It’s a busy time for Charlotte Bobcats’ General Manager Rich Cho and President of Basketball Operations Rod Higgins. Not only are they interviewing every available coaching candidate from here to China, Higgins is also taking meetings on “buy one season, get the next free” season tickets and both are scouting for the NBA Draft.
The scouting the NBA Draft part would have been a lot easier if they had won the first pick in the draft. But they didn’t and there is no clear cut number two pick. Hoopsworld’s Joel Brigham writes that the all options are on the table for the Bobcats, but also threw in a vote for Kansas University’s Thomas Robinson as the number two pick in this year’s draft.
“A couple of things to consider about Robinson: In Kansas’s somewhat unexpected charge to the NCAA championship this past March, Robinson scored at least 18 points in every game from the Sweet Sixteen on, and the final three of those four games paired him up against future first-round picks. He did it against North Carolina’s John Henson, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, and then on Kentucky’s Anthony Davis and Terrence Jones, in the title game. In that championship loss, Robinson dropped 18 points and 17 boards in the biggest game of his life. That speaks volumes about what kind of young player we’re talking about here.”
I wrote last week that if I would try to trade the number two pick or draft a scorer like Bradley Beal because if he can score like everyone says he can, he could be a home run pick. Drafting Robinson would not be a bad idea either. He is a solid double that could turn in to a triple if we’re going to continue the baseball analogy. He does not quite have Blake Griffin’s explosion, but unlike last year’s number two pick, Derrick Williams, Robinson knows he is who he is (a rebounding, high energy power forward)* which I think could make him a very good player for the Bobcats for a long time.
*To be fair to Williams, he got pinned behind Kevin Love all season and did show signs of being an excellent player. He’s just on the wrong team.
Another problem for the Bobcats is there seems to be this insane idea that they need to win soon and that this draft has to bring in a savior. Not even Anthony Davis was going to make this Bobcats team very good next season.
That means another likely top five pick, which could turn into prospects such as UCLA guard/forward Shabazz Muhammed, Kentucky center Nerlens Noel, Indiana center Cody Zeller, North Carolina forward James Michael McAdoo or Pittsburgh center Steven Adams. The Bobcats can swing for the fences this season, but considering missing on a top five pick can really set a franchise pick, it might better to hang out to it and go the safe route by drafting a guy like Thomas Robinson.
