| The Bobcats Draft A Tar Heel Shade Of Blue, Twice Authored by Matt Butler - June 29, 2005 - 2:06 am
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Enjoying the luxury of being the only NBA team to have two lottery picks, head coach and General Manger Bernie Bickerstaff sought to build around last years top pick and franchise player, Emeka Okafor. The Bobcats entered their second NBA draft with a roster in need of help just about anywhere and had limitless options. Would they package their picks and move up? Would they draft for immediate help or take a flyer on a European or high school player? These were the questions being asked before the draft and after an intriguing NBA draft, the Bobcats answered them with a pair of local players, sure to improve attendance and as GM/Coach Bernie Bickerstaff hopes, the record on the court.
5th Pick - PG Raymond Felton (North Carolina) - Jr. - 6’1” 198 - 12.9ppg, 6.9apg, 4.3rpg
Pretty much all Bobcat fans can agree that the biggest position of need from this draft was Point Guard. With Illinois’ PG Deron Williams and Wake Forest PG Chris Paul, both off of the board before the 5th pick, it seemed only natural that the Bobcats would select local player, Raymond Felton with the pick. With Felton, the team immediately upgrades a PG position that really wasn’t that bad last year, but clearly needed a better and long term solution.
The pick of Felton almost assures two things. First, the Bobcats will get up and down the court a little more, pushing the tempo whenever possible.
Second, the Bobcats should see an increase in attendance due to the large quantity of UNC alum and fans in the area, likely ready to drop money for Bobcats tickets. Definitely a plus for the fan base that needed a bit of a push after the Hornets left town.
As for the on the court ability of Felton, the first thing that is always talked about within his game is his amazing speed with the basketball. Felton is simply one of the quickest from free throw line to free throw line in college basketball in quite a long time and I fully expect that he will carry this over to the NBA. The main knock on Felton has always been his shooting. After spending last summer in the gym, reforming his shot, Felton shot 44% from 3 this season, compared to 31.3% during his sophomore season.
The other complaint in regards to Felton is his Assist/Turnover ratio. Felton had an assist/turnover ratio of 1.9/1 last season compared to 2.4/1 for Chris Paul and 2.4/1 for Deron Williams. While the 1.9 A/To ratio isn’t bad, considering the breakneck speed that UNC played at, it still is likely something that Felton needs to improve on.
Regardless, for the 2nd straight year the Charlotte Bobcats got a player who was a national champion just a few months earlier. It seems like Bickerstaff is building a team of college winners, hoping their success carries over to the NBA. Drafting Felton to go along with Okafor is a great move, one that has the potential to set up one of the greatest 1-2 combos in the NBA within a matter of years.
13th Pick - PF Sean May (North Carolina) - Jr. 6’9” 260 - 17.5ppg, 10.7rpg, 1.0 bpg
In my opinion, somewhat of a surprise to see Sean May a Charlotte Bobcat tonight, but definitely a move that makes many UNC fans in the area extremely happy. Sean May has the ability to do something the Bobcats desperately need, make an instant impact. While he most certainly won’t start over Rookie of the Year, Emeka Okafor, May does provide another big man to add to the rotation of Okafor, Primoz Brezec, and Melvin Ely. In addition to this, May provides strong leadership characteristics that he showed at UNC that were passed on to him from his father, former Indiana big man Scott May. Also, May adds ticket sales and all in all is a guy who will stay out of trouble, both pluses.
From a basketball standpoint, Sean May will instantly improve rebounding for the Bobcats. He had a string of several straight double doubles and adding him with Okafor should help the Bobcats clean the glass. Also, May is a go to scorer in the post, something the Bobcats probably lacked a little at times last season. May is a good, but not great defender and his size may cause him a few problems against the longer forwards in the NBA.
Similar to his college and now pro teammate, Raymond Felton, May spent a summer in the gym, improving his game greatly. May has always had the skill set in place, but he clearly needed to get in better shape to play in the UNC style offense and spent all of last summer getting into tremendous shape. This conditioning allowed May to finish better on offensive put backs as well as have the stamina to play longer and more minutes, without a drop off in production. If May continues this conditioning, he will become that much better of an NBA player.
All in all, the 2nd NBA draft for the Charlotte Bobcats will be mixed with some mixed review, but more will likely turn out positive. The Bobcats got two players who should help them right away, were both huge winners in college, and should help increase local interest in the Bobcats. While many- myself included - would love to have seen Gerald Green as the 13th pick, the Bobcats clearly are a team that wants to win now, something no fan will complain about. |
