Mar 24, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Charlotte Bobcats shooting guard Gerald Henderson (9) dribbles the ball past Miami Heat shooting guard Mike Miller (13) in the first period at the American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

The season isn’t over, but the Charlotte Bobcats should be looking ahead to free agency.

They should be looking at their own free-agents-to-be more specifically.

The ‘Cats have seven potential players leaving the pay-roll after this year. Some really need to go. Others should stick around for a few more years (at least).

Gerald Henderson is the most important player in the “should stick around” category. The Bobcats can make him a qualifying offer of $4.2 million and match any offer he gets after that (unless someone goes crazy and offers him something unreasonable). Hendo has played well lately, and, maybe more than any other player, his performance dictates how the Bobcats play. In the past five games alone you can see how much he meant to Charlotte; When he scored more than 20 points, the ‘Cats won. When he scored less, they lost. Over the course of this season, that trend has held true. In the 11 games that he played in and the Bobcats won, he shot better than 50 percent and scored an average of 20 points. In the 46 losses he’s been a part of, Hendo’s averaged less than 14 points and shot significantly worse than 50 percent. He’s been on a tear this month, and there’s no reason it can’t continue into next season.

On  the same side of that “how he goes, so do the Bobcats” argument is Byron Mullens. In wins he’s averaged almost 14 points and close to nine boards. In losses those numbers turn into just 9.9 points and less than six rebounds. Even though he can probably be retained for cheap, the ‘Cats should cut their ties with Seven-Feet-of-Smooth, for this reason:

Josh McRoberts is also a free agent this off season. While Charlotte may have traded Hakim Warrick for him for exactly that reason, retaining him to be the Bobcats’ first big off the bench over Byron Mullens would make Charlotte better. McRoberts actually makes less this year than Mullens’ $3.3 million qualifying offer this summer, so it’s not crazy to think the ‘Cats could keep him for just as much as it would cost to keep Mullens. Charlotte has to be thinking about signing a starting-quality big man this offseason, and if that happens, McRoberts is a way better option off the bench than Mullens.

The only other free-agent to be the ‘Cats should think about keeping is Jeff Adrien. For the (very) reasonable amount of money he’ll probably make next year, keeping him around and seeing how he develops isn’t a bad idea. There’s not many other guys this summer that will be a third guy off the bench/role playing big for as cheap as Adrien will be.

The rest of Charlotte’s free-agents just have to go.

‘Gana Diop, Reggie Williams and Cory Higgins just aren’t good enough to spend any money on.

This year’s free agency is key for Charlotte’s development into a playoff team in the coming years. If the ‘Cats get this wrong it could set them back even further than they are now. If they get it right it might not be long until they’re back in the playoffs.

Stick with Roberto Gato as the season winds down for more coverage of free-agency and the 2013 NBA draft.

Feb 20, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets small forward Chandler Parsons (25) drives the ball to the basket during the fourth quarter as Oklahoma City Thunder shooting guard Kevin Martin (23) defends at Toyota Center. The Rockets defeated the Thunder 122-119. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

It’s never too early to start looking at the next list of free agents in the NBA. That’s especially true if you’re the Charlotte Bobcats and you’ve got nothing to look forward to until the offseason.

So lets get away from that bit of depression, and dive into the list of free agents the ‘Cats should already have their eyes on.

1. Chandler Parsons

Why should the Bobcats even think they have a chance to land this guy? Because they’ve got cap space to work with, and they could outbid almost any team for him if they really wanted to. That, of course, would mean overpaying for a guy who’d be on just his second NBA contract… But that guy is Chandler Parsons, and he’s pretty good.

2. Ivan Johnson 

Again, another guy people might scoff at Charlotte for trying to land, but, again, the ‘Cats can overpay for Johnson if they want. He’s a force inside, and even if they overpay for him, he’d still come cheaper than almost anyone of equivalent talent available in 2013. Don’t think for a second that Atlanta will just let him walk, but for a guy in his shoes (came up through the D League), more money, and in turn a bigger showing of faith from the organization, might be enough to draw him to the Queen City.

3. Timofey Mozgov

The Nuggets can offer Mozgov more than anyone else this summer, but will they want to? Before JaVale McGee got to Denver, Mozgov started, and played pretty damn well. For his career he’s averaging 12 points and nine rebounds per 36 minutes. I watched him when he was with New York, and despite his propensity to get dunked on by Blake Griffin, I believe if he gets close to 36 minutes per game, he could average a double-double.

4. J.R. Smith

He might not technically fall under the “under the radar” banner, but as a free agent, he might. Did you know he makes less than $3 million this season? He does have a player option, and who could blame him if he decides to stay in NY and play at Madison Square Garden for another year… But, who could blame him if he decides to head to Charlotte after Michael Jordan (yeah, I know, Rich Cho runs things now) offers him a solid contract and a starting position. I salivate at the prospect of watching him and Kemba Walker run the backcourt… Salivate.

5. Larry Sanders

This is, of course, reliant on Milwaukee not executing its team option on him… Which they’ll probably do… But, can you imagine watching him and Bismack Biyombo swat a combined 1,000,0000,000 shots a night (a little exaggeration, but not too far off)? If Milwaukee doesn’t use its team option on Sanders, the Bobcats will be a team that pursues Sanders.

6. Boris Diaw

Just kidding.

June 20, 2012; Charlotte, NC, USA; Charlotte Bobcats president of basketball operations Rod Higgins (left) , new head coach Mike Dunlap (center) and general manager Rich Cho (right) hold up a jersey during the introduction press conference at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-US PRESSWIRE

Sure, it’s too early to tell what will happen with the 2013 free agents. This year’s offseason showed us that you can never predict where a player will end up, even if you have the greatest “sources” in the world.

But, it’s not to early to take a look into our crystal ball and see which guys the Charlotte Bobcats might make runs at.

First off, the one position they didn’t improve this offseason (barring massive improvement from Bismack Biyombo or Byron Mullens) is power forward.

Here are some of the higher end guys that almost every team that needs an upgrade at PF will be looking at towards the season’s end: David West, Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson, Kenneth Faried, and Taj Gibson.

Other players teams might have to settle for are: Tyler Hansbrough, Lamar Odom, Charlie Villanueva and Trevor Booker.

I say keep your eyes on Booker and Millsap.

Booker almost doubled his production in his sophomore season last year. His points went from 5.3 to 8.4, steals from .4 to 1.0, and rebounds from 3.9 to 6.5.

His per 36 numbers are pretty good too. 12 points, 1.2 blocks, and 9.3 rebounds. If he continues to improve, I think Booker could end up being a 15 and 10 type of player the rest of his career.

Millsap is a guy who everyone knows what they’ll get out of. In his sixth year of NBA experience, the Jazz lifer scored 16.6 points, grabbed 8.8 rebounds and dished out 2.3 assists per game. A lot of teams will want Millsap, but Charlotte could be in position to make him an offer few other clubs can match.

I’m not sure there’s a center in the 2013 free agent class the Bobcats will go after. Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum are basically locks to re-sign (although nothing with Howard should be called a lock). Demarcus Cousins and Greg Monroe will almost certainly have their team options picked up and after them, the next best player is Samuel Delambert.

I think the Bobcats are going to go after their long term solution at center in the draft (Cody Zeller, please).

The ‘Cats are pretty much set at point guard right now. All indications say the team signed Ramon Sessions to back up Kemba Walker, so they probably won’t go out and make a big splash at the position next year. A suitable third PG like Shaun Livingston or Jeremy Pargo wouldn’t be a bad signing, though.

At the two guard, if a guy like James Harden becomes available, the Bobcats have to make an offer. Other than a player like him, Charlotte will probably hold pat with Gerald Henderson and Ben Gordon for another year.

The only spot left is small forward, and after drafting two of them in 2012, I doubt Charlotte will go hard after another one. Plus, there aren’t many unrestricted small forward out there worth making a run at in 2013.

Again, it’s too early to tell where any of these guys will go, but it isn’t too early to tell that Charlotte needs a power forward, and there are plenty to choose from next offseason.