This really shouldn't be a great surprise to anyone, but what a downer. The Charlotte Bobcats lost out on the Anthony Davis sweepstakes Wednesday night, as New Orleans beat the odds and got the No.1 pick.
The Bobcats will choose No.2, but the sick look on general manager Rich Cho's face when Charlotte was announced on ESPN as runnerup instead of winner of the NBA lottery told the story. Pick No.1 -- Davis -- was the place everyone desperately wanted to be. No.2, No.3, No.4 -- and those were the Bobcats' only other possibilities -- are all a bit of a crapshoot.
But this is why it shouldn't be a surprise -- even with the worst record by percentage in NBA history and a 7-59 record, Charlotte only had a 25 percent chance of winning the lottery. That was better than anyone else's chances, but it still left a 75 percent chance of no No.1 in Charlotte.
And to lose to New Orleans? That's tough. That's where the original Charlotte Hornets moved to begin with, that's the city that holds the best team in the NFC South (the New Orleans Saints), and that's the team that won three times more games (21, and in a harder conference) than Charlotte did last season.
Was the fix in? Did the NBA want to give the No.1 pick to New Orleans? Was that part of the deal when new owner Tom Benson -- who already owns the Saints -- bought the team from the league?
Well, I don't believe in conspiracy theories. So I think not. But this will certainly fuel the ones who like to ponder grassy knolls. And the NBA did make a bad PR move by having Adam Silver do this rather than David Stern -- you want Stern to be there, just to give the conspiracy theorists a bit less to chew on.
So who to pick at No.2? Without studying it a whole lot, I'd say the Bobcats should choose Kansas forward Thomas Robinson, which would mean you insert him in the lineup immediately and try to develop Bismack Biyombo as a center instead of a power forward. I love Robinson's toughness and relentlessness. But I reserve the right to change my mind on that between now and June 28th, when the real draft happens.
In the meantime, though, the Bobcats' coaching job just got less attractive (the team will have a new coach in place before the actual draft). Owner Michael Jordan has to feel like he just lost Game 7 of an NBA Final.
And Bobcat fans, once again, are stuck feeling like the big one got away. This could have been a transformative night for the Bobcats.
Instead, it was a colossal disappointment.
We're moving!
9 years ago
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58 comments:
This is just like the year when we ended up with Okafor instead of Howard. Trade the pick if it has any value because we will stink next year as we did this season. How did tanking work for you Mr. Jordan?
I have been saying for years the NBA is a criminal enterprise and David Stern is one of the slimiest people on earth. Anyone who thinks that this draft was not rigged I have some beach front property in Arizona to sell you.
NBA is rigged. Love the Bobcats, hate the NBA. That said, success in the league requires players that draw double teams. The only player after Davis that can do that consistently is Austin Rivers. Grab him at #2.
Losers gonna lose. Maybe we can draft more mid size Duke guards who couldn't start anywhere in the league.
The NBA is a horribly run league. This whole draft thing is bogus. A 21 win team picks over a 7 win team? I enjoy going to Bobcats games, more for the fun atmosphere than actually being a die hard fan. This just reminds me why I never watch the NBA and would much rather watch re-runs of family guy this week than the finals of "reality TV basketball".
Aren't the Hornets still managed by the league??? This just smells like a big time rigging!
Cleveland won LeBron, Chicago won Rose...and now payback for New Orleans and the Paul fiasco. This is rigged to high heaven!!
:), hope all the Bobcat fans are enjoying watching 2 cast off's playing in the Western Conference Championship game. Diaw and Jackson are doing great. All it took was a great coach
The fix was in. Ray Charles could have seen that coming. Everybody knows who owns the Hornets, right?
New York knicks....Cleavland after losing Lebron...now a team that owned by the NBA in the process of being sold to Tom Benson (an enticement for a new owner?) Come on Fowler you can't be that stupid. Conspiracy theories exist because sometime the conspiracies are real. David Stern is dirtbag plain and simple.
A day like this reminds me how much I am turned off by the NBA and David Stern. I was a loyal Charlotte Hornets fan from day one and was so upset that Stern let George Shinn move the team out of Charlotte despite the success the team had here, not only in play but in attendance. They were loved by the city of Charlotte. I vowed that day that I would not give another dime of my money to the NBA after the Hornets left Charlotte and I have not to this day. I was hoping for the Bobcats to land the number one pick and start some buzz here in this basketball crazed state we live in. It just seems like another slap in the face to the city of Charlotte, first losing the Hornets to New Orleans, now losing the number one pick to them also. Talk about a losing situation all around. At least there is Nascar and the Panthers in town. I do not see the Bobcats being in this city another 10 years. The team is light years from being competitive with the roster they have and the way the economy is headed you can only keep your business in the red for so long before you have to shut the door. Fans are not going to pay a lot of money for a night out (Tickets, Parking, Concessions, etc) to watch a team of comprised of players ranked outside the top 15 on any team in the NBA. Just my opinion but when the Hornets left Charlotte, so did the passion for NBA basketball in Charlotte.
It is what it is.
Look on the bright side, not even Michael Jordan was drafted #1.
It would take a dumb sucker to buy a Bobcats ticket now. What an epic fail. This team has no hope and is no fun to watch.
the Bobcats better NOT pick Thomas Robinson. while PF is a need, they need a potential franchise player, Robinson is too much Okafor like, they need Kidd-Gilchrist who is a potential scorer.
I hope that the NBA realizes that when actual bad teams are denied the best pick in the draft,they could easily fall into the loop of horrible seasons especially when drafts like this one only has one top tier player. This to me seems a lot worse than teams supposedly "tanking" for one good person.
The NBA game sucks, the entire league sucks. Stern is the man behind the curtain pulling all the strings in the NBA. It's too bad, it used to be really good. I didn't watch a single regular season game this year, and won't next. Probably not the year after that, or after that.....
This is exactly why fewer and fewer people have any respect at all for the NBA!
Please don't draft another loser,bust tarhole(think sluggo sean may and raymond FAILton.We need talent,not homeboy busts!
Back in 2005, the Hornets had the worst record in the league and got the fourth pick overall....they selected Chris Paul and changed the face of the franchise. Don't fret. (a) stuff happens in the lottery and the worst team rarely wins and (b) you may just get a good player yet!
If the draft order isn't rigged, then why don't they do the actual draw live on TV? Instead that is held in private and we find out the results on TV......hmmm. What if tonight's Powerball drawing was done that way? Ok folks, here are the numbers that we already drew when nobody was watching......yeah right!
Portland Fan here... I wish we had gotten the 2nd pick in the draft instead of the #1 when Oden came out. We are left with
nothing but bad memories and OKC has arguably the best player in the league.
in what world does the worst team in the history of the nba not get the number 1 pick?? thanks for tanking the season MJ..your grand prize is michael kidd gilcrest, or harrison barnes or thomas robinson..guess it doesn't f*****g matter at this point.
I know, let's blow millions of dollars on minor league baseball!
@ 10:07,
I guess you'd rather build a team around Chris Washburn and Cherokee Parks?
Devastating loss...there was one game changer in the draft and the NBA sent him to Benson as a reward for taking over the Hornets...Its not the Bobcats fault they don't have the first pick...they did an awesome job by winning 7 games to get in that position...I was a huge Hornet fan , tried extremely hard to embrace the Cats..but the pathetic drafts , trades , coaching , ownership , worst season in NBA history..the only saving grace would have been getting the first selection to pump in some needed life..instead fans will watch Davis pump up the Hornets while the Cats get another good role player to add to the collection of role players without any stars to enjoy watching carry the team forward. My advice for what its worth , just take Robinson of MKG , jettison as much as possible except for G.Henderson , be the worst team and try again , maybe Jordan needs to take Stern golfing , buy him a box of Cubans or whatever it takes to make the fix. Just awful to see the Hornets crush the Cats in the "lottery" after that season and our NBA history. Goodbye to the NBA in NC unless someone can come up with a plan to get star players paid here without using the draft.
You can't even find players that want to come to play for the Charlotte Bobcats .. Let alone a coach that is for real thinking they can turn around a losing franchise in which we let good players go cause we have a owner thats afraid to pay a luxury tax for talent. . Looks like another bad season ahead with a sorry name bobcats
This is a league that had a huge scandal a couple of years ago where a referee admitting fixing games. So, are you telling me the league is above handing out picks?
I like to watch sport for the competition rather than the carnival. The NBA is supposed to be the highest level of basketball on earth. Our team last year - when we would sometimes score 18 points a quarter and get behind by 35 at halftime - was semi-pro level at best. The Bobcats have tried to sell the "carnival" environment over the years rather develop competitively. Of course our original owner was the founder of Black "Entertainment" Television (BET). That's our legacy. A superstar or potential superstar is needed. The reason the Hornets caught fire was Larry and Alonzo and a great, competitive supporting cast. We had two Anthony Davis type players. The slide started with the Hornets when Shinn let Alonzo go, Larry hurt his back and we drafted and then traded Kobe Bryant for Vlade Divac (because Kobe wouldn't play in Charlotte.) But the Hornets always were stocked with very good players (David Wesley, Phills, Glen Rice, Anthony Mason, etc.) Even with Davis, we would be very bad next year. We now will again be very, very bad...even if we trade down and pick up a couple of first round picks.
The truth is that Anthony Davis dodged a bullet....going to the boobcats.
Just proves how crooked the NBA is. They unload the Hornets to new ownership and "surprise" - they get the #1 draft choice. Stern is crooked and the league is crooked. Just another excuse not to spend a penny on the second class excuse for a sport.
I think everyone fails to recall when Cho was with the Thunder and they "lost" out by getting the second pick in 2007. Greg Oden was the franchise player that year and was picked by the Trail Blazers at #1, Cho took Durant at #2 and look how that worked out. No telling how any of these guys turn out including Davis. The real issue is our head coaching hire, COME ON SLOAN!!
Come on now. I'm not sure why everyone was thinking the Number One Pick was in the bag. I never though it was. 25 percent is not great odds. And only two teams with the worst records have ever gotten the number one pick since the lottery began. Besides, if you depend on losing to get better, it's not a good formula.
Honestly, I don't think Davis is such a trancendent player. He's too skinny and will pushed around. His offensive skills are unpolished and he has a jump shooting range of about five feet. Mostly a garbage scorer, thouigh he's a great defender and rebounder. They should get Robinson or Kidd-Gilchrist. Both will be good NBA players.
First off - the people who are complaining about a "fix" are probably the same delusional idiots that think the President was born in Kenya. There's no hope for them as reason and common sense aren't part of their make-up.
Secondly, and this is no conspiracy theory, this draft won't help the BobKitties one iota since there was really only one franchise player available this year.
Best thing they can do now is to tank next season too and try the lottery again next year. If they do it four years in a row they're bound to win once, right?
The only way they can generate ANY buzz at this point is to get the "Buzz" back - morph back into the Hornets since Bounty Benson wants a new cajun-themed name anyways. That's their only shot to boost attendance, or else Jordan will be looking to sell the team and bail this time next year.
This is utterly ridiculous. The worst team should get the first pick. This whole system was designed with ensuring the team the NBA wanted to get the pick got the pick. And they wonder why football is kicking their butt.
OK, now we'll just have to do some homework on the other guys. I like MKG's motor. Often, I thought he was the MVP of UK's team. I also like Robinson's toughness and will to win. That can't be taught. We may not get Davis but we will certainly get a better player than any we currently have on the roster!
In the last 10 NBA drafts, only 3 #1 picks have been stars. D Howard, Lebron and Derrick Rose. Just because someone is the #1 pick, does not mean they are an automatic star. It would be smart if we can trade with Portland for their 2 first rounders. We would have twice the chance of getting a very good player.
Why are your articles about your beloved Boobcats showing up on the Panthers' page? In a year or two, the Boobcats will move on, just as the Hornets did. As bad as this team is, only you and Michael will miss them. Please find something about the Panthers to write about and post on their page. Otherwise, take a pass at posting something. The Boobcats are like being fed a stomach virus.
Bradley Beal is a great option at #2. He can push in transition, drive the lane and is pretty strong beyond the arch.
The NBA is a bad product, from thugs playing the game, all the way to a joke of a lottery system. The NBA's love affair continues with New Orleans. They tried to block Chris Paul from leaving, they bought a bankrupt team that should never have left Charlotte in the first place, and then they sell it to Tom Benson, who at one point considered moving the New Orleans Saints to another city after the Katrina debacle. Agree, the lottery is what the lottery is, but it symbolizes the bad product which the NBA produces.
"Anonymous said...
The NBA game sucks, the entire league sucks. Stern is the man behind the curtain pulling all the strings in the NBA. It's too bad, it used to be really good. I didn't watch a single regular season game this year, and won't next. Probably not the year after that, or after that..... "
More people that DON'T watch the NBA claim that it sucks than I care to hear. If you DON'T watch it, then 1. How would you know if it sucks 2. Why do you read these stories?
Sour Grapes is basically what I am reading above. There are plenty of very good looking prospects at #2, and chances are someone in the draft might end up better than Davis. There is a hidden gem in almost every draft. Its not like the Bobcats can get worse.
Anonymous said...
I know, let's blow millions of dollars on minor league baseball
I'd rather watch the Knights play ANY DAY. More entertainment, better product, better run. Build it!!
Bobcats will lose for the next 10 years if the NBA isn't going to throw us a bone.
Bitter, bitter Charlotteans. How about be happy that Davis is going to a fun city with competent management?
Be happy for the kid...Davis won the Naismith, the national title, the Final Four MVP, and will probably go the the Olympics in the span of 3 months. In history, only Laettner has done that.
I've got it! Let's trade the #2 pick in the draft along with Diop and Matt Carroll to LA for Andrew Bynum! We amnesty Corey then go after D. Williams in free agency!
Owned!
Competent management? Please are you kidding me? Please do us all a favor and take a history lesson, starting with the Charlotte Hornets, then New Orleans Hornets under Shinn, then the New Orleans Hornets under the NBA, and now the New Orleans Hornets under Tom Benson. Study the history carefully, look at league success, attendance records, whatever. After you do your history lesson, see if you have the same opinion.
will/wouild the pick really make that much difference? MJ hasn't shown he's inclined to pay big salaries. just look who he's allowed to go. Bobcats would have been a good team with an owner who will spend (wake up MJ).
so davis would likely have been a bobcat for only three years.
MKG Jr. was the heart of that KU team and the bobcats should draft him.
Worst organization in professional sports?
We can just hope this is like 2007 when Oden was drafted as a guaranteed superstar. And the #2 pick ended up being the stud....we can only hope.
intexpoThe NBA did not "LET" the Hornets leave Charlotte.
The Churches and media drove the Hornets out of Charlotte because they didn't approve of George Shins' sex life.
The team went from leading the league in attendance every year to 8,000 people in the stands for every game because of the Churches and the Media.
Uhhhh......Okafor was the #2 pick.
Uhhhhh......Okafor was the #2 pick.
You don't believe in conspiracy theories? Like, nobody conspires? OK then...
Draft Austin Rivers and maybe daddy can come and coach...he could interview by next week since the Heat win go on to win the title...
Hire Geno Auremmia, draft Perry Jones, win 10 games next year.
The fix was in! The ping pong balls should be done live on the tv show. David Stern is a crook!
Hey Chapel Hill South, here's an idea...hire Doherty, draft Barnes and go 1-81 next year!!!
Bobcats win! They get Beal, the next great 2G in the league (psst: there's not as many in the NBA as you think)
Who is this "Anonymous" that keeps leaving idiotic comments. Take, for example, that dumb, "Only three #1 picks in the last 10 drafts have been stars." What is that, the new math? Try Yao Ming, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin and certainly Kyrie Irving. That ain't three.
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