Which Road To Take???

[wil]

Some franchise takes the road of the lottery to rebuild their franchise.. In the case of Cavs, it was LBJ, Nuggets, it was Melo, etc etc.. But some franchise gamble on nthe big stars, of course there is Boston with garnett, shaq with l.a.,heat n now suns, detroit with rasheed, hamilton n billups.. etc etc.

For the bobcats it seem too long we have been waiting for a player that could give these team an identity and a name throughout the leaugue. In short, we need a Star!!

Question, Do you guys think we should stay on track with hopes for the lottery year in and year out or do we go for the stars and gamble to change our destiny

[dvdbumpus]

Lotto this year depending on the pick, otherwise aim for someone that's a budding star ala Rudy Gay, Lemarcus Aldridge, etc.

[dnbman]

Lotto this year depending on the pick, otherwise aim for someone that's a budding star ala Rudy Gay, Lemarcus Aldridge, etc.

Drafting a star is definitely huge, but it doesn't guarantee success. We just need to continue to build the best team we can and find a coach who can lead us.

It's hard to figure out what pieces you need until you start having a system that works. I actually believe that Felton can be a go-to player, as he's shown he can do it time and time again. He just needs to be more consistent and we need to have plans in place to handle situations so he isn't pulling up for needless 3s at key moments of the game. Meanwhile, Wallace is an excellent 1a go to player, who is sick when he's attacking the rim. And of course, when Richardson gets it going, he can dominate the game, as seen in the Boston game among others. While none of those guys are Bryant or Bron, they can get it done. And we need to remember, there's only a few guys in the league who can literally dominate another team on their own. We can't simply count our prayers until we land one.

We also have a C who can be dominate down low in Okafor. He just needs to play with passion and conviction. However, I can understand how that's hard to do given the flat ball we've been playing. If we bring in a coach that can fire up the team and make them believe, I think we'll have that necessary playoff big in Okafor.

Suffice to say, we need to continue to draft smart. San Antonio shows us that you can still get reasonably good talent in the middle and late in the draft. However, you have to develop a system to get the most out of that player. We have the pieces right now to make a playoff run. We're just not deep and are poorly coached. But, the pieces we need we can still get: a blue collar big, a back-up pg, and a new coach. If we get those pieces, we should make a solid run in the East. Then, once have a system and identity established, we can start bringing in pieces we need and culling the ones we don't.

However, right now we have some moderately high priced wings who aren't going to get us much back in return, so we should keep them. Then we have some inexpensive rookies who can only really bring us back draft picks. But, that doesn't really help us unless we happen to draft a blue chip player with a low learning curve, which are few and far between. Think about this year's draft. It was said to have been very deep. Yet, the only guys really doing much are Durant, playing in an offensive vacuum, and Al Horford. Everyone else is playing mediocre ball, though a few years from now they'll probably be great. But do we want to push our success back even further, especially with zero guarantees that our success will be any better than it is with the folks we have now?

I guess what I'm saying is, there isn't an easy road or magic formula to get a title. History is shown it's a lot easier to have quality bigs and win it. History has also shown that a great floor general is pretty important. However, teams have won with mediocre bigs and mediocre point guards.

I think the most important thing I've seen is that the team develops an identity that allows them to dictate the tempo and flow of the game. It doesn't matter if that tempo is fast or slow, only that one team plays their system with such efficiency that the other team is left responding to them rather than the other way around. We have to build that, and I believe we already have a lot of the pieces to do it.

What we can't do is expect to acquire a few high profile talents and kick back and wait for a championship.

[amour217]

Which road to take? I'd avoid Independence Blvd if I were the Bobcats...

On a serious note, the Bobcats have a lot of decisions to make:

1. The coach - Sam Vincent is obviously overmatched as a head coach and MJ has made one of the blunders he's been known for as an NBA exec. That being said, MJ can correct the problem by letting Sam Vincent fade into oblivion and bringing in an experienced head coach with a history of success, a-la Carlisle, Collins, Van Gundy, etc. This team can make it to the next level: they have the talent, they just need to have confidence in their leadership.

2. Emeka Okafor - what a yo-yo season this guy has had. As a CT native, I've followed him pretty closely and I know what he's capable of: Okafor is a smart, powerful player who works very, very hard. But sometimes you wonder where his head is during games or during the season. He's shown flashes of being dominiant, then sometimes he turns into Frank Brickowski out there. Here's where the issue is: Emeka wants to get paid this offseason...do we keep our best draft pick or do we let him walk? Or do we explore a sign-and-trade? It's obvious that of late Okafor has been picking up his game, and if he continues it throughout the rest of the season, a strong argument can be made for throwing lots of money at him. But will he just be another Erick Dampier: dominating in his walk year, making lots of money, then sitting back on his behind? Decisions, decisions...

3. The draft - Okafor has shown minimal improvement throughout, the jury's still out on Felton, Sean May looks like he's gonna have a discount punch-card to OrthoCarolina, and Morrison has disappointed thus far. Ok so we've been so-so in the draft, but I think we made a wise move in moving our pick last year for JRich...I love having him on this team. From the looks of things, we may be in the lottery again this offseason and we REALLY need to identify our team's needs and EVALUATE ALL AVAILABLE TALENT! I keep saying it again and again: don't just go for the college hype. If we feel we need to draft a PG, look for a good one, not a potential shoot-first combo guard....if we feel we need a banger inside, then go for it, not a 6'10" 3-point-happy wing player who weighs 185 pounds. If we can move our pick for another impact player, then great....if we can move one of our current guys for more picks, that's great too. I say this a lot too: options are good, especially for us considering our cap situation.

4. The future direction of this team - this is a multi-faceted issue: from the team to the management to the fans. Win or lose, I love following this team, but Management need to sit down and really figure out how to make this team a success across the board. Field a good team, not just a team that will pander to a certain niche of fans to sell tickets. A good, successful team will sell tickets and make you money. I grew up a Celtics fan...the season they won 15 games, the Fleet Center was EMPTY...now they're beasts and the place is rockin'. Yes, that's a lot of bandwagon fans up in there, but still...running a team is a business and making money is good. So be wise, evaluate talent, and field the best team possible. Another thing that we repeat often is that MJ needs to be more visible in regards to this team....it's pretty sad that he's taken on the role as the team recluse. MJ making some appearances won't kill him and will help the team...if you put in the money to partially own this team, you still have to work to make it a success...DUH. Hopefully we can see more of our players in the community taking the time to mingle with fans...and when that happens, make the effort to be friendly. I'm not saying they're all rude, a lot of them are nice...but some are jerks to fans and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth as a fan. And as fans, we just have to keep supporting our team...keep talking about them, try to get people interested, and maybe they'll go check out some games and find out it's a really good time. GO CATS GO!

[Dunk]

I think it comes down to a couple of things:

- Vincent has got to go. I think that has become clear to everyone at this point.
- We build the team around Crash and J-Rich for the next few years
- Decide if Okafor stays or goes which leads to:
- Do we draft a big man
- Do we deal our pick if it's high
- Do we pursue a free agent like Elton Brand
- Is Felton our guy (I think he is)
- We also need to add a free agent or two

It's a combo of things but I think the big piece centers around what we do with our big move in the offseason: draft, free agent, or trade. And I think we probably get one shot at it based on what our budget allows.