BY RYAN FINES – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
Following a loss to the Toronto Raptors on April 3, the Charlotte Bobcats, losers of 13 of their last 15 contests, sit in dead last in the NBA with a 7-44 record. Majority owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan has come under pressure to sell the franchise, but refuses to bail out mid-way through the Bobcats’ rebuild.
In a sports era of salary caps and luxury taxes, teams that fall on hard times rely on smart drafting and timely trades to pull themselves back into contention and it seems like Charlotte is following the footsteps of another NBA club that recently went from rags to riches. The Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Starting in 2005-06 the Seattle Supersonics hit a rough patch finishing 11th in the Western conference with a .427 winning percentage, experiencing a 20 per cent decrease in wins from a year before.
The following season the Sonics slipped below .400 and in 2007-08 they hit rock bottom, finishing 20-62 for a .244 win percentage.
Moving to Oklahoma City and becoming the “Thunder” in 2008-09 didn’t do the franchise any good initially, again failing to win at a 30 per cent clip. But then in the second and third seasons in OKC, the Thunder cracked .600 each season improving as time went on.
Now, at 40-13, the Thunder sit atop the Western conference and are considered a favourite to win the NBA championship thanks to their deep, talented roster.
It didn’t happen overnight, but the Thunder rebuilt by stockpiling draft picks.
In 2007, the Sonics took the top college player in the country Kevin Durant out Texas, scoring forward Carl Landry out of Purdue and the SEC Player of the Year out of LSU Glen “Big Baby” Davis.
The following draft they pulled in an explosive point guard out of UCLA by the name of Russell Westbrook and shot-swatting forward from the Republic of Congo Serge Ibaka.
The next two drafts saw the franchise recruit sharpshooting lefty James Harden out of Arizona State, Rodrigue Beaubois out of Guadeloupe, speedy Eric Bledsoe from Kentucky and Quincy Pondexter from Washington.
Some of these players make up the core of what is the juggernaut Thunder of today, and others were traded to bring in assets such as Kendrick Perkins and Thabo Sefalosha.
The Thunder are living proof that rebuilding through the draft can work, and that may be all the proof that Jordan needs to believe that his Bobcats can one day be contenders.
Charlotte already has their point guard of the future, 2008 first-rounder out of Texas D.J Augustin — a capable offensive player whose defence, they hope, will improve as he matures.
Shooting guard Gerald Henderson, a 2009 first-rounder out of Duke, is a strong defender and capable scorer (14.6 PPG) in the NBA.
Kemba Walker, the 2011 NCAA Tournament Player of the Year on the national champion UConn Huskies, is a blue-chip prospect at guard/forward who will be a solid scorer in the NBA and most importantly knows how to compete and win.
At 19, Bismack Biyombo of the Republic of Congo is already atop the Bobcats’ depth chart at the centre position, showing flashes of his inner Ibaka in Feb. and March with games where he was blocking as many as seven shots and pulling down a season-high 15 rebounds.
Guys like Byron Mullens, Tyrus Thomas and Corey Maggette could be a part of the formula going forward too, or have at least showed enough promise to be decent trade bait.
Going forward, the Bobcats are likely to win the 2012 draft lottery and will undoubtedly select Kentucky Wildcats defensive machine Anthony Davis with the first overall pick.
Davis, already the a national champion, NCAA Freshman of the Year, AP Player of the Year and Wooden Award winner was just awarded the Naismith trophy as National Player of the Year as a freshman. The only other player to ever claim the Naismith trophy as a college freshman -Thunder forward Kevin Durant.
With the potential to steal somebody like Myck Kabongo from Texas, Jae Crowder of Marquette or Draymond Green of Michigan State in the second round, the Bobcats’ crop of young talent should be looking pretty nice after the 2012 draft.
Charlotte doesn’t, and won’t ever, have an elite scorer like Durant and Westbrook has come into his own faster than Augustin. But Durant is only one player, and as LeBron James showed in Cleveland; one great player can’t win a championship in the NBA. It takes a whole team.
Westbrook has Durant, and Harden for that matter, spreading defences on the floor and enjoys a lot of space as a result. Augustin doesn’t have that same luxury in Charlotte, which could explain the gap in production between the two point guards.
Furthermore, once young talent develops and starts to experience success, players around the NBA take notice. Former Laker Derek Fisher, after being dealt to the Houston Rockets, left the team to join the Thunder because he believes in their young talent and thinks they have the depth and potential to go all the way.
The Bobcats may find themselves drawing talented free agents and veterans onto their roster once their youngsters start to find their game at the NBA level.
For now the Bobcats will have to ride out the rest of the season with the players they have and plan their draft strategy while letting their young talent develop.
They’re going to keep on losing, like the Thunder did, before they start winning. But if they stick to the formula, and remain patient, “His Airness” won’t have to worry about selling his club any time soon.
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