Bobcats Banking on Payoff

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p>

The question used to be whether the Charlotte Bobcats would spend the money to improve.</p>

That's no longer a question. Now it's a matter of how well that money was spent.</p>

Since the end of last season, the Bobcats have traded for two projected starters, Jason Richardson and Nazr Mohammed. Those deals mean the Bobcats inherit nearly $60 million in payroll responsibility for Richardson and Mohammed over the three seasons after this one.</p>

Richardson and Mohammed are signed through the summer of 2011. The only Bobcat under a longer contract is Gerald Wallace, signed through the summer of 2012.</p>

Combined, Richardson and Mohammed will cost the Bobcats about $20 million a season. Are they worth that?</p>

<span class="subhead">Arguments for the deals</span></p>

<span class="bullet">&bull;</span>The Bobcats needed a go-to guy in the worst way. They were surprisingly good the first three seasons at being in games in the fourth quarter. But they seldom closed out those games because they had no primary scoring option when they absolutely needed a basket in the half-court offense.<span class="bullet">&bull;</span>The Bobcats were hurting for big men even before Sean May had season-ending knee surgery. The Primoz Brezec experiment had run its course and Othella Harrington's knee problems seem chronic. Mohammed, limited as he might be, immediately addresses the Bobcats' greatest need -- a defense-oriented big man. In the absence of such a player, Emeka Okafor was in constant risk of foul trouble.</p>

<span class="bullet">&bull;</span>Bobcats managing partner Michael Jordan believes hoarding cap room for free agency is a risky strategy, because the rules give an advantage to the team looking to retain that free agent. As the unsuccessful offer sheet to Anderson Varejao illustrated, trades are reliable in a way free agency isn't.</p>

<span class="subhead">Arguments against the deals</span></p>

<span class="bullet">&bull;</span>Is Jason Richardson that good? They're paying more than $12 million a season to a guy who is averaging 16 points while shooting 40 percent from the field and 60 percent from the foul line. He has not performed like the offensive difference-maker he was billed to be. His salary approaches that of Atlanta's Joe Johnson, and he's not Joe Johnson.</p>

<span class="bullet">&bull;</span>Will Mohammed be in this team's rotation the next three seasons? He's playing his 10th NBA season, which is heavy mileage for someone who'll be asked to do a lot of banging in the lane for Charlotte. At approximately $6.5 million a season, he'll be paid like a rotation player.</p>

<span class="bullet">&bull;</span>Should the Bobcats be wary of clearing up other teams' cap problems? Golden State and Detroit were both in jeopardy of paying luxury tax. They were willing to give up these guys, without getting that much in return, to unload payroll. The Bobcats discarded two players with expiring contracts (Brezec and Walter Herrmann). Did they sacrifice future cap flexibility to improve marginally now? Analysis</div></p>

Source: Charlotte Observer</p>