Each weekday for the next two weeks, we’ll be counting down the NBA Draft lottery teams leading up to the June 26th draft. It would be a fool’s errand to project what each team will do; tryouts vary by day and if anything, that’s an exercise in futility we’ll post at 5 p.m. on draft day. Instead, what you’ll be reading is what we would do if we were running each team.

We’ve felt as if the Bobcats were on the verge of breaking through in the East for a couple years now, but injuries – and too an extent, lack of defense and rebounding – have prevented this dream from taking place. Power forward Sean May has shown flashes of talent since leaving UNC early; he’s missed large chunks of the last two seasons. Crying porn-star lottery pick Adam Morrison, expected to be an offensive cog, missed all of last season. Their best player, Gerald Wallace, has missed 57 games in the last three seasons with various injuries.

The core, though, is strong: Raymond Felton is an adequate point guard, Wallace and former Golden State Warrior Jason Richardson will provide scoring, and PF/C Emeka Okafor, if he ever gets a wingman – seems like it’s going to happen – become an 18-12 guy. Morrison could become an instant-offense bench gunner. It could happen as soon as this season.

Larry Brown and Michael Jordan will join forces in an attempt to make up for egregious errors in their lottery draft pasts: Darko and Kwame, respectively. The Charlotte Observer and Chad Ford both are thinking the Bobcats go with a post player in an attempt to move Okafor to PF, which is apparently his natural position. (Ford is nuts thinking Brook Lopez falls this far. What a steal that’d be.)

We strongly disagree. At 6-10, 255, Okafor is a center in the East. Get him some help in the form of a PF who can ease the scoring/rebounding load. Problem is, outside of Lopez, none of the centers in this draft can come in and score 8-10 points a game, but there’s a PF who probably will be available at No. 8 who might: UCLA freshman Kevin Love. And that’s our pick here. If you’re rotating Love and May at PF, that’s fairly potent. Love might be the most polished offensive post-player in the draft after Beasley and Lopez.

9. Charlotte – Kevin Love, UCLA
10. New Jersey – Anthony Randolph, LSU
11. Indiana – Roy Hibbert, Georgetown
12. Sacramento – JaVale McGee, Nevada
13. Portland – Joe Alexander, West Virginia
14. Golden State – Darrell Arthur, Kansas