Welcome to Bald Don't Lie - a blog about sports (North Carolina teams / Washington Nationals centric) and politics. I want to start by taking a look at the upcoming NBA Draft. It is looking more and more likely that the Charlotte Bobcats will manage to draft a valuable player in Thursday's draft. Nerlens Noel, Anthony Bennett, Ben McLemore, Victor Oladipo and Alex Len all could be available at the fourth pick. Over the next few days I'll take a look at how each of these players may fit into the Bobcats future and conclude with my predictions for the lottery.
Nerlens Noel - A super-athletic, long, springy power forward with tremendous potential as a disruptive presence on the defensive side. His offense was spotty during his only season at Kentucky, and you have to think that at 210-215 pounds, he will have a difficult time scoring in the NBA. With the way the game is evolving, having a player that can block, rebound and get up and down the floor will be a big time asset. His ACL injury is the biggest downside since Noel might not even be able to play until the second half of the season. Another concern is Noel's similarities to Bismack Biyombo. The Bobcats already have an uberathletic, defensive-minded PF with limited offensive game. If the 'cats are going to add to the front court, they need someone who can score in the front court - both actually have the ability to score, unlike Biyombo, and play near the hoop, unlike Byron Mullins. Most mock drafts have Noel going no. 1, but www.nbadraft.net has actually moved Noel down to the Suns at no. 5. If available, the Bobcats could stash him on the DL for a while and continue being awful and wait for the loaded 2014 class. However, if the Bobcats want any momentum heading into the Hornets renaissance they need to build on their 21 wins from last season and develop a culture of winning (or at least be regularly competitive), and Noel might not be the best player for wins.
No comments:
Post a Comment