11/05/24
June 22, 2004
Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2004-05 Charlotte Bobcats.: I have no idea who 75% of these players are. At least they switched up to the #2 draft pick.
posted by Ufez Jones to basketball at 11:18 PM - 6 comments
So they should be really good, huh?
posted by yerfatma at 06:13 AM on June 23, 2004
Bummer. I liked the way Brandon Hunter played for the Celtics for the last month or two of the season..
posted by blarp at 07:57 AM on June 23, 2004
- sashae: why did you want Dixon to go? - when Lonny Baxter was in Toronto, my girlfriend used to call him Stony 'cause his hands were so bad...."hey, Stony's subbing in...!!" - the few times I saw Pachulia play, I was impressed with his physical play.....he kind of looks like a 6'9" young version of Sly Stallone.
posted by smithers at 08:52 AM on June 23, 2004
Three reasons, really. #1: The Wizards are WAY overloaded at SG with Stackhouse, Hughes, Hayes, Dixon, Butler, and to some extent Arenas (even if listed as a PG... well, he's a shooter). #2: Dixon is an inveterate gunner and is too small to effectively play SG. He's a great bench-spark guy, but he's not going to be a starter. A -terrible- pick at #17 when there were guys like, say, Tayshaun Prince still available. #3: Cap room. He doesn't make much, but anything we can use to squeeze some more dollars is a help, especially if the Wizards want to add someone like Brent Barry, Mehmet Okur or Hedo Turkoglu. I'm deathly afraid of this draft. As I look at it, the Wizards are going to draft one of 4 guys -- Luol Deng, Josh Childress, Shaun Livingston, or Andre Iguodala. Deng looks pretty good, but the history of Duke players in the NBA is -not- good. He's also a Freshman who's been called 'unathletic.' Wow, Shane Battier. Childress is -far- too skinny to effectively play SF, which means he'd be... another SG! Just what the Wizards need! Livingston is intriguing, but leaves the Wizards in a situation where they've got both Arenas and Livingston at the point, which isn't really tenable. Iguodala looks like a decent fit, but I think he'll end up going to Chicago instead. Personally, I'd like Luke Jackson at around #8 or so, but that's just me...
posted by sashae at 09:06 AM on June 23, 2004
Who has called Deng unathletic? He's probably the best athlete Duke has had since Maggette, and before that Grant Hill. If someone is calling Deng unathletic, they're not really paying attention. (The Duke record in the NBA is mixed; Battier, Avery, and others should not have been picked as high as they were, but Brand, Boozer, Maggette, and Dunleavy have all been doing pretty well, and I think Williams would also have done well if he hadn't been an idiot.)
posted by tieguy at 11:49 AM on June 23, 2004
As a Wizards fan, I have to say I'm unbelievably disappointed that Dixon or Stackhouse were not taken. I was actually expecting Dixon to go to the Bobcats due to the ACC connection and his decent scoring touch, but I guess they're going to start Gerald Wallace. Not that I can argue with that. -s