Alexis Ajinca's Option and the Bobcats' Process

by David A. Arnott on Oct 14, 2009 9:03 AM EDT

I'm still worried about the Bobcats and their process. Ultimately, we all want the team to win. If that means turning to ugly basketball and slugging everyone in sight, well... in the larger picture it would be weird and perhaps shameful, but in the heat of the moment winning trumps all. In other words, the specifics of style are kind of irrelevant if the team wins, though we all have preferences.

When I say I worry about process, though, I'm talking about things like this Rick Bonnell piece from Saturday.

Alexis Ajinca seems to have shown improvement in the preseason. However, his regular season performance, when he did play last season -- while not quite atrocious -- was pretty dreadful, especially defensively. Essentially, he's in the same dark NBA hole that Joe Alexander is in. I do love me some Joe Alexander and, given his physical gifts, would probably ride out his contract to see if he can contribute by the end. Ajinca wasn't even a lottery pick, so he's making far less than Alexander, and he's younger, so there appears to be even more motivation to take a wait and see approach.

However, "wait and see" means waiting a couple years to see what he eventually can do. Waiting another two weeks and seeing how Freedom Fries performs in preseason games does not constitute giving him a chance to prove his talent. Virtually any information gleaned over that time about him should not affect their judgment of his worth as a player.

They've already exercised their team option on D.J. Augustin. At this point, having not exercised the option on Ajinca, they should have decided he will not be with the team moving forward. If they do exercise the option and cite this preseason as a deciding factor, then I'll continue to be very worried about what the hell kind of standards they're using to evaluate their talent.

Ajinca will probably be an end of the bench player this season, but how they handle his contract might be an indicator of a larger issue with the organization.

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The option is cheap

Regardless of who it is $1.47 million for a 7 footer in the NBA is bargain basement. Hakim Warrick was one of the cheaper big mean in this free agency and he was signed for $3 million.

We brought Ajinca over early to accelerate his development, the downside to this was starting his rookie contract early. If we allowed him to maturate in Europe he would still need seasoning, but less he does now.

Darko Milicic is currently on a $7.5 million contract, people still believe he has the potential to be a factor in the NBA. Should the Bobcats become the cautionary tale for letting an immature European player slip through our fingers because we were afraid of spending a measly $1.7 million? As a true project we owe it to our team to keep him now, if only to trade him later.

Cat Scratch Reader's resident optimist.

by James Dator on Oct 14, 2009 9:49 AM EDT reply actions

I agree

it’s a cheap option, just pick it up as a potential trade piece.

I suppose it is odd that they’re waiting while picking up Augustin’s option right away. But maybe it’s not a question of how he plays in the preseason (which I agree is would be an odd barometer to use), but in case of some other fluke factor like an injury or something, where there’s no harm in waiting.

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by your friendly BullsBlogger on Oct 14, 2009 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions

I'd sign him...

How much were we paying Hollins?

by andrewlail76 on Oct 14, 2009 12:59 PM EDT reply actions

perhaps it's a motivational technique?

You’d think they’d have to keep him around for all the obvious reasons, as articulated by the comments above, and most likely will. Hell, why else would they have gone out of their way to trade up to draft him to begin with? Perhaps they’re taking their time in announcing their decision in order to put a little fear in him? And if it works— and maybe it is— then great.

Hey, a clarification on a point in the column? Is the sentence about playing “ugly basketball” in the first paragraph directly linked to the speculation about Ajinca’s contract or is that another thought entirely? The photo of him grimacing and swinging his arms into the defenders suggest that his contribution, if he can make one, may be as a tough guy in a slug-it-out system, especially given his proclivity for sloppy fouls? Or am I making a connection that isn’t really intended?

by bugjackblue on Oct 14, 2009 6:28 PM EDT reply actions

That makes sense.

Brown already called Ajinca once in the media and got results. Lightning could strike twice.

Cat Scratch Reader's resident optimist.

by James Dator on Oct 14, 2009 6:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Is the sentence about playing "ugly basketball" in the first paragraph directly linked to the speculation about Ajinca’s contract or is that another thought entirely?

Ha. No connection to the photo intended. It was just a comment about playing an ugly style versus a beautiful style.

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by David A. Arnott on Oct 14, 2009 11:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Ugly's fine with me

I’m down with ugly basketball if it means Ws. I was never a fan of the way the Spurs because it wasn’t fun to watch (for me), but hey… it was a system that works.

It’s all about the wins, especially now that the bottom feeders from last year in the Eastern Conference have significantly reloaded (namely Toronto & Washington).

by CharginChuck on Oct 14, 2009 11:31 PM EDT reply actions