To trade or not to trade?

For the Bobcats, "To Trade or not to Trade" is the current question (see Rick Bonnell's blog here for the latest new on the proposed three-way deal that would bring Jose Calderon to Charlotte and possibly ship out Boris Diaw and/or Tyson Chandler).

The answer, of course, is that they will trade, because that is what they do. Which is fine -- Charlotte is a lot better than trading (for Stephen Jackson, most notably) than they are at drafting (Adam Morrison, Sean May, etc.)

I talked to Michael Jordan Friday mainly for this story about the way he is starting to find his niche -- and show up a lot more in public -- in Charlotte.

But late in the conversation I also asked him a couple of basketball questions regarding the spate of early free-agent signings and the way the Bobcats had only stood pat so far.

“We’re not done," Jordan said. "We’re just getting started.” He also mentioned that the team had discussed a number of trades -- including some "three-ways," as he termed it -- but nothing had struck their fancy as of yet.

Obviously, once Raymond Felton officially went to the N.Y. Knicks, the level of urgency became a lot more intense. I think it makes Bobcats coach Larry Brown very uncomfortable to think of D.J. Augustin being his starter at point guard, so acquiring Calderon from Toronto makes a good bit of sense. He's an offense-first, pass-first sort of player who sometimes struggles on defense but may well make the Bobcats' sometimes stagnant offense ruun more smoothly.

As for losing Diaw, he certainly became less effective once Jackson got here, and he's definitely expendable given that the Bobcats just re-signed Tyrus Thomas to a five-year, $40-million deal. That's starting money, for sure. The Bobcats will miss Diaw's court sense, but they had to upgrade the point guard position somehow.