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NBA : Charlotte bobcats NEWS |
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| DRAFT PICKS: D.J. Augustin, G, 6-0, Texas -- Undersized, pass-first point guard who'll serve as a contrast to incumbent Raymond Felton.
Alexis Ajinca, C 7-0, French pro -- Raw, long-limbed athlete who figures to be a long-term project inside.
Kyle Weaver, G 6-6, Washington State -- Above-average defender at shooting guard who needs to become a better shooter. Traded to Oklahoma City in August for a 2009 second-round pick,. |
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| --While managing partner Michael Jordan is clearly in charge of basketball decisions, it appears general manager Rod Higgins is taking a higher-profile and more assertive role in day-to-day operations. Higgins announced he wouldn't consider sign-and-trade options, and never stopped focusing on trying to re-sign Emeka Okafor.
--While not as imbalanced as last season, the Bobcats' schedule is again back-loaded with road games. |
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| After signing a six-year, $72 million contract, Emeka Okafor said he never considered playing for any team but the Charlotte Bobcats.
Consider that more good manners than total candor.
Ultimately, Bobcats management and Okafor's representatives came to common ground on what would be a fair, long-term contract for the team's center and original draft pick. However, there were some friction and hurt feelings along the way. |
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| The Charlotte Bobcats signed guard Shannon Brown to a one-year deal Wednesday for the NBA minimum of about $800,000.
The 6-foot-4 Brown played in 21 games for Cleveland and Chicago last season and had two stints in the NBA Development League.
Brown was the 25th overall pick by Cleveland in 2006 after leaving Michigan State following his junior year. |
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| Mild-mannered Emeka Okafor rarely raises his voice. Yet there was the Charlotte Bobcats big man in December, pounding his fist into his palm in a heated exchange with coach Sam Vincent at the end of practice.
Three months later, Okafor asked for a meeting with Vincent after his playing time diminished.
Shortly after Vincent's rocky first year ended with a disappointing 32-50 record, Bobcats managing partner Michael Jordan fired the rookie coach and replaced him with Hall of Famer Larry Brown. |
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| Emeka Okafor signed his six-year, $72 million free-agent deal with the Charlotte Bobcats on Thursday and indicated he's excited to play under new coach Larry Brown.
Okafor, who was a restricted free agent, agreed to terms on the richest contract in team history early Tuesday, after nearly a month of negotiations.
"The Bobcats and the entire Charlotte community embraced me from day one," Okafor said in a statement. |
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| Emeka Okafor is staying with the Bobcats after all.
One year after rejecting a similar annual salary, he agreed to a six-year, $72 million contract extension with the only NBA team he has ever known.
The talk all summer was that the Bobcats would pursue a sign-and-trade with Okafor, but general manager Rod Higgins indicated that the team believes Okafor is still improving and provides an inside presence the team desperately needs. |
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| --Coach Larry Brown indicated that if F Sean May is healthy, he'll get the chance to start this season. May missed all last season following micro-fracture surgery to address a bone bruise in his right knee. May says he'll be ready for full participation when training camp opens in October.
--F Gerald Wallace said he wasn't surprised his name came up in trade discussions between the Bobcats and Toronto Raptors. |
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| DRAFT PICKS: D.J. Augustin, G, 6-0, Texas -- Undersized, pass-first point guard who'll serve as a contrast to incumbent Raymond Felton.
Alexis Ajinca, C 7-0, French pro -- Raw, long-limbed athlete who figures to be a long-term project inside.
Kyle Weaver, G 6-6, Washington State -- Above-average defender at shooting guard who needs to become a better shooter.
FREE AGENT FOCUS: The major focus was obviously on Emeka Okafor, who agreed to a six-year, $72 million extension. |
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| The Charlotte Bobcats ended a year of uncertainty with top rebounder and shot blocker Emeka Okafor on Tuesday by coming to terms on a six-year, $72 million deal with the restricted free agent.
The move comes a year after Okafor turned down a contract for similar money and assures new coach Larry Brown will have the team's top inside presence when he begins his record ninth NBA coaching job in the fall.
"It was very important for us to get a deal done," general manager Rod Higgins said. |
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| Emeka Okafor may not be long for the Bobcats.
Negotiations between the Bobcats and restricted free agent Okafor have reached an impasse, the Charlotte Observer reported. The Bobcats are now offering less than the $12 million-plus annual salary Okafor turned down last summer. Okafor now wants a sign-and-trade to another team, the Observer reported. |
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| --A sign-and-trade is Emeka Okafor's best chance to change teams this summer. Another team signing him to an offer sheet is less likely than ever, after the Los Angeles Clippers used most of their salary-cap space to trade for Denver's Marcus Camby. The Memphis Grizzlies would have that much cap room, but have indicated they don't plan a significant free-agency move this summer. |
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| Nearly a month since becoming a restricted free agent, Emeka Okafor is not close to a new deal with the Charlotte Bobcats.
Yet general manager Rod Higgins remains confident Okafor will remain a Bobcat.
Higgins insisted Friday that talks have not reached a stalemate. He said he's spoken to Okafor's agent, Jeff Schwartz, as recently as Thursday and said the team is not entertaining sign-and-trade offers for their starting big man. |
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| --Several Bobcats veterans (Raymond Felton, Jason Richardson, Gerald Wallace and Sean May) planned to show up at summer league practices. Part of the attraction is some face time with their new coach, Larry Brown, but surely it didn't hurt that the Bobcats are holding practice in Las Vegas, a Mecca to professional athletes. The Bobcats switched from Orlando to Las Vegas for summer league. |
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| Just maybe, Emeka Okafor gained some leverage as a restricted free agent this week.
First, Elton Brand chose to leave the Los Angeles Clippers for the Philadelphia 76ers, leaving a hole at power forward and an abundance of salary-cap space behind for his former team. Then it was reported Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut will sign a five-year, $72.5 million extension with his current team. |
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| Sean May has seemingly spent the past three years on crutches and the target of fat jokes.
He's undergone three knee surgeries, ballooned to nearly 300 pounds and has played in only 58 of the Charlotte Bobcats' 246 games. And after undergoing a risky microfracture procedure in October, there were questions whether the 13th pick in the 2005 draft would ever play again.
But after spending 14 weeks on crutches, May's recovery reached a milestone a few days ago when he began running. |
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| The superlatives kept streaming out of Larry Brown's mouth: Terrific. Attentive. Real good. Great kid.
Despite his well-earned reputation of being brutally tough on rookies and point guards, the new Charlotte Bobcats coach couldn't stop saying nice things about D.J. Augustin - his rookie point guard.
"He just does what you ask him to do, without exception," Brown said after a minicamp practice this week. "I knew he was a good player but he's far exceeded my expectations. |
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| Larry Brown has big plans for Emeka Okafor. The new Charlotte Bobcats coach is hoping he'll get to work with him.
With contract talks involving the restricted free agent moving slowly, Brown made it clear Thursday it's important the Bobcats keep their starting big man.
"I hope that it works out because I was with him a little while and he's a terrific kid," said Brown, who coached Okafor on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team. "He plays a position that's very hard to find. |
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| Larry Brown has big plans for Emeka Okafor. The new Charlotte Bobcats coach is hoping he'll get to work with him.
With contract talks involving the restricted free agent moving slowly, Brown made it clear Thursday it's important the Bobcats keep their starting big man.
"I hope that it works out because I was with him a little while and he's a terrific kid," said Brown, who coached Okafor on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team. "He plays a position that's very hard to find. |
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| Adam Morrison still has the shaggy, long hair, but it's wrapped in a ponytail. He still has the signature thin mustache, but now it's connected to a scraggly goatee.
Yet after major knee surgery, Morrison was most proud of his wardrobe change Tuesday. He finally shed the blazers he wore while sitting at the end of the bench last season for shorts and a jersey for the start of the Charlotte Bobcats' summer minicamp.
"It felt good to be out here and be a basketball player again," Morrison said. |
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| The Charlotte Bobcats signed first-round draft picks D.J. Augustin and Alexis Ajinca on Tuesday.
Under the NBA's rookie scale, Augustin will make about $1.8 million next season and nearly $2 million the next. Ajinca will make about $1 million next year, then $1.1 million in year two. The Bobcats hold team options for their third and fourth seasons.
Augustin was the ninth overall pick out of Texas. Ajinca was the 20th pick after playing professionally in France. |
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| Many NBA head coaches let their assistants run the summer rookie and free agent minicamp.
Not Larry Brown.
Brown will continue his active offseason since taking over his record ninth NBA team when the Charlotte Bobcats open a four-day summer camp here Tuesday ahead of the team's participation in the Las Vegas summer league.
"He's so excited. He can't wait," said Buzz Peterson, the Bobcats' director of player personnel. "He'll be hands on in practices and everything. |
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| Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown hired his brother to round out his coaching staff.
Herb Brown will join Jeff Capel, Phil Ford and Dave Hanners as assistants. The move Monday came a day before the Bobcats open a rookie and free agent minicamp in Las Vegas.
It'll be the third time the 72-year-old Brown will work for his younger brother, who is beginning his record ninth NBA head coaching job. The Browns were also paired in Detroit and Philadelphia. |
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| DRAFT PICKS: D.J. Augustin, G, 6-0, Texas -- Undersized, pass-first point guard who'll serve as a contrast to incumbent Raymond Felton.
Alexis Ajinca, C 7-0, French pro -- Raw, long-limbed athlete who figures to be a long-term project inside.
Kyle Weaver, G 6-6, Washington State -- Above-average defender at shooting guard who needs to become a better shooter. |
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| The mandate for change is in force with the Bobcats. They spent the days leading up to the draft assessing the trade value of their players. They had serious discussions with the Toronto Raptors about a deal that would have sent Gerald Wallace to Canada in return for Raptors point guard T.J. Ford.
Ford will instead go to the Indiana Pacers, in a deal for forward Jermaine O'Neal that will be consummated in July. |
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| --The Bobcats chose among three players at No. 9 -- D.J. Augustin, Stanford center Brook Lopez and Arizona combo guard Jerryd Bayless -- and none of the three chose to work out in Charlotte before the draft. Only five players who were at all viable at No. 9 chose to audition for the Bobcats.
--Larry Brown claims the Bobcats' extra first-round pick, French pro Alexis Ajinca, might have been a top-5 pick had he waited until 2009 to enter the NBA draft. |
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| The Charlotte Bobcats have declined to pick up a team option on the contract of forward Othella Harrington, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The move Tuesday was no surprise after Harrington missed 71 games in two seasons with the Bobcats due to two surgeries on his left knee. The 34-year-old Harrington played in only 22 games last season and averaged 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds.
The Bobcats also aren't expected to re-sign unrestricted free agents Derek Anderson and Earl Boykins. |
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| The Charlotte Bobcats vs. Emeka Okafor. Part II.
For the second straight summer, the Bobcats will try to lock up the first draft pick in team history to a long-term contract. This time, however, the sense of urgency is greater because Okafor becomes a restricted free agent Tuesday. |
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| Larry Brown has a message for the agents who tell their players to decline pre-draft workout invitations from his Charlotte Bobcats: His team might draft their client anyway.
Brown isn't bluffing. He's done it before in his nomadic NBA coaching career.
After working out six players on Monday destined to be second-round picks or go undrafted, Brown confirmed that several players who are candidates for the Bobcats with the No. 9 pick in the June 26 draft have refused to work out. |
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| Twin 7-footers Roy Hibbert and DeAndre Jordan stood in the lane together during the Charlotte Bobcats' pre-draft workout Friday, representing the opposites of modern draft prospects.
While Hibbert is experienced and polished, his lack of athleticism has been exposed after four years in the spotlight at Georgetown.
Jordan showed flashes of brilliance with his athleticism in his only season at Texas A&M, yet was wildly inconsistent and turnover-prone. |
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| The Charlotte Bobcats still have needs, but they don't have the salary-cap room to duplicate the sort of draft-day deal they pulled off to acquire Jason Richardson.
That trade and the later one that brought center Nazr Mohammed from the Detroit Pistons ate up about $18 million in cap room for the 2008-09 season. Combine that with the $16. |
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| --Under former coach-general manager Bernie Bickerstaff, the Bobcats' pre-draft workouts were physically grueling. Bickerstaff wanted to know how a prospect performed when exhausted; could he still make a move or a jump shot?
New coach Larry Brown focuses more on teaching in these auditions; how attentive young players are in picking up the concepts Brown knows they'll need to transition from college ball to the pros. |
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| Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown is pursuing his former college teammate, Doug Moe, to join his new coaching staff.
The Bobcats announced Wednesday that Brown hired Dave Hanners as an assistant and retained Phil Ford and Jeff Capel from former coach Sam Vincent's staff.
Brown indicated he was trying to get Moe to agree to return to the bench. The 69-year-old Moe played with Brown at North Carolina before becoming a longtime NBA head coach, notably with the Denver Nuggets. |
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| Larry Brown spent his two-year hiatus from the NBA bench watching countless games, studying coaches and learning new strategies.
Brown finally got to test his new theories Wednesday in an effort to erase the ugly memories of his last job with the New York Knicks. |
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| Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown is pursuing his former college teammate, Doug Moe, to join his new coaching staff.
The Bobcats announced Wednesday that Brown hired Dave Hanners as an assistant and retained Phil Ford and Jeff Capel from former coach Sam Vincent's staff.
Brown indicated he was trying to get Moe to agree to return to the bench. The 69-year-old Moe played with Brown at North Carolina before becoming a longtime NBA head coach, notably with the Denver Nuggets. |
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| --Larry Brown's coaching staff is firming up. Phil Ford and Jeff Capel are holdovers from the previous staff under Sam Vincent and longtime Brown assistant Dave Hanners has joined the staff after settling his contract with the Knicks. Hanners worked for Brown in Philadelphia, Detroit and New York.
Brown said his first priority in selecting assistants would be loyalty, so it's no surprise that Ford and Hanners -- fellow Tar Heels and longtime associates -- would be on the staff. |
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| It's easy to see what the Charlotte Bobcats need. It's tougher to pinpoint just how those parts will arrive.
The Bobcats are loaded -- perhaps overloaded -- with wing players. It will be a challenge for new coach Larry Brown to find minutes for Jason Richardson, Gerald Wallace, Matt Carroll, Jared Dudley and Adam Morrison.
Just the opposite is true elsewhere: The Bobcats have a single point guard under contract and need at least one more big man, preferably a scoring power forward. |
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| --The Bobcats got the ninth pick when the Draft Lottery was held May 20.
--Bernie Bickerstaff's departure would seem like a big loss, except he was already so marginalized the past year, his opinion might not have mattered. Bickerstaff was out scouting -- he didn't want to interfere with Sam Vincent's presence as coach -- and he wasn't consulted much on major decisions, despite his job title. |
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| --Bernie Bickerstaff's departure would seem like a big loss, except he was already so marginalized the past year, his opinion might not have mattered. Bickerstaff was out scouting -- he didn't want to interfere with Sam Vincent's presence as coach -- and he wasn't consulted much on major decisions, despite his job title.
--Coach Larry Brown is making over the basketball staff, replacing a wide variety of support personnel. |
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| The Bobcats' original management team is now just a memory. Five years ago, team president Ed Tapscott hired Bernie Bickerstaff as coach-general manager and Chris Weiller as chief-of-staff/chief marketing officer.
The last of that group departed recently when Bickerstaff was told his services -- now as executive vice president -- were no longer required. |
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| --Although Larry Brown hasn't coached in Charlotte since the 1970s, he still has plenty of ties here. His two daughters from his first marriage both live in Charlotte and his mother lives in a Charlotte retirement home.
--Brown has already said he'll retain Phil Ford, a fellow Tar Heel, from Vincent's staff. Brown said he prioritizes loyalty in hiring assistants, so don't be surprised if Brown associates Dave Hanners and John Kuester end up in Charlotte. |
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| At least this time around, no one will say the coach wasn't ready for his job.
The Charlotte Bobcats replaced Sam Vincent as their head coach with Hall of Famer Larry Brown. Consider the contrast: This season was Vincent's first as an NBA head coach, and he finished 32-50. Brown is one of five coaches with 1,000 or more NBA victories and he's won championships in the NBA (Detroit Pistons) and NCAA (Kansas). |
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| While crisscrossing the country in job after job, Larry Brown has always placed heavy emphasis -and criticism - on his point guards.
Raymond Felton, you're next.
Brown's success or failure with the Charlotte Bobcats in his latest reclamation project rests in large part on how he's able to develop the inconsistent Felton and cultivate big man Emeka Okafor.
"I know he's going to make me better," Felton said. "I know he's going to make our team better. |
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| Larry Brown still thinks practice is important. The new Charlotte Bobcats coach can do a pretty good Allen Iverson impersonation, too.
Late in his introductory news conference with his ninth NBA team Tuesday, Brown brought back memories of his successes and troubles during his wandering career, including his famous feud in Philadelphia with his then-star point guard. |
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| Larry Brown wanted to resurrect his vagabond, Hall of Fame coaching career. Michael Jordan needed a veteran teacher and a big hire to rescue his sinking reputation as an NBA executive.
The two former North Carolina players teamed up Tuesday when Jordan introduced Brown as coach of the Charlotte Bobcats - his ninth NBA coaching job. Brown agreed to a four-year contract, returning to the state where his nomadic coaching journey began.
"How are you going to say no to Michael?" Brown said. |
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