Ranking the top 4 longterm prospects on this team....

[Veteran_Picksetter]

1. Henderson.
I see him eventually dropping 18 a night along with strong D--for multiple years.

2. Biyombo.
The shotblocking and rebounding are there--period. The length and the strength? There. The desire and attitude appear to be appropriate as well. I'm predicting a 5-year run of 10-11 boards and 2.5-3 blocks a night. Any offense would be a bonus.

3. Walker.
I'm not entirely sold. But no doubt he can improve. With his intelligence, confidence, and quickness, it's easy to believe he will be a step ahead of everyone else the way Chris Paul is. He'll need to be because he has zero length for getting off his shot in the lane. A lot depends on getting good pieces around him and getting him into place to truly learn the PG position.

4. Augustin? DJ White? Byron Mullens? Tyrus Thomas? I don't know. Y'all tell me.

How do you rank the individual Bobcats as prospects?

[Pepperz]

1. Walker - The face and leader.
2. Biyombo - This generations Big Ben
3. Henderson - The progress hes made has been wonderful and I still see him improving
4. Mullens - A quality big man that is only 22. Also and excellent combination to go along side BitchSmack.

[QC Thundercats]

I would normally have Augustin in the rankings, but it seems to me that the front office is looking to go ahead with the younger, cheaper option and build the team from the ground up again. So I'm ranking them based on what I think is the full potential/ceiling of our prospects.

1) Kemba
I believe his potential can be to become an all-star some day. He seems to be adjusting to the league at a slower pace than a lot of fans expected, but we need to understand that there was no real training camp/preseason for him to get acclimated, and because of his smaller stature, it naturally would take some adjusting to get used to the size and speed of NBA players. But he's also shown flashes of what he could become once the game slows down and he becomes more consistent.

He has some intangibles that, combined, give him an edge over most PG's and I feel will put him over the top. He has an incredible burst to get to the hole or to his midrange sweet spot, which makes him basically unguardable when he wants to get a shot off. But what sets him apart from other fast twitched peewee guards is his competitive fire/"it" factor/swagger/leadership, which is hard to measure, but only certain players possess. Looking at our progression of PG's, Felton had that fire/indomitable will, but not quite the ability to match, while DJ has all the abilities you could want, but doesn't display the aggressiveness/killer instinct that Felton has. I think with PG version 3.0, we finally have both qualities in one person, and thats why I'm much higher on him than what he may have shown so far.

2) Biyombo
Biz reminds me of a giant puppy - full of energy and excitement, showing no fear of anything, but is basically all limbs and crashes around the place. He also seems to have that will/competitiveness, as we saw when he was D'ing up Dwight without giving an inch. He is as raw a basketball player that has ever arrived in the league, and these first couple years of training will determine how good he can become. He has awesome athletic ability, coordination, and agility, and he just has to learn how to use his physical gifts to become great.

I may be shooting high, but I think he can have a dominant effect on the defensive side like a Ben Wallace, Mutombo, Zo, and Dwight. If he's not erasing shots, he's making people alter their shots, or at least is in the back of the minds of everyone near the paint. The main things he needs to work on is footwork and catching the ball, but these are things that can be taught and developed, and once the light comes on, watch out.

3) Hendo
As I stated in another thread, he can be the ultimate role player for us. He'll never be the leader of a team, but he has all the ability to do everything on the court, a jack of all trades sort of player. At best, depending on who else we get on the team, he could become close to a consistent 20 point scorer. He spent time improving his jumper, so now he needs to spend time on how to get it off consistently, and how to get to the basket at will. His defensive instincts are top notch, and he seems like a pretty cerebral player, so I think he'll be able to identify his weaknesses and improve them every year. As a third option on a team, you could do much worse than him.

4) Mullens
He's a very intriguing prospect based on his offensive capabilities. I had no idea he could shoot when we first got him, but he has great touch, footwork, and athletic ability. The thing that struck me most when first watching him was the confidence he had in his game, despite not really playing at all in his career and not being a scorer at all (wasn't even much of a scorer in college either). He was making McHale-like moves, and took shots knowing he was going to make them. To have that confidence already without having a chance to show it before shows me that he has mental toughness as well, and didn't let his formative years drag him down and define him like it did for Kwame and Darko.

For him, if he can be taught defensive positioning/awareness, and how to use his length and athleticism to bother shots, he could become a very good defender. Throw in about 20-25 pounds of muscle, and I think the sky is the limit for him as well.


So...... I think this is our core 4 going forward. As bad as we are, this is actually a very interesting, intriguing group of prospects that we have. It remains to be seen if they can live up to their potential, but it is a very athletic group, with a good mix of offensive and defensive abilities. If they can build upon what they have, I think they can be starters on a contender, and we just need to fill the 5th spot with our upcoming lottery pick.

Kemba
Hendo
Barnes or Davis
Mullens
Biyombo

I'm very excited about that group! Lets coach them up, and unleash them on the league. 2015 Champions!!

[Chef]

the question on its face is an easy answer kemba, hendo, biyombo, mullens. i don't really think the order matters. but as far as core as thundercats suggests, i don't think any of the four are necessarily core guys. in other words, including this draft, i would never not draft a pf, c, sg or pg because we have these four. in fact, i could see all 4 being non-starters just as easily as i could see them being core starters.

[Plowright]

Come On chef, you know the rules. BPA!!!

[Chef]

Come On chef, you know the rules. BPA!!!

that is exactly what i said in many more words. sometimes i just like to hear myself type.

[ohara831]

Kemba
DJ
Hendo
Biyombo
Mullens
DJ White

[superb1]

Kemba
Hendo
Biyombo
Mullens

and extended core
(hopefully) DJA
DJ White
Williams (hopefully he will prove his worth)


tap in: had a bad dream that we traded Mullens, don't remember who but the return was great

[spectre]

Lady Cats
Smack
Kemba
Henderson

[QC Thundercats]

Lady Cats

You're right spectre:



I hope we can keep her as part of our core, but I don't think we can afford to keep her. She'll probably end up in LA or New York, unfortunately. Damn you big markets...