Published: Jun 29, 2008 09:12 AM
Modified: Jun 29, 2008 09:12 AM
Former North Carolina star Raymond Felton's future with the Charlotte Bobcats is in doubt after the team drafted a point guard with the ninth pick in the NBA draft Thursday. The Bobcats have reportedly been shopping Felton, apparently seeing Texas All-America D.J. Augustin as an improvement.
The selection was doubly surprising to many fans of the young franchise: For one, this undercuts the Tar Heel revolution that has seen BET founder Robert Johnson's club draft Felton and Sean May and hand its decision-making to Michael Jordan and new coach Larry Brown. Additionally, the team seemed to be gifted a talented center who could start right away when Stanford 7-footer Brook Lopez slipped through the lottery's first eight picks, yet the Bobcats decided to go with Augustin.
Then the Queen City franchise shocked everyone (except Jordan's critics) by using the 20th pick on a no-name French center -- Alexis Ajinca -- who averaged a measly five points per game ... in France.
Augustin can shoot, though the diminutive guard was far from impressive in his final college game. The 5-11 New Orleans native went 4-of-18 and turned the ball over four times in the Longhorns' 18-point shellacking at the hands of national finalist Memphis.
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