After the downfall of the Hornets in Charlotte, the city takes on a new NBA franchise, the Bobcats. They have gotten off to a terrible start in the eyes of fans, and will have to make up a lot of ground at the draft.With Tuesday’s expansion draft, the Bobcats stayed true to their word, by taking mostly young gym rats. That’s all well and good, but what kind of fan wants to have to buy a program to know their starters?
The big names that were taken by Charlotte include Jahidi White, Jason Kapono, and Gerald Wallace. White’s is by far the biggest contract, at $5.88 million, although he’s undeserving of it as far as I’m concerned. A player like Jerry Stackhouse would have been a good veteran selection instead.
According to Charlotte’s coach and GM Bonnie Bickerstaff, he said that if he had to make a team to play with from the nineteen players selected in the expansion draft, “I would not be happy.” This says it all. Even the coach and GM of the Bobcats is not pleased with the selections made in the expansion draft.
At a time when the team should be winning over fans, they are instead giving Charlotte reason to doubt the motives of the Bobcats’ management ($$$). The Hornets’ departure has left a sour taste in the mouths of fans, and in the end, the fans are the income, right.
They did conduct one good move, when they traded up in the amateur draft for the second overall pick. In the deal, the Bobcats got the second overall pick from the Clippers, and the Clippers got the fourth and 33rd overall pick, along with forcing Charlotte to take Predrag Drobnjak (?) in the expansion draft.
With the second overall pick, the Bobcats would want to have Emeka Okafor (management is in love with the guy), or if the Magic take him, then high-schooler Dwight Howard would be the franchise man for Charlotte.
So if the Bobcats want fans to come, they should be willing to reach into their pockets a little more than they have. Bickerstaff needs to make some big deals, and not trade away players for future draft picks.