FanHouse Bobcats

Michael Jordan still hasn't created the buzz that the Charlotte Bobcats need to be relevant again.

Allen Iverson could.

And Larry Brown knows it.

The Bobcats could spend the next three years treading water in Charlotte, mired in mediocrity or worse, while support for the franchise continues to erode and Jordan shirks more front office duties.

Or they can take the bold step, light the fuse and sign Iverson as a free agent next week, enjoying the fireworks that surely will follow when he and Brown renew their love/hate relationship.

In the weakest NBA draft in years, sitting out might have been the best thing to do. All the fireworks were done before it even began. The Cavs traded for Shaq. The Magic added Vince Carter. The Wizards snagged Mike Miller instead of the No. 5 pick. Several teams showed little interest in getting involved.

Keep reading after the jump for the Eastern Conference rundown.

---

---

The Bobcats announced Tuesday the team would not be offering forward Sean May a qualifying offer, which makes the former Tar Heel an unrestricted free agent. A one-year, $3.6 million offer would have meant that Charlotte could match any other offer sheet May signed this summer, but apparently the risk that May would sign the offer and soak up three feet of Larry Brown's bench set the franchise to freeing him outright.

May went No. 13 in 2005 after his North Carolina won the NCAA Championship. He was one of four Tar Heels -- with Marvin Williams (No. 2, Atlanta), Raymond Felton (No. 5, Charlotte) and Rashad McCants (No. 14, Twitteronia) -- to go in the lottery that year. And although McCants has been a disappointment and Felton was clearly a reach, May is certainly the worst of the bunch.

With only one lottery pick (Washington), there isn't a lot of draft buzz around the Southeast Division. The Orlando Magic, who reached the NBA Finals, don't have any picks, and the Miami Heat, who lost in the first round of the playoffs, have only picks in the second round.

Washington Wizards

Picks: No. 5 (first round), No. 33 (second round).

Needs: After such a disastrous season, they need one of those Obama Stimulus giveaways. They need a quality big man who can rebound, but they also need help on the perimeter so that Gilbert Arenas can limit his minutes and avoid getting hurt again. They need depth, and most importantly, they need some durability because there were too many guys sitting out too many games last season.

Tyler Hansbrough is the quintessential college basketball player. He was completely dominant at Carolina -- despite what often appeared to be a heightened sense of clumsiness and boarish (typo intended for effect!) behavior -- en route to becoming one of the greatest college basketball players of all time.

Now he's headed into the NBA draft, having seen his stock drop relatively far from two years ago, and most people will tell you that Hansbrough will not perform at a level in the NBA that even remotely rivals that of his performance as a Tar Heel. Of course, Tyler won't tell you that. And, obviously, it's the bloggers' fault that he's not being given enough credit before the draft. Doy.

Allen Iverson is arguably the top name on the albeit limited 2009 free agency list. And though his stint in Detroit could accurately be described as disastrous, and his skills are diminished with age, he's still The Answer, and scorers of his mold will always be sought after.

Except by his former coach from Philadelphia. Kind of.

Larry Brown said this week that while he 'loves' Allen, he doesn't see a reunion between the hard-line coach and the temperamental superstar next season with the Charlotte Bobcats. What's surprising is in saying that, he's looking out not for his own squad, but for Iverson.

Anyone have $325-350 million laying around? That's the price Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson wants for his controlling stake in the Charlotte Bobcats, according to the Charlotte Observer's Rick Bonnell (via The Baseline).

Johnson has been rumored to be looking to offload the struggling franchise for months, telling an Observer columnist last month he's not terribly interested in running a basketball team and hoping minority owner/team president Michael Jordan would pony up. (Apparently, MJ is not breaking open the piggy bank.)

By theory, the NBA Draft Lottery (Tuesday at 8:00 PM ET) is left to randomness. But what if basketball karma dictated the results? Good triumphs over evil. Fairness and compassion reign. Robert Horry does not exist. It's a wonderful world.

Close your eyes and imagine how the ping pong balls would bounce if karma ruled tonight's lottery ...

It's trophy time in the NBA, and the FanHouse crew has submitted its ballots. Find out which players deserve to take home the hardware and which ones don't, in our NBA Awards series. Next up: Coach of the Year.

This turned out to be one of those seasons where it would be hard to be wrong in making a pick for Coach of the Year. Eight different coaches were named by our voters, and it was so close that we ended up with a tie for third place. But the one man that stood out above the rest was the one holding the clipboard to your right.

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

"Love bravely, live bravely, be courageous, there's really nothing to lose." -Jewel

And really, what says "Charlotte Bobcats" like Jewel?

The Lottery is littered with teams that failed to meet expectations. Their hopes broken, their efforts for naught, they're left with nothing but frustration and depression. They limp towards the offseason with hope for nothing more than pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

You don't get that feeling from the Bobcats.