State of the Cap: Charlotte Bobcats

[headliner]

2006/07 Charlotte Bobcats Payroll: $21.7 million
2006/07 Estimated NBA Salary Cap: $52 million
Roughly: $30.3 million under cap

The Good: Gerald Wallace, the team's highest paid player, is more than earning his keep. At only $5.5 and $6 million the next two seasons, Wallace is a bargain. He leads the team in scoring at 15.7 per game, shoots 54% from the field, and also adds 7.4 rebounds 2.1 blocks and 2.5 steals per night. Wallace is the third player in NBA history (David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon are the others) to average 2 steals and 2 blocks per game in a season.

Another incredible bargain is Brevin Knight. The knock on Knight has always been his shooting. Sure enough, he shot only 40% from the field this season while scoring 12.5 per game. However, Knight was one of the league leaders in two key point guard statistics. He averaged almost 9 assists and 2.3 steals. Knight is 30 years old and isn't the point guard of the future for this franchise, but at just over $4 million dollars a year, he is an excellent player to have on your roster.

Once again, the Bobcats have avoided poisonous, long-term contracts and have plenty of cap space to spend.

The Bad: The supposed cornerstone of the franchise, Emeka Okafor, started a little slow this season. Then, he went down for the year with a sprained ankle and played just 26 games. Missing that much time will stunt Okafor's growth as a player. The Bobcats are hoping he can return next year at full strength, but he's beginning to look like a possible bust. Another player whose development was stunted by injury was Sean May. He only played 23 games this year and didn't play all that well when given the chance.

Primoz Brezec took a step back this season without enduring an injury. Despite the absence of Okafor and May for most of the season, the promising center's numbers are down in most categories. His price tag is very cheap, but Charlotte was looking for more out of their big man.

The Future: The future of the Bobcats looks great as long as they can keep their young players healthy. Both of last season's draft picks looked like busts until Raymond Felton started to catch fire towards the end of the season. So well, in fact, that he may be taking over for Brevin Knight as their point guard next year. Knight would be a valuable trade asset to teams who need to fill that position.

Charlotte simply needs to stay the course, keep stockpiling young talent, and wait it out until the big free agent class of 2007. They will have a ton of money to spend and should be able to entice a superstar to change his address. With no shooting guards worthy of a top three pick, Charlotte might as well draft size. You can never have too many prospects on the front line. A player like LaMarcus Aldridge would look very nice playing next to Emeka Okafor down low.

The Bobcats could write a book about how to run a cost efficient NBA team, now they must show a commitment to building a winner.

Bonus Points? for winning more games than last year despite losing their franchise player to injury. Charlotte was simply a better team this year and should continue that upward trend next season as their young talent matures.

Grade: A[/b]

State of the Cap: Charlotte Bobcats

[bfree]

Dang 30.3 million under cap dang this team is going to be a good team in the future and with that much money in the cap then the cats' have room to sign a good player thats young and be the team to beat in the next 6 years. To also have have gerald wallace for 5 million thats a megadeal.