Charlotte Bobcats - Mission Improbable?

[ukballer]

To start.... I know zike_42 has already started a Charlotte Dynasty Report, and I don't wish to try and overshadow it or anything like that, far from it. But the Bobcats have been my team since their expansion draft and my first Dynasty has to be with them.

Name: Ben Warren
Age: 24
Nationality: English

This is pretty much all the American press knew about me prior to the official announcement that I, Ben Warren, was to become the new Charlotte Bobcats General Manager. I hailed little to no experience to speak off, though had previously played professional ball in Europe, before numerous long-term injuries were taking a toll on my body, and I took the tough decision to end my playing career at the tender age of 24. I could have carried on and continued the intensive rehab and maybe salvaged a half decent career, but the long-term effects, plus just knowing that I'd never be the player I could have been were just too soul destroying.

In early 2011 I took refuge in the US, where I'd hoped to have been playing sooner rather than later. I still had so much love for the game, and wanting to hopefully find a coaching, or even a front office position in the NBA, I was finally able to find a scouting role for the struggling Charlotte Bobcats. One year later, and with the team clearly needing a shake-up in all areas, it was with great shock and delight that Mr Michael Jordan himself proposed a deal that would see me take over the reigns as the team's General Manager.

My appointment as a potential good prospect GM is as much of a project as our future draft picks!

[ukballer]

Charlotte Bobcats Roster (Pre-Draft, Pre-Free Agency)

PG

Kemba Walker

Whether this season or next, Kemba is our guy going forward at the point. We will offer DJ Augustin a Qualifying offer and hope to re-sign him, but what his long term future is remains to be seen. It is unlikely we'll re-sign Cory Higgins as I would like to hire a veteran PG for insurance purposes more than anything.

SG

Ben Gordon
Matt Carroll
Gerald Henderson

Gordon was traded for just days before I took over, but I'm still happy to have him. He's had a tough few seasons in Detroit, but here he has a fresh start, and after finishing dead last in points per game last season, this team could use some offense. I like Gerald Henderson, but whether we keep him or not remains to be seen. That's something we'll figure out as we approach the draft, and free agency. Matt Carroll is expendable, not sure what we'll do with him yet.

SF

Clearly a position that needs addressing. I'm glad we don't have Corey Maggette any more though. We do have Jamario Moon, Reggie Williams and Derrick Brown who may, or may not be re-signed, but none of whom I'd be happy starting at the 3 spot. We will look to address our need for a small forward in the draft.

PF

Tyrus Thomas

Another position that needs some strengthening. Would like to re-sign DJ White as he's a solid player. Eduardo Najera probably has no future with us. As for Tyrus Thomas, I'm not a huge fan of the guy, or that contract. If he keeps his head and shows some more maturity, I'm ok with keeping him around. I will not hesitate moving him though if the right deal is presented. I will look to add some depth here through the draft.

C

DeSagana Diop
Byron Mullens
Bismack Biyombo

Love BiSMACK. Regardless of what he lacks in skills, I love his heart, energy, and amazing athleticism. Can't fault his timing when going for blocks either, especially for a young guy. Unless a good deal is presented involving him, I definitely intend on keeping him. Mullens impressed me a lot last season, often showing no fear despite playing his first meaningful games in the NBA, and I'd like to keep him around. As for Diop, can't wait to be able to dump that salary of his. If I can trade him before the trade deadline that'll be great, he's an expirer anyway.

So it's clear to see we have a young, inexperienced, and frankly not good enough roster. Patience needs to be the name of the game with some of these guys, miracles don't happen overnight. We have the number 2 pick in the Draft, a few pieces we can potentially move around, so the rebuilding work has to begin immediately.

Coaching Staff

Mike Dunlap isn't the guy I'd have personally chosen to be our Head Coach, but I'll give the guy a chance. It's up to me to bring in the 3 assistants though.

Firstly I hired Clifford Ray as my 1st Assistant, Mike Sanders as my 2nd Assistant, and finally Craig Hodges as my 3rd. All these guys have good ability to help work with and develop these young players, definitely a priority these next few seasons.

[Myles Nelson]

Henderson and Augustin are both good talents, and if you can bring them back at a decent price I'd definitely do that. I don't know if Walker is ready to lead a team just yet, and Gordon is probably better suited as the 6th man, so I'd rather have Augustin/Henderson backcourt, if just for one more season. I know in the draft everyone says Beal is more talented than MKG, but I think MKG is the kind of guy you need to take over at SF.

Or, maybe what you want to do is trade down with a team like Portland, Houston, or Cleveland and get multiple picks. Just a thought.

[ukballer]

After quickly sorting out our coaching staff, we then proceeded to exercise the options on the contracts of Kemba Walker and Bismack Biyombo. No brainer really.

All our attentions are now focused totally on the draft. As of now, we currently hold the #2 overall pick, and also #31.

After a positive meeting with both Kemba and Bismack, I finally had 5 minutes to myself, and sat back in the office to read the latest mock draft.

Mock Draft

1. New Orleans Hornets - Anthony Davis
2. Charlotte Bobcats - Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
3. Washington Wizards - Thomas Robinson
4. Cleveland Cavaliers - Bradley Beal
5. Sacramento Kings - Andre Drummond
6. Portland Trail Blazers - Tyler Zeller
7. Golden State Warriors - Dion Waiters
8. Toronto Raptors - Damian Lillard
9. Detroit Pistons - Meyers Leonard
10. New Orleans Hornets - Perry Jones III
11. Portland Trail Blazers - Austin Rivers
12. Houston Rockets - Harrison Barnes
13. Phoenix Suns - Terrence Ross
14. Milwaukee Bucks - Royce White
15. Philadelphia 76ers - John Henson
16. Houston Rockets - Fab Melo
17. Dallas Mavericks - Kendall Marshall
18. Houston Rockets - Arnette Moultrie
19. Orlando Magic - Jared Sullinger
20. Denver Nuggets - Jeremy Lamb
21. Boston Celtics - Festus Ezeli
22. Boston Celtics - Doron Lamb
23. Atlanta Hawks - Moe Harkless
24. Cleveland Cavaliers - Terrence Jones
25. Memphis Grizzlies - Tony Wroten
26. Indiana Pacers - Marquis Teague
27. Miami Heat - Robert Sacre
28. Oklahoma City Thunder - Justin Hamilton
29. Chicago Bulls - Quincy Miller
30. Golden State Warriors - Draymond Green

No major shocks if the actual draft played out similar to this. Only surprises are Tyler Zeller seemingly rocketing up the order, and could well take a top 10 spot in the draft. I'd be surprised if Harrison Barnes didn't creep back up into the top 10. The rest looks pretty much as expected.

It's clear we need a small forward, and the no brainer pick is MKG. We will still assess our options, but we are definitely high on this kid. As for our 2nd round pick, we hope a decent PF will fall to us. It's wishful thinking to think a Jared Sullinger type will drop to us, but it would be nice! We won't dismiss the idea of moving up the draft either. First things first, time to decide who we'll invite to workout for us.

Workout List

SF - Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
SF - Harrison Barnes
C - Andre Drummond
PF - Thomas Robinson
PF - Jared Sullinger
PF - John Henson
PF - Quincy Acy
PF - JaMychal Green
PF - Kevin Jones
PF - Arnette Moultrie
PF - Andrew Nicholson
PF - Kyle O'Quinn
PF - Furkan Aldemir
PF - Bernard James
PF - Cameron Moore

MKG did not disappoint in his workout at all, displaying everything we had hoped from him and more. No point beating around the bush, this is our guy. Harrison Barnes did impress, and should be a top 10 pick, but he's not for us. Also very high on Thomas Robinson, but it's extremely unlikely we'd work out a deal to get him as well. Drummond also showed some flashes too. More of a work in progress than the other top prospects, but for a young team like our own, if he ended up here somehow, we'd definitely give him the time to hopefully blossom. For the rest of the prospects, we'd be extremely fortunate if a Henson, Sullinger, Moultrie type fell to the 2nd round, but we'd be happy to pick someone like Quincy Acy, or Kyle O'Quinn. Plenty of good prospects who could find a role on this team.

[ukballer]

Henderson and Augustin are both good talents, and if you can bring them back at a decent price I'd definitely do that. I don't know if Walker is ready to lead a team just yet, and Gordon is probably better suited as the 6th man, so I'd rather have Augustin/Henderson backcourt, if just for one more season. I know in the draft everyone says Beal is more talented than MKG, but I think MKG is the kind of guy you need to take over at SF.

Or, maybe what you want to do is trade down with a team like Portland, Houston, or Cleveland and get multiple picks. Just a thought.

I'm definitely exploring the BG at 6th man role. Like I said, I like Henderson, but I think I'll get a lot of interest on draft day for him, so I'll have a clearer idea once it's over. (About to do it soon). Nobody is untouchable on this team, but I'd be happy to keep him.

I've got faith in Kemba. I mean I've got no reason to rush the team. Turning the Bobcats into a successful team isn't going to happen overnight, so I've got no need to rush him into the starting role, but we'll see how he progresses.

And yep, MKG is 'probably' going to be our guy.

Thanks for reading!

[LightningStrike5]

MKG is a stud in this game. Robinson is great as well, but I'm a bit surprised at his ratings (stud from outside? Average defender?)

No way I wouldn't take MKG at 2

[ukballer]

NBA Draft 2012 Play-by-Play

1. New Orleans Hornets - Anthony Davis

Trade Offer Received

Oklahoma City send: Daequan Cook + 1st Rounder 2012 (#28)
Charlotte send: Gerald Henderson

Outcome: Rejected. Extra picks are always welcome, but Daequan Cook isn't what I'm looking for at all.

2. Charlotte Bobcats - Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

Surprise, surprise! We got our guy, no brainer pick here.

Trade

Phoenix send: Markieff Morris
Utah send: Alec Burks + 2nd Rounder 2012 (#47)

3. Washington Wizards - Thomas Robinson
4. Cleveland Cavaliers - Bradley Beal

Trade Offer Received

Denver send: Kosta Koufos
Charlotte send: Gerald Henderson + 2nd Rounder 2012 (#31)

I couldn't stop laughing after seeing this offer. Enough said really...

Trade

Milwaukee send: 2nd Rounder 2012 (#42)
Denver send: Corey Brewer

5. Sacramento Kings - Arnette Moultrie

Trade Offer Received

Portland send: 1st Rounder (#6)
Charlotte send: Bismack Biyombo

Outcome: Accepted. Sacramento bizarrely pick Moultrie with the 5th pick, Andre Drummond still on the board, and we now have the next pick. Sorry to see Bismack go, but everything has fallen into our lap nicely.

6. Charlotte Bobcats - Andre Drummond

Never in our wildest dreams did we expect this, but Portland for whatever reason didn't wish to keep their 6th pick and wanted Biyombo. So we're able to pick Drummond, and suddenly our draft is looking absolutely fantastic! Still in shock at the Kings picking Moultrie to be honest...

7. Golden State Warriors - Harrison Barnes

Trade Offers Received

Toronto send: Amir Johnson
Charlotte send: Gerald Henderson + 2nd Rounder 2012 (#31)

Outcome: Rejected. Johnson has a bad contract, won't make us any better, and isn't better than Henderson. And they want a 2nd round pick too? C'mon...

Indiana send: Dahntay Jones + 1st Rounder 2012 (#26)
Charlotte send: Byron Mullens

Outcome: Rejected. I took some time to mull this one over. I wouldn't mind moving up the draft and also getting extra picks, but #26 just isn't going to be high enough to get a Sullinger type player. Jones wouldn't see much if any playing time. Mullens will unless traded. If the pick was higher, I'd have considered this more.

8. Toronto Raptors - Dion Waiters
9. Detroit Pistons - Meyers Leonard
10. New Orleans Hornets - Perry Jones III
11. Portland Trail Blazers - Jared Sullinger
12. Houston Rockets - John Henson
13. Phoenix Suns - Terrence Ross

Trade

Miami send: Norris Cole + Ronny Turiaf
Memphis send: Dante Cunningham

14. Milwaukee Bucks - Damian Lillard
15. Philadelphia 76ers - Austin Rivers
16. Houston Rockets - Moe Harkless
17. Dallas Mavericks - Fab Melo
18. Houston Rockets - Tyler Zeller

Trade

Detroit send: Tayshaun Prince + 2nd Rounder 2012 (#44)
Denver send: Timofey Mozgov

19. Orlando Magic - Kendall Marshall
20. Denver Nuggets - Terrence Jones

Trade

LA Clippers send: Mo Williams
Detroit send: Charlie Villanueva + 2nd Rounder 2012 (#39)

21. Boston Celtics - Andrew Nicholson
22. Boston Celtics - Royce White
23. Atlanta Hawks - Marquis Teague

Trade Offer Received

LA Clippers send: Charlie Villanueva + Ryan Gomes + 2nd Rounder 2012 (#39)
Charlotte send: Ben Gordon

Outcome: Rejected. Couldn't do it. Not a fan of Villanueva at all, Gomes would be a decent backup for MKG, but we lose some scoring punch if we do this. Trading a bad contract for another bad contract isn't the way I'd like to go about things anyway. I know some of you guys would have done this trade and I understand why, but it just wasn't for me.

24. Cleveland Cavaliers - Quincy Miller
25. Memphis Grizzlies - Jeremy Lamb
26. Indiana Pacers - Tony Wroten
27. Miami Heat - JaMychal Green
28. Orlando Magic - Furkan Aldemir

Trade

New Orleans send: Al-Farouq Aminu
Cleveland send: Omri Caspi + 2nd Rounder 2012 (#34)

29. Chicago Bulls - Maalik Wayns
30. Golden State Warriors - Drew Gordon
31. Charlotte Bobcats - Draymond Green

(Had a game glitch. Whenever I went to select the player I actually wanted, Quincy Acy, it kept replaying the Golden State pick over and over. Then the time ran out and it selected Draymond Green instead. Not happy, but I've got this far, no point restarting anything. Some sort of transition problem from 1st round to 2nd round of the draft.)

32. Washington Wizards - Tyshawn Taylor
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - Mike Scott

Trade

Lakers send: Josh McRoberts + Christian Eyenga
Detroit send: Jason Maxiell

34. New Orleans Hornets - J'Covan Brown
35. Sacramento Kings - Jeffery Taylor
36. Golden State Warriors - Doron Lamb
37. Toronto Raptors - Reggie Hamilton
38. Denver Nuggets - Scott Machado
39. Los Angeles Clippers - Will Barton
40. Portland Trail Blazers - Festus Ezeli
41. Portland Trail Blazers - Quincy Acy

Trade Offer Sent

Trail Blazers send: Quincy Acy
Bobcats send: Draymond Green

Outcome: Accepted. Made up for the annoying glitch.

42. Denver Nuggets - Marcus Denmon
43. Atlanta Hawks - Kyle O'Quinn
44. Denver Nuggets - Dee Bost

Trade

Cleveland send: Daniel Gibson + Luke Walton
San Antonio send: Stephen Jackson + 2nd Rounder 2012 (#59)

45. Philadelphia 76ers - Kevin Jones
46. New York Knicks - Jared Cunningham
47. New Orleans Hornets - Khris Middleton
48. Phoenix Suns - Kris Joseph

Trade

Indiana send: Jeff Pendergraph
New York send: Jerome Jordan

49. Golden State Warriors - Kim English
50. Denver Nuggets - Tu Holloway
51. Boston Celtics - Robert Sacre
52. Los Angeles Clippers - Bernard James
53. Golden State Warriors - Tomas Satoransky
54. Dallas Mavericks - Kostas Papanikolaou
55. Philadelphia 76ers - Jae Crowder

Trade

Cleveland send: Quincy Miller
Atlanta send: Marquis Teague

56. New York Knicks - Kevin Murphy
57. Brooklyn Nets - Cameron Moore
58. Minnesota Timberwolves - Hollis Thompson
59. Cleveland Cavaliers - William Buford
60. Los Angeles Lakers - Chris Johnson

So all in all, a very successful draft. Very unexpected to be coming out with both MKG and Andre Drummond, but very pleasing of course! Got our man in the 2nd round with Quincy Acy thanks to a willing trading partner in Portland.

(I hope this is easy enough to follow. Sorry if it isn't in the best format, I was kind of doing it as the draft went along. Missed one or two trades, but what you see above is pretty much how it went!)

[zike_42]

Very easy to understand and good work getting MKG and Drummond, but as you said it will be sad to see Bismack go because he is such a top guy.

Don't worry about stepping on my toes because that dynasty has finished, it was only a stopgap in the beta phase. I think it was way back in RC3. I will be reading this with great intent to see how you go.

[Myles Nelson]

Getting Drummond is a bit of a risk, but I think he has more talent than Biyombo, the question is can he harness it and can you bring his mentality to the right spot? MKG is a great player, great pick there.

[ukballer]

Very easy to understand and good work getting MKG and Drummond, but as you said it will be sad to see Bismack go because he is such a top guy.

Don't worry about stepping on my toes because that dynasty has finished, it was only a stopgap in the beta phase. I think it was way back in RC3. I will be reading this with great intent to see how you go.

Thanks man! Yeah, getting good character guys is one thing I'm concious of doing for this team, so letting Bismack go was kinda tough, but I think I'd be a fool to not at least give Drummond a chance. No risk, no reward.

Aah I see, thanks for reading!

Getting Drummond is a bit of a risk, but I think he has more talent than Biyombo, the question is can he harness it and can you bring his mentality to the right spot? MKG is a great player, great pick there.

You hit the nail on the head. Hopefully Drummond shows the work ethic needed to reach the potential he has.

Don't think I've ever been this excited about playing through Summer League before.