We’re in scouting report number four in our “is it off-season yet” coverage of the Charlotte Bobcats. There are still games to be played, but they’re forgettable and often borderline regrettable, so it’s to the future we look with great promise. We hope.

Cody Zeller, Ben McLemore and Nerlense Noel are all realistic options if Charlotte lands a top-five selection in the 2013 NBA Draft, and you can safely add UCLA phenom Shabazz Muhammad to the mix. Not only is his name fun to say, but he has a sick game with great potential at the next level.

The real question is whether or not the Bobcats should take him. Let’s scout him and answer that question:

The Charlotte Bobcats, for a lack of a better term, stink. They are the worst team in the NBA, and stand a pretty good shot to be holding the #1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. The worst team doesn’t always get the top pick, but even if they don’t, the Bobcats should get a top-five pick for all of their “efforts”.

With that being said, it’s only natural that fans would start to imagine the potential possibilities in a lost season that gets bleaker by the day. But in that same breath, another disastrous year could bring in an elite talent that could eventually help right the ship.

We took a look at Nerlans Noel and Ben McLemore in past posts, and now we’re on to Indiana big man Cody Zeller. Let’s see if his game makes sense for Charlotte at the highest level:

It’s no secret that the Charlotte Bobcats have an embarrassing front-court. Bismack Biyombo can block shots and rebound, but he’s not an elite defender yet and is woeful on offense. Byron Mullens has has quality range on a smooth jumper and can hit the boards, but can’t play defense worth a lick and is possibly the least efficient starter in the NBA.

I’d waste my time talking about Brendan Haywood, Tyrus Thomas and newly acquired Josh McRoberts, but, well, I’d be literally wasting my (and your) time.

The simple fact is the Bobcats aren’t good enough in the paint. One way or another, they need to get bigger, stronger, more explosive, and more effective. Simply getting a little scarier might be fine, too.

The Charlotte Bobcats are in a bad way. But hopefully, another painful season is the stepping stone toward great future success. After all, the Bobcats already stock-piled Kemba Walker, Bismack Biyombo and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist the past two seasons, and could be just another young talent and a stable veteran away from getting back to competitive basketball.

That’s the hope, at least.

While it’s pretty clear the Bobcats biggest issue lies in their frontcourt, they’ll simply have to take the best overall talent come draft day. That is how teams truly get better, after all.

Charlotte is currently the worst team in the NBA. In fact, they’re in the cellar by a good four games and counting. Maybe it was by design. Judging by their average talent, though, I’m actually guessing it’s just how it naturally should have been.

The bad news is that doesn’t even guarantee them the top pick in the draft. However, as they stand, they have the best odds to emerge from The Lottery to hold the number one overall selection in the 2013 NBA Draft, and there’s a pretty good chance they’d spend it on Kansas guard Ben McLemore if they did.

Things can change between now and June, but for the moment, let’s speculate whether or not taking McLemore would be the right move.

The week didn’t get off to a roaring start with the announcement of the team’s new “database,” as profiled by Rick Bonnell on Saturday.  According to the article, with this new 6-figure costing database, “You can instantly look up year-by-year statistics for Boston Celtics great Bill Russell … or any other player in NBA history. You can check the injury archive of a Slovenian playing in the Spanish league or whether a forward in the Development League was ever busted for drugs.”  Wait, I remember thinking, can’t you just do that stuff on the internet for free?  The whole article was supposed to be serious and imposing, but instead it just sounded comical and ridiculous.  It reminded me of watching an old sci-fi movie, wherein after the credits it ominously announces that it’s set in “New York City: 1997.”

Nevertheless, the events of Tuesday and Thursday make me wonder if Rich Cho’s new Bat Computer isn’t onto something.  On Tuesday the Bobcats traded for a future #1 pick, salary cap requirements, and Ben Gordon—in that order.  Guys like John Hollinger rightly spent about three paragraphs discussing the cap and draft ramifications, which were definitely the most important parts of the deal.  However, for those of us who are going to actually have to sit down and watch this team, I wanted to explore a little more what we were actually going to see on the court.

Yeah, keep the t-shirt Kidd.

If I asked you for your ultimate set of maneuvers that shaped the Bobcats roster the day after the NBA Draft, would Ben Gordon, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Jeff Taylor be your additions?  Not many if any would have said “Yes, please!” Incredibly, the second overall pick wasn’t traded, not to any of the 5 teams with standing offers, not to Cleveland for the 4th and 24th or whatever was being offered.  The Bobcats stood pat on both of their picks.  At press time, Adam Silver is still calling names and it remains to be seen if they trade back in for another second rounder, but it’s unlikely.

I’m not as disappointed as many of the regulars to our draft chat.  I don’t think that Rich Cho took the night off or that Michael Jordan had much of anything except to approve what his front office team had come up with.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist isn’t the overall second best player but he might be just what the Bobcats need.  All Chad Ford said in his analysis was “Hardest Worker in the draft.”  He takes pride in his defense and scores enough to seem like he’s got some offensive game.  But no one will accuse the Bobcats of stealing the draft.  This isn’t like a Kevin Durant to Greg Oden’s Anthony Davis, but the Bobcats got a “character,” “motor,” guy to play at small forward, which may be exactly what they wanted all along.