What positives can Charlotte NBA fans take away from this season? - b2tha2ndpwr's Blog

b2tha2ndpwr's Blog

What positives can Charlotte NBA fans take away from this season?

Posted on April 18, 2012 at 08:29 PM.

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Anyone paying attention the the NBA this year has probably noticed by now that the Charlotte Bobcats are bad. Not just bad, but near historically bad. In fact if they lose their final 6 games, they will have the worst winning percentage in the history of the league. They aren't just losing, they lose by an average of 13.3 points per game, second worse behind the 92-93 Dallas Mavericks (15.2). To make matters worse, other teams are regularly sitting their best players against them injured or not. As I write this I'm watching them down by 17 early in the second quarter to the Bulls minus Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and Taj Gibson. With that said, I'm going to attempt to do the impossible. I'm going to find positives in the current Charlotte Bobcats, which just might be the worst team in NBA history.

1. This team plays "great" team ball
Watching a Bobcats game shows an obvious lack of talent and experience, but these guys move the ball as well as 2/3 of the league. Guys are constantly setting off balls screens, and whipping the ball around. Their defense has many mental lapses but at least they are talking and attempting to help. I used "great" in quotations because while the team concept is outstanding, all of those open shots created from good off the ball screens and whip around passes are still clanking off the rim. Paul Silas is a very good coach who I feel awful for.

2. These guys are being class acts and professional
Despite a historic losing pace, they're playing hard every game and by all accounts have a relatively cohesive locker room. This unselfishness and professionalism is another testament to Paul Silas and you wonder what he'd do with a much more talented and experienced group.

3. Michael Jordan has finally allowed another individual to make personnel decisions
This actually began at the 2011 draft, Rich Cho (the former Thunder assistant and brief Trailblazers GM) is the Bobcats GM. It's ironic that the last thing he did for the Blazers was fleece the Bobcats out of Gerald Wallace for cap space and a what will be a late 1st round pick (he lottery protected it through 2016). Kemba Walker has shown playmaking ability on offense, and he shows signs of WANTING to make better decisions if he had better options to go to. Bismayck Biyombo really does look like he's got Ben Wallace/Dennis Rodman/Serge Ibaka potential. He's an extremely raw 18 year old who's had a handful of double doubles and 7+ block games. The 2012 top 4 pick and the fact that just about EVERYONE comes off the books after the 2013 season and there's a LITTLE room for optimism

4. This could be the beginning of the end for the Charlotte "Bobcats"
No I don't mean contraction or relocation. Anyone who brings that up seems to either forget, or be ignorant to the fact that the Charlotte HORNETS led the league in attendance 7 years in a row in the 90's... Better attendance than the Michael Jordan led Bulls, better than the Lakers, better than the Celtics. North Carolina is a sleeping basketball giant, don't believe me? Come to North Carolina and tell someone how much you like either Duke or UNC basketball. You will either spark a 4 hour conversation, or a fist fight. But back to the point, new NBA owner Tom Benson almost immediately went on record saying he wanted to change the New Orleans Hornets nickname. As soon as that happened, people started "buzzin" about the Hornets nickname returning. It's no secret that Charlotte was NOT a fan of the 1st owner Bob Johnson and hated the nickname Bobcats just as much (because of the rumors that he named the team after himself). In a poll in the Charlotte Observer asking what name local fans wanted for their NBA team Hornets received 85% of the Vote, whereas Bobcats wasn't even second place (Cougars received 5%, Bobcats 3%). A rebranding of the team could be similar to the Tampa Bay did with the Devil Rays to Rays transition. It sort of "washes the stink off" so to speak. The only difference is if the team becomes competitive, people in Charlotte will support the team.

Ask Grandmama ,Zo, Kendall Gill, Dell Curry, and Muggsy.