Envy

I commented on this in our forums yesterday, but I typed a sentence that from the beginning of time through about 2 weeks ago has likely never been typed before. Here goes:

I am envious of the Memphis Grizzlies and their organization

There, I said it. It’s out of my system. The Grizzlies have managed to take out one of the two premiere franchises of the last 15 years… And they did it with their best player (Rudy Gay) out of the playoffs with an injury. They were younger, faster and quite a bit more physical than the San Antonio Spurs for the majority of the series. Their win was not a fluke.

They have young talent with Mayo, Conley, Gay, Gasol and defensive stopper Tony Allen ( hmmm, does he remind you of anyone in particular) . They are not in contract Hell, they play with energy and with the return of their best player next season they are certainly a team on the way up.

As a Bobcats fan, it would be an amazing experience to be in the position that the Grizzlies are in right now. But for now, I’ll just have to settle for being envious.

Any other envious people here?

While I was watching the playoffs this weekend, I found it fascinating how many former Charlotte Bobcats that there were playing a significant role in this year’s playoffs. Since our squad isn’t going to play another relevant game until November-ish, I thought that it would be fun to follow along with some of our former Bobcats brethren in their journey through the playoffs.

First up G-G-G-G-Gerald Wallace ( that brought back memories didn’t it ). In the last few weeks of the regular season Gerald Wallace had been absolutely killing it, even managing a 40 point outburst against the OKC Thunder. Unfortunately for Crash, those good times didn’t carry over into Saturday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. In that game Crash played 38 minutes but only produced 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals. On the bad side of the ledger he had 3 turnovers and had his shot blocked 4 times.

The culprit of a few of those blocks was another former Cat, Tyson Chandler. I’m sure that most of you remember that there are two things that Tyson does well and that’s rebounding and playing defense…. When he isn’t in a walking boot. Saturday versus the Blazers he had a typical Chandleresque stat line. 4 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.

DJ Augustin’s play this year, has been full of peaks and valleys, much like the Charlotte Bobcats’ season. On Monday night in New Jersey, DJ broke the hearts of the Nets’ faithful by draining the game winner with just over one second to play in the game. Both teams exchanged blows throughout the night and alternated lead changes a few times. In the end though, the Bobcats prevailed due to outstanding efforts from youngsters DJ Augustin, Daunte Cunningham and Gerald Henderson. Cunningham, who was acquired from Portland in the Gerald Wallace deal, dropped a team-high 21 points, as he is looking to turn some heads on the Bobcats coaching staff for next season. Gerald Henderson continues to show that he was more than worthy of his draft selection two years ago as he contributed 14 points. Augustin finished the game on a double-double with his 19 points and 11 assists. For the Nets, Brook Lopez led all scorers with 31 points as he abused Kwame Brown and Boris Diaw down on the block all game.

I had concerns about this Bobcat team from the first day of the season. When you see that an NBA team only has two legitimate starters on the roster, and one of those two players  is traded during the season, you have the makings of a frustrating campaign. Gerald Wallace was traded; and the other valid NBA starter, Stephen Jackson, has been hampered with a hamstring injury for weeks. Boris Diaw, the ‘Cats starting power forward, shows up to play when he “feels” like it. Center Kwame Brown has shown solid games but still lacks consistancy. DJ Augustine has not proven himself, at least to me, to be a starting NBA point guard but more of a sixth-man back-up type NBA player. The result of this rather motley crew are home losses to other bad teams like the Pistons.

The Bobcats have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention after losing to Orlando. The ‘Cats were once again playing without the injured Stephen Jackson, but Gerald Henderson shined with a 32 point night for Charlotte. The Bobcats had four starters, DJ Augustine the lone exception, score in double figures. Surprisingly, offense was not the problem for Charlotte as they shot a reasonable 46.4% from the floor and an outstanding 90% from the free throw line. They could not stop an Orlando team that shot 53.9% from the field. The loss does leave the ‘Cats fan base looking toward the draft now that the playoff hunt is officially dead.