When your team sits at the absolute bottom of the league with a dismal 4-28 record the idea of looking forward to anything other than the end of the season (No 1) seems a little crazy. However, as someone who likes to at least try to find the silver lining in a season better compared to pyrite than an actual precious metal, I do believe we have a few things to look forward to:

The No 2 thing that we get to look forward to is a something that the team has done little of so far this season; we get to start the second half with everyone healthy! Woo hoo!

That brings me to No 3: Our next win will come against the Detroit Pistons on Leap Day, February 29. The Pistons rank towards the bottom of most significant statistical categories too. Part of the blame for the Bobcats ranking so low can be not having many of the starters during the season, but since they are all actually expected to be healthy and suit up on Wednesday I’m predicting a win.

I thought I’d use this All Star Break as a nice chance to gasp for air in this waterboarding session of a season and not write at all about the Bobcats for a weekend.  I didn’t feel like examining this team’s first 30-odd games of the year anymore than I feel like examining my own rectum.  But I was inspired by Gregg Easterbrook of all people.  For those of you lucky enough to have not stumbled on him, Easterbrook spews forth his recurring “Tuesday Morning Quarterback” column on ESPN during the NFL season, in which he peppers his pathological hatred for large football-centric colleges and drafted football players amongst random outer-space factoids and ponderous, in-depth critiques of terrible sci-fi shows that nobody likes in the first place.  He also loves to theorize, and does so with arrogant certainty—which is funny, because one of his go-to theories is that a team or a coach failed because they “angered the football gods.”  Probably the only reason I keep reading his columns is that he fills me with that sense of shame and disgust that I can’t get anywhere else during the Bobcats offseason.

Anyway, I was looking over one of the TMQ’s Easterbrook shat out towards the end of this NFL season, and it featured one of his typical pseudo-lectures, this one being on why football has become such a hit on television.  Here were his five reasons:

• Football is America’s most popular sport
• Football is a great DVR sport
• Football is live
• Women are acquiring more social and economic power
• Only men can understand flat-screen HD TV remotes

That may seem hard to say (or believe) when you take a look at the body of work that thee guys have put in on the hard-court leading up to the All-Star break, but in this case I’m not talking about the game of basketball at all.

I love sports. I love watching the games while hanging out with the guys drinking a few beers. I love telling stories that paint me as a college/pro prospect when my talents were nowhere close to either.

What I especially love about professional sports is when players and teams show that they realize that they are special, but not in an egocentric way. I love it when they show appreciation for the unique opportunity that they have. Playing a game for a living is something that most people would like to do, and they get to do it.

The Bobcats might be failing miserably on the court, but this week they proved that they have their hearts and minds in the right place off the court.

In Monday, as part of their “Cats Care” program the team donated a massive refrigerated mobile pantry to the Second Harvest Food Bank in Charlotte (valued at $125,000). Of course a mobile pantry is worthless without food so they donated $125,000 in food as well.

“When I first took over the team one of the things I wanted to emphasize was for the Bobcats to connect back to the community,” team owner Michael Jordan said. “It’s a very beautiful truck and hopefully it’s going to serve a lot of people. We feel deep in our hearts that we owe back to the community for what the community has done for us.”

Well folks, our season is firmly down the drain.  Many of you have given up all hope on this season, and that is perfectly understandable as it seems the majority of the team has done the same.  On the bright side, college basketball conference play has been in full swing for a couple of weeks now.  That means each player’s respective strengths and weaknesses are fully apparent, and the mock draft sites are beginning to come to a relative consensus on what the order will be come draft night.

Now with our “rebuild” being in full effect, the draft has become a vital aspect to our future success.  You may remember us doing a consensus BCP Mock Draft in the past, and we will do the same when it comes closer to the actual draft night.  But with us being at the halfway point to the season, I felt that it was as good a time as any to unveil our own work.

My opinions likely won’t match up with what the popular draft sites out there have to say, nor will they necessarily follow along with your own personal thoughts.  And that is absolutely okay as there is a comment box below this post, and a forum ripe with discussion on the topic.  So feel free to share your thoughts!  Without further ado, I present to you:  The BCP Mock Draft v1.0

1. Charlotte Bobcats Anthony Davis (6’10″ PF, Kentucky, Freshman)

Reasoning:  Davis has largely cemented his position as the clear #1 pick in the draft.  He has incredible defensive instincts that rival our own Bismack Biyombo, and the pair would instantly form one of the most formidable defensive tandems in the league.  Offensive production may be an issue, but Davis has shown the ability to be a threat on that end of the floor.  Comparison–young Kevin Garnett

2.  New Orleans Hornets Andre Drummond (6’11″ C, Connecticut, Freshman)

Reasoning:  The Hornets have holes all over the place.  Eric Gordon is their main building block, and he has an impending contract dispute to handle.  In situations like these, it is hard to pinpoint exactly where they could go.  But as of now, it’s fairly certain that they’d go with Drummond.  He hasn’t been nearly as impressive as many thought he would be, but it’s hard to not see the potential with him.  He can potentially be a game changer on both ends of the floor if he “figures it out”.  Comparison–Amare Stoudemire

3.  Washington Wizards Thomas Robinson (6’9″ PF, Kansas, Junior)

Reasoning:  Washington is another tough team to figure out, but for an entirely different reason.  The Wizards have a ton of young talent that simply has not been able to put it all together for whatever reason.  They could go a bunch of different ways with this pick, but Robinson is picking up a lot of steam with his productivity as a double double machine.  Despite not being the best fit or best player on the board, he seems like the type of player they would go with.  Comparison–J.J. Hickson

Over the last few games Charlotte Bobcats rookie Bismack Biyombo has shown everyone a small glimpse  of what we have to look forward to from him. In the last 3 games he is averaging 10.3 rebounds and a jaw dropping 5 rebounds per game. When a rookie puts up those kind of numbers, everyone takes notice. Take a look at what people are saying. And remember you can watch every Bobcats game in 2012 with NBA League Pass on DIRECT TV.