John Lucas was a really good point guard, and could have been one of the greatest if he had kept his nose clean.
Oddly enough he moved a guy who turned out to be Hall of Fame guard to SG when he came in : Calvin Murphy. (Can history repeat itself?) I'd say those are 2 pretty decent PG's.
I'm wondering if we can get Charlie Ward to sign with us for the veteran's minimum next season. Good defender, proven perimeter shooting. Not sure how he is as a playmaker, but he knows Van Gundy's system.
Another thing to note is that Maloney did a decent job of making the pass into the post and getting the ball to Hakeem in the right place at the right time.
Draft Day God - NBA teams can protect up to 8 players but all teams must make at least 1 player available. The Bobcats can then select up to 29 players with a max of 1 from each team. (Though their roster is limited to 14 contracts and ~ $30m). An additional wrinkle that did not exist in previous expansion drafts is that teams can work out deals giving Charlotte future picks to select or not select certain players. Another new wrinkle is that if the Bobcats draft a restricted free agent (a player whose team can match any other team's offer for him), that player immediately becomes an unrestricted free agent. IMHO, a very fertile environment for mass player movements. And the TE is the next best thing to cap space. Quick examples of moving the Mooch... * A protected future 1st to pick him in the draft. * Taking a needed but low cost role player and a pick player to facilitate a trade and ship the pick and Mooch to Charlotte. I think you can use your imagiantion from here. Then you may become the Expansion Draft Day God!
I think my imagination is still fermenting in Christmas cheer. Do we have any draft choices left to trade? I'm feeling really off the wall this Monday morning. What if the Bobcats got some great early choices, would you consider a package of three first rounders for Steve Francis? Just think -- Dwight Howard, Josh Smith and Pavel Podkolzine -- all in one draft! We'd get the latest version of Amare, the latest version of Melo, and, when Yao rests, we put in another giant. If Podkolzine and Yao played together, would they not be the ultimate twin skyscrapers? Three shopping days left!
codell posted an interesting excerpt from Larry Coon's FAQs in the Eddie Griffin waived thread. I shall excerpt from his excerpt: [Emphasis mine.] Any chance the Rockets could waive Moochie for "lack of skill"?
With a guy like Jay Williams, I'd pay 30,000 to get him a personal trainer to help him try to get back his game. I'd have Van Gundy visit with him 2 x a year and see how he's doing. If he ever does return he'll likely sign with the team that helped him out. If he never comes back you didn't waste that much money. But a guy like Jay Will is worth a trainer in my opinion. He was a #1 and there is still a chance he could return to what he was. Which was electric.
Good find regarding the expansion draft. I think just about any fan would be willing to give up a protected 1st round pick to get rid of Moochie and his insane contract. I think this is one reason why he is still around, and the other is fact that this team doesn't want to get Maloneyed again.
why would the bobcats, who have even less money to spend that any other team in the league, take on a long term contract for an overpaid player?
thumbs - The Bobcats have a $30m salary cap so I doubt they'd use 1/3 of it on Francis @ $10m and then have $20m for the remaining 13 roster spots. Possible, but doubtful given the number of options they are going to have. Everything I have read about their management indicates an emphasis on low contracts and future picks. ricerocket - We can waive him but we still have to pay him the full contract (think Matt Maloney) or we reach a buyout agreement. Both hit the salary cap. IMO, better to see if we can entice Charlotte. Mooch will only have 3 years @ ~$11m remaining next summer. PSJ - Good idea. IIRC JWill is rehabing (primarily) at Duke. From the ESPN show, it does not appear that the Bulls have severed ties nor are they totally neglecting him. The program was very recent and he looked very weak. But he has not written himself off and that's a start.
