Martin to return as radio voice

Former Hornets broadcaster will join Bobcats on Mix 106.1

RICK BONNELL

Staff Writer

The Charlotte Bobcats have a mix of old and new in their radio deal, going with Steve Martin and Mix 106.1 FM.

Martin, the longtime play-by-play voice of the Hornets, will return to Charlotte as Bobcats radio announcer. But the Bobcats are moving to the FM dial on WNMX.

Sports programming is more common to AM radio, but WNMX, a 33,000-watt station, already broadcasts the Charlotte Sting, Duke football and basketball and some Davidson men's basketball.

At one point, the Bobcats appeared headed to sports-talk station WFNZ-AM 610, but negotiations broke down in recent weeks.

Martin pre-dated the Hornets in Charlotte, serving as sports director at WBT-AM 1110. He continued working for the Hornets after they moved to New Orleans, but his family stayed in Charlotte. Martin continued calling ACC football and basketball games for Jefferson-Pilot while working for the Hornets in New Orleans.

WNMX hopes to air the whole season of Bobcats games, even though a few dates will conflict with Duke basketball, said station general manager Tom Gentry.

"If we would have to bump any, Bobcats Tickets
we would air them on WHVN 1240 AM," one of WNMX's sister stations, he said.

Gentry said the contract with the Bobcats was for more than one year but would not be specific on the terms.

Bobcats will test Childress again

June 22 could be the busiest day to date for the Bobcats. The expansion draft will be that day (assuming the NBA Finals don't go a full seven games), and the team will bring back Stanford's Josh Childress for a second workout.Childress, a 6-foot-7 forward, is a prime candidate for the Bobcats' first pick, fourth overall. Coach/GM Bernie Bickerstaff wants to match Childress with a smaller player to test if he has the ball-handling skills to play guard.

The rookie draft is June 24, and the league will fly top prospects to New York for pre-draft interviews on June 23.

Notes

. Bickerstaff suspected last week a team with a top-five pick had promised to draft Duke freshman Luol Deng. Now there's evidence to support that theory.

The Washington Wizards told Duke law professor Paul Haagen they would take Deng fifth overall if he's there, according to Tuesday's News and Observer of Raleigh.

Haagen heads a committee that advises Duke athletes on selecting agents.

Deng had indicated he'd stay in the draft only if he were a top-5 pick. But by hiring agent Leon Rose, he has forfeited the option of returning to college basketball.

The Bobcats plan to work out Deng in Charlotte before the draft.

. Bickerstaff denied a report that the Bobcats and Minnesota Timberwolves are scheming to move point guard Earl Watson out of Memphis.

St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer-Press columnist Charley Walters quoted "insiders" as saying the Timberwolves want the Bobcats to take the Grizzlies' Watson in the expansion draft, then trade him to Minnesota.

Bickerstaff said he's never had such a discussion with Timberwolves officials.

. Western Carolina shooting guard Kevin Martin has pulled out of the games at this week's Chicago pre-draft camp. He will instead hold a group workout for NBA scouts there.

Martin's decision could indicate he believes he's a first-round pick, and that playing might hurt, rather than help, his stock.

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