Looking to find a center, a shooter and possibly a big combo guard, the Charlotte Bobcats' Rod Higgins finally got back to being a general manager Wednesday.
With the lockout en route to ending, the NBA gave GMs permission to start discussions with agents and other GMs about transactions that can't be consummated before Dec. 9. That's the projected date for both the start of training camp and the start of free-agency in this truncated preseason. So that's the earliest the Bobcats could sign lottery picks Bismack Biyombo and Kemba Walker, or do anything else to fill out their roster.
Wednesday was also the first day Higgins was cleared to speak with media since the lockout began in July. In a phone interview with the Observer, he identified three areas of immediate need: Adding a center, adding a shooter who could play either shooting guard or small forward, and possibly adding a combo guard with shooting-guard size and some ability to play the point in a pinch.
The Bobcats have just one center under contract - Gana Diop - and he's coming off surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon. The Bobcats finished the season with Kwame Brown starting at center. He thrived, playing under coach Paul Silas. The question becomes whether Brown played so well that he priced himself out of what a rebuilding team like the Bobcats can justify paying.
There were numerous reports Wednesday that the Boston Celtics, among other contenders, might pursue Brown for depth inside.
Higgins said he contacted Brown's agent, Mark Bartelstein, to see where the Bobcats stand. Compacting the preseason, following a lockout of nearly five months, creates a different sense of urgency than normally exists.
"If Kwame is not a realistic option, then we need to know that so we can move on,"
Higgins told the Observer. "If it was July and we were under the old rules, the old dates, we could go back-and-forth. With a two-week (window), we need to know (intentions) pretty quickly."
Brown thanked Silas and Bobcats owner Michael Jordan at last season's conclusion for recharging his NBA career. Higgins said Bartelstein acknowledged that in their conversation Wednesday.
"He said Kwame definitely improved here. He said Paul gave Kwame confidence that he never had before in his professional career,"
HIggins said.
While the Bobcats want Brown back, there are limits what they'd justify paying him in this rebuilding process. He's entering his 11th NBA season, so Brown would be a stop-gap for a team that has discarded numerous veterans over the last 1 1/2 years.
Finding a shooter to play both wing positions was an oft-stated priority for Silas, who took over for Larry Brown last December. Brown preferred drivers to shooters, and Silas wants more shooters to spread the floor. That wasn't really addressed in the draft - Walker is more a mid-range scorer than a pure shooter.
Higgins also wants a big, versatile guard to serve as a utility player/ third point guard. They had such a player in Shaun Livingston, but he went to the Bucks in the deal with Milwaukee and Sacramento to acquire the pick that became Walker. Garrett Temple might have filled that combo-guard role, but he signed in Europe.
Today is the first day NBA players are welcome back in team training facilities. It's unclear how many Bobcats are back in Charlotte, but Higgins said Biyombo might be here soon, despite him still being under contract to a Spanish team.
The Observer reported Tuesday that Biyombo is suing that team in Spain for breach of contract. The trial is set to begin Dec,. 19, and presumably if Biyombo wins, he would be free to sign with the Bobcats. His Spanish team wants a seven-figure transfer fee before Biyombo is allowed to sign with the Bobcats.
Higgins described the Biyombo contract situation as "forever evolving.'' NBA rules allow the Bobcats to pay up to $500,000 toward a transfer fee. Any more would be Biyombo's responsibility. Biyombo has said repeatedly and emphatically that he'll play for the Bobcats this season.
Typically, NBA players assemble in the weeks leading up to training camp for pickup games. Players can show up at Time Warner Cable Arena today for workouts or physical therapy, but coaches are not yet cleared to supervise or monitor workouts.
