Highs and Lows: Charlotte Bobcats
Gerald Wallace (photo. Mike Carroll)NBA training camps are underway. While we wait for the games to start, we’re going team-by-team, from 1 to 30, exploring what each team’s ceiling is for the upcoming season and where their basement is. In other words, what are the realistic best-case and worst-case scenarios for each squad?
Additions: PG D.J. Augustin, SG Shannon Brown, C Alexis Ajinca, PF Andre Brown.
Losses: PG Earl Boykins, SG Derek Anderson, PG Jeff McInnis, C Othella Harrington.
Ceiling: 8th seed in the East
Emeka Okafor put it best in a recent interview. To paraphrase: Five years into their existence, it’s time for the ‘Cats to become relevant. With Okafor, Ray Felton, Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace, the team is talented at its core, and there’s at least better-than-average depth at every position. Depth that is only bolstered by Lottery pick Augustin, plus Sean May and Adam Morrison returning from respective knee injuries that kept them out all of last season. Charlotte has its share of legit scorers (J-Rich, Wallace), playmakers (Felton, Augustin), shooters (Matt Carroll, Morrison, J-Rich), competent big men (Okafor, May, Nazr Mohammed) and intangibles guys (Wallace, Jared Dudley), and the front office has shown a commitment to excel via locking up Okafor long-term over the summer and hiring reclamation specialist Larry Brown to coach this group while taking the risk that it could be a disaster akin to his stint in New York.
Basement: Same ol’ Lottery squad
A few things need to happen for the Bobcats to make their postseason debut. First, they need to find an offensive identity and establish a go-to guy. Too many times the “offense” has consisted of Felton and J-Rich pounding the ball for 21 seconds before throwing up a bad shot, and there are too many games where Okafor doesn’t getting the ball unless he pulls a Carlton Banks and steals it from his own teammates. Second, on that note, Okafor needs to live up to his $72 million contract. The Bobcats’ first-ever draft pick has been good, but he needs to be great; which means staying healthy and not getting the proverbial swirlie from Dwight Howard whenever they go head-to-head. Larry Brown has already expressed concern about finding a third point guard, but his bigger issue should be preventing a PG-by-confusion dynamic among the top two guys, Felton and Augustin. If those two are battling with each other more than playing the right way, nobody wins. For all the potential in Charlotte, there are some bright red flags. J-Rich is slowly becoming a Vince Carter Lite; while he’s one of the most explosive athletes in the game, he led the League in three-point attempts in ‘07-08, chucking more than seven bombs a night. Morrison has “bust” written all over him and looks overwhelmed by the speed of the NBA, and this was BEFORE his major knee injury. May needs to pay a little more attention to Udonis Haslem’s workout plan and not so much Eddy Curry’s regimen. Wallace would be the next Shawn Marion if he wasn’t a magnet for incidental contact and missed so many games every year. And Felton is getting left in the dust by ‘05 draft classmates Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Monta Ellis. Put it this way: is there any way the Jazz would have drafted a point guard with a Top-10 pick this year if they were truly confident in Deron’s ability to lead this team into the future? Then there’s Larry Brown, who is reminding me more of Al Davis every day, and that can’t be a promising sign.
‘08-09 NBA preview archives
9/30 — Memphis Grizzlies
9/26 — Toronto Raptors
9/25 — New Orleans Hornets
9/24 — Atlanta Hawks
9/23 — Sacramento Kings
9/22 — Miami Heat
9/19 — Portland Trail Blazers
9/18 — New Jersey Nets
9/17 — Minnesota Timberwolves
9/16 — Cleveland Cavaliers
9/15 — Phoenix Suns
9/12 — Milwaukee Bucks
9/11 — L.A. Clippers
9/10 — Orlando Magic
October 1st, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Sam I Am says:
I would hate to see a good team get bumped and watch the Cats mess it up in the playoffs this year
October 1st, 2008 at 2:34 pm
sans says:
I knew you wrote this based solely on the Carlton Banks comment–except there is no Will to give the ball to on this squad.
The Cats will play D this season, LB demands at least that, making the early 90s Clippers into a decent defensive squad without any help from Sterling or Baylor in regards to personnel. Hooked up the Pacers, Sixers, Detroit, and got in a lot of quality abdominal exercise in NYC from throwing players under the bus to the media every morning….
October 1st, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Sam I Am says:
I think a more realistic Ceiling is 9th in the East
I know that’s the same as Lottery but I mean like as far as positioning, I can see them losing by a game and a half of the standings for the 8th seed
ala G.S. Warriors 07-08
October 1st, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Kobeef says:
If your analysis is accurate – which it seems to be – this team is massively overpayed. Richardson, Wallace and Okafor are getting “star” money but are 6th men on a championship quality team which is really the beginning of the end.
Okafor is decent but Charlotte should have let him walk. Nazr Mohammed was almost as effective as Okafor last season and made a fraction of what Okafor makes. Like you note, Dwight destroys Okafor to near humiliation when they meet yet strangely they make almost the same amount of money.
Richardson and Wallace are about the only pieces of this team that can go head-to-head with the best at their position and win from time to time.
Sean May’s demise was as predictable as Pavel Podkolzine’s NBA failure. T-Wolves fans who are looking forward to Kevin Love’s “great hands” and “outlet passes” should revisit the story of Sean May before they start working on Rookie of the Year signs.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Sam I Am says:
DAMN KOBEEF
a lil more rough you might have them in the D-League as bottom dwellers
October 1st, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Big Sia says:
Carlton Banks reference = top 8 all time
what a sick episode that was
October 1st, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Demonik says:
Alright, that’s two errors in a row! First Memphis and now the Bobcats preview photo of Eddie Murphy (circa the Daddy Day Care unfunny era).
October 1st, 2008 at 7:43 pm
George W Kush Sr says:
They badly need a real point guard. Felton’s a back up, we’ll see how Augustin works out, but a upgrade at point could put them in the same situation that Atlanta was in last year.
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Homeless J says:
This has nothing to do with the Bobcats, but everything to do with Carlton Banks.
Richard Jefferson has always reminded me a lot of Carlton. I’m not sure why, it’s probably his dorky college-boy look and his general mannerisms. For years I’ve pictured him wearing argyle sweatshirts and doing the Carlton dance to Tom Jones music. If he’s really the kind of guy who hangs out in strip clubs and chokes people, like that Dime article from a little while back said, then other dudes in the league really need to take lessons from RJ. Namely all the overly gangster dudes like S-Jack who shoot at people at strip clubs and Carmelo who looks like a bitch when he tries to fight (slapping at people and running away, what the fuck Melo) and yet still seems to start a fight every season. David Stern probably loves RJ because they look like they shop for the same golf clothes, and yet apparently when he’s out of the public eye, he’s choking dudes and having strippers hang all over him. THAT is how to be an NBA gangster and get away with it.