The Bobcats are one team that have reportedly pulled back from trade talks where they?d move up and are looking to move down and that is because the value of the 13th spot has increased so significantly over the last week.

They think that there is so much value to be had in this area of the draft, and a source informed RealGM's Christopher Reina late on Monday that the Bobcats are discussing a deal with Toronto for the 7th and 16th picks.

Toronto?s guy is Danny Granger and they know Utah will not select him, regardless of who they?re drafting for, so the 16th pick is being considered as an insurance policy on getting him, similar to when the Raptors baited the Warriors into the Vince Carter-Antawn Jamison trade. If they don?t do the trade and Granger is drafted by the Bobcats at five, then they will be forced to select either Gerald Green or Martell Webster, both of whom interest the Hornets and could be used later this summer if they should strike a Jamaal Magloire deal.

These draft picks have just become too valuable for team?s with multiple selections to relinquish them so freely and that is because Andrew Bynum, Channing Frye and Hakim Warrick are now virtual locks to be drafted before the second turn of the night comes around for teams like the Bobcats and Raptors and these are three players they expected to be behind them. The result of this is of course a significant displacement of several players that they have considered at number five, most notably, Raymond Felton.

A league executive told Reina on Monday that the Bobcats are prepared to trade down from 13 if Raymond Felton is off the board.

The Bobcats on Monday made qualifying offers to forward Gerald Wallace and guards Keith Bogans, Matt Carroll and Jason Kapono.

All four are restricted free agents. Qualifying offers obligate the Bobcats financially to each of those players and give Charlotte the right to match any offer other NBA teams make to those players.

Wallace appeared in 70 games with 68 starts last season and averaged 11.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 30.7 minutes. He was acquired by the Bobcats in the expansion draft from Sacramento.

As a sign of good faith the Bobcats exercised their option to keep Emeka Okafor  in Charlotte for a 4th year.  The 2007-08 season is a long way off, but now Okafor can put that $5 million plus in the bank.

"He's the guy we want to build our franchise around," general manager and coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. "Emeka has done everything we've asked for, on the court and off the court.

"This is our way of letting him know of our commitment to him."

The option was exercised 16 months before the deadline, whether its swiftness has anything to do with the Carlos Boozer debacle that took place in Cleveland last year is not known.

During the course of the afternoon on Thursday, a rumor began circulating that the Los Angeles Lakers had completed a trade with the Charlotte Bobcats for the fifth pick in the 2005 Draft.

I spoke with the Lakers public relations department and this has been 100% dismissed as an error on the part of the website in question.

Texas A&M forward Antoine Wright made quite an impression on Charlotte Bobcats coach/general manager Bernie Bickerstaff during the Bobcats pre-draft workout on Thursday.

"He'll be early lottery if he keeps playing like that," Bickerstaff said, after Wright showed off a variety of skills.

Wright averaged 17.5 points last season and is said to be a good all-around player.

"I'm just a basketball player. There's no one thing," that serves as his specialty, Wright said. "I don't just score the basketball, I play defense."