Charlotte
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Does Charlotte really deserve high marks for its inaugural offseason? It is undisputable that they did not make the mistake of bogging down their franchise with a high-salary, long-term player. But did they really put together the assets required to be competitive? Or is the first season likely to be a tank-job?
The Bobcats passed on all the big contracts that would have bogged them down this year, even expiring contracts such as Antoine Walker's which they could have picked up in the expansion draft. The most expensive player on Charlotte's roster is Jahidi White, whom they selected as part of a barter with Phoenix, and whose contract is only about $6 million and expires this year. It could be good trade bait for someone around the trade deadline.
Their second-highest paid player is their franchise cornerstone, Emeka Okafor, earning under four million and obviously on his rookie contract.
The remainder of the players earn between $385,000 and about $1.75 million, a very cheap budget. The big question, of course, is can head coach and GM Bernie Bickerstaff win with such cheap talent?
TEAM NOTES
Vote Emeka Okafor in 2004. Check out Charlotte's new webpage at okaforin04.com: Join the Okafor in '04 campaign today and watch this champion and patriot lead his franchise forward. He's a born leader A tireless worker. And he is the people's choice!
Sign up herefor the free, official email newsletter of the Bobcats.
Bo Hussey of BobcatsBasketball.com writes: Eddie House has used the first four years of his NBA career as an opportunity to learn from some of the best in the game.From the likes of Pat Riley, Rod Strickland and Tim Hardaway, he has learned how to conduct himself as a professional both on and off the court. Now he’s ready to take that experience and put it to use as a member of the Charlotte Bobcats’ inaugural season roster.
Brendan McGovern ofPro Basketball Blog Archiveswrites: Which brings us to the clean slate Bernie Bickerstaff was handed with the expansion Charlotte Bobcats.Bickestaff has astutely positioned the Bobcats with subtle moves and avoided the temptation to bring aboard a big-name free agent with Charlotte's ample cap room, and thus handcuff the franchise down the road.For this BB and the Bobs earn high marks in our Offseason Transaction Analysis of Charlotte.