<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I keep hearing suggestions from readers that the Charlotte Bobcats should do what they did last season, and trade their first-round pick for an impact veteran. I’m totally with you that those options should be explored. But it’s considerably harder for the Bobcats to make such a deal now than it was when they acquired Jason Richardson 11 months ago on draft night. It’s about money. The Bobcats acquired Richardson from Golden State and Nazr Mohammed from the Detroit Pistons in deals that bargained away much of their room under the salary cap. The Warriors’ and Pistons’ incentive in those deals was clearing up their payrolls; Golden State freed themselves from Richardson’s $11 million-plus salary and Detroit swapped Mohammed’s $5 million-plus salary for expiring contracts (Primoz Brezec and Walter Herrmann). The Bobcats aren’t capped out this off-season, but they certainly don’t have the flexibility they once did to absorb a huge contract. That will limit the ways they could turn the ninth pick into a veteran rotation player.</div> Source: Charlotte Observer
