MVN - Most Valuable Network

Is there a Draft in here? Bobcats’ future is on the clock

The NBA Draft is not quite held with the hoopla of the NFL. 2 whole days of live television talking about running backs, OTs and safeties from Southwest East Texas State University just doesn’t get my juices going, but it works for a lot of folks. And I guess that as an NBA fan, I was also a draft geek.

There was a time when I would sit down with pencil and paper in hand and write down all the picks with notes about what they were, who took them and why, and share them with…well, nobody. Except maybe my buddy Gene, but…OK, yeah I was a draft geek.

So coming into this year’s draft, we have a similar situation as last season. Two players, Kansas State’s Michael Beasley and University of Memphis’ Derrick Rose are the clear top two choices, and the consensus is that no one will go wrong taking either one. There was no magic in the lottery for the Bobcats, so they will be long gone by the time the Bobcats’ pick rolls up to the podium at #9 (by the way, shouldn’t Michael Jordan have been the ‘Cats representative at the lottery?). The other “consensus?” Whoever the Bobcats take, Larry Brown probably won’t play him.

That being said, I’m trolling around the Tubez checking out the various mock drafts out there and getting an idea about who’ll be available around the time the ‘Cats pass the note up to the Commish.

A lot of folks see Kevin Love as the pick here, but there are still options. Let’s go through some of the prospective picks one by one.

Kevin Love 6′ 10″ 275 PF - UCLA

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17.9 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.4 bpg, 29.6 mpg

Chad Ford at ESPN talked with Love about his training regimen and what he was doing to get his body in shape for the NBA. The Pac 10 Player of the Year has lost 13 pounds, stretched his endurance, and discovered the joys of eating right. He is a slightly undersized power forward that looked enormous playing against other college players, but struggled a bit against the more athletic bigs of Memphis in the Final Four. He showed great range, extending out to the college three point line, and the proverbial “high basketball IQ.” And of course, everyone raves about his outlet passing, He seems like an LB “right way” kind of guy, but you have to be a bit concerned about how he matches up with the more athletic bigs of the NBA. He would be another needed big body with some skills to go with it.

Anthony Randolph 6′ 11″ 220 lbs PF - LSU

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15.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.2 apg, 2.3 bpg, 1.1 spg, 32.8 mpg

Randolph flew under the national radar this year as LSU slipped into obscurity only two years after their Final Four appearance. After Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Tyrus Thomas left the program, Randolph was left to pick up the pieces as a freshman. And though he could not single-handedly pull LSU back to prominence, he has caught the eye of NBA scouts as a potential Chris Bosh type. He obviously would need to gain weight and strength (though his frame doesn’t suggest he’ll be able to carry much more), but he could fill the ‘Cats need for a longer guy able to handle jumpshooting 4’s, leaving Emeka Okafor to do what he does best: guard the paint.

D.J. Augustin 6′ 180 lbs PG - Texas

19.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 5.8 apg, 0 bpg, 1.2 spg

Augustin blossomed at Texas when the Kevin Durant era ended (can an era only last one season?). A great shooter and finisher, he makes pinpoint passes and leads a team well. The problem is he’s even smaller than Raymond Felton (the thinking is that he’s really more like 5′ 10″), and despite his strength will be a walking post up opportunity. Considering the only point guard currently under contract is Felton, the Bobcats are going to have to do something about the situation, and Augustin would be a decent choice, even playing backup duty behind Felton.

DeAndre Jordan 7′0″ 260 lbs C - Texas A&M

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7.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 0.4 apg, 1.3 bpg, 20.1 mpg

Jordan, in my opinion, is the kind of super-athletic tease that general managers want to pick to prove their genius when he finally blossoms into the next dominant big man, like, say Kwame Brown. Which I guess means it’s pretty much guaranteed the Bobcats will take him. People look at him and see a future Dwight Howard. That may be the case, but it won’t be next season. Jordan struggled mightily through the second half of his freshman year at Texas A&M, and simply didn’t show the requisite skills to be successful right away. Most of his minutes came off the bench, and I have flashbacks of Marvin Williams, a guy talked up to be an NBA superstar, but couldn’t start on his college team. He could be an Andrew Bynum type, but I’m not sure the Bobcats can wait.

JaVale McGee 7′0″237 lbs. C - Utah

14.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 0.6 apg, 2.8 bpg, 27.3 mpg

Ed Ziti at Lakers Library dug deep and thinks Charlotte will go with Nevada center Javale McGee (whom Ford thinks will go 18 to the Wizards). McGee has the pedigree, with both his parents having played professional basketball, and the the potential at 7′0″ and 237 pounds to get bigger, stronger, and better. He’s a raw big guy with much more upside than Jermareo Davidson or Ryan Hollins. Draft Express is pretty high on him, especially his work ethic (as opposed to DeAndre Jordan’s), and he looks like he’ll be a workout demon. Still, he played against relatively inferior competition in the WAC, and needs to become a much better defender. He may not be the same level of project as Jordan, but he’s a project nonetheless, like most of the big men at this stage of the draft.

What happens next

The Bobcats have many decisions to make outside of just this draft pick. Quoting Draft Express:

Before deciding who to draft, the Bobcats first of all need to decide what direction their organization is heading in after the hiring of Larry Brown. The roster seems best suited to run, but Larry Brown has always been known as a defensive oriented, grind it out type, making it interesting to see how the pieces they have will fit into their overall scheme. Can Raymond Felton play the type of half-court basketball that Brown demands? And if not, does D.J. Augustin make more sense here? Is Emeka Okafor better suited as a PF or a C in today’s basketball, and with that in mind do you draft someone to compliment him at either position, like Kosta Koufos or Anthony Randolph? Is it just better off to go with best player available and decide later?

Quite right. Last season, the Bobcats were very much planning to be an uptempo, push the ball upcourt kind of team. That never really came to pass, but the pieces are there for this kind of play. Now Larry Brown has to either adjust his style to the players, or start moving people to get the type of team he wants.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 10:49 am and is filed under Larry Brown, Jermareo Davidson, Rick Bonnell, Ryan Hollins, Emeka Okafor, Rumors, NBA Draft, Raymond Felton, Charlotte Bobcats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.