Is it time to get younger and find a new face for the Franchise?

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

After that poor showing last night, one can't help but wonder if changes are coming in the near future. There is not much to explain about last night’s loss to Memphis as the Bobcats committed twenty turnovers to the Grizzlies eleven. The Bobcats were on the bottom of almost every stat line. They trailed in field goal %, free throw %, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds; total rebounds, assists, and finally steals. With this horrendous performance against a mediocre team in the Grizzlies, how can you not justify finding a new identity?

The Bobcats average age per player is almost 28 years of age. This is not incredibly old but it is not incredibly young either. There are a total of seven players on the roster that are under 28 and oddly enough most of them seem to be performing pretty well. Tyrus Thomas, D.J. Augustin, Shaun Livingston, and Dominic McGuire lead the pack of the young guns, followed by the up and coming Derrick Brown and Gerald Henderson and finally the undrafted steal of Sherron Collins.

If the Bobcats keep playing like this, they are not going to have a choice but to get younger because of their appropriate draft pick. At this point in time many experts believe the Bobcats lottery pick will fall anywhere between 5th and 12th which would leave the Cats a slew of players to choose from. The Bobcats have not been a great drafting team unlike their NFL friends the Carolina Panthers, but hopefully with the potential of this up and coming NBA Draft which may feature players like Harrison Barnes, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Perry Jones, and Mason Plumlee the Bobcats could end their trend of Adam Morrison’s and Sean May’s.

However, if the Bobcats do have to get younger through the draft, why not start getting younger through trades. The Bobcats Gerald Wallace, Stephen Jackson, and Boris Diaw still have some game in them and their service would require a decent player in return. If the Bobcats want to get younger, they can take a little bit better of approach then the Thunder. Instead of waiting until this year is over, the Cats should unload some contracts and older players for some young and up and coming players such as Andray Blatche, Serge Ibaka, Brandon Bass, Anthony Morrow, Aaron Afflalo, Mike Conley, Corey Brewer, Darko Milicic, or Roy Hibbert. After acquiring some guys like this you get them accustomed to each other and our system that way by next year they are ready to go and hopefully the Bobcats draft pick will be ready as well.

This is a risky situation because it does not always turn out like the Oklahoma City Thunder did. However, with the Bobcats ability to trade away good players, yet receive good players in return, I think it is something that we could do. Why not get younger and let someone else be the face of the franchise.

(I am practicing for my major in college next year and I figured this would be a good topic, please give me feed back on what you guys think on the topic itself and what I need to improve on…thanks)

[Wanderlai]

Yep, blow it up. I'd watch more if there were young upcoming players even though they would loose games they would be fun to watch. The current Bobcats...yuck. They dont have one player I care about watching. Trade what they can and start over. While I respect Larry Brown, he had rather coach old guys who fit his system rather than playing for the future of the franchise. MJ must know that something is going to have to give.

[Chaos]

When you look at our payroll and then the production we're getting from our upper tier players, I doubt we are attractive trade partners with many teams, unless we can offer expiring contracts for someone else's future cap relief.

We have no room to sign big-name free agents, I doubt any of our players are really coveted by other teams right now, and we draft like sh*t. I can't see an easy way out of the mess this team is in, unfortunately.

[Wanderlai]

Who does the scouting on the draft? Come on, I know the vast majority of Bobcats fans, back when the Cats were going into these horrible drafts were looking to get what ended up being the better player.

Bickerstaff wouldnt trade 5 and 13 for Paul because he wanted 2 picks in the 1st rd. I know I was praying that the trade would be made but it didnt.

DJ over Lopez, when we had Felton and needed bigs? Why do that?

Then you have passing on Roy and Gay?

[Its The Milk]

Do we have a draft pick this year? I am so used to us giving our picks away.

[Hotsauce]

sounds like the Panthers....hmmm