Damn, I knew I liked something about those throwback uniforms...

Hello, Friends!  And I do mean friends.  After over a year in exile, I, Andrew Barraclough/BIGCatBobcat/theRobertoGato (the original, accept no imitations), am back home at BobcatsPlanet.com.  Ziggy and I talked through our issues, and believe me, they were many (they weren’t really many) and I’ve agreed to come back.  I had one condition however:  my first post back has to have a picture of the hottest Bobcats dancers, on the front page and as big as I’m allowed to make it.  You’re welcome.

If you actually want the sordid details of my time away from BobcatsPlanet, the first and what should have been the only place I ever posted, we can deal with that on a personal basis.  But I will tell you this, I missed everyone here, especially our hero, the man who runs this site “Ziggy.”

We never had any issues, of course he bid me farewell and wished me the best when I thought a special opportunity arose and didn’t say “I told you so,” when I came to him as a friend when I ran into issues.

Can I tell you the area of the photo to the left that is in the window as I type is fantastic?  Just works out that way and if I keep typing, it might go away…

That’s why they made the scroll wheel, right fellas?  Many of you know, me, many of you might not.  Quite a few of you might not even care, but I’ll tell you this, I’m passionate about the Charlotte Bobcats.  If you’re here, if you post in the forums, you are too.  Judging by the TV numbers and attendance (I’m talking about the people who have season tickets or come to the odd game as a Bobcats fan, not these front runners that cheer Miami, Boston, Chicago, the Lakers or the Clippers) we are a select few.  That’s ok.  We’ll be the guys in 10 years saying “Yep, I was there for 8-58 (that’s right, they’ll win against either Orlando or New York),” or “We were on BobcatsPlanet posting from the beginning, or well, yeah the early days.”  We’ll be the old men in the online version of a rocking chair telling the whipper snappers they don’t know how good they’ve got it, when the Bobcats are perennial playoff contenders and Anthony Davis is in that Tim Duncan, waning part of his career after 2-3 championships.

Stephen Jackson has rekindled his relationship with pressure, well when you do what he does to it, it may not be a relationship per se but hey, he did what he did to it and the Bobcats finished on top.  He also put on the belt.  In the way of first time Super Bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers and many a WWE SuperStar before him he made the motion to put on the championship belt.  Kind of over and over, like it got awkward.  I guess when you get down by 16 in the third and battle back to be down by 3 with 15 seconds left, you hit the three pointer to tie with :00.6 on the clock, yeah you can go ahead and put on the belt.

Other than the end of the game, the story was Gerald Wallace, or lack there of.  He was, in my friend Shrader’s estimation, a complete ghost.  He didn’t attempt a shot until a minute and a half into the fourth quarter and that one got blocked.  He ended the game with 7 points, 5 in the fourth, 2 in overtime.  5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks don’t make up for that antipathy towards scoring or attempting to score.  He somehow had the final shot and luckily DJ Augustin was there for the offensive rebound and kick out to Jackson for the tying bankshot.

DJ Augustin had 9 of the Bobcats’ 20 overtime points.  Seriously serious play out of the point guard.  27 points, 12 assists, 4 rebounds (including the all important to close the game) and 4 steals.  He played well against the stout Golden State backcourt on defense.  I wouldn’t attribute holding Monta Ellis below his average completely to him, but he certainly had the hands out on the perimeter to get in passing lanes and break up attempted passes.  DJ is really impressive under Silas.  You can tell he is one of those flow of the game/confidence guys who need the freedom that Silas allows.  Larry Brown taught him certain fundamentals, sure but the halting practice and minescule adjustments and working every play through to its completion, regardless of outcome, all added up to DJ Augustin not living up to his full potential under Brown and the team suffered.

If you’ve been to the arena you’ve seen the huge ring at the bottom of the center video screen advertising LifeLock.  LifeLock is a company that provides identity theft protection, which is certainly important, unless of course, you have no identity.  I thought about that a few weeks ago while I was having one of those “Why aren’t the Bobcats a bigger deal?” conversations with a fellow fan.  This was again thrown in my face, or so I thought, when I went to NBA.com to check the box score.  Check out the video.

I’m sensitive ok?  I thought the man said “To the Hornets in Charlotte.”  I went to NBA.com rather than my usual ESPN.com, see if you can see why.   NO ONE HAS CORRECTED IT!  This tweet by AP beat writer covering the ‘Cats Mike Cranston:  Still happens nightly RT @HawksPRGuy: GAME TIME! #Hawks #Hornets.  When Coach Brown, let’s say left the team, I was watching Dan Patrick’s radio show and they literally had a joke call-in segment to have people name 2 Bobcats players.  His point was that by firing Coach Brown, the ‘Cats were removing the one guy that mattered as far as identity.  Very funny, Bob Costas still owns you.

So worse than the confusion of national and out of town media, the Bobcats have little to no identity on the court.  I have this sense that I never know exactly what we’ll see night in night out.  Look at the final scores:  87, 100, 83, 92, 81, 94, 96.  The leading scorer has been somewhat consistent however, who it is would probably surprise casual fans.  DJ Augustin has been outstanding, truly, and I’m not looking for a diamond in the rough, he’s been a good point guard.  You expect the Bobcats’ leading scorer to be either Stephen Jackson or Gerald Wallace, the all-star from last season.

New Orleans is another one of those good teams, coming into last night’s game 24-16, that the Bobcats have to beat.  Well, they had a chance but squandered it by regressing.  Too often last night the ‘Cats fell into old habits of complaining, protesting calls, slowing down the offense and allowing easy baskets off of turnovers.  Biggest single example?  Tyrus Thomas giving the ol’ crook of the arm to former Bobcat Emeka Okafor.  The play resulted in T-Time’s ejection, 2 shots for Okafor (which he made…go figure) and the ball for the Hornets.  81-77 when the rebound occured and 85-77 at the end of that exchange.  Two and a half minutes to go in the game and one act of stupidity results in an additional 4 points that the offending party wouldn’t be around to help get back.

To Cleveland?  For their trade exception?  And we throw in a first rounder?  Just to be nice?  Question mark?

Adrian Wojnarowski, who I like a lot, is reporting that the Cavs have discussed it, no deal is imminent.  This is another one of those “according to a league source” who asked for anonymity because they’re full of it.  Who are these people?  I understand wanting to be the first and to let fans know about movement before it happens.  I love having the fodder for the forums here as well as something to write about.  What I don’t like or really even understand, is how the entire sphere of media that cover this sport have become rumor mongers and “if this, then this” guessers and hacks like the rest of us.

Is it a good trade?  For reasons of savings and cap value and whatever else?  Yeah, why not?  Gerald Wallace is due anywhere from $19 to $22 million dollars over the next 2 years.  Some places report Gerald gets paid $10.5 every year, some say it ramps up over the years…who knows but the guy is the highest paid player the Bobcats have.  Is Michael Jordan that concerned about saving money that he’d give up the one All-Star on the team for a trade exception?  Not only that but toss in a first rounder?

The idea, as Steve Kyler at HoopsWorld points out, is to get the trade exception from Cleveland then turn it around for other pieces that would help towards another playoff run.  Seems logical, except for the fact that neither Cleveland nor Toronto have been able to do anything with the exceptions they received when their star players each took their talents to South Beach in sign-and-trades.  True, they may be waiting it out until the trade deadline to see what team is most desperate for them.  To me, it’s a foreign concept, trading guys for a slip of paper that says “redeemable for ‘x’ amount of contracts.”  However, the Bobcats shed the final year of Tyson Chandler’s massive deal for Dampier’s non-guaranteed contract, hoo-dooed into taking back Matt Carroll and Eddie Najera.  Unable to trade Damp’s nothing for something, the Bobcats simply cut him, he ended up in Miami and the Bobcats wound up under the luxury tax.