Can you rebuild if you never finished building?

[BigMike]

Can you rebuild if you never finished building?
Several times this week I have seen people suggest we shut it down trade away our best players for $$, parts or Picks and start rebuilding the team. My problem is that I don’t know what they mean.

Lets look at the Cats year to year.
2009-10 44 38 .537
2008-09 35 47 .427
*2007-08 32 50 .390
2006-07 33 49 .402
2005-06 26 56 .317
2004-05 18 64 .220

Ok let’s break it down:
04-05 Inaugural year, ya, 18 was about right.
*New Orleans and Atlanta finished the same or worse then us.

05-06 26 wins made us a low rent full fledge NBA team.
*Atlanta, NY and Portland finished the same or worse then us.

06-07 – While this was our teams 3rd year and we did improve it was also the 3rd year with Bickerstaff as our head coach. I liked Bernie and he was a great option for the first two years but getting things started or cleaning up a mess is his forte in this league not long term work.
*NY, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Boston, Sacramento, Portland, Minnesota, OKC and Memphis finished the same or worse then us.

07-08 – The year we all wish didn’t happen. It was a waste and set us back a long ways.
*Milwaukee, NY, Miami, Clippers, Minnesota, Memphis, and OKC finished the same or worse then us.

08-09 – Finally moving back in the right direction but with most of the team traded away during the season there was no flow and we ended up 4 games out of 8th in the east.
*NJ, Milwaukee, Toronto, NY, Washington, Golden State, Minnesota, Memphis, OKC, Clippers, and Sacramento all finished the same or worse then us.

09-10 – Last year, still a lot of roster movement during the year and all of the drama around the team being sold but we managed to lock the 7th seed on the playoffs.
*More then half the league finished the same or worse then us.

That’s good right?
If you are willing to throw out the fine ham biscuit year, and lets be honest that year did more harm to the team then good, we have had steady growth. Moving from a young franchise with a questionable owner and a temp coach to a solid NBA team with a rock for an owner and... well, still a temp coach, but in a good way now!
So what are some of our down sides; We have some very bad contracts. The new rule enforcement is hindering two of our best players and our coach. We are stuck in the strongest division in the NBA last year. (4 of the 5 teams in the South East were in the playoffs last year and 3 of them are all but locked to go back this year and we are stuck playing them all 4 times!). Our draft picks have not been the best. And our coach is not guaranteed year to year.

So where do we go from hear?
As a fan I know some of you want to just burn it all and start again but there is no way the front office is going to let that happen. On the verge of becoming profitable the ‘cats need a team on the court that is a playoff contender every year for at least the next two years. The extra TV coverage from the playoffs, sold out games down the stretch if we are in the hunt as well as in the playoffs if we are good, and the added season ticket holders every year after a playoff berth are the CASH that the teams needs to get around the financial bend.
More importantly with Brown and Jordan leading us we are no longer the butt of jokes on ESPN, and NBA TV actually jumps over to our games for more then a single play in their coast to coast coverage. The huge contract this year with SportSouth was a leap forward in viewership. Slowly, we are building the league wide respect will help us in free agency, TV coverage and attendance. Jordan is building the Bobcats BRAND.

In the end…
Jordan wants a team that he can own for the long haul and I want a team that my 4 year old sons can be proud to root for when they are teenagers. So lets all respect that the team is actually already in the midst of their first building mode, lets not rush into Rebuilding. It is hard but take a step back and separate what you WANT the team to do to get better and what they HAVE to do to still be here in 5 years.


GO BOBCATS!