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July 08, 2009
Bobcats sign rookie Henderson
The Charlotte Bobcats confirmed that they have signed rookie Gerald Henderson, the No. 12 overall pick in the NBA draft, to his rookie-scale contract.
That guarantees him this season and next with two one-year team options.
Since the Bobcats are not fielding a summer-league team, Henderson will play in the Las Vegas Summer League with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Rick Bonnell
Posted by Observer Sports on July 8, 2009 at 06:56 PM | Permalink
Comments
I hope this isn't the reason the team hasn't been active in the FA market. Why has there not been any news? rumors? ANYTHING?!?
Posted by: Timmeh | Jul 8, 2009 8:13:11 PM
Timmeh:
Henderson's salary is defined by a pre-determined rookie scale. The Bobcats would have known the day of the draft lottery -- mid-May -- what they would pay the 12th pick.
The whole point of the rookie scale was to slot first-rounders into affordable, predictable salaries. There is ABSOLUTELY NO relationship between Henderson and the Bobcats' apparent inactivity in free-agency. Trading for Nazr Mohammed? Yes. Picking up Adam Morrison's option last October? Sure.
Signing the rookie to a pre-arranged (and highly affordable) scale contract? Uh, no.
Posted by: Rick Bonnell | Jul 8, 2009 8:58:00 PM
Yea.
Posted by: Bro D. | Jul 8, 2009 9:41:28 PM
Timmesh - Bob's now have 11 players under contract and assuming Derek Brown makes the team that would be 12; I suspect given budget constraints, Bob's will only carry 13 players; LJ and MJ will keep that slot open until camp in October.
Assume Bob's are not going to be in the news signing an FA at this point.....
Posted by: bobfan1 | Jul 8, 2009 9:58:46 PM
Rick-
Some guys over a detroitbadboys.com were postulating a Rip Hamilton for Okafor swap – maybe even expanded to a Tayshaun/Rip for Okafor/Wallace deal.
Now, there is absolutely no news or rumors out there to suggest that this is going to happen but what do you think that the Bobcats would do if confronted with such an offer?
Posted by: ASChin | Jul 8, 2009 10:02:44 PM
ASChin:
Really bored, huh?
Great sources of reliable reporting: The New York Times...60 Minutes....detroitbadboys.com....
Let's talk reality. Rip has an absurd contract of four seasons left at an average salary in excess of $12.5 million. That's even more than what Okafor would make over the same four seasons.
Okafor isn't perfect, and if there was a deal out there that moved him to make them better, do it. But there's a valid rule of thumb that you don't trade big for small unless you're talking about Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant in his prime.
Don't you think, after the Mohammed trade, that the Bobcats have done enough charity work for Joe Dumars?
Posted by: Rick Bonnell | Jul 8, 2009 10:20:52 PM
Rick,
I'm hearing the news around Amare and PHX possible splitting...Obviously he would solve our PF issue, all be it he'd be a bonified starter. Anyway a swap happens there?
Posted by: Justin | Jul 8, 2009 10:30:13 PM
Stoudemire makes $16.3M next season and $17.7M the following season. Since the Bobcats are over the cap and the Suns are over the cap, you have to do something roughly even. So what would the Suns take off the Bobcats' roster that would (a.) add up to roughly $16 million and (b.) make the Suns happy that either they're getting quality young players or serious payroll reduction?
Don't see that working.
Posted by: Rick Bonnell | Jul 8, 2009 11:17:40 PM
Rick-
To answer your question, YES I AM BORED!
The Bobcats are doing absolutely nothing this offseason – I'm just trying to offer up some ideas.
http://www.bobcatsbaseline.com/blog/?p=853
Yeah, I know that you never trade big for small (unless your are the Bobcats and you take on a crappy big with a huge contract for a crappy small with a smaller and/or expiring contract).
What if JoD offered them Prince, Hamilton and Maxiell for Wallace, Okafor and Mohammed. Works under the cap and balances out the roster --- more importantly, it saves the team $35 million over the next 5 seasons.
And hey, I'm not the journalist, I'm a blogger. You get paid to do what you do and I respect that. We hardcore fans do this for fun. Indulge us.
Posted by: ASChin | Jul 8, 2009 11:45:57 PM
Rick,
Does the lack of activity this offseason have anything to do with the ownership situation? Will the bobcats end up just snatching another d-leaguer or overseas guy to patch up the backup PF spot (like dwayne jones) just to save money?
Posted by: David | Jul 9, 2009 12:48:05 AM
David --
First, I wouldn't be surprised if they do fill out the roster with lesser players. Certainly the unsettled ownership situation, when they're losing millions, would be a factor in that.
Posted by: Rick Bonnell | Jul 9, 2009 6:34:07 AM
Another thing that has the Bobcats hands tied in free agency is the hold on Felton's qualfying offer for $12M. That doesn't stop the Bobcats from signing a MLE, but it does hamper our flexibility in what we could sign a free agent for until Felton's contract is finalized.
However, I doubt the Bobcats would sign any free agent for more than the MLE even if Felton was signed. But until they know what his (Felton) number is, I doubt they make many waves in free agency.
Posted by: BlockParty | Jul 9, 2009 6:52:53 AM
Not really (Felton's caphold). We're right at the cap, so all we really have to sign FAs are the exceptions. With Jefferson included we're only like 750k below the cap.
Posted by: spectre | Jul 9, 2009 9:34:48 AM
welcome to the team Gerald....now speaking as a DUKE fan, its time to work on your jumpshot and for goodness sakes--PLEASE develop a left hand!
Posted by: Bobcat Terry | Jul 9, 2009 9:36:32 AM
Bonnell, what are your thoughts:
There is a trade that makes a lot of sense for both teams and it would work wonders for our fan base. It works great in the trade machine and I can argue the -1 win effect with anyone. The problem is that I'm not sure if Phoenix would like to make another trade with us.
Phoenix get: Okafor and Radmanovic & (maybe a future Pick)
Charlotte get: Amare and Amundson
It makes sense for Phoenix (rebuilding mode) because it gets Okafor a young solid defensive and rebounder C/PF projected to be a starter for a long time for $10M/Yr (pretty good for a big by today standards). Also a big combo F that can shoot in Radmanovic. They get to clear over $35M for next summer of 2010 (maybe more since Radmanovic and Richardson are $20M of expiring contracts by the end of 2010), if not traded, then they wait 1 year and clear an additional $20M for the summer of 2011.
Charlotte will get a big athletic and solid C/PF who's a great scorer and nice rebounder in Amare who will be glad to play by Diaw. By the time Amare's contract is due (2011) Nazr's contract will be due and the Bobcats will be able to resign Amare for a decent contract. We will have a really competitive starting five in: Amare, Diaw, Wallace, Bell and Felton for years to come; and a decent bench in Diop, Amundson, Brown, Henderson and DJ. Bell's contract is due next year, so we can go after a decent SG and offer $5M/Yr. which should get us something good. (Depending on how good Henderson turns out to be.)
Just guessing (or dreaming), I honestly think this is more realistic than a lot of other rumors around the league. What are your thoughts.
Posted by: RobC | Jul 9, 2009 2:31:05 PM
you guys are killing me......okafor for rip hamilton? seriously?! that is a terrible deal to even talk about. we've got 4 guards. there's no logic in that. we don't need a free agent signing either. we need to develop what we have and let brown do his thing.
Posted by: charlottean | Jul 9, 2009 2:34:03 PM
RobC
I've always questioned Amar'e's motivation. He is, however, a better talent than Meka for sure, and he brings allstar prestige and low post scoring. I don't like him, but the Bobs could do a lot worse.
Posted by: Bobby | Jul 9, 2009 3:09:29 PM
I think the Cats need to work with what they have for now. No need to rush into a deal when there is not much available. I think Brown will end up being a huge steal. He and Gerald are both projects but have an abundance of potential. Let Larry do his thing and we will be in good shape. If we did make any moves, maybe look to bring Rudy Fernandez in. He is not happy in Portland and could be that spark we need. Thought?
Posted by: JustinG | Jul 9, 2009 7:18:25 PM
RobC - thats basically the bobcats and suns trading their core rosters over the last year..except with a different starting forward and point guard..
Bobcats need a versitile and available shooting guard, and its AI. Why go after a trade when theres a free agent looking for a team? The salary cap issue is the Bobcats own bad manament skills and awful ownership problems from the past (nazi mohammed trade) and it kills to see it effect what happens on the court. Bob Johnson needs out, a new owner needs to step in and successfully control a organization instead of seeing them as an accessory like Bob Johnson. I have a feeling he bought a team to own one, not really take control and professionally manage it.
Posted by: Brett Johnson | Jul 9, 2009 7:41:05 PM
Oh, and I think Rick Bonnell should buy the Bobcats out and then it will just be championship after championship for Charlotte..haha
Posted by: Brett Johnson | Jul 9, 2009 7:41:50 PM
Instead of trade talk that's more suited to fantasy league teams, can we get some news on how the Bobcats feel about D. Brown's summer league play?
Seems like he's doing pretty well in Orlando (though the stream for the games is awful spotty)
Posted by: Bobby | Jul 9, 2009 9:57:30 PM
Brett, Iverson isn't anything close to versatile at this point in his career. He's a volume shooter who's nowhere close to as efficient as he used to be. He's also just plain bad on defense.
Bobby, Brown's performance thus far is only impressive if you're looking at nothing but his PPG. He has ZERO assists thus far in more than 70 minutes of play, and he's not rebounding at all either. Add that to the fact that he's leading his team in shots despite being fifth in minutes, and I don't know if he's ready to be much of anything in the NBA right now. Volume shooter will not be his role in the league, now or moving forward.
Posted by: Michael Procton | Jul 12, 2009 3:04:33 AM
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