They need to draft someone like Scalabrine. Just look at the instant sucess! The New Jersey Nets selected him in the second round of the 2001 NBA Draft. The Nets made the 2002 NBA Finals during his rookie season, and Scalabrine played four seasons with the team. In 2005, he signed with the Boston Celtics and won a championship with the team in 2008. The Celtics also appeared in the 2010 NBA Finals, and Scalabrine signed with the Chicago Bulls the following season. Throughout his NBA career, Scalabrine has served as a backup power forward.
I'd draft Drummond if I were them, he has the potential to be the best player in the draft with Davis, looking at his potential and body.
Let's not make it to seem like they missed out on dream,robinson,ewing,duncan or guys like that. I mean he's a good player,but he's not of that ilk. He's not a guy who can catapult a team like the hornets into instant contention. I mean he could even manage to score against whitney from kansas. What's going happen when he plays against the guys who are bigger and stronger and better athletically than he is. What I would do if I were charlotte? I would offer that pick to ok city for harden. I mean, if people hink harden is a star in waiting and he was drafted #3, offering the #2 for him makes sense to me. They have kemba walker and biyombo as combo guard and pf. Add in harden who is better than any wing in this draft,and now you have something. That's what I would do.
I wonder if the Thunder would do that though? I doubt they'd want to risk it with drummond since they'd be giving up a pretty significant piece, and as you say- Harden is better than any wing in the draft.
Biyombo started to play pretty well late in the season. Defensively,he's gonna be pretty good. Since they play early games, I found myself watching them a lot. They were terrible,but I still like watching young guys get better.
It's doom and gloom to not have the first pick. There are some good players in this draft that could help a team get better. If Charlotte does not feel that way, they could always trade the pick for more accomplished players. With it being #2, you could definitely get a nice package with that.
Its kinda overkill with harden,durant,and westbrook. I'm not saying ok city would do it,but if I was ok city I would do it. Like you said, drummond has that potential at a critical position. If I knew sullinger could stay and play at about 260lbs, he would be a good choice for the Thunder. They really could use a young post player to play with durant and westbrook. It makes sense for both teams.
Bismack the Bomb has been pretty good actually and is still very young. He'll be a defensive beast for a long time, but won't amount to much offensively IMO. Would have been great next to Davis..
I wonder to whom and where they trade it? They could use an upgrade at just about every position, but they need a wingman and a center. I doubt they want anyone that would put them in the 8th seed, but they'll definitely want a return on their pick. I'm still playing around, but I wonder if a three way trade would work. Charlotte sends their 2nd overall pick to Orlando and receives Marshon Brooks, Brook Lopez, and dumps Tyrus Thomas(or Magette) on Brooklyn. Orlando sends Howard and maybe Hedo to Brooklyn. Charlotte receives the Houston pick that New Jersey owns. Assuming they amnesty whatever big contract isn't traded, they'd have copious amounts of cap room they would have a nice young backcourt, a middle first round pick for the future, and a solid backcourt. Plus, they'd likely be bad enough for a good pick in 2013.
I like your idea. I don't think OKC has the ballZ for it. To be honest, I'd keep Harden and offer Westbrick, then look to trade back for Lillard or however you spell his name.
You sound as if davis will be a offensive force or something. He'll be lucky to be like camby when he was young offensively.
Davis is pretty athletic and is pretty good offensively when facing up. I think he'll amount to being Marcus Camby at worst, maybe 80% of what what Garnett was in his prime at his best.
The tanking strategy does not rely on getting the #1 pick. They can easily get an eventual all-star at #2. The Rockets have zero all-stars. The answer to the OP's question is easy: keep rebuilding. It takes more than one year.
I gotta agree with Leebigez....Davis isn't a typical #1. He's just the sure #1 this season, there's a difference......I'd just trade down and increase the chances of finding a star. Biyombo is a keeper though. No reason to rush to trade him. What they need to do is find a coach to get the best out of Walker and DJ. They haven't done great, but you can salvage them by getting the right coaching. Figure out who you want to keep and get rid of the other one. Once you get a better environment going, FAs will go there.
I guess the tanking strategy doesn't always produce a quick turnaround. Charlotte may not be even a .500 team for many years.
Or it ends up like the Hornets of the past decade. Draft high, never leave the 2nd round, trade the star, rinse and repeat with Anthony Davis.
Yes, for many teams, by the time they develop a star player and start putting a supporting cast around him, the star player becomes a free agent and the team has to start all over again.