So free agency is open and the whole world is falling to hell. What we thought was the NBA is no more. All sorts of weird things are going on. Dwight is actually wanting to go to New Jersey, CP3 to LA (or not according to Stern), Caron Butler (32 years old) going for 3 years of 8 million coming off knee surgery to the Clippers. That last one really confuses me, way to screw up a promising young team.

However, I have heard very few rumours about the bobcats, we never usually are a team to be floating information round and our front office tends to keep pretty quiet. Remember the TT trade? I had never heard that rumour until the day it happened, I was like wtf!? I thought he was on his way to San Antonio for sure. There are reports we have enquired about certain players, all seem to be of the sg/sf mix: Al Thornton and Reggie Williams. We also apparently made an offer for Mike Dunleavy at 3million a year, but he went for 3.5 a year over 3 years in Milwaukee instead, fair enough I am glad we did not go over that for an injury prone veteran who isn’t getting any better.

But I can see some of you… yes you there. Getting twitchy thinking, are we going to miss out on this free agent frenzy!? The answer… YES! Or at least I hope it is a yes to some extent. Remember the Eric Dampier trade? “In Dust We Trust” yer… how did that turn out? That’s what I mean, we forced ourselves into a deal then and we got nowhere. I want to see a new player in Bobcats uniform as much as anyone; it’s always exciting watching a new player come in. However I am going to argue that perhaps we should just simply wait. You can see teams getting carried away all around the league, signing people for too much money, or simply overloading their roster with players they don’t really need. Sorry to pick on you again clippers, but seriously what are you thinking? Clippers again now have Caron Butler, Ryan Gomes and Al-Farouq Aminu. 16 million all tied up in one position, with no hint of a star, I expect they will regret that decision. Also, look at the Nets using the Amnesty clause on Travis “7 million a year” Outlaw just one year after signing him.

So to get to my point, sometimes it is best to simply do nothing. Especially with such a young team. Players like Kemba, Hendo, and Bismack they need to play to develop. Look at Hendo in his first year, he barley got off the bench and that put him back a lot in terms of confidence and development. Yes, signing vets may help us now, but unless we got a Nene or a Tyson Chandler none of these free agents are going to make us into a play off team. Do we really want to spend a bunch of money this summer to get the 8th seed again? You may disagree, but I think sitting back, keeping our cap space and letting our young guys play, develop, and learn to hate losing (they will be this year) is important. I am not saying don’t sign anyone, we have obvious holes at certain positions and a lack of three point threat. I don’t mind signing a young guy to a multi year deal who we would have in mind for the future. Other than that, just some roster fillers or vets who would help cover us at centre and SG/SF. Under the new collective bargaining agreement having cap space is a lot more important as Mark Cuban (Owner of the Dallas Mavericks) explains here pretty well. I find this very brave considering they have just won a championship, there must be pressure to try win another right away but they are thinking long term which is why they are a successful franchise.

Also in each of my articles I’m going to have a section dedicated to anything and everything Bobcats, It’s going to be a random topic each week which may not be enough to write about by itself.

“What’s Silas got in the locker?”

Just some names I would like us to bring in to training camp of guys who didn’t get drafted but could end up on a roster somewhere:

(Don’t really need pictures of these guys, feel free to add them if you want though)

  1. Scotty Hopson - This guy can play SG/SF, he struggled with consistency a bit in collage and was a bit “big time” so went undrafted. But his physical tools are unquestioned (legit 6ft 7inc with added HOPS). He is definitely worth a look, if his attitude is still poor cut him after training camp.
  1. Greg Smith -  If this guy had a jump shot he would have got drafted, but still he does have some intangibles. He is a big 6ft 10 inch and has massive hands (1 foot wide!!!), he is and underclassmen, only young and very raw. We have a lack of size on our roster so why not give him a camp invite?
  1. David Lighty – This guy is a tough defender, can shoot the three ball ok. Just doesn’t do anything in particular that stands out. However, Defenders are underrated in this league though and is worth a look.
  1. Lacdarius Dunn – We know he can score! But his decision making is pretty poor, and never really got better which was the worry. However we could do with another shooter and he would fit Silas’s system.
  1. Giorgi Shermadini – Mainly because I can imagine shouting “SHERMANDINI!” as he dunks, but we already have Bismack for that I guess. I don’t know, I was running out of guys at 4 and thought I would go for someone a little out there. And no, I had never heard of him before researching. He is a 7ft centre who can stroke it from deep though…like every Euro big he would probably struggle in the NBA.

I hope you enjoyed the read, see you in the forum and Tally Ho!

James Plowright, Manchester, England.