We haven't looked at the Charlotte Bobcat's roster lately, but it seems like
a good time to do it. A couple of things stand out: first, unlike a
lot of expansion teams, they've managed to get a pretty young team: the
oldest players are Brevin Knight, with seven years under his belt, and Jahidi
White with six.
| NUM | PLAYER | POS | HT | WT | FROM | YRS |
| 25 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/corey_benjamin/index.html?nav=page">Corey Benjamin |
G | 6-6 | 200 | Oregon State '00 | 4 |
| 7 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/primoz_brezec/index.html?nav=page">Primoz Brezec |
F | 7-1 | 252 | Slovenia | 3 |
| <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/maurice_carter/index.html?nav=page">Maurice Carter (FA) |
G | 6-5 | 210 | Louisiana State '99 | 1 | |
| 10 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/omar_cook/index.html?nav=page">Omar Cook |
G | 6-1 | 190 | St. John's (N.Y.) '04 | 1 |
| 2 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/melvin_ely/index.html?nav=page">Melvin Ely |
F | 6-10 | 261 | Fresno State '02 | 2 |
| 1 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jason_hart/index.html?nav=page">Jason Hart |
G | 6-3 | 185 | Syracuse '00 | 3 |
| 5 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/eddie_house/index.html?nav=page">Eddie House |
G | 6-1 | 175 | Arizona State '00 | 4 |
| 56 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/brandon_hunter/index.html?nav=page">Brandon Hunter |
F | 6-7 | 260 | Ohio U. '03 | 1 |
| 24 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jason_kapono/index.html?nav=page">Jason Kapono |
F | 6-8 | 213 | UCLA '03 | 1 |
| 22 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/brevin_knight/index.html?nav=page">Brevin Knight |
G | 5-10 | 170 | Stanford '97 | 7 |
| 50 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/emeka_okafor/index.html?nav=page">Emeka Okafor |
F-C | 6-10 | 252 | Connecticut | R |
| 21 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/bernard_robinson/index.html?nav=page">Bernard Robinson |
G-F | 6-6 | 210 | Michigan | R |
| 31 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jamal_sampson/index.html?nav=page">Jamal Sampson |
F | 6-11 | 235 | California '05 | 2 |
| 32 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/tamar_slay/index.html?nav=page">Tamar Slay |
G | 6-8 | 215 | Marshall '02 | 2 |
| 0 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/theron_smith/index.html?nav=page">Theron Smith |
F | 6-8 | 225 | Ball State '03 | 1 |
| 3 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/gerald_wallace/index.html?nav=page">Gerald Wallace |
F | 6-7 | 215 | Alabama '04 | 3 |
| 55 | <!a class="gSGPlayerLink" href="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jahidi_white/index.html?nav=page">Jahidi White |
C-F | 6-9 | 290 | Georgetown '98 | 6 |
The other striking thing is that with the exception of Primoz
Brezec, unless we missed someone, the entire roster spent at least some
time in college. True, playing ball at Fresno State is not the same thing
as going to college, but you take our meaning.
And finally, while most of these guys are young, and all but Okema Okafor and
Bernard Robinson were taken in the expansion draft, there are a few guys who
could turn into decent players. Jason Kapono takes the role Kelly Tripucka
took for the Hornets, a reliable shooter. Tamar Slay is a guy with some
talent. Gerald Wallace got the push as The Next Jordan before he neglected to round out his game before leaving for
the NBA. But his talent is still there.
Omar Cook overplayed his hand, but could still develop if he's lucky.
Same goes for Melvin Ely.
What this team needs is a guy who can work with them on basic stuff that they
may have missed along the way, and look, there he is - this summer's hire,
assistant coach Jeff Capel, whose sons played at Duke and UNC.