NBA Draft: Swampland's Pro Hoops Teams

Pro sports has a problem in the Swampland Footprint.  Considered the top level of competition and interest throughout the rest of the country, the pro game doesn't resonate with the same level of interest as the college and high school versions.

In particular, basketball might be a popular game in the Footprint, but it doesn't always translate to NBA interest.

In that regard, we are going to do something a little different than other sports sites.  We aren't doing a mock draft for today's NBA Draft.  We are going to do a "perfect world" assessment for our NBA franchises meaning that we are going to make picks based on which player(s) would be best for the NBA's Swampland teams. 

The key for NBA teams in Thursday’s Draft is to find any type of difference maker, via selection or trade. If you don’t have a high pick and can’t get a superstar, many franchises would be smart to lean towards some of our local players to fill a role and help increase interest and work towards building a long term bond between the fans and the team.

Let’s take a quick look around the Footprint dividing into three camps

Group A:  Strong Urban Markets (Atlanta, Memphis, and New Orleans) and

Group B:  Strong Regional Basketball Areas (Charlotte, Oklahoma City)

Group C:  Established Franchises
 

GROUP A

Atlanta

In 2006, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution printed a great article title "City's Fan Base Solid, Even If Hawks Aren't" which showed the depth of NBA interest in Atlanta despite their tepid support of their hometown Hawks:

The NBA scores high with Atlanta TV viewers. For the 2005 NBA Finals, Atlanta posted the highest TV rating of any market without a home-state team participating; for the 2006 Finals, Atlanta had the third highest rating among non-participant markets. Atlanta tunes in to the earlier postseason rounds, too: For last season's playoffs, the city had the 11th highest cable rating among the 57 major markets — the highest of any market without a participating team except Las Vegas. Last year's All-Star Game drew a higher rating in Atlanta than all but three other markets....  Even in the Hawks' leanest seasons, marquee opponents tend to draw capacity crowds....  Polling by Scarborough Research pegs the number of NBA fans in metro Atlanta at a robust 1.35 million....  Such factors suggest that Atlanta likes the NBA in larger numbers than it likes the Hawks — and perhaps that there's a fan base convertible to the Hawks when or if the team becomes a compelling winner. 

The Hawks have become a winner (2 playoff appearances in the last two years) and the fan base is beginning to grow for the hometown team.  The question is: how do they keep it going?

It looks like the Hawks big move came before the Draft in dealing for big-time scorer Jamal Crawford. He will add another interesting piece to an exciting team that the city is finally starting to rally around. Since it looks like Atlanta will let Mike Bibby go, the above article also mentions some local point guards (UNC’s Ty Lawson, Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague, Virginia Commonwealth’s Eric Maynor and Florida State’s Toney Douglas) that would be solid picks for the Hawks at #19.

Atlanta sets the urban trends for the Footprint.  The Hawks have a tough hill to climb to make it to the top of the Eastern Conference, but they are at least in the top half.  Maybe drafting Jeff Teague will make up for a passing on Chris Paul

New Orleans

Speaking of Chris Paul...

When rumors out of Dallas mentioned trading for Chris Paul, fans in New Orleans had to be alarmed. No matter what “financial” argument you make, the reality is that Chris Paul is the face of the franchise and losing him would have a disastrous effect on the team and their identity. Paul makes the players around him better so the Hornets just need to add effective pieces and keep their star happy. 

As far as the #21 pick goes, we agree with local writer John DeShazier, who thinks that LSU shooting guard Marcus Thornton would be a solid scoring option in New Orleans.

The Hornets playoff run in 2008 helped to galvanize the Big Easy.  Hosting the NBA All Star game was also a huge success.

The NBA should take root here.  It's up to management to build on the superstar they have there - not give up and start over.

Memphis

Memphis is a basketball hotbed - remember when #1 Memphis played #2 Tennessee and the tickets cost more than Super Bowl seats?  The fact that the Grizzlies can't give tickets away tells you an awful lot about their need for an identity that can capture the local interest.

The Grizzlies could go several directions with the #2 pick. We say take Memphis guard Tyreke Evans. There are too many negatives on Spanish guard Ricky Rubio (may stay in Europe and not even sign/can’t shoot), and UConn center Hasheem Thabeet is very limited offensively. The town wants to see exciting basketball and drafting the talented scorer with the local appeal makes too much sense.

Memphis has the potential to be a great NBA market.  Maybe it's time to think about moving them into another division to help that process. 

GROUP B

Oklahoma (Oklahoma City Thunder) 

Speaking of moving divisions...

The Thunder desperately need to be in with the Texas teams in the NBA Southwest.  Getting Memphis to the Southeast and Washington into the Atlantic should be happening right now.  

Still, the Thunder are looking pretty good after their first season in OKC.  They have lots of nice pieces and a budding star in Kevin Durant, but can they just sit back and wait?

Local columnist Berry Tramel says not to break up the team, but we disagree. It’s probably a moot point since it seems as if the Clippers will not trade the #1 pick, but you have to make them consider it. Offer the farm (outside of trading Kevin Durant) to Los Angeles Lite and see if somehow Blake Griffin is attainable. Having a local product in Griffin (and 2 out of the 3 last Big 12 Players of the Year) would really give the Thunder an identity.

North Carolina (Charlotte Bobcats)

At one point, the Charlotte Hornets had a die hard fan base in the Carolinas.  No longer.  When the Hornet moved to New Orleans, the NBA support faded.  The Bobcats can't rely on names like Michael Jordan and Larry Brown any longer.  They need to actually build a team worth following.

In the same week the franchise let former Tar Heel Sean May go, would Michael Jordan and company take a Blue Devil or Demon Deacon? Two in-state products are mentioned as possibilities for the Bobcats at #12, plus Louisville's Terrence Williams. In an area where the fans know basketball, this organization has to establish an identity soon under Larry Brown.

All the Texas teams seem to be fairly similar in where they are as organizations. Each has made solid Playoff runs in the last few years, and it will be tough for them to find much help in the Draft. The Spurs don’t have the international advantage in scouting (Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli) that they had 7-8 years ago, so the Richard Jefferson acquisition made sense. The team gets more athletic, and it will also help reenergize a great fan base that may believe their squad had seen its better days.

There have been rumors (see above) of Dallas trading for Chris Paul, but that seems very unlikely. Mark Cuban sees his window with Nowitzki and Kidd slipping away, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see a big move-just not Paul. In Houston, the question persists of what could the Rockets get if they trade Tracy McGrady? I’m not sure that deal will materialize, although the team showed they could succeed without him. The franchise made solid moves last offseason and it paid off with a nice postseason run. The key here is the health of Yao Ming, which seems to keep getting worse.

Florida (Miami Heat, Orlando Magic) 

Neither Sunshine State team has a first round pick, Orlando and Miami seem to be in good shape with their respective fan bases, with each having a superstar and a recent Finals appearance.

Miami has to try and duplicate the Lakers plan of rebuilding around their SG star Dwyane Wade in a post-Shaq era, and the Magic have to keep their momentum rolling from their Finals run.  

BREAKING: The Magic have been rumored to be dealing for Daytona-native Vince Carter.  This might mean the end of Hedo Turkoglu in Orlando.

related tags

Read More...

Comments

Please login or you can to leave a comment.

If you aren't registered, Register Now to start leaving comments.