So WHO'S on our roster now? I just got home from work......

[Veteran_Picksetter]

It'd be cool if somebody could come up with a list of who's technically on our roster RIGHT NOW, and who's gonna be on our roster once the deals go down? Can anybody pull it off for ol' Veteran_Picksetter and the rest of the Bobcats' crew?

[SWedd523]

No deals have been finalized. All we know for sure is that Tyson is leaving for Toronto, per his twitter. Other than that, our roster is the exact same for now.

[ALong13]

If the trade goes through...

PG: Jose Calderon, DJ Augustin
SG: S-jax, Henderson
SF: Gerald Wallace, Derrick Brown, Dominic McGwire
PF: Tyrus Thomas, Reggie Evans, Alexis ajinca
C: Nazr Mohammed, DeSagana Diop

[Veteran_Picksetter]

Thanks so much for the quick responses guys?

Suppose the trade goes down: That's a truly lame front line, if you ask me. We better not be done yet.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

If the trade goes through...

PG: Jose Calderon, DJ Augustin
SG: S-jax, Henderson
SF: Gerald Wallace, Derrick Brown, Dominic McGwire
PF: Tyrus Thomas, Reggie Evans, Alexis ajinca
C: Nazr Mohammed, DeSagana Diop

I don't know if I can see this roster beating our '09-10 roster.

[dvdbumpus]

Reggie Evans and Nazr Mohammad will likely be traded as they're expiring contracts ($11+ mil roughly). On top of that, hopefully we have trade exceptions from the Toronto deal to work with.

We just have to keep in mind the season begins in November, not July. ILBIT!

[Jennings]

There's still a long off season to go. I'm going to hold my judgement until it's all done. I have faith.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

Reggie Evans and Nazr Mohammad will likely be traded as they're expiring contracts ($11+ mil roughly). On top of that, hopefully we have trade exceptions from the Toronto deal to work with.

We just have to keep in mind the season begins in November, not July. ILBIT!

Thanks for the ray of hope. Wouldn't it be nice to acquire a big man who actually has some go-to offensive skills........

[Toocool]

Since I'm not American and I see absolutely nothing happening over here on TV in terms of NBA, explaination with what's going on please. I assume some kind of trade with Toronto?

[Talent]

I don't know if I can see this roster beating our '09-10 roster.

I think that is a bit of a stretch.

Diaw: We lost a soft PF who passed a lot. Who hid away for the playoffs. He had some excellent games for the Bobcats, however he just looked disinterested last year.

Chandler: We lost a Center that was useful when he did not have injuries. He was useful during the playoffs and that will be missed.

Calderon: We gained a pure point guard who can run a pick and roll offense and may r may not fit into LBs system. I would say it is a defensive downgrade but how can you get worse than Felton getting torched by Nelson. I heard it can be frustrating to watch him, but at least he can hit a free throw.

Evans: We got a tough mean PF that will actually play the right way with the exception of grabbing some dudes balls in a game. He can't shoot worth a damn, but I think his rebounding will be nice for the 2nd team.

Brown & Henderson: The "rookies" from last year looked good in the summer league and seem ready to step up.

Alexis Ajinca: The wild card in all of this is if Lexi can step up or not for some bench minutes this year.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

I think that is a bit of a stretch.

Diaw: We lost a soft PF who passed a lot. Who hid away for the playoffs. He had some excellent games for the Bobcats, however he just looked disinterested last year.

Chandler: We lost a Center that was useful when he did not have injuries. He was useful during the playoffs and that will be missed.

Calderon: We gained a pure point guard who can run a pick and roll offense and may r may not fit into LBs system. I would say it is a defensive downgrade but how can you get worse than Felton getting torched by Nelson. I heard it can be frustrating to watch him, but at least he can hit a free throw.

Evans: We got a tough mean PF that will actually play the right way with the exception of grabbing some dudes balls in a game. He can't shoot worth a damn, but I think his rebounding will be nice for the 2nd team.

Brown & Henderson: The "rookies" from last year looked good in the summer league and seem ready to step up.

Alexis Ajinca: The wild card in all of this is if Lexi can step up or not for some bench minutes this year.

Problem is, you now HAVE to have a "Stretch 4" in this league who can give you big minutes. Diaw had an off year, but he was still a PF who's 3-point shot and other perimeter abilities you had to respect. This is very important for offensive spacing.

Thomas can hit a 15-footer. But not much further. I'm sorry, this current lineup doesn't have offensive balance.

Who's Calderon gonna run a pick-and-POP with? You gotta have that along with your pick and roll.

[dnbman]

Nazr was actually pretty good on the pick and pop. Tyrus might be better than we think. He can hit the mid-range shot. I don't know that we need our bigs going out to three point line, though the point about spacing is vital.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

Assuming the Toronto trade goes down, we are left with some serious questions.

It is imperative to have a "Stretch PF" or an outside shooting Center in this league who can force you to guard him from the perimeter. Like him or not, Diaw served that purpose. His defender has to follow him out to the 3-point line. This opens things up for everyone else by getting a big defender out of the lane.

So what big man can hit a 3 or long 2 for us now?

Tyrus Thomas? A 15-footer, yes, but not a longer shot.
Reggie Evans? I seriously doubt it.
Nazr?
Diop?
Ajinca? He'll foul out before he gets any shot attempts.


Secondly, we've been desperate for a low post offensive threat, and of course this proposed trade does nothing for that need.

Thoughts?

[amour217]

Ajinca? He'll foul out before he gets any shot attempts.


He'll foul out before he gets off the bench

[Veteran_Picksetter]

Nazr was actually pretty good on the pick and pop. Tyrus might be better than we think. He can hit the mid-range shot. I don't know that we need our bigs going out to three point line, though the point about spacing is vital.

I just look around the league, and it seems like most of the good teams have that "stretch 4" or long combo F (Lamar Odom) who can unclog the lane. I'm talkin' guys who can nail 3's, not just 15-footers. It is a near requirement in this NBA era.

[CatNation]

He'll foul out before he gets off the bench

He'll foul out before he gets to the arena.

Jokes aside, lets just say I don't think we'll be looking to the front court for a lot of scoring this year...

Naz has a nice 12 footer though

[Veteran_Picksetter]

Rashard Lewis
Lamar Odom
Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett
Mehmet Okur (a Center, of course)
Antawn Jamison

These are some of the names from teams that did well.

Where's ours?

[dnbman]

I just look around the league, and it seems like most of the good teams have that "stretch 4" or long combo F (Lamar Odom) who can unclog the lane. I'm talkin' guys who can nail 3's, not just 15-footers. It is a near requirement in this NBA era.

I actually think Wallace could fill that role for us. There aren't actually that many 4s that step out to the three point line. I could only find about a 6-7 that made 1+ three pointer a game. Guys like Frye, Murphy, Bargani and Villanueva get some extra press for doing it, but they also give up possessions underneath by trying for those threes.

I'm more than content with a guy who can hit the 15 foot pick-and-pop and bassline jumper, which Nazr and Thomas can both do. Though, we still need another center.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

He'll foul out before he gets to the arena.

Jokes aside, lets just say I don't think we'll be looking to the front court for a lot of scoring this year...

Naz has a nice 12 footer though

And we are doomed if it stays this way. Seriously, what does LB have against big men with offensive skills?

[amour217]

Naz has a nice 12 footer though

That's what she said!

[SWedd523]

threads merged.

[dnbman]

Rashard Lewis
Lamar Odom
Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett
Mehmet Okur (a Center, of course)
Antawn Jamison

These are some of the names from teams that did well.

Where's ours?

But is that outside shooting what made their teams do well? Odom's outside shooting was hardly what made his contributions significant. While Sheed made 1 a game, he shot 28% from the three point line. Garnett averaged 0.0 3s last year. Okur hit 1 a game, but there are hardly any other centers in the league who hit .5 a game. Jamison was irrelevant to the Cav's success.

Lewis and Bargani are probably the best arguments for having that stretch 4, but they also played with dominating two-way big men in the middle, allowing them to put four shooters on the outside for an inside-out attack.

Don't get me wrong: we need bigs to stretch the defense, but a mid-range game is more than fine for our PF and C.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

Guys like Frye, Murphy, Bargani and Villanueva get some extra press for doing it, but they also give up possessions underneath by trying for those threes.


Is that why Rashard Lewis, Rasheed Wallace, Kevin Garnett, and Lamar Odom-all perimeter shooting guys who play some 4--made it too the finals in the last two years? Because they give up extra possessions underneath for trying those long shots?

[Veteran_Picksetter]

But is that outside shooting what made their teams do well? Odom's outside shooting was hardly what made his contributions significant. While Sheed made 1 a game, he shot 28% from the three point line. Garnett averaged 0.0 3s last year. Okur hit 1 a game, but there are hardly any other centers in the league who hit .5 a game. Jamison was irrelevant to the Cav's success.

Lewis and Bargani are probably the best arguments for having that stretch 4, but they also played with dominating two-way big men in the middle, allowing them to put four shooters on the outside for an inside-out attack.

Don't get me wrong: we need bigs to stretch the defense, but a mid-range game is more than fine for our PF and C.

Don't forget Diaw as a stretch 4 who helped the Bobcats get to the playoffs, whether the Diaw-haters like it or not.

[dnbman]

Don't forget Diaw as a stretch 4 who helped the Bobcats get to the playoffs, whether the Diaw-haters like it or not.

I'm not saying it didn't help us, but what was the trade-off?

[LiquidWayno]

My gut instinct is to not like this trade. Calderon as an LB PG? Can we score 90 points a game?

[Veteran_Picksetter]

But is that outside shooting what made their teams do well? Odom's outside shooting was hardly what made his contributions significant. While Sheed made 1 a game, he shot 28% from the three point line. Garnett averaged 0.0 3s last year. Okur hit 1 a game, but there are hardly any other centers in the league who hit .5 a game. Jamison was irrelevant to the Cav's success.

Lewis and Bargani are probably the best arguments for having that stretch 4, but they also played with dominating two-way big men in the middle, allowing them to put four shooters on the outside for an inside-out attack.

Don't get me wrong: we need bigs to stretch the defense, but a mid-range game is more than fine for our PF and C.

But the thing is, for every ONE three-pointer a big man hits, there are myriad other times where he pulls his man out of the lane by simply standing near the 3-point line, and this opens up so much for the rest of the players.

If Tyrus or Nazr could hit a 20 footer, it'd be different, but they don't even come close to be 3-point shooters.

After this Toronto trade, we have roster that can be stopped by packing it in with a zone defense.

[dnbman]

My gut instinct is to not like this trade. Calderon as an LB PG? Can we score 90 points a game?

A lot of guys on here know a lot more about playing the game than I do. All of you feel free to speak up about the below comment.

Even though Calderon is a bad defender, I'm wondering if Brown can at least turn him into an o.k. team defender who can funnel his man to certain spots so that our help defenders can step in.

As for offense, Calderon seems much more suited for the half court offense than Felton, which is what LB wants when we aren't getting fast breaks.

Anyone know if Calderon is coachable?

[Veteran_Picksetter]

I'm not saying it didn't help us, but what was the trade-off?

Diaw couldn't rebound, but the last time I checked we were outrebounding opponents regardless. Diaw's skillfull finesse was a complement to Gerald's rugged game, especially in 08-09. And then when Diaw slumped last year we were still a better team anyway.

[dnbman]

I think that type of basketball is more indicative of the lack of skill in the NBA. Teams go for threes or dunks and little in the middle. However, we can be very successful by having bigs that take their man half way out of the post and constantly move. Our offense is going to take more work, but we can still be very successful without a PF that demands outside coverage. For that matter, we could always rotate Wallace to that role. He actually shot better from the three point line than Diaw (37% to 32%).

[superb1]

He'll foul out before he gets off the bench

He comes in the game with 3 fouls against him, hell he wakes up in the morning and is assessed a foul. lol

[Veteran_Picksetter]

I think that type of basketball is more indicative of the lack of skill in the NBA. Teams go for threes or dunks and little in the middle. However, we can be very successful by having bigs that take their man half way out of the post and constantly move. Our offense is going to take more work, but we can still be very successful without a PF that demands outside coverage. For that matter, we could always rotate Wallace to that role. He actually shot better from the three point line than Diaw (37% to 32%).

I think Wallace can succeed at the PF for brief stretches, but I don't like the idea over 20 or so games.

At least Calderon can nail a 3. That gives us him and Jack as perimeter threats. Wallace can hit a 3, but only in optimal, wide-open catch-and-shoot situations because of his slow, odd release.

This roster is asking a lot of Nazr. We are assuming that he will come back as hungry and as good as he was last year--a year in which he went down with an injury anyway. Can we expect a lot of minutes from him at this point? Yeah, he's the starting Center on our current depth chart, but REALLY?

The more I think about it, it is frightening how bad our offense can be with this crew. Imagine Diop starting with Nazr down. And we haven't even brought up Diaw's passing/ballhandling ability versus Thomas's. And while we do have some good defensive parts, Calderon/Augustin could mess it all up by constantly allowing penetration.

I seriously hope we have something else in the works following the proposed Toronto deal.

[SWedd523]

dnb I haven't watched enough of Jose to know where his shortcomings on defense are. I'll have to look around and see before I can make any educated comment on that.

The one thing I think people are forgetting is how insanely good Jose is on offense. When him and TJ played together he had like a 4.5/1 turnover ratio and was at the top of the league in terms of Pure Point Rating.

His ability to create nullifies the loss of Diaw's facilitation so I wouldn't be worried about that at all. The only real issue is including Tyrus and Evans. It would have made so much more sense to do Nazr/Diop for Evans and still have Tyson. Oh well.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

dnb I haven't watched enough of Jose to know where his shortcomings on defense are. I'll have to look around and see before I can make any educated comment on that.

The one thing I think people are forgetting is how insanely good Jose is on offense. When him and TJ played together he had like a 4.5/1 turnover ratio and was at the top of the league in terms of Pure Point Rating.

His ability to create nullifies the loss of Diaw's facilitation so I wouldn't be worried about that at all. The only real issue is including Tyrus and Evans. It would have made so much more sense to do Nazr/Diop for Evans and still have Tyson. Oh well.

Calderon might nullify the loss of Diaw's facilitation, but really what kind of offensive big man will Calderon have to work with? Remember Jose got to play with sweet-shooting Bargnani and also Chris Bosh. No wonder he collected so many assists.

We have NOTHING even remotely resembling those two recent Toronto bigs. NOTHING.

[jdub28]

Why are people pointing out, Calderon's flaws on defense when he played for the Raptors? That's like saying a guard from the Warriors shoots too many 3's.

He does shoot a better percentage than Felton and Jose turned the ball over less in a free-for-all offensive system. at the worst I would say the two of them are a push. I much rather have Jose than Diaw (who already drifts in and out of games) trying to be our energy of the bench.

I don't understand the TC part. It just seems like throwing away an expiring contract.

[dnbman]

Why are people pointing out, Calderon's flaws on defense when he played for the Raptors? That's like saying a guard from the Warriors shoots too many 3's.

He does shoot a better percentage than Felton and Jose turned the ball over less in a free-for-all offensive system. at the worst I would say the two of them are a push. I much rather have Jose than Diaw (who already drifts in and out of games) trying to be our energy of the bench.

I don't understand the TC part. It just seems like throwing away an expiring contract.

If Evans is included, I think he'll be the underrated piece. He disappeared behind Bosh and Bargnani, Toronto's best two players who occupy the PF spot. Evans is a workman PF who can get a ton of rebounds and bully players in the middle. He's a nice contrast to Tyrus, who is a more high-flying player. To using a boxing analogy, Tyrus is jabs and Evans is body blows. I think Evans is the kind of PF that Brown loves to have on his team.

We'd still get some trade exception money in the deal that cold get another piece.

The center situation is suspect, as is Calderon's ability to keep us a strong defensive unit. However, I think they're relatively good moves if we want to try and compete this year.

[amour217]

Why are people pointing out, Calderon's flaws on defense when he played for the Raptors? That's like saying a guard from the Warriors shoots too many 3's.

He does shoot a better percentage than Felton and Jose turned the ball over less in a free-for-all offensive system. at the worst I would say the two of them are a push. I much rather have Jose than Diaw (who already drifts in and out of games) trying to be our energy of the bench.

I don't understand the TC part. It just seems like throwing away an expiring contract.

It's a good thing he turned the ball over little in a free-for-all system...I'm hoping he picks up well on LB's system, which is notoriously difficult on PGs

[Brown'sTown]

as of now I'm not liking this trade. Basically all we did is free up Tyson's cap space a year earlier, which at this point in free agency is stupid. He was our best trade chip and I think we just wasted it. If Calderon was expiring it would be one thing, but he's owed almost $31 million over the next 3 seasons!!!! Diaw would be done next season at 9M. It looks to me like we've once again taken another bloated contract owned by a mediocre player. I've heard about his defensive shortcomings reading articles over the past few seasons, and I also heard that the Raptors looked better with Jack playing point last season. Calderon shoots I high percentage, and he put up really good assist numbers a few years back, but he was playing with Bosh, Bargnani and Kapono. He's not going to have that kind of shooting and post play to work with here and we play a slower style I'm sure. We'll see what happens, but as of right now I hate the idea of taking on Calderon's $10M per year contract. If it were Diop in the trade I'd be cool with it, but Diaw wasn't on the books for much longer and he's somewhat productive and we lost our best trade chip.

[teej]

Diaw would be done next season at 9M.

He has a player option after that.

[Veteran_Picksetter]

as of now I'm not liking this trade. Basically all we did is free up Tyson's cap space a year earlier, which at this point in free agency is stupid. He was our best trade chip and I think we just wasted it. If Calderon was expiring it would be one thing, but he's owed almost $31 million over the next 3 seasons!!!! Diaw would be done next season at 9M. It looks to me like we've once again taken another bloated contract owned by a mediocre player. I've heard about his defensive shortcomings reading articles over the past few seasons, and I also heard that the Raptors looked better with Jack playing point last season. Calderon shoots I high percentage, and he put up really good assist numbers a few years back, but he was playing with Bosh, Bargnani and Kapono. He's not going to have that kind of shooting and post play to work with here and we play a slower style I'm sure. We'll see what happens, but as of right now I hate the idea of taking on Calderon's $10M per year contract. If it were Diop in the trade I'd be cool with it, but Diaw wasn't on the books for much longer and he's somewhat productive and we lost our best trade chip.

Sounds like there's hope. Word is Jordan is having second thoughts......

[Brown'sTown]

He has a player option after that.

i meant to say the year after, my bad. Still thats an extra year of a bloated salary.

[LiquidWayno]

Sounds like there's hope. Word is Jordan is having second thoughts......

Hey MJ...Frankie says Relax...don't do it.