Zeller is the safe pick. He will probably be a solid at best role player for a long time. This does the bobcats no good. They need to take a risk on a kid with star power, or a big. The Draft next year is full of wings, but I like bennet’s game, reminds me of Larry Johnson. Undersized 4, Big 3, little bit of outside game, and electric on the ball. The bobcats need a shooter though. If it was me, My board would be:
Mclemore
Bennett
Len (If they trade down and get Len at 9, that would be my best option, especially if that involves a pick in next year’s first round)
Gerald Henderson is an X factor here though. He is arguable the Bobcats best player (I know, that sentence makes me cringe too). Kemba should surpass him easily this year, but it is what it is. If they let Henderson walk, I think they have to draft Mclemore. If they let Henderson walk, and amnesty Tyrus Thomas next year, they will have an incredible amount of cap room, and 2 lottery picks in what is supposedly the best draft since Wade, Melo, and Lebron.
Honestly I felt they needed a big in a bad way. With Len and Noel having injuries it hurt their stock IMO. So Zeller probably was the safest pick.
If I were them I would have been tempted to just go with McLemore. But they would have still been in a huge hole with post players. At least Henderson is still serviceable if they can keep him at the right price.
I actually like the pick. We are still going to be terrible next year. We needed a scoring power forward, and we got one. It’s the beginning of the end for Byron Mullens in Charlotte though. Noel and biyombo are similar players, and Alex Len is too risky. I think Mclemore would have also been a solid pick, but I like the prospect of bringing in a scorer next year, with potentially 3 first round picks.
[table] [tr][td] From a write up about summer league on espn.com
Cody Zeller, Bobcats: 21 PTS | 13 REB | 1 BLK
He might have a thin frame, but Zeller is no daisy. Whether he was making assertive drives or high speed rim runs, Zeller welcomed contact and often brought the fight right to his defender. It can sometimes be difficult to flip the mental switch from finesse player to banger, but Zeller seems to have a pretty keen understanding of when each style is appropriate. – Foster [/t][/t]
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I actually felt pretty good about the Zeller pick. I didn’t like the draft period, but I felt like he was one of the best players in the draft. I’d rather have him than Noel.
Would have rather had Len though, but I suppose we’ll find out soon enough who was the better pick.
[quote=“eason49, post:54, topic:27805”]McLemore sucked in his summer league opener (4-23 overall) (1-11 from 3).[/quote]That’s why I didn’t really want McLemore. While he certainly has talent, he’s a volume shooter than can kill a team on an off night.