I love the Charlotte Bobcats. I've loved them for awhile now. I've loved them since Thursday night.

Every year I offer the Bobcats and Carolina Panthers free and unsolicited draft advice which they consistently ignore. Still, if I were to leave the Charlotte Observer unexpectedly, I could see myself in player personnel for the Bobcats or Panthers.

Make that one cream and one sugar Carolina general manager Marty Hurney. I'm kidding. I drink my coffee black.

I wrote Thursday that the Bobcats should take Texas point guard D.J. Augustin. Few mock drafts had him going as high. I saw 34 and only six had Augustin going nine or higher.

This is why they're called mock drafts. Larry Brown, Michael Jordan and I mock them.

The Bobcats need a point guard.

Point guard is the sport's essential position. The right one takes all the parts, power forwards and centers, the shooting guards and wings, and links them and leads them. Teammates work harder to get open because they know they'll be rewarded with the ball.

Augustin is the right point guard. He'd rather run an offense than shoot, rather pass than shoot, would rather penetrate than shoot. Yet he can shoot effectively off the dribble and hit those soft floaters in the lane.

He knows his role. Pass-first point guards are rare in college and the NBA. The Bobcats had an opportunity to grab one, so they did.

The criticism of Augustin, who is about 6-0 and 180 pounds, is that he is slight. The rip has been repeated so often that it might as well be part of his name: Slight D.J. Augustin.

Chris Paul was slight when he came into the league, Allan Iverson has remained slight and slight Rajon Rondo led Boston to the NBA championship.

It's not about width. It's about taking this team where it needs to go. It needs to go from peripheral to important. It needs to go relentlessly to the hoop.

The Bobcats have a point guard, Raymond Felton, who turned 24 Thursday.

Hey, Bobcats, what did you give Raymond, a young rich guy who has everything, for his birthday?

Competition.

Felton might remain Charlotte's point guard. Last season he was moved from point to shooting guard to shooting guard to point.

Perhaps he can run this team. If so, Augustin is a tremendous asset off the bench. If he can't, Augustin will.

Augustin is not the player the Bobcats were supposed to take. They were supposed to take Stanford center Brook Lopez or Arizona guard Jerryd Bayless.

But they figured they could draft a big man with their second first-round pick, and at No.20 they were able to snare center Alexis Ajinca, one of the top10 big men in all of France. Bayless is an athletic shooting guard/point guard. So is Felton.

No matter how you make your living, you can't succeed unless you believe. You have to believe that you know more than the other guy. You can't make the safe pick. You have to make the right pick.

The Bobcats did.

I love the Charlotte Bobcats. I've loved them for awhile now. I've loved them since Thursday night.

Every year I offer the Bobcats and Carolina Panthers free and unsolicited draft advice which they consistently ignore. Still, if I were to leave the Charlotte Observer unexpectedly, I could see myself in player personnel for the Bobcats or Panthers.

Make that one cream and one sugar Carolina general manager Marty Hurney. I'm kidding. I drink my coffee black.

I wrote Thursday that the Bobcats should take Texas point guard D.J. Augustin. Few mock drafts had him going as high. I saw 34 and only six had Augustin going nine or higher.

This is why they're called mock drafts. Larry Brown, Michael Jordan and I mock them.

The Bobcats need a point guard.

Point guard is the sport's essential position. The right one takes all the parts, power forwards and centers, the shooting guards and wings, and links them and leads them. Teammates work harder to get open because they know they'll be rewarded with the ball.

Augustin is the right point guard. He'd rather run an offense than shoot, rather pass than shoot, would rather penetrate than shoot. Yet he can shoot effectively off the dribble and hit those soft floaters in the lane.

He knows his role. Pass-first point guards are rare in college and the NBA. The Bobcats had an opportunity to grab one, so they did.

The criticism of Augustin, who is about 6-0 and 180 pounds, is that he is slight. The rip has been repeated so often that it might as well be part of his name: Slight D.J. Augustin.

Chris Paul was slight when he came into the league, Allan Iverson has remained slight and slight Rajon Rondo led Boston to the NBA championship.

It's not about width. It's about taking this team where it needs to go. It needs to go from peripheral to important. It needs to go relentlessly to the hoop.

The Bobcats have a point guard, Raymond Felton, who turned 24 Thursday.

Hey, Bobcats, what did you give Raymond, a young rich guy who has everything, for his birthday?

Competition.

Felton might remain Charlotte's point guard. Last season he was moved from point to shooting guard to shooting guard to point.

Perhaps he can run this team. If so, Augustin is a tremendous asset off the bench. If he can't, Augustin will.

Augustin is not the player the Bobcats were supposed to take. They were supposed to take Stanford center Brook Lopez or Arizona guard Jerryd Bayless.

But they figured they could draft a big man with their second first-round pick, and at No.20 they were able to snare center Alexis Ajinca, one of the top10 big men in all of France. Bayless is an athletic shooting guard/point guard. So is Felton.

No matter how you make your living, you can't succeed unless you believe. You have to believe that you know more than the other guy. You can't make the safe pick. You have to make the right pick.

The Bobcats did.