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NBAE / Getty Images
The Bobcats took home the 12th overall pick at the
2009 NBA Draft Lottery. |
By Matt Rochinski
bobcats.com
May 19, 2009
Augustin to Represent Bobcats at Lottery and USA Camp
The Bobcats stood pat at the No. 12 slot at the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday as the Los Angeles Clippers moved up from the third spot to win the lottery.
The Clippers beat the odds after entering with a 17.7 percent chance to take the top spot, while Charlotte entered the lottery with a 0.7 percent chance of coming away with No. 1 overall.
The biggest losers on this night were Sacramento and Washington. The Kings entered the lottery with a 25-percent chance to land the top pick and fell to No. 4 overall as Memphis moved from sixth to second and Oklahoma City went from fourth to third. Sacramento’s slide also meant that the Wizards, who entered with a 17.8 percent chance of taking home the top pick, dropped from second to fifth.
Things stayed status quo in this lottery through the first seven picks before Minnesota’s card was pulled at No. 6, assuring the Grizzlies of a top three spot and shaking up the lottery.
While Charlotte wasn’t able to move up this year, at least the Bobcats did not take a step back. In two of the past five years the Bobcats dropped instead of moving up. Charlotte fell from No. 8 to 9 in 2008 and dropped from No. 3 to No. 5 in 2005.
Here's what Bobcats General Manager Rod had to say after the lottery:
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(On where the Bobcats stand now that they know they’ll be picking 12th)
I think we were ready with the mindset of where we were going to be drafting. We were obviously holding our breath in terms of possibly moving up into the top three. That hasn’t happened, but our work in terms of seeing these players is almost done, and our scouts have done their work, so we’re looking forward to going through the process of the draft and making our pick. But the possibilities of doing other things – moving back, moving up – that’s the beauty of the whole draft.
(On possibly using the pick to gain some cap relieft)
I think that’s one of the possibilities that could be on the board, but you also have to prepare yourself going forward to make the selection at No. 12. If we have the opportunity to do certain things, whether that is moving a player or moving a pick – those are things that internally we’ll discuss. We’re just trying to improve and figure out what’s best for our organization. I don’t think we’re afraid of any scenario.
(On what he thinks the strength is of the projected lottery picks)
I think there are going to be some players on the perimeter that are pretty good if you look at the top three players in terms of consensus mock drafts. Then after that, you’ve heard the rumors that this isn’t going to be a strong draft, but there are going to be guys that come in and help teams if not next year, then down the road, and that’s what we do with our projections.
(On if they anticipate bringing in a fair amount of players to work out at No. 12)
It’s going to be interesting going forward after tonight now that that balls have dropped, because a lot of phone calls are going to be made throughout the league to agents determining which players are going to be best suited for teams that want to bring in particular players. Now a lot of it is about identifying the position that an individual team is going to be drafting.
(On how the amount of people working out changes at 12 vs picking in one of the top three picks)
We’ve talked about having anywhere from 5-12 names that could be there for us at No. 12 to pick. Now our work continues trying to get guys in here to work out for us knowing we don’t know what will go before us. We’ll have our list and continue to compile our list, but we’ll be prepared come draft day.
(On if he feels confident the Bobcats could draft an impact player at No. 12)
I think the word impact is one of those words you just don’t know about. Will it be a guy that we’ll feel comfortable with? Of course it will, because we’ll make that pick. But knowing that it’s going to be a rookie – a player that’s going to have to make some adjustments going forward – we’d like for him to have an impact immediately. But if not, we’ll feel comfortable drafting him knowing that he could have incredible potential.
(On the Bobcats areas of need right now)
If you look at our roster, you can see that as we came down the stretch and Raja went down with the injury, we could use another two-guard. But you can also always use help at the three or four spots. Our one spot is solid and we have a bunch of guys who can get minutes at the five, so in between those two spots are places we could possibly shore up.
(On having multiple second round picks and possibly moving one or both)
You can’t close your eyes to any of the possibilities. Do we need a couple of second round picks? The argument could come into play where we don’t, but you have to be prepared for the possibility to trade or draft both players. You have to be prepared both ways, and those are the things we will address once we get our group together.
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