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Bobcats Land 9th Pick in 2008 NBA Draft Lottery
By Matt Rochinski
bobcats.com

May 20, 2008

Lottery Party Gallery | Return to Bobcats Draft Central

The Bobcats fell to the No. 9 slot at the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday as Chicago moved up from the ninth spot to win the lottery and bump Charlotte out of the eighth slot.

The Bulls beat the odds after entering with a 1.7 percent chance to take the top spot, while Charlotte entered the lottery with a 2.8 percent chance of coming away with No. 1 overall.

Chicago moved from No. 9 to No. 1 and made the largest jump since the NBA began using a fully-weighted system in 1994. The largest jump using such a system previously occurred in 2000 when New Jersey moved up from the seventh slot to the top spot.

The biggest loser on the night was in Seattle. The Sonics entered the lottery with the second-most chances to land the top pick and fell to No. 4 overall when Chicago moved up.

The Timberwolves fell one pick shy of landing one of the coveted top two, staying in the No. 3 slot, while Miami, who entered with the most chances to win, slipped to No. 2.

Things stayed status quo in this lottery at picks 10-14, but the wheels fell of at No. 9 when it was revealed that Charlotte had fallen from No. 8 to No. 9. It was the second time in the past four years the Bobcats fell back instead of moving up. Charlotte dropped from No. 3 to No. 5 in 2005.

Here's what Bobcats General Manager Rod Higgins and Director of Player Personnel Buzz Peterson had to say after the lottery.


Bobcats General Manager Rod Higgins

(On if having ninth pick affects the number of players they will bring in to work out)
“You obviously have to cover yourself a little bit more now. Now that the lottery has been established, I think a lot of players will make themselves, if they hadn’t already been, available for the slots that they envision they will go in. Being nine, it might widen a little bit, but with our scouts and our preparation, we’re prepared to make that pick at nine.”

(On if having the ninth pick as opposed to the top three means you have to bring in more players)
“If we were third right now, it would be pretty cut and dry with a few names, but now looking at it like that, we’re going to have to do our homework. But, there’s going to be a good player there.”

(On the depth of the draft)
“I think you know the two top picks and then you go down from there. You’re going to have some players that are going to be outstanding players. We’re going to have to get fortunate in a lot of ways because there is not an exact science when you’re drafting. Like I stated earlier, our homework is going to have to be done – our checks and balances on these players. If you look at our roster, at nine, I think there’s going to be a good player there. Will it be a need? Hopefully, but you never know because you don’t know what’s going to happen before you."

(On how many players they will bring in)
“We’re going to bring in as many as we possibly can. The best wish for us is to bring as many players as we can, but that’s not been the case in recent history, because a lot of the players and their agents handpick situations for them. We’re not going to have an exact hardcore number that we’re going to bring in.”

(On if it’s important to have players come work out in Charlotte)
“It’s very important that we see someone we’re considering choosing, have them come to our place to let our coaches, our medical staff and our front office see them with their eyes, feel them with their hands, measure them and get a feel for them personally. I think those are the things that help determine making a selection, because number nine is a high pick. You want to cover as many bases as possible in that process.”

(On if they will draft based on need)
“Need is one thing, but you have to make sure what players are the best players at that possible pick. If that’s duplication, those are the kinds of questions as management you have to address. You’re never handcuffed where you can’t do something different or do certain things to improve your team as opposed to just picking a player in the draft. We’ll have some internal discussions I’m sure leading up to this draft, but when you talk about need, you have to be careful because there could be a very talented player at number nine and you might miss on him.”

(On the Bobcats needs)
“You look at our roster as currently stated and you notice that our point guard position is one that we’re going to have to probably address. Raymond (Felton) is penciled in as a point guard, but the other players behind him are currently free agents. You look at our big spots, Emeka (Okafor) will become a restricted free agent, Ryan (Hollins) will become a restricted free agent, so the big spot is going to be an important position for us. Those are definitely two areas that we’re going to have to address at some point.”

(On if Emeka Okafor is more of a center rather than a power forward)
“I wouldn’t argue that point. If you look at Emeka (Okafor) as a five, with Sean’s (May) situation and we have a young kid in (Jermareo) Davidson there as well, there is a need in that position to solidify.”

(On if it would be difficult to take a wing player)
“It would be difficult to justify taking a wing player. You better know you can do other things with your roster - maybe that’s where you go the trade avenue.”

(On how involved Larry Brown will be in the draft process)
“Larry (Brown) will be very involved. Larry is a guy who has seen thousands of players and thousands of games and his input is very important in getting us to where we want to go. Larry will definitely have input on what we do going forward.


Bobcats Director of Player Personnel Buzz Peterson

(On drafting ninth)
“We’re excited about it. You never know what’s going to happen, but now it’s time to go to work. We know where we stand and we’re looking at bringing players in. We go to pre-draft next week in Orlando and then after that we bring them into Charlotte and observe from there. It will be a total call by Michael (Jordan), Coach Brown and the whole scouting staff. We have a lot of information put together and now we know where we stand, we’re looking forward to it and now it’s time to go to work. You’d like to be as high as you could. We know we’re nine and we’ll just try to make our angles from there. We’ve had plenty of mock drafts between our scouts, but it will be a committee that makes the decision led by Michael.”

(On the depth in the draft)
“I’ve talked to a lot of people about the draft and they say as you get down to the lower part of the first, early second that it’s pretty heavy, pretty thick, a lot of good players in that area. I think it’s a very good draft. There are a lot of good players out there. Like I said, I’m excited about it. It’s a busy time of year for the basketball operations department.”

(On the needs of the Bobcats)
“We have a good nucleus of people. We want to get the best available players we can get. That’s what we want to look for. Whether it’s a point guard, a wing or a power player, we want the best available. We want to mix them into Coach Brown’s system and hopefully we have a very successful season from there.”

(On if the Bobcats have to work out more players by having the number nine pick)
“You may have to bring more people in with that number, but we’ve been thinking about different scenarios about where we were going to be. We knew the chances of being in the top one-two-three would be tough, so we were prepared for that number. You have to bring in as many people as you can for a first round and for a second round person. I’d say you’d probably bring in more people for that second round guy.”

(On how many players they will bring in)
“A lot of it will depend on next week at pre-draft. We go down there and we see who works out and who doesn’t work out. Some guys may not work out and you need to get them up here to Charlotte to work them out. Now, we can get busy on our phone calls to get people in. A lot of times you make phone calls now and they want to wait and see where their player’s going to be. It’s such a wide variety (of players). Even when you talk to the scouts, you’ll have different opinions and that’s great. You want to get as many people in here to make sure you make a good observation of them and make a good sound selection.”