The final season of the Charlotte Bobcats was perhaps their best ever, though stating that might well be damning with faint praise. The Bobcats won 43 games, one short of the franchise record, and made the playoffs for the second time.


With first-year coach Steve Clifford orchestrating the league's fifth-best defense, Charlotte landed the East's 7-seed despite being outscored on the season. With the roster populated by a mix of veterans and up-and-comers, this final edition of the Bobcats appears to be on more firm footing than its playoff predecessor.

Now, the Charlotte Hornets are reborn, and the question is, Where does the organization go from here? Recent lottery picks Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Cody Zeller and Bismack Biyombo stand as contributors but aren't yet foundation pieces. How can Clifford, Michael Jordan and GM Rich Cho hunt down Charlotte's first playoff series win, moving to the next level? Let's take a look using four categories featuring both scouting and advanced-metrics perspectives, as well as an early guess at what the Bobcats' 2014-15 roster could look like.

2014-15 baseline (if all current players returned): 39.0 wins
(from Bradford Doolittle's ATH system)

I. Main assets: Players in prime, up and down, coach, ownership?

Elhassan: At this point in time, the Bobcats must look at their core building blocks as Al Jefferson, Kidd-Gilchrist and Kemba Walker, with the rest of the roster forming concentric circles around those three. Jefferson enjoyed a career season, and it's easy to envision him being able to keep up this level of offensive production for seasons to come, as his game does not require any athletic or quickness advantage.

Kidd-Gilchrist took great strides at becoming a savvier defensive player and has the potential to be a perennial All-Defensive team selection with his impressive combination of strength, quickness, size and length. The real question is whether his offensive game can catch up to his defensive prowess, and that largely depends on developing a perimeter jumper that now looks worse than it did at Kentucky. Still, he has gotten better at the type of "ghost cuts" that renowned nonshooter Dwyane Wade has mastered, and as he gets better at that, his offense will grow.

LeBron James, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Kidd-Gilchrist made great strides as a defensive player. Now to get that shot fixed...
Walker needs to continue to refine his shot selection and to transition into a facilitator from a player forced to shoulder the offensive burden for a team that struggles to score. Beyond those three, Gerald Henderson (who continues to show promise as another high-level wing defender) and Jeff Taylor (who missed most of the season to injury) are bright spots for the future, while Josh McRoberts was the perfect complement to Jefferson.

Doolittle: The Bobcats were 21st in weighted-minutes team age, but their best player, Jefferson, is midway through his prime. This was a career season for Jefferson, who should maintain his current level for another season or two. Major contributor McRoberts (6.2 WARP) had a career-best .541 winning percentage, just shy of his .540 mark for Indiana in 2011-12. The next season, he was at .396. Meanwhile, Walker is on the upswing and holds Charlotte's most optimistic five-year projection. Charlotte's overall baseline is modest, as you'd expect of a club that was outscored. Also, Kidd-Gilchrist and Zeller combined for just 0.4 WARP, which doesn't give them much projectability at this juncture. Charlotte's greatest hope for a leap forward is for that duo to move beyond the statistical tracks it has laid so far in the NBA.

II. Shake it up: Changes that need to happen

Elhassan: With a projected 2014-15 payroll of about $45 million, Charlotte can expect to have almost $18 million in cap space, based on a cap projection of about $63.2 million for next season. First and foremost, McRoberts will likely opt out of his $2.8 million to capitalize on the strong season he had, so the Bobcats will either need to re-sign him or look for alternative options. Beyond McRoberts, the biggest needs center around the Bobcats' desperate need for shooting. The midseason acquisition of Luke Ridnour and Gary Neal were meant to alleviate some of those problems, but Ridnour struggled in a Bobcats uniform and is a free agent. Ideally, they can add a cheap option with the ability to space and defend, such as Brandon Rush. Doing that would allow them to spend more to acquire another playmaking guard who could conceivably play alongside Walker, allowing him to concentrate on scoring.

Cody Zeller
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Zeller could slide into McRoberts' spot if the veteran big man leaves via free agency.
Doolittle: With Ben Gordon's onerous salary dropping off the books, along with that of Ridnour, the Bobcats/Hornets will have some room with which to work. Neal and Jefferson are locked into team-friendly deals, while Walker, Kidd-Gilchrist, Biyombo and Zeller are still working on the rookie scale. While I wouldn't yet call Charlotte a free-agent destination, there are a lot worse landing spots in the league right now. If McRoberts opts out, Charlotte could look to Zeller to slide into his position. That changes the spacing of the offense but might be the team's best bet for progress. Charlotte needs wings that better complement each other. On a lot of teams, Henderson would be the energy wing and presumed stopper, but he's lesser in those areas than Kidd-Gilchrist, and the gap will only grow. MKG is an intangibles guy, so you'd like Henderson's measurables to stand out. They don't, though; he's projected for a minus-0.9 WARP for 2014-15. So with that possible cap space, the Bobcats/Hornets need to target the perfect fit to go with Walker and MKG. Problem is, the best free-agent 2-guard is Lance Stephenson, and I'm not sure he fits. University of Washington's C.J. Wilcox might make sense as a draft target.

III. Obstacles to success

Elhassan: Charlotte continues to struggle due to the notion that it is an unattractive destination, and that affects its ability to attract top-flight free agents. Instead, the team will have to continue to dig into the bargain bin of undervalued free agents (like they did with McRoberts) or take chances trading for players with bloated deals in the hope that they can capitalize on the change of scenery.

They have an outside chance at netting two first-round picks this June -- they have the Portland Trail Blazers' and a top eight-protected pick from the Detroit Pistons -- but with the youth on this roster, they might be better served packaging for a proven talent via trade. Finally, the existing talent must improve: Zeller, Taylor, Kidd-Gilchrist and Biyombo all need to take serious steps forward in developing. Otherwise, the Bobcats will likely be stuck in the status quo.

Doolittle: New coaches can, and often do, have a profound impact on defensive efficiency, and Clifford certainly accomplished that with Charlotte. But a 25-place improvement on D screams for regression. Clifford also needs to design a more versatile offense that isn't so heavily dependent on the high-volume ways of Jefferson and Walker. That's where MKG's lack of offensive upside hurts the franchise. He might be the next Andre Iguodala, but Charlotte needs the next James Harden.

As for the organization, now that Gordon is gone and the long-owed pick to the Chicago Bulls will finally manifest, the Hornets will be in better shape than the Bobcats ever were. Jordan has surrounded himself with capable professionals such as Clifford and Cho, and the cap situation going forward is pretty crisp. With luck and wisdom, Charlotte is well positioned to become an annual playoff entrant.

IV. The "Ideal" Roster: A hypothetical scenario

Doolittle: Charlotte has plenty of wiggle room to make a splash. I plugged Stephenson in as a free-agent acquisition, but I'm skeptical both of his fit and Charlotte's ability to sign him. Nevertheless, the name serves as a placeholder to illustrate what the Bobcats/Hornets will look like with a more dynamic third option in the lineup to go with Jefferson and Walker. McRoberts is a wild card in all this. Can Charlotte sign him if he opts out? If so, will doing so impinge other options? Or, worst of all, would his departure mitigate other upgrades?

Ideal 2014-15 roster
Pos Player 2015 Age 2015 Salary 2015 WARP
C Al Jefferson 30 $13.5M 8.9
PG Kemba Walker 25 $3.3M 9.3
SG Lance Stephenson 24 $9.5M 1.4
SF Michael Kidd-Gilchrist 22 $5.2M -0.1
PF Cody Zeller 22 $4.0M 1.3
bC Bismack Biyombo 21 $3.9M 0.6
bPG Gary Neal 31 $3.3M 0.3
bSG Gerald Henderson Jr. 27 $6.0M -0.9
bSF Jeffrey Taylor 26 $0.9M -2.0
bPF Anthony Tolliver 29 $1.6M 0.6
RES1 Chris Douglas Roberts 28 $0.9M 0.0
RES2 C.J. Wilcox 24 $1.0M 0.0
Estimated Payroll: $54.9 million; Updated Win Range: 37 to 40

Notes: Estimated Payroll includes built-in minimum salary slots beyond top 12 on roster; Updated Win Range includes a coaching adjustment.

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