Good Morning Bobcats Fans!

I’m going to try and get a bit more regular around here.  I’m eating Activia, just like Jamie Lee Curtis told me.  I’m only having snacks high in fiber.  But enough about me, let’s talk about the site.  I’d really like to provide you with some interesting and interactive content through the dark days of the off season and possibly the lock-out.  To do this, I need to be dedicated to getting you info and opinion early, often and consistently.  I want our site to become your morning sports page, or at least one of your daily checks.  Not to get all bowel focused again, but I hope you’ll either take your laptop, tablet or phone with you and read us when you’re trying to get regular.  That’s the thought anyway.

So, here goes.  The draft happens one week from today.  Do you realize that?  The NBA Draft goes down on June 23, 2011 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.  They aren’t doing it in the WaMu theater or whatever it’s called today in the same complex as Madison Square Garden because of renovations, which kind of sucks but then again, no one will be saying 15 years down the road “Where were you when Jimmer Fridette was drafted?”  So, the hipster NBA kids living in Manhattan, Brooklyn or the Bronx have to hop on the train and get down to Newark.  Seriously, how much money do the Knicks and the MSG Group have?  Paying not only Carmello, Amare, Chauncey and all the rest but keeping Donnie Walsh in cigarettes, James Dolan doing whatever he does and settling with Isiah Thomas’s many sexual harassment victims in addition to renovating the “greatest arena in sports” or whatever they call it?  They are rolling.

So, to the Bobcats draft.  Rich Cho had already started preparation for the 19th spot, having traded it himself to Charlotte in the Gerald Wallace deal.  He’s got to have a big board like no one else in the league has come up with.  Maybe Sam Presti, his former boss or Daryl Morey with the Rockets get as in-depth and analytical as the new Bobcats GM reportedly does.  I’d be interested to see how he quantifies potential draft picks.  Oddly, he wasn’t involved in the Blazers draft last year.  The Blazers actually announced the firing of then-GM Kevin Pritchard an hour before the draft started, though it had been rumored that they were hunting a replacement leading up to the draft.  So, this is his first rodeo as the head guy, and being hired 10 days prior to the draft, it’s questionable to whether or not he is the head guy this year.  He and Rod Higgins will make the decisions together, but Cho answers to Higgins and Higgins of course answers to Michael Jordan.

Personally, I think that’s a very formidable team.  Jordan holds clout.  I don’t have to tell you why or how, you know it to be true.  Rod Higgins has been the Bobcats GM for 4 years, 3 years prior to that he was the GM for the Warriors, he’s been around the block a time or two and was a player for 13 years.  I mean come on.  Then you bring in Cho who has been touted as the sort of analytical, legal, subjective, I almost want to call him a genius, that’s the kind of rave reviews he gets from people around the league.  And he was in Oklahoma City when they went on a run of draft picks that probably won’t be matched.  Maybe back when the Magic got back to back #1 overall picks, but I don’t think you can compare that to the sustained success they have had in Oklahoma City.

Cho started with the SuperSonics way back in 1995 while he was going to law school.  What a gig to work your way through law school.  2000 he was promoted to assistant GM. You can give him partial credit for Nick Collison, Luke Ridinour, Kevin Durant, Big Baby (traded to Celtics), Jeff Green (received from Celtics), Carl Landry, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, James Harden, Eric Bledsoe, it goes on and on and it took them to the Western Conference Finals this year.  Remember what he said at the press conference Tuesday?  “I’m a big proponent of accumulating assets,” Cho said. “That’s how we did it in Oklahoma City.”  Rick Bonnell, Charlotte Observer beat writer covering the Bobcats, covered this whole concept beautifully.  OKC had 4 picks last year, 3 of them first rounders.  Back in 2008 they had 6 picks!  This guy has watched some college ball!  I’m really excited about the whole thing, I feel much better about the Bobcats ability and possibility of selecting not only the best available player but the best player suited to the needs that the Bobcats have.

The other big news, the Bobcats Draft party.  Doors open at 6:30 at the arena, it’s always fun, always cool.  The coolest part to me is they sell game worn gear on the concourse.  Warm-ups and practice jerseys mostly, nothing you could really tie to a player but you can buy huge pants.  I’m talking pants that are as tall as an 11 year old child.  This year they’ll have Dell Curry, David Thompson and Eric “Sleepy” Floyd around for fans to meet.  All the stuff to draw the kiddos as well, face-painting, balloon animals etc.  The Lady Cats will probably be signing calendars or whatever.  It’s just fun to get into the arena, free, sort of to watch tv with a big group of fans, gauge the reaction and so on.  It’s great and I might make my way down for it, maybe a meetup if any readers want to chat?

Have a great day Bobcats fans!