To make Bernie Bickerstaff’s job easier for him and because I’m such a nice guy,   I went ahead and made out an offseason “To Do” list for several members of the Charlotte Bobcats. By following the action items on this list, the Bobcats should come back stronger in 2006-2007 and actually challenge for the #8 spot in the East.

Emeka Okafor – Get closer to your college playing weight, 275 pounds is too much for your frame and in all likelihood was a major contributor to the ankle injuries that plagued you all season. Improve your low post offense skills, 40% shooting for somebody who is going to hold down the power forward spot simply isn’t going to cut it.
Gerald Wallace – Work on your perimeter offense, If the Bobcats draft Adam Morrison or Rudy Gay then you may be bumped over to shooting guard, so get your game ready just in case.
Raymond Felton – Nothing… Continue to do what you do. Your progress over the course of your rookie season showed that you may very well be this team’s first All-Star.
Brevin Knight – Get used to receiving  backup point guard minutes or else work out a deal for a trade. This is now Raymond Felton’s team.
Primoz Brezec – for God’s sake, learn to play a little defense. Just once, for kicks try blocking a shot or popping somebody with a forearm. If you’re not familiar with the concept then check out NBA-TV for examples.
Sean May – Stay out of Dairy Queen, Avoid Krispy Kreme at all costs. Spend your offseason getting into legitimate NBA shape, then come back next season to prove that you can do the same things at the NBA level that you used to do for the Tarheels.
Matt Carroll – Each night at bedtime, Pray for  coach that will give you some consistent minutes.
And last but not least…
Bernie Bickerstaff – Set up a news conference to announce that you plan to resign as head coach and begin to lead the search for your replacement.

Recently Bernie Bickerstaff said that this was Brevin Knight’s team and its up to Brevin to decide when he wants to step down or be traded. As far as playing time, anybody that has seen Raymond Felton play at all over the past two months can see clearly that this team performs at a higher level with him running the point. With Felton running the show, they play a more uptempo pace thats clearly more suited to the Bobcats roster. I have a hard time understanding in this situation, why the coach doesn’t do whats best for the team instead of whats best for the ego of one of his veteran players. Theres nothing to gain by giving Knight heavy minutes, because by the time this team becomes competitive, he’ll be long gone.

from a trade standpoint, to allow any non superstar player on a building team absolute veto power over potential trades is irresponsible and counter productive from a GM standpoint. On an expansion team like this, you have to willing to deal players that aren’t part of your core long term plans in order to stockpile young talent.
Lets hope that management grows a spine in the near future and stops catering to their favorites.

The latest rumor has Tubby Smith of the University of Kentucky replacing Bernie Bickerstaff at the end of this season as head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats and Bernie Bickerstaff moving upstairs to focus solely on his General Manager duties.

The positives of this are, we would get Bernie out of the head coaching position. We all know that Bickerstaff is certainly not the guy to coach this team for the long haul , theres no record of him ever elevating his players and making them play above the level of their talent which is what the truly great coaches are able to do. This is also the offseason that the Bobcats may actually make a significant move in the free agent pool. Adding a quality free agent along with a high draft choice that could possibly be an Adam Morrison or a Rudy Gay , will increase our overall talent level tremendously. Because of that we’d be much better off with a coach that is “more suited” for a team with a higher talent level.

The negatives of this is really just one. Tubby Smith is a college coach. Hes a very talented National Cahmpionship winning college coach, but the fact remains He IS a college coach. The list of superstar college coaches that have entered the NBA and failed is a long one. The NBA graveyard is littered with “great” college coaches like the Rick Pitinos and John Caliparis of the world that were supposed to come into the NBA and tear the league up. We’ll have to wait and see what the Bobcats decide to do, but In my opinion I would take a seasoned NBA assistant over a college coach any and every day of the week.