Higgins sent the message that while they'll prepare to pick 12th, they'll consider any alternatives to improve a team expecting to be in playoff contention.

"If we have the opportunity to do certain things -- move a player, move a pick -- those are things" they'd consider, Higgins said in a media conference call following the draft lottery.

That's appropriate considering the circumstances. This is not a particularly deep draft, so it's questionable whether the Bobcats can get quick help at shooting guard or forward. The Bobcats have salary cap-management issues and Mohammed, with two seasons left on his contract, wants to be traded if he's not going to play.

The Bobcats don't have much need for multiple picks in the second round. With Larry Brown as coach and the Bobcats believing they're a viable playoff team, the focus is more on the now than the future.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT: For the second time in three seasons, the Bobcats swept the Los Angeles Lakers. They've now won five of six against the Western Conference's premier franchise and the last of those victories, at home March 31, extended a late-season playoff run -- the first time this team has played consequential games in April.

TURNING POINT: The season's first four months, the Bobcats were good about minimizing losses to bad teams. But the last six weeks, with the playoffs at stake, they lost road games to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards and Oklahoma City Thunder. That knocked them out of the playoff hunt with four games to go.