When this season started I professed to the world that I would not be another one of those guys that just harped on every little bad thing that the team did. As it turns out, it’s good that I held onto that idea as long as I did; there are just too many things. However, now that my optimism has turned into skepticism I find it hard not to complain about something.

Michael Jordan needs to fire Paul Silas.

Yes, you’ve heard me complain about the man before, but his abject refusal to even try to win a game has me shocked that he’s still got a job. I can’t stand that he’s having his son coach the team. It’s not his job. Paul needs to be doing whatever he can to lead the team to victory. That doesn’t include getting his son experience as a head coach.

This alone is enough for me to fire him if I ran the team. The fact that he didn’t even try to have the team do something when they were only down by five with 14 seconds left Wednesday night against the T-wolves was just absurd. At the least he should have had the guys foul Minnesota and make sure they earned the win.

I could care less that the man came out of retirement to coach the team or that he’s 68; no one made him take the job. Being tired is no excuse to do a shoddy job down the stretch. It’s no wonder that the team packs it in on occasion. I guess the players think it’s okay to pack it in since the head coach does.

Some may consider this no big deal, but I think it is.

The supposed head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats stepped aside Saturday night and let his son—who does happen to be one of his assistant coaches—and let him coach the team. Apparently it was not the first time he’s done this but the fifth. Two of the other times it was because he was ejected; twice it was by choice.

So since it was not the first time that he willfully gave over control of the team it should not be surprising, but it’s the first I’ve heard of it being done. Had I heard about this before, I would have written this piece then.

Paul Silas is the head coach of the team. It is his job to get the players in shape to win the game every time they step on the court. Yes, he has assistants that will help him in the task, but the job and responsibility is ultimately his.

When I read the news that the Charlotte Bobcats had bought out the contract of Boris Diaw I couldn’t help but think that it was about darn time.

All season long we’ve been reading about a guy that plays hard when he wants to; he slacks off; he’s talented; he can’t focus. Aargh! It was like reading a list of reasons why the really dumb kid in class was smarter than the valedictorian!

What always got me was the way that Paul Silas just seemed to accept it. Now some of you might think ‘what else is he going to do?’ The answer to that is easy—for quality coaches. You either get the best out of someone or you bench his sorry behind. Yes, you do have to sometimes have to temper your style to fit the player, but Diaw was not coach-able.

The guy needed to get cut some time ago. There has been little to cheer about in Charlotte this year, but losing is no excuse for the lack of effort that this guy often exhibited. He wanted to be elsewhere? So what. He didn’t like losing? No one does.

When you’re being handed the gift of all gifts, the chance to play a game and get paid ridiculously well for it, you should be happy to be on any team. You don’t get to pick and choose who you get to play with or where all the time.

I’m not a fan of Paul Silas, but I like the way he handled being asked about Diaw leaving:

“I’m not going to say anything about that. We have to go straight up with who we have and we wish him well.”

After living in Indianapolis and suffering through the last NFL season with the Colts I learned how to do one thing really well—enjoy the small victories that come with sucking. If there is one thing that the Bobcats have done real well this year it has been sucking, but on Saturday night they gave us a little something to cheer about.

They actually won.

In case you were not aware, the guys played the Toronto Raptors at home and won by the score of 107-103 (another rare 100-point game). What makes the win remarkable is the way that they did it.

Toronto out-shot the Bobcats, .521 (38-73) to .507 (36-71). The Raptors hit eight of 18 three-pointers; Charlotte only four of nine. The Bobcats were out-rebounded 35-28. So Toronto shot better, shot more, rebounded better, and nailed more threes. Typically when that happens a team is going to win. That is unless they totally blow in one other category.

Fouls.

Toronto could not stop sending the Bobcats to the line. On the night the ‘Cats were sent to the line for 34 free throws, 10 more than what Toronto had. Of course what makes it even better is that they made most of them (31 of those 34).

Coaches at every level of the game always preach fundamentals. If you can get the fundamentals right, then you have a solid base from which to work from. Too often fundamentals are forgotten by players. Since the ‘Cats remembered theirs on Saturday they were able to notch their seventh win of the season.

I think we learned something tonight Sports Fans—the Charlotte Bobcats play better without their coach.

In case you were not watching (don’t even try to lie and say you were; Santa Claus will hear you!), the team was well on its way to another humiliating loss to the Orlando Magic Tuesday night when they were already down by 20 with barely two minutes gone in the second period. Then the craziest thing happened.

Paul Silas got tossed after trying to argue a call (that’s not the crazy part though), and the guys started to play some real good basketball (that’s the crazy part).

They started to make a show of it in the second period when they started to battle back, and even went on a 22-1 run (crazy, I know).

Cory Maggette might finally be living up to the billing he gave himself at the start of the season when he said he was the focal point of the offense with a season high 29 points on the night. As good a his performance was the night belonged to B-mack, Bismack Biyombo. Not only did he do well against Dwight Howard holding him to 15 points and 17 rebounds (that is good against Howard), but he chimed in 10 points of his own to go with 15 rebounds and seven blocks.

I’m starting to see why this guy was so eager to get over here and start playing ball.