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Winston-Salem Journal
Monday, February 2, 2004
QUICK DRAW: Bobcats get little time between important drafts
Winston-Salem Journal
The NBA has finally set the date for the Charlotte Bobcats to select players in the expansion draft. It will be Tuesday, June 22, just two days before the NBA Draft, unless the NBA Finals goes seven games. Then, the expansion draft will be the day before the NBA Draft.
That guarantees a whirlwind of activity for the Bobcats, who will begin play in the Charlotte Coliseum next fall.
The Bobcats are required to take at least 14 players in the expansion draft, and they'll get the fourth and 34th picks in the regular draft, so in a span of three days they'll go from having no players to at least 16.
But Bernie Bickerstaff, the team's head coach and general manager, doesn't figure there will be any problems from having the two drafts so close together.
"Some people might have some concern that since the expansion draft is so close to the regular draft, it could affect your ability to speak with other teams and cut deals," Bickerstaff said in a telephone interview from Atlanta, where he scouted high school phenom Dwight Howard on Friday night and then took in the Duke-Georgia Tech game Saturday.
"But I don't think there's going to be any problem with that at all. The fact that they're so close together might actually help us."
Quick decision-making
The Bobcats will get a list of players available for the expansion draft on June 12. Each NBA team can protect eight players, above and beyond their unrestricted free agents. The two teams in the NBA Finals won't have to submit their protected list until after the Finals.
That 10-day window from the time the Bobcats see who's left unprotected, and the time they have to make their picks will be critical. That's when the Bobcats will make the decisions on whom they want to take in the expansion draft - and perhaps whom they might take and then trade.
All sorts of wheeling and dealing is possible. The Bobcats can make deals with various clubs not to draft a certain unprotected player, for example. They can make deals to draft an unprotected player and send him to another team. It's conceivable that they could even take one player and combine him with the fourth pick in the NBA draft to trade up two nights later.
"We're going to have our rankings done long before we get the unprotected list," Bickerstaff said. "So as soon as we get that list, we can start wheeling and dealing from jump street. I'd say from day one, we'll start feeling teams out and seeing what kind of leverage we're going to have, and which teams have interest in certain people.
"It's going to be a hectic 10 days. But hey, that's what we get paid for. There might be some long days and long nights in that war room, but you know, I've been involved in 27, 28 NBA Drafts, and you don't get any sleep at that time of year anyway."
The fact that the expansion draft and the regular draft are so close together could actually work to the Bobcats' advantage instead of disadvantage, according to Bickerstaff.
"Once you've got the list, people are only going to have 10 days to make it happen if they want to make a deal," he said. "When you have a long time and you let it drag along, everybody tends to drag their feet. There's misinformation out there, and people aren't willing to make decisions. Now, with this time frame, decisions will have to be made. There's no tomorrow."
Campaigning for youth
Bickerstaff says he's getting more and more eager to see who will wind up on the unprotected list.
The speculation around the league is that several teams will leave high-priced older players unprotected, hoping to clear up salary-cap space. The Bobcats' general philosophy seems to be geared to bringing in younger, unproven players.
But really, there's no way of knowing how this will play out at this point, and that's why Bickerstaff and his scouts are scouring the planet, watching everyone from high school players to college players to NBA players to international players. And NBDL players, for that matter.
"That's why it's so important that we're doing our preparation now," Bickerstaff said. "The great thing that's helping us is, we've had a lot of time to get out and look at players and make our evaluations already. There's nothing else to do. We're not playing games. There's no interference. It's all about preparation at this point."
The countdown continues.
June 22 is less than five months away.
"That's going to be an exciting time for us, because that's when the roster really starts taking shape. I think it's going to be a fun period for us."
• John Delong can be reached at [email protected]
Monday, February 2, 2004
QUICK DRAW: Bobcats get little time between important drafts
Winston-Salem Journal
The NBA has finally set the date for the Charlotte Bobcats to select players in the expansion draft. It will be Tuesday, June 22, just two days before the NBA Draft, unless the NBA Finals goes seven games. Then, the expansion draft will be the day before the NBA Draft.
That guarantees a whirlwind of activity for the Bobcats, who will begin play in the Charlotte Coliseum next fall.
The Bobcats are required to take at least 14 players in the expansion draft, and they'll get the fourth and 34th picks in the regular draft, so in a span of three days they'll go from having no players to at least 16.
But Bernie Bickerstaff, the team's head coach and general manager, doesn't figure there will be any problems from having the two drafts so close together.
"Some people might have some concern that since the expansion draft is so close to the regular draft, it could affect your ability to speak with other teams and cut deals," Bickerstaff said in a telephone interview from Atlanta, where he scouted high school phenom Dwight Howard on Friday night and then took in the Duke-Georgia Tech game Saturday.
"But I don't think there's going to be any problem with that at all. The fact that they're so close together might actually help us."
Quick decision-making
The Bobcats will get a list of players available for the expansion draft on June 12. Each NBA team can protect eight players, above and beyond their unrestricted free agents. The two teams in the NBA Finals won't have to submit their protected list until after the Finals.
That 10-day window from the time the Bobcats see who's left unprotected, and the time they have to make their picks will be critical. That's when the Bobcats will make the decisions on whom they want to take in the expansion draft - and perhaps whom they might take and then trade.
All sorts of wheeling and dealing is possible. The Bobcats can make deals with various clubs not to draft a certain unprotected player, for example. They can make deals to draft an unprotected player and send him to another team. It's conceivable that they could even take one player and combine him with the fourth pick in the NBA draft to trade up two nights later.
"We're going to have our rankings done long before we get the unprotected list," Bickerstaff said. "So as soon as we get that list, we can start wheeling and dealing from jump street. I'd say from day one, we'll start feeling teams out and seeing what kind of leverage we're going to have, and which teams have interest in certain people.
"It's going to be a hectic 10 days. But hey, that's what we get paid for. There might be some long days and long nights in that war room, but you know, I've been involved in 27, 28 NBA Drafts, and you don't get any sleep at that time of year anyway."
The fact that the expansion draft and the regular draft are so close together could actually work to the Bobcats' advantage instead of disadvantage, according to Bickerstaff.
"Once you've got the list, people are only going to have 10 days to make it happen if they want to make a deal," he said. "When you have a long time and you let it drag along, everybody tends to drag their feet. There's misinformation out there, and people aren't willing to make decisions. Now, with this time frame, decisions will have to be made. There's no tomorrow."
Campaigning for youth
Bickerstaff says he's getting more and more eager to see who will wind up on the unprotected list.
The speculation around the league is that several teams will leave high-priced older players unprotected, hoping to clear up salary-cap space. The Bobcats' general philosophy seems to be geared to bringing in younger, unproven players.
But really, there's no way of knowing how this will play out at this point, and that's why Bickerstaff and his scouts are scouring the planet, watching everyone from high school players to college players to NBA players to international players. And NBDL players, for that matter.
"That's why it's so important that we're doing our preparation now," Bickerstaff said. "The great thing that's helping us is, we've had a lot of time to get out and look at players and make our evaluations already. There's nothing else to do. We're not playing games. There's no interference. It's all about preparation at this point."
The countdown continues.
June 22 is less than five months away.
"That's going to be an exciting time for us, because that's when the roster really starts taking shape. I think it's going to be a fun period for us."
• John Delong can be reached at [email protected]
