Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Steve Clifford hasn’t coached a game yet for the Charlotte Bobcats, but the new Charlotte skipper has to make sure his opinions are heard loud and clear on Thursday night when the Bobcats make that critical No. 4 choice in the NBA draft.
The Bobcats need to avoid the disappointment made in 2012 with the selection of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at No. 2. It’s not that Kidd-Gilchrist won’t turn into a top-notch NBA player. There’s an excellent chance he will emerge as such, but it has to be a disappointment for Charlotte that his numbers weren’t as high as they’d like, and he seemed to be more of a timid player than had been anticipated.
Kidd-Gilchrist also showed that even the best of collegiate basketball players can’t be expected to turn around a franchise by himself like LeBron James and a few others have. The Bobcats were at the bottom of the NBA world a year ago and did make some strides, but are still a struggling ball team. It was not the ideal situation for Kidd-Gilchrist.
The Bobcats have to keep building and be patient in the meantime. If for some reason they knew what kind of a season Kidd-Chilchrist and Damian Lillard would have as rookies, they would have taken Lillard instead. Such a crystal ball, however, doesn’t exist.
As Clifford and the Bobcats get set to make another key choice, they have to wonder which player will be best for the franchise over the next several years, and not just next season. There’s been talk that the Bobcats need a good inside player and not perimeter payers. In the end, the Bobcats have to take the best player regardless of position.
