Mike Dunlap is another risk as the new head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats. Michael Jordan has been widely criticized as an NBA owner and many people are not sure where the Bobcats are going as a franchise. The Charlotte Bobcats do need a coach who can evaluate young players, this can be a big reason why they hired someone like Dunlap who has spent the last two seasons as an assistant/interim head coach at St. John’s University.
The work that Dunlap has done in the past as an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets can be extremely helpful as well. The Bobcats have to make a decision on whether or not players like DeSanga Diop are valuable enough as a backup center to stay in the National Basketball Association.
The Bobcats were looking at Jerry Sloan as a possible replacement for Paul Silas. But in my view that move simply would not have worked due to the fact that they already had to deal with an older coach who some people viewed as being burnt out in Larry Brown. Sloan may not want to handle the process of arguing with young players who may not understand a particular concept that needs to be reinforced.
The Bobcats roster has to see a lot of changes.
A guy like Matt Carroll can be a decent three point specialist, but you cannot expect Carroll to be one of your top scorers off of the bench. Steve Lavin and people like George Karl have given Dunlap rave reviews for his ability to evaluate talent and make the right roster moves. The fact that Dunlap got such high praise from a guy like George Karl may be a sign that Michael Jordan weighed Karl’s opinion heavily when deciding to hire a guy like Dunlap. The truth of the matter is that this may also be a sign that Jordan may one day be willing to hire Karl to work for him with the Bobcats if a position ever came open.
Dunlap had been considered for head coaching jobs at both Colorado and Colorado State so you will see a lot of people in the state of Colorado pulling for him due to his ties to the state. Dunlap was a head coach at Metro State in Denver and he also spent time coaching overseas in Australia. Tyrus Thomas is the player who in my view Dunlap should be most excited to work with, if Thomas can truly stay focused on the process and stay motivated he can become a real star.