"Armed with the ninth, 19th and 39th picks, the Charlotte Bobcats tonight enter the great "what if" draft.

What if top-five talent Jonas Valanciunas is still available at No. 9 due to contractual complications?

What if the Bobcats have the choice between forwards Marcus Morris of Kansas and Chris Singleton of Florida State?

What if shotblocker extraordinaire Bismack Biyombo is still on the board at Nos. 9 and 19?

What if they have the option to trade one of those first-round picks for a young veteran?

Bobcats management is preparing for those scenarios and dozens more. This draft is unusually rich in variables, things that can't be predicted before they come to pass.

"We're constantly on the phone," said Rod Higgins, the team's president of basketball operations. "Rich (Cho, the new general manager) and I are talking to every team around the league, trying to gauge interest in our team as well as seeing what's there as far as different players on different rosters.

"We'll be prepared to make our picks tomorrow or who knows?"

It's the "who knows" factor that makes this draft particularly intriguing. After the first three or four selections, it becomes somewhat a blur who should be chosen when. The player chosen seventh won't be all that different from the one picked 12th. And picks 10 through 20 are virtually interchangeable.

That makes this an "eye of the beholder" process, and there could be a lot of jockeying of draft spots before the night is over. With two picks in the first 20 selections, the Bobcats are fielding offers. Sources confirm they've been talking to the Houston Rockets, among other potential trade partners."