Charlotte Bobcats, Worst Team In NBA History
Do You Think He Get's this pissed in staff meetings?
I’d like to pick this thing apart like an autopsy. The Bobcats 2012 season was dreadful. I guess you have to still call it 2011-2012 season, because the Bobcats actually played 3 games before New Year’s Day. But does it really matter?
Actually, yes. It does matter because likely the most significant positives came in those first two games. The Bobcats actually won against Milwaukee in that first game, and former Bobcats Stephen Jackson and Shaun Livingston. The next game, it took a Dwayne Wade last second shot to beat the young Bobcats. Wade showing “the Superman” to Cam Newton, who was in the crowd, hopefully cheering on his hometown Bobcats, was an indelible image from the season.
No, those were the salad days. When the season was young. If you look at the big picture of the season, you see one glaring, overwhelming, undeniable truths that will likely not be pushed aside for years, if ever: The Charlotte Bobcats are the worst team in NBA history.
“The worst,” isn’t defensible. You can’t make claims like “Well, they show some promise and if it weren’t for….” No, you can’t defend the Bobcats of the 2011-2012 season. Epic futility, even in a shortened season, with a young team in flux, isn’t able to be cast aside like it was expected or a link in a chain of events that was somehow planned.
Tanking couldn’t be the reason for the lowest winning % in NBA history. Michael Jordan claims that the Bobcats weren’t even going for the most ping-pong balls. So, worst in the league, not a goal, worst ever? Far from it. I still argue we’re talking about Michael Jeffery Jordan here. He’s one of the world’s greatest competitors. They invented the quote “I don’t care if you’re playing basketball, checkers, tidly-winks or whatever, he hates to lose,” about the owner of the Bobcats. But, we all also know that his exploits as owner and executive haven’t come close to what he did as a player, even in his time with the Wizards. That says a lot. Read More…
Portrait of Bobcats Fan Sells for $120 Million (Part 2 of Blogcat’s Season Recap)
First of all, I apologize for this stupid headline, but I had to change my original idea at the last minute once I saw that Travis had titled his latest article, “Who Can Lead the Bobcats Out of the Cellar?” His was too close to what I was going to use: “Who Can Lead the Bobcats Out of the Gimp Trunk In the Cellar?” Anyway, this is Part 2 of my recap of the season, and as I see that there haven’t been any news developments in the past week (nope, the team’s still a flaming wreckage), let’s jump right into it. As I did last week, I’ll continue in the order of minutes each player played. Also, as I did last week, I’ll try to finish the article without hanging myself:
Byron Mullens (1,465 minutes played) – Let’s start with the good: Mullens, some tall, unknown hayseed from Oklahoma City suddenly popped up days before the season began, looking for a job. I actually picture his arrival in my mind as very similar to Axl Rose stepping off the bus in the “Welcome to the Jungle” video, complete with a piece of straw sticking out of his mouth. From there, with absolutely no expectations whatsoever, Mullens had the team’s highest unadjusted +/- (+3.74). Moreover, he and Reggie Williams were the only two players on both of the team’s positive adj. +/- 5-man units (post-Boris Diaw). Of course, this is all thanks to his unique long-range scoring ability. This is NOT thanks to his defense or rebounding. I was about to severely criticize his 5 RPG average…until I saw that it was second on the team (I’ve got to pace myself). If Mullens can toughen up and/or get paired with a certain game-changing rookie at center whom I won’t jinx by mentioning (hallowed be thy name!), next year could be awesome! If not, next year could end up with him tied to a chair and screaming for his life in front of a bunch of television screens showing graphic images of police brutality, with Corey Maggette hovering over him and telling him that he wants to watch him bleed.
Who Can Lead the Charlotte Bobcats Out of the Cellar?
It may seem hard to believe anyone can say this, but I like the Charlotte Bobcats. I think this team has a lot of promise and a whole lot of very young talent. I can see this team along with whoever they get in the coming draft at least being competitive next season.
Keep in mind, I just said competitive in a general sense. It would take the mother of all turnarounds for these guys to become post season bound, but you never know. The Rams were supposed to suck when they won the Super Bowl back in 1999.
The difference maker for the Rams then will be the same for the Bobcats next season—coaching. Paul Silas may have been good at one time, but last year he was awful beyond words. You can blame injuries and a lack of experience, but I think he wanted to win as bad as Kobe Bryant wants to run the Amazing Race with Shaq.
So who’s next?
A veteran head coach would be something the fans would love to see. Last season they had no reason to go see Bobcats home games other than to check out the opposition’s superstars and the Lady Cats (because those ladies have great personalities). A veteran would give the fans reason to believe that the team will improve; it will give them a reason to buy tickets.
Bobcats GM Higgins Narrows Coaching Search Down to “Somebody Who Wants to Win” (Part 1 of Blogcat’s Season Recap)
Last week, the Bobcats decided not to bring back Coach Paul Silas for the 2012-2013 season. Though it should be noted that they’re keeping him on as a consultant, which—given this team—is arguably a crueler thing to do than simply firing him. Anyway, the search is now on for his replacement. Besides the qualities mentioned in the headline, GM Rod Higgins told the Charlotte Observer’s Rick Bonnell that the Bobcats are looking for someone who views the job as an “opportunity” and stresses that he doesn’t necessarily have to be an ex-NBA coach. Bonnell somehow found this gibberish insightful enough to produce several articles’ worth of analysis, including one with an elaborate 3-legged stool metaphor. Poor Rick.
And speaking of “stools,” let’s talk about last season. Now that we’re a week removed from harmful exposure to the carcinogenic 2012 Bobcats, yet still comfortably far off from the lottery, it’s time to reflect on what has happened…before the slowly-but-steadily increasing anxiety at the thought of losing the lottery completely devours my brain like Kahn’s ear worms in Star Trek 2. Like my midseason recap/toxicology report, I’m going to go through each player in descending order of playing time (which also means I’ll be going through each player in descending order of my mental sanity). We’ll see how far I can get, but chances are we’ll have to break this column up into a few parts; otherwise I’ll just collapse to the floor and start laughing hysterically like Tom Hanks in The Money Pit. Here we go…
Coach Paul Silas – Okay, he technically didn’t play, but that’s okay, because he often technically didn’t coach either. Still, a few words are in order for our dearly departed coach. In his defense, he had a lineup that was intentionally terrible (thanks to management), and he lost the 6th most man-games to injury (side note: hey, look at that, we were among the league leaders in something!). But in his “offense” (?), what’s Paul Silas known for? Okay, other then looking more confused on the sidelines than Katie Couric after a Sarah Palin response? He’s known for rebounding and toughness. So at the very least, he should have instilled those characteristics in his team. And in this endeavor he completely failed; the Bobcats were 28th in overall rebounding rate and allowed the most shots at the rim of any team. The frontcourt couldn’t have been less intimidating if they had decided to start every game off with a reenactment of the video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It).” So for this reason alone, I have no problem with letting Silas go. Also, his contract was up. Also, with a potential superstar rookie coming on board and some big name coaches available, it’s probably better to start fresh…Oh yeah, and also, this was the worst team of all time.
Would Harrison Barnes be the Consolation Prize or the Booby Prize?
For those that have been paying attention, yes, I have been on a ‘who should they draft’ kick for the last month. With the team doing as poorly as they did, it was getting to be a little too depressing to talk about it. At least in the end the team did one thing right and got rid of Paul Silas.
Going forward (since it is too depressing to look back) it appears that the Charlotte Bobcats are virtually guaranteed at least one talented player. Odds are good they’ll get the No 1 pick and highly likely that they will at least get the No 2 or 3.
What if they the basketball Gods decide to spit on Jordan the Owner since he was so successful as Jordan the Player and the ‘Cats get a later pick in the lottery (all the way down at 4)?
Most of the predictions and mocks that I’ve read all said the same person is expected to go No 6—North Carolina small forward Harrison Barnes. On the off chance that the Bobcats happen to be at the 4th spot or if they trade down a few slots, should they pick him and be happy?
Absolutely not.
I didn’t watch much North Carolina ball last year or the year before (I live in Indiana; I think there’s a law against watching anyone but IU and Butler). To talk about this guy I had to do my research.
Everyone says he has the body of a NBA small forward at 6-foot 8-inches and 210 pounds. Most people call him athletic (there was a couple that said he lacked athleticism). The 7-foot wing span is nice. People said one thing in many ways, but when you cut through the crap all they were saying was he’s a good shooter.
Paul Silas, Out As Bobcats Head Coach
"What the hell man? Can't have the worst win % and come back?"
I thought it was strange, early in the year, when there was a meeting that apparently absolved Paul Silas and his coaching staff of all responsibility of the misery heaped upon the franchise through epic losses. I thought Silas might see the Bobcats through whatever was coming after this horrible season, but I was further confused when I heard Marv Albert and Mike Fratello on the TNT broadcast basically sealing Silas’s fate as Bobcats’ coach.
They said, basically, that Silas could come back to the team, in some aspect, but likely not as the head coach. This was confirmed today, by Rick Bonnell of the Observer. For all we know, this could be Paul’s decision. He has had health issues, some serious and he’s no spring chicken. If you ask me, however, this was simply a case of not rewarding a guy who led the worst team in NBA history. Read More…
