Bobcats Assistant General Manager Karl Hicks was in Orlando for the Pre-Draft Camp On June 6-10 along with General Manager and Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff and the rest of Charlotte’s coaching staff. BobcatsBasketball.com visited with Hicks when he returned from the Pre-Draft Camp. In the second of a two-part interview, we speak with Hicks about the strength of the 2006 NBA Draft, the importance of a second-round pick and more.

Read the Part I of Hicks interview with BobcatsBasketball.com.

(On the players available in the second round) What’s interesting about this draft is that people in the media are saying it’s not going to be a very strong draft -- I don’t know about that. I guess they say that because there isn’t a guy like a Shaquille O’Neal or a LeBron James in this draft, but you never know. No one would have predicted that Dwyane Wade would have turned out the way he or that a guy like Michael Redd would have come out of the second round. You can go down a list and find guys who turned out to be much better than people thought they would be.

But with all that said, one thing I do think about this draft is that there are a lot of players in it. I just named you about a couple of guys (in Part I) that I like, and those were some pretty good names. So I think in this draft, going all the way through to the mid to late round of the first round and maybe into the second round, there are going to be players --NBA players that come and make contributions to their team, and that’s a really good thing.

Alan Anderson went through this camp last year, played pretty dang well and then didn’t get drafted, so how do you figure that out? Alan Anderson was on our radar screen before the Pre-Draft Camp. We talked about him being one of the more versatile guys in the draft and even made maneuvers to pick up a late first round or second round draft pick to try and get him. He doesn’t get drafted, and we end up getting a guy we didn’t take late first or early second -- and we got him for free. And there are some other guys like that.

I think there are a lot of players all the way through the second round who are going to be NBA players. Where as you have in years before, you might have second rounders that were clearly not going to be NBA players. That means it’s going to be a deep draft, in spite that fact that it doesn’t have the wild power that some of the other drafts had previously.

(On the importance of getting the second round pick) You always want picks and we wanted it. And how important is that? That means you can add a player, for us, we just need to add players who understand how to play and are good basketball players. There are spots here, not necessarily our starting five, but who knows, you might get a starting five in there.

(On if the Bobcats will be bringing in guys for workouts they might not have been before the camp) Well, we are going to do our diligence anyways we have a second round pick. Also, you never know, when you’re in a draft and someone puts an offer on the table for you to move back two spaces for example, and they’ll give you two first round picks, that’s something you seriously consider. All of a sudden you are looking at players who range somewhere between 15-25, which you wouldn’t have looked at before. You don’t want to go in there blind, so we have done a pretty good job all year long identifying guys that need to be seen further. We plan on bringing them in anyways whether they are 1-15 or 15-35, and now we might get the back end of the second half -- guys that we might not have brought in, going that far back. We were able to identify five or 10 guys that might be in the area we’re at, and it’s an advantage that at least of these guys were at the camp, so you might not have to bring them in for another look.

(On how enjoyable this time of the year is for him) It’s stressful and enjoyable. I guess it’s both. It’s enjoyable because of the opportunity to see players and maybe get your hands on some players who could make the team better. That’s enjoyable and intriguing, and that’s why we do what we do. It’s stressful because you always worry whether you have done enough, have you seen enough and are you making the right decisions. We’re fielding phone calls we are getting right now from other teams and talking with general managers. People ask, “are you interested in this,” or “would you have interests in that?” Having those conversations now and sifting through things is somewhat stressful because you wonder if you are doing a good enough job and if you are making the right decisions. Ultimately, it’s Bernie’s decision, but we all fortunately work for Bernie and have input in those decisions. He wants to know what we think as well. So it’s a combination of the two, but the overriding sentiment that I have is that it is a chance for us to improve our team.

(On conversations they’ve had with other teams’ front office personnel) I would expect that when you get all of the general managers in one place together and the draft is less than one month away, there’s going to be talk amongst the general managers about the moves people might be willing to make, and yes, those conversations do take place. It’s just floating things out to see if you would you have interest in that. I’ve spoke to at least half the teams in the league to see what they are willing and not willing to do.

(On if he things talks will intensify with the draft two weeks away) Well, now you start getting offers. Instead of people saying “we feel,” they start saying, “alright we will do this, would you?” You start getting offers as these players start working out and teams have a better feel for them, specifically their placing in the draft. As you get closer and closer to draft day, they need to know whether you are going to do this and “need to know by the end of the day today, whether you are going to do this or not.” So then you have to scramble and see if this is something you would want to do, so it picks up.

(On if the lack of a LeBron James-type player will affect the amount of movement we see in this draft) Well, there are some names that people are talking about and that people really like, but are they guys that would turn a team around or not? I think it is generally considered that those guys are not in this draft, but there are some players in the top 5-7 picks that then general managers and coaches are very excited about. They have a really good feeling they are going to be good NBA players and could be pieces of the puzzle for their team. There’s excitement in every draft, and the more you get a chance to work out these guys and everyone gets a chance to see them, the more we get excited about it.

(On if he gets a feeling teams will be more apt to move around in this draft) Well I can’t comment on other teams and other drafts because the excitement of the possibility of improving your team is in every draft, so I don’t think it will be any more than any other draft. But it can happen all the way up to the end, and we are open to it if we think it’s something that will make us better. Everything’s on the table.