yes, the Bobcats were winners. It really happened. So, let’s hope it continues to happen for a while.

Links:

Larry Brown’s End of Season Press Conference – Charlotte Observer

NBA Draft 2010 (Mock Draft)

Bobcats’ Brown Continues Mulling Future – ESPN.com

Leave Larry Brown Behind Forever – Phil Sheridan, Philly.com Sports

TKO from OHIO

Lebron James Knocks Out the Bobcats

It took the Bobcats about six minutes to lose to the Cavs on Saturday night. It was a tough one to watch from the stands. The games are usually packed when the superstars come to play and this was a Saturday with Lebron in town. With all of the folks that have relocated to Charlotte, the arena had more Ohio people than you’ll find at an outlet mall shopping strip. It was like going to a Cavs home game. Anytime King James touched the ball, the crowd hushed to wait for his next monster dunk. Unfortunately for anyone with sympathies toward the local team, Lebron delivered with some serious offensive moves and a notably athletic block on Raymond Felton.

It was a little odd to see Michael Jordan on the Bobcats bench, just watching the game as a . . . Witness. His Cats had nothing going right and the Cavaliers had everything running well. The Bobcats weren’t ready to play a team of that caliber. I’m sure that Larry Brown could lead this squad to a series sweep over the Bakersfield Jam in the D League finals, but the Cavs are playing like a real NBA contender.

D Wade and the Miami Heat are on the slate for Monday Night. The Bobcats could help themselves become a bit more relevant if they could pull out a win on the road. Okafor certainly needs to reassert himself with this game. Sean May might miss the game due to consistent knee trouble and Gerald Wallace could be absent while away for a family funeral. Larry Brown will need to scheme hard to keep it competitive without those two involved. Let’s hope that Ajinca doesn’t see much time in this one. He could easily become the most visible white flag of surrender in the league.