Charlotte: Most frustrated franchise in NBA?

[SWedd523]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/081028 (scroll down to #11.)





It's a mess. Everything peaked when Charlotte passed on Lopez, a ghastly move that became five times worse when the Bobcats went 0-8 in the preseason partly because they only had one NBA-ready power forward (Sean May) who showed up so out of shape that Larry Brown announced publicly (I'm paraphrasing), "We have to slow things down and change the way I wanted to play because our only power forward can't run for more than three minutes without potentially puking all over the place."

Shit-List worthy?
Discuss.

[Alex]

He's 100% right. I usually don't agree when he bashes us but come on people? What about that list he has in that article is not 100% true?

As a hardcore fan I disagree with the "fans won't care if team moves" thing but you have to understand he's looking at the city as a whole and the city as a whole really does not care if the Bobcats would pick up and move right now. Most probably would not even notice.

edit: I forgot to mention that I disagree with him on the record. He has us finishing 21-61. I don't really see how that's possible with virtually the same roster as last season plus a "healthy" May and a healthy Morrison and a competent coach.

[Icky Thump]

I hit bottom with this version of a Charlotte basketball team during this past draft myself. One more showing where we had opportunity to make good decisions and in the end made really poor ones (drafting a point when we really didn't NEED one and to top it off trade a future first to take a guy who may never ever really be significant in the NBA). We really did NOTHING to improve our team.

With that, my interest really hit it's low point. Still follow the team and hope for the best but unfortunately my expectations aren't high at all till I see some spark somewhere or some move to show they are actually trying to get better (They did get rid of Biscuit- guess I should just be thankful on that).

[TheBeagle]

If Lopez had been drafted, I'd be in agreement that the draft was a debacle. I will maintain for quite a while at least, that DJ was the best player available when the 9th pick came around, even though I was thoroughly disgusted about passing on Bayless at the time.

As for the article: it's an oversimplification and rehashing of tired Bobcats cliches. Plus, it's from ESPN, so it, by association, loses any and all validity right there!

I do think it's one of the most poorly run franchises in the NBA, but when Bob sells, Stern will hook us up with an owner committed to being an owner of an NBA franchise, and committed to the Carolinas.

[Felton for Prez]

I do think it's one of the most poorly run franchises in the NBA, but when Bob sells, Stern will hook us up with an owner committed to being an owner of an NBA franchise, and committed to the Carolinas.

Because he did that the first time, right?

[playoffs...PLAYOFFS?]

for some reason, the media has decided that we are the worst team in the NBA and charlotte is a sinking ship. i think it is ridiculous. their attitude towards the bobcats has more to do with the fact that LB and Jordan had all sorts of problems at NY and Washington.

Frankly, after watching last night's performance of Portland I feel that their are other teams out there in much poorer shape than us.

Oden is injured again (sprain) and the few minutes he played he seemed completely lost. Their entire team seemed completely lost on offense. Their defense was terrible as well.

They shot an abysmal 34.5% , allowing the lakers to shoot almost 47%

[Felton for Prez]

for some reason, the media has decided that we are the worst team in the NBA and charlotte is a sinking ship. i think it is ridiculous. their attitude towards the bobcats has more to do with the fact that LB and Jordan had all sorts of problems at NY and Washington.

Frankly, after watching last night's performance of Portland I feel that their are other teams out there in much poorer shape than us.

Oden is injured again (sprain) and the few minutes he played he seemed completely lost. Their entire team seemed completely lost on offense. Their defense was terrible as well.

They shot an abysmal 34.5% , allowing the lakers to shoot almost 47%

I love our guys, but I'd trade squads with Portland in a heartbeat. And be honest, so would you.

Keep in mind they were playing the team a lot of folks have picked to win it all.

[Slam]

Drafting Lopez would have solved our PF problem?

I don't get it?

How?

[polarcat]

imo, outside of randolph and maybe bayless, dj was our best choice at #9. did we need to spend a #9 pick on another pg? maybe not, but we did need a pg to push/back-up/replace felts. i don't get how so many have decided that after 8 pre-season games with a new system and coaching staff that dj and ajinca aren't going to be good players. i feel like '08 will be an evaluation year in the biggest way since our inception. questions that need to be answered:

is felts our franchise's pg?
can augustin run the show?
is may's career done?
has morrison turned the light on and finally gets it, or is he a bench/role player?
would trading wallace strengthen this team in the long run?
can ajinca show signs that he can transition into an nba starting pf?
what return can we get if we ship out felton, wallace, and/or morrison?
is dudley capable of starting at the 3 if wallace is traded?

[WAM9]

I hit bottom with this version of a Charlotte basketball team during this past draft myself. One more showing where we had opportunity to make good decisions and in the end made really poor ones (drafting a point when we really didn't NEED one and to top it off trade a future first to take a guy who may never ever really be significant in the NBA). We really did NOTHING to improve our team.

With that, my interest really hit it's low point. Still follow the team and hope for the best but unfortunately my expectations aren't high at all till I see some spark somewhere or some move to show they are actually trying to get better (They did get rid of Biscuit- guess I should just be thankful on that).

I don't know if I have ever disagreed more with a relatively simple post...

You evidently think Lopez was the clear cut choice over DJ at the 9 pick and based on your "opportunity to make good decisions" comment, that Lopez would be the franchise savior. I completely disagree.

We didn't need a point? Really? Did you just become a fan this year? If you have watched for a while, we haven't had 2 good points since Brevin left and even then, Felton was very young and inexperienced. I expect Felton and DJ to be the best point guard duo we have had in franchise history.

You seem sure that Ajinca won't be a quality player in the NBA. I have no idea but he certainly looks to have big potential to me. Also to Larry Brown but what does he know? Saying Ajinca is already a bust is another way of saying that you have no faith whatsoever in Larry Brown or his ability. Ajinca was his selection.

Dealing a conditional first round pick for Ajinca is a clear sign of trying to improve. There are so many people on this board who bitch for change and then bitch about the change when they actually try to improve the team.

"We did nothing to improve our team." We must be watching 2 different teams. I bet if we had won some preseason games you would have a different opinion...I certainly do. We did many things to improve our team in the offseason. Larry Brown, drafting another point and resigning Emeka are just a few.

Your interest has hit a low point...isn't that another way of saying that you are a fair-weather fan? Win or I won't be interested...

I am not trying to be an a$$ here and I'm glad you say you will still follow the team but I have to say that all this bitching and moaning is ridiculous. I can truly say that I expect very good things from this team. Aside from our PF issue, we look to be a solid team. Don't worry though, when we start to win games, there will still be plenty of room on the bandwagon for you.

[Mustachio]

Drafting Lopez would have solved our PF problem?

I don't get it?

How?


ok guys... i think all this undeserved preseason negativity is finally starting to get to Big Slam. I think he is very close to snapping on someone.

So im only gonna ask once for everyone to at least give us till the All Star Break before you start selling the team out again.

Do it for Slam.

[Icky Thump]

I don't know if I have ever disagreed more with a relatively simple post...

You evidently think Lopez was the clear cut choice over DJ at the 9 pick and based on your "opportunity to make good decisions" comment, that Lopez would be the franchise savior. I completely disagree.

We didn't need a point? Really? Did you just become a fan this year? If you have watched for a while, we haven't had 2 good points since Brevin left and even then, Felton was very young and inexperienced. I expect Felton and DJ to be the best point guard duo we have had in franchise history.

You seem sure that Ajinca won't be a quality player in the NBA. I have no idea but he certainly looks to have big potential to me. Also to Larry Brown but what does he know? Saying Ajinca is already a bust is another way of saying that you have no faith whatsoever in Larry Brown or his ability. Ajinca was his selection.

Dealing a conditional first round pick for Ajinca is a clear sign of trying to improve. There are so many people on this board who bitch for change and then bitch about the change when they actually try to improve the team.

"We did nothing to improve our team." We must be watching 2 different teams. I bet if we had won some preseason games you would have a different opinion...I certainly do. We did many things to improve our team in the offseason. Larry Brown, drafting another point and resigning Emeka are just a few.

Your interest has hit a low point...isn't that another way of saying that you are a fair-weather fan? Win or I won't be interested...

I am not trying to be an a$$ here and I'm glad you say you will still follow the team but I have to say that all this bitching and moaning is ridiculous. I can truly say that I expect very good things from this team. Aside from our PF issue, we look to be a solid team. Don't worry though, when we start to win games, there will still be plenty of room on the bandwagon for you.




Dude, to put it lightly you are WAY off base with your post. The fact is coming into the draft our organization and front office had made an enormous amount of mistakes and that was obvious. My point was once more we had an opportunity to really solidify our team with what I felt was a solid addition of Coach Brown and a decent draft pick. By taking ANOTHER point guard that high in the draft this soon says "I just drafted a backup point guard with a lottery selection" (one way or the other a lottery guy is going to be your backup) and yes it may be nice to have two lottery guys back there but we are not in the position to do that in my opinion with a GAPING hole at the PF spot. Ajinca may have some sort of potential but it appears YEARS away. We need help NOW.

What would you rather have right now a solid/good PF with a vet backup at PG and a solid starter in Felton.... or what we have now? We traded away a future first for Ajinca when we need help there now and got a backup point guard out of the draft. Could we have not used our first in this past draft and the future first we traded to get Ajinca to get a quality PF somehow?

These are just a few of the issues that I again didn't agree with coming out of the draft added to those obviously glaring mistakes we've all seen prior to that point left me feeling the way I do. If we can somehow manage to get a quality PF without selling off the talent we have now I'd see it as a definite positive step to right the ship....


Just because I'm disappointed with decisions made and the effort from some in the front office doesn't mean I'm not hollering my lungs out and rooting my ass off for this team each game. I don't think I said that. So just because you think everything is going dandy and I disagree doesn't make your view any more valid than mine. We both have hope that this team will be successful so you can step down off your soap box and take your seat next to mine on this bandwagon ;)

[Muttley]

Drafting Lopez would have solved our PF problem?

I don't get it?

How?

C'mon Slam. It's easy to see that Lopez is tall and was talked about alot on ESPN before the draft, so clearly he would have solved our PF problem.

[DanielWheeler]

Who is to say that Brook Lopez is going to be any better than Alexis Ajinca? Larry Brown teams are emphasized at the PG and he felt Augustin was the real deal so they got him. All i'm saying is...there's 82 games to be played this year and let's see what happens.

[TheBeagle]

Because he did that the first time, right?Wrong. He didn't do that the first time, which is why he will correct the mistake, good intention though it was, to let Bobby have a team.

And Muttley, brilliantly funny post about Lopez and ESPN. +1

[Alex]

Lopez had 8 and 8 tonight with 2 blocks in 25 minutes. Man I really hope we can get that off the bench from one of our amazing PFs...

[kickazzz2000]

Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers were pretty damn good tonight too.

[WAM9]

Dude, to put it lightly you are WAY off base with your post. The fact is coming into the draft our organization and front office had made an enormous amount of mistakes and that was obvious. My point was once more we had an opportunity to really solidify our team with what I felt was a solid addition of Coach Brown and a decent draft pick. By taking ANOTHER point guard that high in the draft this soon says "I just drafted a backup point guard with a lottery selection" (one way or the other a lottery guy is going to be your backup) and yes it may be nice to have two lottery guys back there but we are not in the position to do that in my opinion with a GAPING hole at the PF spot. Ajinca may have some sort of potential but it appears YEARS away. We need help NOW.

What would you rather have right now a solid/good PF with a vet backup at PG and a solid starter in Felton.... or what we have now? We traded away a future first for Ajinca when we need help there now and got a backup point guard out of the draft. Could we have not used our first in this past draft and the future first we traded to get Ajinca to get a quality PF somehow?

These are just a few of the issues that I again didn't agree with coming out of the draft added to those obviously glaring mistakes we've all seen prior to that point left me feeling the way I do. If we can somehow manage to get a quality PF without selling off the talent we have now I'd see it as a definite positive step to right the ship....


Just because I'm disappointed with decisions made and the effort from some in the front office doesn't mean I'm not hollering my lungs out and rooting my ass off for this team each game. I don't think I said that. So just because you think everything is going dandy and I disagree doesn't make your view any more valid than mine. We both have hope that this team will be successful so you can step down off your soap box and take your seat next to mine on this bandwagon ;)

First off, I fully respect all Bobcats fans and realize that each of us are going to have different views on the team. My post was to you, Icky, but it was driven by many posters here. Again, I mean no malice in my post, we just have different opinions. I'm glad to have the opportunity to debate intelligent people like yourself.

With that being said, let me step back up on my soapbox for a moment:)

I disagree with your premise that drafting Lopez would "solidify our team". I do not think that we can yet form a truly educated opinion on whether or not Lopez, DJ or maybe someone else would have been the right pick. IMO Lopez would not be a good fit beside Emeka. To your point of drafting a backup with a lottery pick I would state that the only way Lopez would start for us would be at center and that would push Emeka to PF. Emeka is not nearly as good of a PF as he is a center. I would also argue that if Emeka was going to play PF, Nazr would have started over Lopez anyway. Again, Lopez would have been a backup, just like DJ.

I want a quality PF as much as anyone. I think that that is clearly our teams biggest question mark and area that needs improved. I just don't think the short term answer was available at the #9 pick. Maybe drafting DJ allows us to deal Felton for the right guy and gives us more room to negotiate with other teams. If we all the sudden made a trade that included Felton and netted us a quality PF and veteran point to back up DJ, that DJ pick wouldn't seem so out of sorts, would it?

In hindsight, we have certianly made some franchise mistakes. I was a proponent of drafting Gay and also of the deal that would have gotten us Chris Paul for the #5 and #13. But those deals are water under the bridge and there is nothing we can do about them now. I don't, however, think that these examples mean that DJ and Ajinca were bad moves.

I'm done and will step down off my soapbox now. Thanks for saving my seat on the bandwagon. I'm glad we are on it together. I do have a feeling though that it will be filling up soon. Have a great day and GO BOBCATS!