Charlotte Hornets Blog – Page 46 – NBA Blog

Michael Jordan’s son Marcus arrested

Omaha police arrested the youngest son of NBA legend Michael Jordan early Sunday after being called to the Embassy Suites in the Old Market for a disturbance.

Officer Jacob Bettin, a police spokesman, said Marcus J. Jordan, 21, of Chicago, was booked in the Douglas County Department of Corrections for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstructing. A staff member at the jail said Sunday afternoon that Jordan was no longer in custody.

Bettin said a uniformed off-duty police officer approached Jordan outside the hotel at 555 S. 10th St. about 2:10 a.m. The officer, who was working as security for the hotel, reported that Jordan was arguing with two females in the driveway of the hotel and appeared to be very intoxicated.

— Reported by Kevin Cole of the Omaha World-Herald

No Ben Gordon at British Olympic training camp

Britain has lost a second NBA player for the men’s basketball tournament at the Olympic Games after Ben Gordon failed to link up with the squad at its training camp in the United States.

Britain coach Chris Spice says the guard couldn’t commit to playing for the host nation after he was traded from the Detroit Pistons to the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday.

Spice says “It’s really disappointing as he’s a world-class player who would have made a huge difference.”

With Bobcats center Byron Mullens out because of injury, it leaves Britain with only one NBA player — Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Bobcats extend qualifying offers to D.J. Augustin and Derrick Brown

Charlotte Bobcats President of Basketball Operations Rod Higgins announced today that the team has extended qualifying offers to guard D.J. Augustin and forward Derrick Brown, making them restricted free agents. The qualifying offers allow the Bobcats to match any offer they receive from another team.

Augustin was initially selected by the Bobcats with the ninth overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. He averaged 11.1 points and a career-high 6.4 assists in 29.3 minutes per game during the 2011-12 season. In his four NBA seasons, Augustin has played in 282 games, averaging 10.9 points and 4.4 assists in 26.8 minutes, and is the Bobcats career leader in free-throw percentage (.876).

Brown was selected by the Bobcats with the 40th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. He averaged career bests of 8.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 22.2 minutes in 65 games played last season. In 171 games over three NBA seasons with the Bobcats and Knicks, he has career averages of 5.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 14.9 minutes played.

Led by Davis, draft is shaded Kentucky blue

No one-and-done for Kentucky’s kids in the NBA draft. The Wildcats instead became the first school to go 1-2.

After the Hornets selected forward Anthony Davis with the No. 1 pick Thursday night in Newark, the Bobcats followed by taking fellow freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

The Wildcats are the first school to have the top two picks, part of what they hoped would be perhaps five or even six players selected in the first round. The number ended up being four — Terrence Jones, 18th to the Rockets, and Marquis Teague, 29th to the Bulls.

Coach John Calipari has been criticized for recruiting ‘‘one-and-done’’ players — they stay the required one year and leave — but he looked thrilled hugging his two lottery picks.

UCLA had the first and third picks in 1969, when the Bucks took Lew Alcindor and Lucius Allen went to the SuperSonics.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Bobcats roll dice with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

The Charlotte Bobcats could have invested the No. 2 pick in Thursday’s NBA draft on a shooter such as Florida guard Bradley Beal or North Carolina forward Harrison Barnes. They could have drafted a rebounder such as Kansas power forward Thomas Robinson. They could have drafted a scorer such as Syracuse guard Dion Waiters.

Instead, the Bobcats invested the No. 2 pick on a player whose jump shot would not distinguish him in a pickup game at suburban Charlotte’s Morrison YMCA.

The absence of a jump shot is the reason drafting Kentucky small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is a gamble.

This is why the Bobcats had to gamble. Kidd-Gilchrist played as hard last season as any player in college basketball. He tried to impose himself every time the Wildcats had the ball, and every time their opponents did.

— Reported by Tom Sorensen of the Charlotte Observer

Bobcats, Pistons trade Corey Maggette, Ben Gordon

Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the club has acquired forward Corey Maggette from the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for guard Ben Gordon and a future first-round draft choice.

“We welcome Corey Maggette to our organization in a transaction that provides us with a veteran scorer and defender in addition to increased roster flexibility moving forward,” said Joe Dumars, President of Basketball Operations. “We thank Ben Gordon for his commitment to our organization over the last three years and wish him the best in the future.”

Maggette, a 6-6, 225-pound forward, averaged 15.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 32 games with the Charlotte Bobcats last season. In 809 career games, the 13-year NBA veteran has averaged 16.2 points (.454 FG, .325 3FG, .823 FT), 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists. Maggette averaged a career-high 22.2 points in 2004-05 as a member of the L.A. Clippers and has averaged 20-plus points three times and 15-plus points nine times during his career. Drafted 13 th overall in the 1999 NBA Draft by the Seattle Supersonics, his draft rights were then traded to Orlando where he played one year before being traded to the Clippers where he played eight seasons (2000-08). Maggette also played two seasons with the Golden State Warriors (2008-10) and one with the Milwaukee Bucks (2010-11).

Gordon, 29, averaged 12.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 26.9 minutes in 52 games last season (21 starts). He scored a season-high 45 points at Denver (3/21), tying his own NBA record with nine consecutive three-point field goals made without a miss. He also made a franchise-record seven three-pointers in the second quarter vs. Philadelphia (4/26) and tied the franchise record for three-pointers in a half (7). In three seasons with the Pistons, the former Connecticut product averaged 12.4 points, 1.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 26.8 minutes in 196 games. After tallying 15-plus points per game during five seasons in Chicago, where he was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2004-05, Gordon’s best year with Detroit came during the 2009-10 campaign when he averaged 13.8 points and 2.7 assists in 62 games.

Bobcats open to trading no.2 pick

New Charlotte coach Mike Dunlap says the idea of trading down from the No. 2 spot in the NBA draft to acquire extra picks “makes a lot of sense” for a young team like the Bobcats.

After finishing 7-59 and with the worst winning percentage (.106) in NBA history, the Bobcats have a variety of holes to fill this offseason.

Dunlap recognizes that.

That’s one of the reasons he said the Bobcats are taking a “hybrid thinking” approach to Thursday night’s draft, which means evaluating the talent available at No. 2 while simultaneously looking into the feasibility of moving down and picking up an additional first-round draft pick.

He said the option of trading down “is on the board.”

— Reported by the Associated Press

GM Rich Cho engineers scouting database for Bobcats

The Charlotte Bobcats’ new database scouting system has over 50,000 web pages.

You can instantly look up year-by-year statistics for Boston Celtics great Bill Russell … or any other player in NBA history. You can check the injury archive of a Slovenian playing in the Spanish league or whether a forward in the Development League was ever busted for drugs.

This is Charlotte Bobcats general manager Rich Cho’s baby, an Internet-friendly system that took six months and a six-figure cost to develop. Now it evolves daily and gets put to the test in Thursday night’s NBA draft, when the Bobcats select second and 31st following a 7-59 season.

Cho’s boss, president of basketball operations Rod Higgins, has a simple description for this complex tool: “One-stop shopping.”

The result, the Bobcats hope, is that quicker access to a buffet of information offers a competitive advantage in player evaluation.

When Cho interviewed with the Bobcats a year ago, he told Higgins and team owner Michael Jordan he thought the front office needed more staffing and fresh technology. When you’re dealing with decisions as consequential as the No. 2 pick, don’t you want the best tools available?

Jordan agreed, approving the hiring of three new support staff, including a Harvard graduate to oversee statistical analysis. Then Jordan tasked Cho with reviewing the Bobcats’ scouting system, to see whether it should be replaced.

The Bobcats were using “Hawkeye,” one of several plug-in scouting tools NBA teams can buy and adapt to their needs. Cho thought it wiser to start from scratch, to customize a Bobcats-only system. Among NBA executives, he has a rare background that qualifies him to do just that.

— Reported by Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer

New Charlotte Bobcats coach is Mike Dunlap

St. John’s assistant coach Mike Dunlap was selected on Monday as the fifth head coach of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats. Dunlap, who was an assistant coach for George Karl’s Denver Nuggets from 2006-08 and was a two-time national championship head coach at NCAA Division II Metro State in Denver, Colo. (1997-06), between assistant coaching stops at Arizona (2008-09), Oregon (2009-10) and St. John’s (2010-12), is believed to be the first NCAA Division I assistant coach to make the leap to NBA head coach.

“The Johnnies basketball family is ecstatic for Coach Dunlap’s opportunity. Mike’s selection as the Charlotte Bobcats’ head coach is a well-deserved honor. To make the unprecedented jump from college assistant to NBA head coach is testament to both Mike’s abilities as a teacher and our basketball program’s marked improvement over the past 27 months,” said St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin. “Naturally after a 25 year association at the highest levels of college basketball I have short list of elite coaching candidates and will now begin the process of replacing Coach Dunlap. With our back to back stellar recruiting classes now in place we have the luxury of being able to move forward in a deliberate manner to find the best fit for our program.”

Lavin’s elite and formidable basketball staff was anchored by veteran mentor Dunlap, who has built a reputation as one of professional and college basketball’s leading strategists and on-court instructors. With assistant coach Rico Hines and Special Assistant/Advisor Gene Keady, Dunlap is one of three St. John’s basketball staff members with NBA coaching experience.

As part of Lavin’s staff, Dunlap, Hines and assistant coach Tony Chiles helped the Johnnies return to the NCAA Tournament for the 27th time in program history in 2011 – and for the first time following a nine-year hiatus. In addition, St. John’s catapulted back into the national rankings for the first time in 10 seasons, climbing as high as No. 15 in the country.

The 2011-12 season saw Dunlap take on an amplified role as Lavin recovered from prostate cancer surgery. The men’s basketball squad and its “Fresh Five” all-rookie starting lineup posted six BIG EAST victories and closed out the season with home wins over UCLA, DePaul and No. 20/18 Notre Dame. Freshman Moe Harkless was named the 2011-12 BIG EAST Rookie of the Year and now looks to become a NBA lottery pick on June 28, while BIG EAST All-Rookie teammate D’Angelo Harrison set a new all-time freshman scoring record with 544 points.

Dunlap, 54, joined the St. John’s basketball family in 2010-11 after serving as the associate head coach on Pac-10 staffs during the previous two seasons. Arizona went 21-14 in 2008-09, advancing to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 before ending the season with a loss to top-seeded Louisville in the NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal game. Dunlap joined Oregon’s staff in 2009-10, with the Ducks posting a 16-16 record.

Prior to his appointments at Arizona and Oregon, Dunlap spent two seasons in the NBA, working for the Denver Nuggets under Karl. The Nuggets compiled a 95-69 (.579) record during his tenure and made two playoff appearances, including a 50-win season for the 2007-08 Denver squad, a first for the organization in 23 seasons.

Before his time in the NBA, Dunlap was a two-time NCAA Division II national championship mentor (2000 and 2002) and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Coach of the Year (2000 and 2002) at Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colo., leading the Roadrunners to nine NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his nine seasons as head coach (1997-2006). Dunlap posted a 248-50 (.832) record en route to three NCAA Division II title game appearances, three North Central Regional championships, five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) titles, two RMAC Coach of the Year awards and in the process, became Metro State’s all-time winningest coach.

Prior to his tenure at Metro State, Dunlap served three seasons as the head coach of the Adelaide 36ers, a professional basketball team in Australia. The 36ers posted a 59-33 (.641) record during his tenure and advanced to the National Basketball League Final Four in 1995 and 1996 after appearing in the Grand Final in 1994.

Sale of New Orleans Hornets to Tom Benson is now official

The purchase of the New Orleans Hornets by Tom Benson was completed today after having been approved by the National Basketball Association’s Board of Governors. Tom Benson is now officially the new owner of the New Orleans Hornets.

According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “On April 13, Benson, who also owns the Saints, signed an agreement to purchase the Hornets from the NBA for $338 million. In the intervening months, the legislature debated, and eventually included, capital improvement funding for the arena, which will eliminate state subsidies of potentially $7 million to $8 million annually to assist the Hornets financially, money the team received under terms of the existing lease in the event certain financial levels were not achieved.”

In conjunction with the finalization of the ownership transaction, the Hornets’ lease extension with the State has been approved by Governor Bobby Jindal and the Louisiana legislature. The extension will keep the Hornets in New Orleans long term, as well as provide funding for upgrades to the New Orleans Arena. The agreement also included the elimination of all exit options, attendance benchmarks, and financial inducements.

The announcement of the finalization of the sale comes on the heels of the Hornets receiving the #1 pick, as well as the #10 pick, in the 2012 NBA Draft on June 28. In April, it was announced that New Orleans will be the host city for the 2014 NBA All-Star Game.

“I’m thrilled to have become the owner of the Hornets,” Benson said. “There is a lot of excitement in the region about the franchise, especially after winning the #1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft. We have been successful with the Saints and I know we can translate that success to our NBA team as well. We have the best, most dedicated fans in the world and will need them along the way as we work as an organization to make them proud. Championship performance is tied to fan support and the passion of the New Orleans sports fan is second to none. We look forward to joining up with all of our valued current fans and also introducing this great team game to many more residents of our city and region.”