The Charlotte Bobcats got busy before the 2011 NBA Draft, putting together a three-team trade with the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings. Charlotte ended up swapping a bad contract in Stephen Jackson for another in Corey Maggette -- treading water at best -- but turned the No. 19 pick into the No. 7. Not quite water into wine, but maybe, in this draft, grape juice into Two Buck Chuck. What'd they do with the pick?
NBA Draft Grades 2011: Bobcats Stockpile Weapons, Promise Destruction
Gained: Bismack Biyombo, Kemba Walker, Corey Maggette, cash considerations.
Gave up: Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston, rights to Tobias Harris, rights to Jeremy Tyler.
Synopsis: As noted about, moving from No. 19 (Harris) to No. 7 (Biyombo) was a pretty slick move by new GM Rich Cho. That allowed Charlotte to address two needs: guard depth and the frontcourt. (Maggette's also a better scorer than Jackson, and the 'Cats need scoring badly.) Walker isn't a fit with D.J. Augustin -- I can't see playing them together except in special circumstances -- but Kemba was already bordering on witchcraft at No. 9. It's one of those "take him, figure it out later" situations.
Will Biyombo pan out? He obviously showed the Bobcats something real in his workout there this week. We’ll see.
Grade: B+.
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