Charlotte Bobcats Draft History: Ranking Their Biggest Mistakes so Far

As the 2011 NBA Draft approaches, the Charlotte Bobcats are under a lot of pressure to make good use of the three picks they own.

After failing to make the playoffs for the sixth time in their seven year history, a successful draft will go a long way towards winning over their reluctant market and becoming competitive again.

However, history has shown us that the Bobcats have never made very good decisions in this area. Of the fourteen players they've drafted, only two remain on the team today.

The rest were mostly busts, except for Felton and Okafor.

Looking back, here are the five worst drafting decisions in Bobcats history.

5th- Alexis Ajinca (2008)

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The Bobcats picked this 7'0" in 2008, thinking that he was a skinny project who could turn into a legitimate NBA post player with some coaching.

They were wrong.

Despite the potential he showed in France, his lack of strength showed in the NBA and he spent more time in the D-League than he did in Charlotte.

Since then, he has bounced around due to various trades and now plays for Toronto, where he posted career highs in points and rebounds (4.8 and 2.5, respectively).

Although he is still young, I think it's safe to pencil him in as a bust.

This pick gets even worse when you think about the other post players still available when they took him (Ryan Anderson and Serge Ibaka).

Both are now starters on playoff teams and could've helped the Bobcats immensely the past couple years.

4th- Brandan Wright (2007)

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This decision is not as bad as the others, mostly due to the fact that they got Jason Richardson by trading him to the Warriors.

He has been a perennial underachiever since then and if the Bobcats had kept him, Wright's pick would be much higher up in my list.

Drafting a player with the eighth pick who has never averaged over eight points a game is a huge mistake.

The trade makes it better, but not by much if you think who they could've drafted instead.

Joakim Noah (taken with the very next pick) could be providing them with championship-level defense and toughness while Thaddeus Young (12th) would at the very least be a very high caliber bench player. 

3rd- Sean May (2005)

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Continuing with the trend, this post player was drafted high in the first round (13th) but failed to deliver anything close to the expectations surrounding him.

He was absolutely dominant throughout his college career, but in Charlotte he struggled just to crack the rotation.

Due to injuries and his ballooning weight, he never played more than 35 games a year and was released after four disappointing years.

Although I do understand the rationale for picking him, his weight issues were already well-publicized and should've been a warning flag.

Future All-Star Danny Granger was picked just four slots later and could've provided the Bobcats with deadly one-two punch at the wing with him and Gerald Wallace.

2nd- D.J. Augustin (2008)

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Augustin was taken with the ninth pick of that year's draft and has proved to be a solid starting point guard since then.

He is a skilled scorer and a good passer and while he may never make an All-Star team, he remains a good pro.

I would have no problem with this pick if not for the fact that Brook Lopez was taken with the very next pick.

Lopez is a true 7'0" center who can score the ball with surprising athleticism. I still can't believe that the Bobcats passed over a borderline All-Star who would've given them consistent 20-10 games for a decade.

He should've been too good to pass up.

1st- Adam Morrison (2006)

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This decision to draft Adam Morrison with the third pick of the 2006 Draft has so far been the worst blunder in Bobcats history.

They chose to take a lanky shooter with little athleticism who had been playing in a pretty weak college conference.

I understand the pick (his national fame would help with their reputation) but from a basketball standpoint, it didn't make sense.

It's a well-known fact that scoring in college doesn't necessarily carry over to the pros, but Charlotte decided to take a player whose only skill was scoring.

Tyrus Thomas, Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay were all available at the time and would've proved to be much better picks (especially Roy). 

If Roy was healthy, Charlotte would certainly have made the playoffs more than once.