Michael Kidd-Gilchrist The Right Pick?

[carolina-chuck]

MKG had a very good season for us this season and brought a lot of energy to this young team. But, at times the kid was very raw and we can all see that he still needs a lot of work on his range shooting. It's going to be a while before he'll develop it. He's a talented defender, but gets most of his points inside the paint.

How do you guys feel about MKG? Do you guys think he was the right pick at no.2, or did we make a mistake passing up a Bradley Beal or Harrison Barnes?

I love MKG and preached for the kid long before the draft. I hope that everything goes well with his career here as a member of the Bobcats/Hornets, but I have a feeling that Beal and Barnes may surpass him as the better players. Beal was incredible when Wall came back, and Barnes have been impressive in Golden State's success this year. He dropped 24pt/6reb and 23pt/9reb vs. Denver in game 2 and 5.

I love MKG, but I think that we may look back 3-4 years from now and say we probably took the wrong guy. May have went Beal or Barnes.

Envisioning the future, maybe we should have took Beal or Barnes. In a wonderful world, we get Nerlens Noel (2013) and Andrew Wiggins/Jabari Parker(2014). Would that not have been a better back court (Kemba, Barnes, Wiggins/Parker) and a better overall team (Noel/Biz)?

Just something to think about. How do you guys feel about MKG so far???

[RunFasterJumpHigher]

I have had a lot of the same thoughts.  I wasn't able to see many games since I'm not in the Charlotte area.  But the games I saw he would often look lost on the offensive end.  Now and again he would flash, so hopefully we will see him develop a killer instinct in the near future.  As a lot of analysts bring up, he is still really young (19) and filling out his frame.  He brings a lot of intensity on D, and has some great athleticism.  But yeah, it'll be interesting to see where these 3 guys are 3 - 5 years from now. 

[carolina-chuck]

I have had a lot of the same thoughts. I wasn't able to see many games since I'm not in the Charlotte area. But the games I saw he would often look lost on the offensive end. Now and again he would flash, so hopefully we will see him develop a killer instinct in the near future. As a lot of analysts bring up, he is still really young (19) and filling out his frame. He brings a lot of intensity on D, and has some great athleticism. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see where these 3 guys are 3 - 5 years from now.

I hate to sound like I'm letting down on the kid, which I'm not at all but from what Ive seen from him this season the best we can hope for him to be is Igoudala, maybe more "Gerald Wallace'. Yea, I'm being serious. If he can be Gerald Wallace, I think we should be very happy. I don't think he's more than that.

MKG is a piece to compliment a team. Where Barnes and Beal are guys that can light it up, take over and be a star/game changer.

[carolina-chuck]

I think if we can add Ben McLemore, it would help MKG a lot.

I also think that McLemore is much better than both Beal and Barnes.

[CardiacCats]

In my opinion, we drafted a player who will be as good as Andre Igoudala, and their games are somewhat similar.  So if he ends up being as good as I think he's gonna be which is Iggy caliber, I definitely think we made the right pick.  You have to remember Barnes and Beal were in much better situations to succeed right off the bat than MKG and their games are closer to being complete.  MKG's jumpshot is still far from complete and it's improving all the time.  If there'a anyone looking back we should have taken over MKG it's Andre Drummond who could be one of the 5 best Cs in the NBA here in a few years, but we would have gotten crucified for doing that at the time.  9/6 in 26 minutes is really impressive for MKG, in about 5 years we'll look back and think we definitely made the right pick imo.  The pick we screwed up on was the Biyombo one.  Could have had Faried or Vucevic.  I love MKG as a prospect still though.

[themikestrick]

Said it the night that we drafted him that he was a bad fit for the Bobcats.  The Bobcats needed someone who could score at will and MKG never showed in college that he was that type of player.  I was hoping that we would have drafted Harrison Barnes.  I thought that he would have flourished offensively in the NBA compared to college.  But I'm also a UNC fan and was admittedly a little biased toward Barnes.  But I think we've seen flashes throughout the season and more in these playoffs of what kind of offense Barnes could have provided us.  But it is what it is and we just have to hope that MKG works on his jump shot and improve offensively.  But I never see him averaging more than 12-15 points a game which is not something you want to see from a #2 pick

[carolina-chuck]

In my opinion, we drafted a player who will be as good as Andre Igoudala, and their games are somewhat similar. So if he ends up being as good as I think he's gonna be which is Iggy caliber, I definitely think we made the right pick. You have to remember Barnes and Beal were in much better situations to succeed right off the bat than MKG and their games are closer to being complete. MKG's jumpshot is still far from complete and it's improving all the time. If there'a anyone looking back we should have taken over MKG it's Andre Drummond who could be one of the 5 best Cs in the NBA here in a few years, but we would have gotten crucified for doing that at the time. 9/6 in 26 minutes is really impressive for MKG, in about 5 years we'll look back and think we definitely made the right pick imo. The pick we screwed up on was the Biyombo one. Could have had Faried or Vucevic. I love MKG as a prospect still though.

Very good say!!!

I'm just hesitating to think he'll be somewhat close to Iggy.

And even if he's Iggy, he won't be the missing piece for a Championship just like how Iggy has proved.

[SOJA]

MKG was the right pick. 

 

The only other legitmate options were Thomas Robinson, Beal and Barnes. 

 

a. Thomas Robinson. Thank god we avoided that train wreck, I didn't want him then and sure as poo don't want anything to do with him now. 

 

b. Bradley Beal. We have Henderson, a decent NBA shooting guard. There was no reason to force taking Beal at 2 when other positions could be addressed with similar talent/ceiling levels. 

 

c.Harrison Barnes. UNC student here. I did NOT want Barnes. I think he is a great guy and going to be a decent NBA player, but not number 2 material. At best in his career he will be the second scoring option on a decent team or third on a championship caliber team. 

 

Finally, MKG. Winning pedigree, loves basketball, YOUNG, talented and athletic. Can't argue that we took the most assured thing, and one with  high ceiling. 

 

 

Also you can't say "well herp derp  what if we get Wiggins next year.." stop. seriously

[carolina-chuck]

MKG was the right pick.

The only other legitmate options were Thomas Robinson, Beal and Barnes.

a. Thomas Robinson. Thank god we avoided that train wreck, I didn't want him then and sure as poo don't want anything to do with him now.

b. Bradley Beal. We have Henderson, a decent NBA shooting guard. There was no reason to force taking Beal at 2 when other positions could be addressed with similar talent/ceiling levels.

c.Harrison Barnes. UNC student here. I did NOT want Barnes. I think he is a great guy and going to be a decent NBA player, but not number 2 material. At best in his career he will be the second scoring option on a decent team or third on a championship caliber team.

Finally, MKG. Winning pedigree, loves basketball, YOUNG, talented and athletic. Can't argue that we took the most assured thing, and one with high ceiling.

Also you can't say "well herp derp what if we get Wiggins next year.." stop. seriously

I think you are right by saying that taking MKG as a "need" pick was the right call, but as the best player I don't think he is. Three to four years from now, Beal and Barnes should be better.

[Vagrant]

People are way too quick to look at rookie seasons. MKG was probably the youngest player in the NBA last season. He started out strong and hit a wall because he's only 19 and probably hadn't played more than 30-40 games in a season his entire life. Let's give it another year before we start to make evaluations. He's about a year and a half younger than Harrison Barnes. Does anybody remember how good Harrison Barnes was a year and a half ago? Compare him to the player that MKG is TODAY against who Barnes was as a Freshman at UNC and you've got a valid comparison. You draft for upside.

[MadHatter]

Depends on how his shot develops. 

 

He was a player that we knew was going to struggle to score withhis jumpshot.....and that was accurate.

 

Everyone loved him because of his ability to drive the basketball and score in the lane.  However, I read a stat about him a few months ago that was surprising (and worrisome).  He lead the league in having his shot blocked.....his shot was blocked over 15% of the time.  That is one out of every 6 attempts got BLOCKED.

 

 

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

One thing you can develop is a shot..IMO.

Scottie Pippen was real raw with a shot his first three seasons..then got a reliable bank shot and progresses to an above avg shooter.

Jalen Rose was a below avg shooter in college then after three season began to light it up. You see a lot of vets get a great shot toward the end of their careers.

The main problem with the Bobcats roster is the pieces just do not fit together. We have what would be great bench guys in starting roles: MKG and even Kemba..who greatly improved to borderline Starting material.(still real inconsistant)

I do see MKG eventually coming off the bench for energy Defense and being the OKC Sabolosha-type role once this roster gets built up.

Team needs to get scorers obviously and one in the low post..i even see Kemba as a great 6th man. Jamal Crawford type who can come in and light it up focusing on offense.

I might even agree with the theory of drafting yet another project in Noel just to have yet another bad season and three great picks with Noel coming back strong with a year to get healthy and work on skills.

Get the scorers and use FA money on target guys.

[thatlookseasy]

MKG was the youngest player in the NBA this year, the fact that he had some trouble adjusting and seemed to hit a wall in February is not surprising. I dont think he was ready for the grind of an entire NBA season, its a big adjustment going from 30-40 games in a season to 82.

Not everyone can step into the NBA and take over right away, we saw it with Kemba last year. Takes time to build a good team with young players

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

I believe MKG was the right pick.There is no doubt that the kid has talent, and he displayed at times. He is the one of only two people in NBA history to record 25 points and 12 rebounds twice before his twentieth birthday (the other being LeBron James). I'm a Carolina fan, but I don't know where this Harrison Barnes love is coming from. Prior to the playoff's he had only reached 20 plus points three times (MKG reached 20+ points on four separate occasions). Another thing to keep in mind is how Dunlap's rotation affected MKG, there were times that MKG didn't even see the floor in the fourth quarter; which is absurd. Finally, keep in mind that he is the youngest player in the NBA, with the right coaching he will develop into a nice player for us.