Inside the NBA

Tapscott would be perfect in Atlanta

        The Atlanta Hawks need a general manager, and I have their man: Ed Tapscott.

       No finder’s fee necessary, guys, I just want one of the smartest guys in basketball back in a prominent position in the NBA.

       Tapscott was the Bobcats’ original president, which meant he hired and supervised Bernie Bickerstaff on the basketball side and put out numerous fires on the business side. Mostly that meant finessing the owner’s lack of understanding of the NBA and the Charlotte market.

      Tapscott made friends throughout the community. The decisions that undermined that goodwill – C-SET, ticket-pricing, etc. – were made above his head.

      Ed is now working for close friend Ernie Grunfeld, with both coaching and player-programs duties with the Washington Wizards. His experience, managing Bob Johnson’s peculiarities, would seemingly prepare him for the fractured ownership situation in Atlanta (the Hawks and NHL Thrashers are owned by guys who tend to sue each other.)

        Former Hawks GM Billy Knight resigned under pressure, leaving behind the most athletic team in the East. Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Josh Smith and Marvin Williams are intriguing pieces and Mike Bibby is a sound, if aging, point guard.

       The Hawks need management that could get Atlanta to care about that team; to make intelligent moves in a transparent, accountable way.

       I just described the Ed Tapscott playbook.

NBA rule is well-intended but flawed

I don't know if O.J. Mayo did take tens of thousands in gifts from the representative of an agent.

I do know this: The accusations ESPN made about the former Southern Cal freshman are plausible. They'd be plausible for any high school player identified as a soon-to-be lottery pick.

And that's why this NBA rule, pushing kids to play at least one season of college basketball, is well-intended but ultimately flawed.

The NBA would like players to mature - physically, emotionally and in their understanding of basketball - in the de facto farm system that is college basketball. The NCAA wants the Greg Odens and Kevin Durants to at least make a cameo appearance in its tournament before hearing their names called in the NBA draft.

But it's too late to undo how Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and LeBron James changed the sport.

They were all ready to play out of high school. In fact, Bryant and Garnett were chosen too low, not too high, in their respect drafts. (What's sillier upon reflection? That reigning MVP Bryant went 13th or that the then-Charlotte Hornets immediately traded him to the Lakers?)

Every year there will be three or four high school seniors so NBA-ready (at least compared to the other options in a given draft) that they're foregone conclusions to be one-and-done in college ball. You think it's a coincidence three of the first four picks last June were college freshmen?

There's little structure in place to keep the "runners" - the guys who funnel money from agents to prospects - away from these elite players. Unfortunately, a number of these players will pick an agent for those early inducements, and not for who might best represent him later.

The problem is enforcing amateurism, or in this case shamateurism. If a kid is a tennis prodigy at 16, the sneaker makers and racquet makers help finance the cost of developing that kid's talents. There's nothing dishonest or evil about that; it's an investment in future marketing.

Men's college basketball is different, because Mr. Future Lottery Pick is supposed to be treated just like the 12th man at Davidson or Winthrop.

It's realistically unenforceable to keep the runners away from the next O.J. Mayo. So as long as the NBA (worn down by years of lobbying by college basketball coaches) continue directing the prodigies to a year of college ball, the shamateurism will run rampant.

Another coach's take on Brown's system

I had a long chat Friday with an NBA assistant coach about how Larry Brown and his priorities would affect the Bobcats, both collectively and individually. This guy’s team uses a variation of the defensive system Brown prefers.

The assistant’s impressions:

-- Adam Morrison will struggle most to fit into Brown’s system, where wing players are expected both to help defensively in the lane and run out aggressively to contest 3-point shots. The goal in Brown’s defense is to force the other team to take a guarded, 2-point jump shot. Morrison might simply not have the quickness and change-of-direction defensively to do all that.

-- Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace could struggle, as a starting pair, to accomplish what Brown expects defensively. Richardson isn’t a particularly good defender. Wallace is, but more in a takeaway, risk-taking manner. Brown, the assistant surmises, would sacrifice some of Wallace’s takeaways in return for better defensive positioning.

-- While Raymond Felton is a good defender, more will be expected of him, as far as pressuring the entry pass and keeping penetration out of the lane. The standards are high on any Brown point guard.

-- Brown will push his bosses to do what it takes to sign Okafor to a long-term contract extension because he’ll prioritize Okafor’s strengths (rebounding and guarding the rim) more than his predecessor, Sam Vincent.

-- Finally, it won’t surprise this assistant if Brown lobbies for acquiring a mid-size defender off another team to play the role George Lynch did in Philadelphia. Just a guess, the assistant said, but Atlanta’s Josh Childress might fit that description.

Integrity, and a laudable body of work

I plan to write more extensively about this in tomorrow's Observer, but here's a quick impression of Bernie Bickerstaff's tenure with the Bobcats:

He's a man of exceptional integrity and candor. And the Bobcats will be worse for his absence from the decision-making process.

Bickerstaff is leaving -- the story broke on charlotte.com earlier today -- and I think it's sad the organization is losing his wisdom. Bickerstaff was patient and sensible; he understood that rushing the expansion process would never lead to lasting success.

(The Carolina Panthers missed that point; they reached the NFC Championship Game their second season, but it was a mirage. The hangover from that party strung up the Panthers' salary cap with a bunch of aging, expensive veterans too close to retirement.)

Bernie left Michael Jordan with the cap room to make that Jason Richardson trade. The Golden State Warriors weren't looking for Brandan Wright so much as they were determined to fix their bloated payroll. Absorbing Richardson's salary, without sending much salary obligation to the Warriors, made the Bobcats an ideal trade partner.

I hope the restraint Bernie exercised -- not wasting big money on mediocre veterans -- is a lesson learned by Jordan and general manager Rod Higgins.

Sure, Bernie made mistakes -- he should have given up the 5th and 13th picks in 2005 to draft Chris Paul -- but his body of work as general manager and coach here was laudable.

Some other franchise should gobble him up, because he has plenty left to offer, either in a front office or mentoring a young head coach.

Just wondering ...

-- Will Sam Vincent’s departure increase the likelihood of Emeka Okafor staying in Charlotte long-term?

Okafor is too nice and too circumspect to broadcast it when he’s upset with a coach. But it was obvious during portions of last season that he didn’t mesh well with Vincent.

Okafor becomes a restricted free agent in July, and though he said he wants to stay here, that sounded a bit hollow while Vincent was the coach.

That’s not to say Okafor will definitely sign a long-term deal with Larry Brown as coach. Remember, Okafor turned down an extension that would have paid him more than $12. million per season before Vincent coached a game here.

But you can’t tell me, if the Bobcats want to retain Okafor, that it won’t be easier following this change in direction.

-- There will be ABCers saying the only reason Phil Ford is on Larry Brown’s staff is to appease Dean Smith. But Ford will serve as an essential buffer zone between Brown and Raymond Felton. Brown can be brutal on point guards, and Ford will keep Felton’s confidence from eroding in the face of Brown’s demands.

-- I bet Sean May playing for Brown will either save May’s career or end it for good; nothing in-between. Brown is famous for the high standards he sets for his players’ conditioning. May is coming off micro-fracture knee surgery, and if he doesn’t do the max to keep the strain off his lower joints, he won’t keep up.

The Bobcats need what May potentially delivers, because their biggest deficiency is still rebounding.

-- Brown said the last thing he did before signing with the Bobcats was quiz managing partner Michael Jordan to make sure he was "fully committed" to building this team. Obviously Brown was satisfied with Jordan’s answer. But I guarantee you Brown will challenge Jordan and front-office executives Rod Higgins and Bernie Bickerstaff along the way. It’s Brown’s nature not to accept status quo as being good enough. That’s what makes him a winner.

Larry Brown will make life interesting

• We’ll find out once and for all if Raymond Felton is a point guard. Brown is hard on point guards, forcing them either to excel or fizzle out. I’m confident Phil Ford will remain on the staff, not just because all three (Brown, Ford, Felton) are ex-Tar Heels, but because Ford will be an important buffer zone between Brown and Felton.

• Sooner or later Brown and Michael Jordan will bump heads. That’s because Brown always bumps heads, at least a bit, with the front office. Managing Brown’s moods (as in wanting to trade half the team after a bad loss) is just Brown’s way.

• They’ll make a real playoff run. Brown’s teams almost always improve during his first season with a new franchise. In the Eastern Conference, a five-game improvement puts you right in the playoff mix.

• Emeka Okafor will know for sure if he wants to be here. Okafor is a restricted free agent who can sign a one-year qualifying offer to become unrestricted in 2009. People love or hate playing for Brown; Okafor – even-tempered, thoughtful – will have to gauge how his personality and Brown’s mesh.

• Brown will say five things that make you go hmmmmmmm. He knows and teaches the game as well as anyone. He voices much of what’s inside his head, sometimes in an unfiltered manner. He’s been reluctant in the past to count on rookies, but this team will have a lottery pick. It all will be quite interesting to monitor.

'This isn't going to work'

My not-quite-a-year covering Sam Vincent:

    The guy wasn’t boring, if simply because you could never predict what might come out of his mouth. If it was Tuesday, he’d cruise into the media room for his pre-game group interview, swearing he’d stop using Raymond Felton so much at shooting guard because that wasn’t in the franchise’s best interest, long-term.

    Then a couple of days later, he’d throw Jeff McInnis into the starting lineup and play Felton more at shooting guard than ever before.

    He’d gut Emeka Okafor’s playing time, only to wonder why Okafor fell into a unprecedented funk. Then he’d restore Okafor’s minutes and - surprise! - Okafor went back to being the reliable and efficient (if limited) big man who once won rookie of the year.

    Understandably, players wouldn’t be quoted grumbling about their boss. But there was plenty of grumbling, some of it from players who are nothing like prima donnas.

    One day a player discreetly asked me this question: “What is he doing? Because I can't figure it out from game to game.’’

    I told the player that Vincent’s substitutions reminded me of Jim Valvano’s “survive-and-advance’’ approach to the NCAA tournament. Valvano, the late N.C. State coach, meant you coach each game of the NCAAs in a vacuum - don’t worry about rotations, don’t worry about players’ feelings -- because as soon as you lose, you go home for the season anyway.

    I told the player you can’t coach 82 regular-season games like the NCAA tournament because it leaves the players so confused and insecure they can’t perform.

    The guy nodded knowingly and said, “This isn’t going to work.’’

Johnson takes unusual approach

Bobcats majority owner Bob Johnson showed up at the Observer newsroom Monday, looking for support on a rather bold suggestion:

That Charlotte’s business community hasn’t done enough to ensure the financial success of the local NBA team.

Wow. This isn’t biting the hand that feeds you. This is gnawing on the fingers.

I wasn’t at Johnson’s appearance in the newsroom. I’d been told he wouldn’t address basketball issues, so I thought my presence might be counter-productive. But had I been there, I would have asked the following question:

You know any other business in Charlotte that got a $265 million home office from the taxpayers?

I’m not saying the arena was a bad thing. Quite the opposite. The anti-arena/anti-development folk who’d be fine with Charlotte becoming Mayberry again never got it that the Charlotte Coliseum wasn’t going to work going forward. This was the last/best chance to find a partner to share the cost of operation for valuable infrastructure.

However, I’ve never found Johnson gracious in receiving the deal the NBA negotiated with the city. And he’s never been realistic about the challenge convincing this town – not the politicians, the average folk – that turning out for games is great use of their entertainment dollars.

I know this from personal experience. Bob has berated me more than once for suggesting how tough it will be to overcome the town’s ambivalence toward replacing the Hornets. These people vote with their wallets all the time. You think it’s a coincidence the Bobcats are in the bottom third of the league in attendance?

Bob seems finally to realize he has problems. I just don’t know if he has the humility to understand this isn’t somebody else’s problem. Unless that changes, little else will.

Stray thoughts on the road to Lotteryville:

• Ever wonder how a team could shoot 62 percent overall and 56 percent from 3-point range and be thankful to win by two?

The Bobcats managed that Tuesday, exposing what has become a perpetual flaw. They will never be dependable until they keep the other team off the offensive boards. For the fifth time in nine games, they gave up at least 15 offensive rebounds, this time to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Kenny Gattison, then a Charlotte Hornet, now a New Orleans Hornets assistant coach, used to say you can’t trust offense. Defense was the only thing dependable in the NBA, and controlling possessions is defense.

The Timberwolves took 21 more shots than the Bobcats on Tuesday. Part of that was outrebounding the Bobcats by eight. Part of it was forcing 16 turnovers.

You give the other team that many extra chances to score and it might not matter how well you shoot.

• It was amusing, listening to Gerald Wallace talk about finally feeling some age in that Gumby-like body.

You could twist Gumby into any shape without breaking him. Wallace was just about that that flexible, without ever trying.

"I’ve been in the league seven years, and I’ve probably stretched twice," Wallace described.

It caught up with him. Wallace has a groin strain and it probably knocks him out for the rest of the season. Wallace is listening all of a sudden to Emeka Okafor about taking Yoga and Pilates to ward off further injury.

Like the song says, "What a drag it is, getting old."

• The Bobcats’ announcement of their naming rights/television right swap was pure Disney.

They herded us into an end zone of the arena. For an hour we listened to speeches, watched video and then they set off fireworks to light up some Fox sign (I guess they thought we might miss the point where the TV rights were going).

All this ate up precious time, and then they told us we could talk to the principles, either in groups or one-on-one, because there’d be no question-and-answer during the formal news conference.

Five questions into Bob Johnson’s group interview, a public relations operative cut off the conversation. I was stunned. A 15-month negotiation that led to what Johnson called a "momentous" day, and we’re not supposed to ask more questions? Welcome to the Nixon administration.

I got a bit aggressive and pushed what I thought was the essential question: If Johnson thought going to Fox Sports Net was such a bad idea five years ago, what makes it such a great idea now? Johnson gave me a fair answer: That once C-SET failed, this was the next-best alternative.

The next time the Bobcats have a "momentous" day, it would be nice if they set aside some real time to field questions, after the walk down Main Street at Disney World.

Wallace could shut down for season

Charlotte Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace is leaning toward shutting it down for the rest of the season.

He missed his second straight game Tuesday with a groin injury that he says is affecting abdominal muscles. He said he won’t play Wednesday in New York against the Knicks and has misgivings about playing in any of the remaining handful of games this season.

"I don’t want to go through the whole summer rehabbing" a groin injury, Wallace said before the Timberwolves game Tuesday night. A MRI showed no tear in his left groin, but Wallace is concerned that continuing to play would have that effect.