Charlotte Bobcats @ Grizzlies 12/19/08

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1) Surprisingly easy win on the road tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies, 112-83.  AP story here, box score here.  The Bobcats get just their second road win of the season, improving to 9-18 overall.  The Grizz, who had won 5 of their last 8, fall to 9-17.

2) Another day, another trade rumor for the Bobcats.  Thursday morning, Rick Bonnell reported that the Warriors and Bobcats were talking about a Raymond Felton for Anthony Randolph OR Brandan Wright deal.  Though I’m an avowed Raymond Felton fan/apologist, the play of DJ Augustin and the potential of both of those young Warrior forwards had me saying YES YES YES just like Rufus on Fire was.

Later Thursday, ESPN’s John Hollinger included this comment in his “Insider Gems” column:

“…the Warriors would be absolutely nuts to trade Wright. His 20.23 PER is among the best at his position, though achieved in limited minutes. He also played well in his rare opportunities last season and had a strong freshman year at North Carolina. All the evidence samples are small, but combined, we have three data points that suggest he should play and none that argue against his playing.”

Nothing’s gone down yet, but Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury news reported Friday afternoon on his blog that things in Warrior-land are very tense right now; anything could happen.

3) Gotta call out Bobcats TV analyst Henry Williams, who was rocking an awful, pea-green, Craig Sager-wannabe number tonight.  Awful — words can’t do it justice.

4) So anyways, a great game by the Bobcats tonight.  Probably the best game they have played all year — everything was working.  Midway through his fantastic first quarter, Emeka Okafor got two straight buckets to give the Cats a 15-10 lead, and they never looked back.  The Cats won every single quarter, and save for a short stretch late in the third where we settled for some marginal shots, always looked in control.  The Cats finished the game shooting 65.8 % (a franchise record!), dominated the boards 41-23, and had 35 assists.

5) Okafor had yet another strong game, with 25 points on 11-16 FG, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block.  He made several strong post moves (against the Grizzlies admittedly underwhelming duo of Darko Milicic and Marc Gasol) and got a bunch of easy buckets on putbacks and feeds from Boris and Raymond.  Okafor is really playing well with Diaw; let’s keep an eye on this going forward.

6) Speaking of Diaw, he has to get player-of-the-game honors tonight, going for 26 points (11-13 FG, 4-4 3PT), 10 rebounds and 3 assists.  He has looked more motivated since coming to the Bobcats than he has in years, and is an immense upgrade over the Sean May/Jared Dudley PF-by-committee that we had been seeing.

7) Great to see Gerald Wallace back in the lineup: 22 points (9-11 FG), 9 rebounds and 4 steals.  The Cats didn’t need much else; Matt Carroll was the only other Bobcat in double figures with 10.  DJ only shot 3 times tonight, and ended up with 10 assists versus 2 points.  Not often you’re going to see that kind of ratio from DJ.

8) First good game for Raja Bell tonight, as he absolutely shut down Memphis super-rookie OJ Mayo. Mayo went 2-10 for 7 points in 28 minutes, well under his gaudy 20.8 PPG average.

9) Memphis has real trouble at their PG spot.  They started Kyle Lowry, but gave more minutes to Mike Conley — neither were effective.  At one point in the second half, Conley nervously passed up an open look at a three, which drew the ire of all 17 Grizzlies fans in attendance.  Conley’s still just a 21-year-old second-year player; nonetheless, the Grizzlies have to be disappointed that he hasn’t shown much progress.

10) Next game is Saturday night, hosting the Warriors at the Cable Box at 7:00.  Another Saturday night in December, another holiday party — which means I’m passing my tickets to Mom & Dad again and will be DVRing the game (that is, if my dubious Time Warner cable box cooperates).

Could be interesting, what with the Bobcats playing so well tonight and the Warriors in the midst of a tough stretch in their schedule and apparently at DEFCON 2.

-E

Last Minute News, Rumors, Tidbits and Thoughts…

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Only about an hour away now. I’ve read so much Chad Ford in the past week that I think I deserve an honorary degree in International Conflict Resolution from BYU-Hawaii.

Here’s the way things are shaping up for the Bobcats:

  • Bonnell reported today that the Bobcats were (desperately???) working to line up a trade with Memphis to get their #5 pick. Presumably this would be to ensure that we can get Russell Westbrook, who may not be there at #9.
  • Would a package of #9 and #20 be enough to get this done? Both Bonnell and Chad Ford seemed to think not today. Bonnell specifically mentioned that Gerald Wallace was available as well, but Wallace + #9 is way too much to give up, and Wallace + #20 doesn’t seem like enough. And should we be giving up anything to move up, when Westbrook may be there at #9 anyways? Could Kevin Love actually be the target at #5?
  • I read somewhere today that there are some in the Bobcats front office who are high on DJ Augustin, and are pushing him for the #9 pick. Please God, no. Hopefully that one’s all smoke screen.
  • If we don’t make a trade to move up to #5, then two trades that happened today affect who will be left at #9. The Clippers and Supersonics have agreed to swap their #4 and #7 picks, with the Clips sending their 2009 pick along in the deal (with some protections). The Clips would pick Eric Gordon (good for us, we’re not interested). Then the Sonics would likely take Brook Lopez (also good for us). In another trade however, the Bucks picked up Richard Jefferson for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons. This puts some doubt into the thoughts that Joe Alexander will be the pick for the Bucks (as Jefferson and Alexander are both SFs), and makes it more likely that the Bucks will be after a guard: Jerryd Bayless (OK, fine) or Russell Westbrook (Nooooooooooo!).
  • So here’s my last minute amended prediction about what the Bobcats’ draft board looks like this right now for the #9 pick: 1) Russell Westbrook, 2) Kevin Love, 3) Anthony Randolph or Brook Lopez.

We’ll know in a little over an hour…

-E

Only 6 Shopping Days Left!!!

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That’s right — less than a week left!  The 2008 NBA Draft is next Thursday, June 26th.  The deadline to drop out has passed, workouts are in full swing, and rumors are flying around at a dizzying pace.

Let’s take a look at some of the rumors that directly involve or affect the Bobcats.  Most, if not all, of this stuff comes from DraftExpress or Chad Ford on ESPN.comBobcats.com has also been delivering top-notch coverage of the workouts the Bobcats have conducted, complete with video. Continue reading

Bobcats Draft Rumors and Tidbits

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CLICK HERE FOR 2009 BOBCATS DRAFT RUMORS


Man, what a great time of the year to be an NBA junkie. The conference championship series are in full swing, and it’s that magical time between the lottery and the draft. Mock drafts and rumors are bandied about with a level of responsibility befitting a 15-year-old on Full Throttle.

The amount of content out there regarding the draft is almost dizzying — Chad Ford is doing his usual stalwart job on ESPN.com, DraftExpress.com seems to be pumping out 3 or 4 pieces a day, and even Rick Bonnell got into the act with a stretch of 6 blog posts in 4 days last week.

And it’s only going to get better (worse?) now that the official pre-draft camp is underway in Orlando. So let’s look at a couple of rumors and tidbits regarding the Bobcats. Continue reading

Bobcats Baseline 2008 Draft Preview Part Four: Pick #8 or #9

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Welcome to Part Four of a five-part look at the 2008 NBA Draft from the perspective of the Charlotte Bobcats. Part One was a basic look at the Bobcats’ needs this offseason. Part Two took a detailed look at the draft lottery process which determines where the team will pick. Part Three examined the Bobcats’ options if they should luck out in the lottery and move up into one of the top three picks, while Part Four is a look at the team’s potential choices if they stay in their spot with the eighth (or ninth) pick. Part Five will consider the Bobcats’ second round pick.

Now that it’s the eve of the lottery and we’ve fantasized about moving up into one of the top three picks in the upcoming draft, let’s take a look at the more likely scenario: the Bobcats picking at #8 or #9. As I established in Part Two, there is a 72.5% chance the Bobcats will end up picking at #8 and a 16.8% chance for #9 — combined that’s almost a 90% chance we will be picking at #8 or #9. Continue reading