Charlotte_______

[quote]Bobcats' best enticement is playing time

Chance for experience makes inevitable losses palatable for players

RICK BONNELL

If Bernie Bickerstaff were filling the Charlotte Bobcats' roster through the classifieds, his employment ad might read something like this:

"Unique opportunity for advancement with a start-up company in the booming New South. If you're young and energetic, and feel you're under-utilized in your current job, this is the place for you. Special interest in 6-foot-10 candidates with stretchy arms and 40-inch vertical leaps ..."

Bickerstaff doesn't need to run ads. As Charlotte Bobcats general manager, he'll have dozens of NBA veterans to choose from in the expansion draft. Despite all the losses this team will pile up next season, he expects players will enjoy it here for one simple reason:

Plentiful minutes.

"The one great thing about the expansion situation is guys will have an opportunity to perform. That's the only way to get better," Bickerstaff said. "As coaches we say to players, `If you get two minutes, then earn three minutes the next time.' But in reality, if a guy always has to look over his shoulder (wondering when he'll be pulled), he's playing out of character. Sometimes you've got to let guys play through mistakes, so long as they're mistakes of commission" by being aggressive.

Bickerstaff hopes that as many as four players on that initial roster make it through to the Bobcats' first playoff season. That might be wildly optimistic: The players available in the expansion draft are, by definition, castoffs. Most of these guys will be long gone within three years.

Still, there are exceptions. Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry lasted a decade with the Charlotte Hornets, and most of that time they were key pieces of the rotation. Scott Skiles had similar success in the Orlando Magic's first five seasons.

The key for all three was finding a new team that would let them play through their mistakes and learn the game. Apparently that message has registered on young players at the end of NBA benches. Los Angeles Clippers power forward Melvin Ely, for instance, says he'd love to be a Bobcat to escape the shadow of Elton Brand and Chris Wilcox.

"I think definitely I've been surprised by the indications that all these guys want to play here," said Bickerstaff, who then speculated as to why. "I think guys who really want to play can use us to get better. And then we can say to them, `You'll get paid' when their contracts are up. People with work ethic, people who want to get better, they'll know they have opportunity here."

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Lot of new info, Ely wants to go to Charlotte, Humphries a possibilty for a late 1st rounder, Wesley possibly back to Charlotte, and a possible trade with Dallas.

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"Yeah I cried, I cried on National Television. So what? Failure hurts, and in that moment winning was everything. I'll move on, I'll cry again, I hope I never lose that intensity. More people should cry and when I get to the NBA, more people will cry." Adam Morrison Charlotte Bobcats


Kevin Garnett: “Okafor is having a great year. He’s strong, a very good rebounder and active around the basket. He’s playing like an animal right now.”
Dirk Nowitzki: “He is playing phenomenal and he comes to play every night. He is going to be a dominant player is this league.”