Bobcats Land Eighth Pick At 2007 NBA Draft Lottery
May 22, 2007

Things went according to plan for the Bobcats at the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday as they stayed in the same spot they started and will be making the eighth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft on June 28 in New York City.

However, many of the teams at the “top” learned a hard lesson in Secaucus, New Jersey, as the three teams with the most chances to land the top pick all fell out of the top three slots.

Things stayed status quo in this lottery at picks 7-14, but the wheels fell of at No. 6 when NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver revealed that Milwaukee had fallen from third to sixth overall. The trend continued as Memphis dropped from first to fifth, followed by Boston from second to fourth, leaving Atlanta, Seattle and Portland alive in the hunt for Greg Oden and Kevin Durant.

The Hawks fell one pick shy of landing one of the coveted top two, moving up from fourth to third, while the SuperSonics jumped from fifth to second. That meant Portland, who was represented by 2006-07 Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy, received the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.

Here is what Bobcats General Manager Bernie Bickerstaff, President & Chief Operating Officer Fred Whitfield and Director of Scouting Kenny Williamson had to say after the lottery.

BOBCATS GENERAL MANAGER BERNIE BICKERSTAFF
(On anticipating bringing in 20 or more players in preparation for the draft with picks eight and 22)
With the spectrum and the time frame so compressed – you can’t start (workouts) until June 5 – that’s definitely the case. The real deal is similarities in players in terms of the talent level. This draft is so deep, so we have to put them through (the workout), get a feel for the guys and fall in love (with a player).

(On which players might be drafted too high to work out for the Bobcats at eight)
You know about the kid (Kevin) Durant and obviously (Greg) Oden, right? And it’s so screwed up now with the egos that you never know. It could conceivably be guys who aren’t going to be drafted or go in the second round (he joked). That’s the egos that are involved now. Think about the guys who turned down the chance to go to (the rookie camp in) Orlando, where they would have a chance to help themselves. So everybody really has a high opinion of themselves.

(On the logical candidates with the eighth pick)
I couldn’t (give you that) today. I wouldn’t know where to start. We’ve been watching tapes for a while and people have been waiting to see where we’d be picking. But the one thing I’m sure about – what we’ve said all year that you have no control over those ping-pong balls, and it doesn’t matter about the games you win or lose. Cause nothing is guaranteed.

(On if he wasn’t surprised to end up with the eighth pick)
You know that’s the obvious, but you hope (to move up). We were hoping that (Bobcats Vice President and Chief Operating Officer) Fred (Whitfield, who represented Charlotte at the lottery) had some of that magic still with him (that got the Wizards the top pick in 2001).

(On what the Bobcats needs are)
I think we need to get better athletically, and I still think rebounding and size are also a priority.

(On if he thinks there will be a run on bigs before the eighth pick)
I don’t think there is any doubt about that. I think the bigs will fall off the board real quick. But the one thing we also have going for us is that maybe some team wants two players that are talented in a draft like this if you feel that there is a big out there that’s talented and you’d like to have. So it’s good to have the kind of options that we might have. We bring something to the table in a very deep draft when you’re talking about two picks.

(On if he thinks that means a wing player would be the direction to go at eight)
I think if all the bigs (are gone). The abundance is in the wings in the draft this year – in the twos and the threes. I think it also depends on who is drafting ahead of you, what kind of size they have and whether they need talented wings. Because it’s a really talented draft when it comes to the twos and threes. This will be a draft where it’s in the eyes of the beholders.

(On if it will be difficult to work out everyone the Bobcats want to in the allotted time)
No, we’ll have to get it done. Work ethic has never been a problem with us. The bottom line is there should be no weekends off this year. I personally like it because we get after it now. There’s no lull. You get right to it and then there’s the draft, so there’s a lot of action going on.

(On how much more valuable that makes the time at the Pre-Draft Camp)
I think that’s important – to be there and to observe those guys. You are kind of disappointed some of the guys decided (not to go). I don’t know what happened. Guys play games, and I think in this draft it’s kind of dangerous if you’re a player – with the talent level that’s in the draft, and how similar guys are and the difference in the ability is not that great. There’s obviously the first two guys, but after that, there are some pretty damn good basketball players. I would be real careful if I was a player out there not to alienate anybody in terms of holding myself in too high of a regard.

BOBCATS PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER FRED WHITFIELD
(On how he felt with receiving the eighth pick)
We knew that to move up into the top three was a long, long, long shot, and we were very optimistic about our hopes for doing that. But with that being said, we were actually thrilled that we didn’t move down, because unfortunately there were a few teams that did move down in the draft. This is going to be the deepest draft, most experts are saying, in the last 15 years. So for us to be sitting at eight, we know there is going to be a great player there, and we think there is a great player there at 22 when we draft.

(On how many players the Bobcats will evaluate in the next 3-4 weeks)
We can’t bring players to work them out officially until June 5, but the Pre-Draft Camp starts next Tuesday in Orlando and Michael (Jordan), Bernie (Bickerstaff) and Kenny Williamson will be there – our whole scouting staff will be down there evaluating talent. We can work out four players at a time starting on the fifth, and I have to believe we’ll have at least 20-30 players in. So it’s an exciting time for us. When you look back on previous drafts, there have been some great players picked at eight or below. Look at the 2001 Draft with Joe Johnson going No. 10, Amare Stoudemire went No. 9 in 2002 and Shawn Marion went No. 9 in his draft (1999). Everybody is saying this draft is going to be deeper than those drafts, so we’re excited about where we are. We finished with wins in nine of our last 13 games, the energy in the building was phenomenal, so everything is positive for us.

(On the Bobcats biggest need)
A big part of that is going to be who our coach is and getting his input. The system is going to dictate what our biggest need is going to be. Obviously, Bernie and Michael will put their heads together with the new head coach and his coaching staff and figure out what pieces we need to add to this nice, young core of talent we have.

(On if the top two picks going to Western Conference teams somehow benefits the Bobcats as they try to climb the ladder in the Eastern Conference)
One of the other gentlemen on the stage from the Eastern Conference made that comment. We just let the balls fall where they may. We go out and play hard every night. We try to win every game we can and try to make the fan experience as much fun as possible. There are some great players coming into the league this year, so I just think next season is going to be so much fun for everybody.

BOBCATS DIRECTOR OF SCOUTING KENNY WILLIAMSON
(On if the way things worked out was surprising for the Bobcats)
Not really. One can always hope and wish. Ours is not a perfect world. In a perfect world we would have got one or two, but we’ll be ready for the draft.

(On the depth of this draft)
There are some interesting pieces out there – some nuggets that we have some interest in. The problem now is with the rule changes and the condensing of the time frame. In the past, we would have people working out already. It becomes a scheduling snafu. We’ve been on the phones already, and I’ve already left some messages for people tonight. I’ve got my phone on and my paperwork ready. We’ll prepare for eight and 22 much like we’d prepare for one or two. You have to do a little more research, but at the end of the day, we’ll be alright.

(On how many people will workout in Charlotte)
I think we’ll bring in 20-22 players. That number could escalate, but I’m hoping it doesn’t. The funny thing is that certain agents have had cutoff numbers for their clients already. The cutoff for a lot of people was five or six. They believe that strongly in our guys – now it’s up to us to throw out some scenarios that theirs is not a perfect world either, and they have to be prepared to maybe deal with us at eight.

(On who he thinks would be gone at eight)
I’m not privy to divulge the names. The bigs might be gone early, and everybody has a pretty good idea who the bigs are. In reading some different things and listening to the pundits on TV, they think maybe one of the guards could go that soon, prior to our number. I’m not so sure that will happen, but we’ll see.