What a great time to be a Bobcats fan!  Exciting trades, fresh new faces, and no 30-point losses to remind you of how catastrophically disastrous it was to choose this team to root for—one of many ill-fated decisions you’ve made in your troubled existence that will haunt you night and day, with the only relief being your own inevitable death.  It’s great!  With that in mind, I’ve created my own Summer League Awards:

Best Coaching Move: Mike Dunlap’s 2-2-1 press.

Coach Dunlap believez in the trap, be-lievez in the trap.  And at least for the Summer League, I was totally with him.  The biggest reason for the Bobcats’ 4-1 record in Vegas was because their defense harassed more than Clarence Thomas, forcing 113turnovers in five games.  I understand the importance of developing players in a more realistic defense rather than coaching for wins, and 99 out of 100 times I would argue the same thing.  But coming off a 7-win season is that 100th time.  Besides, even Dunlap doesn’t argue that they’re going with this look full-time when the regular season starts. “When you get into the season, we can take it off; we can do it at times versus certain teams,” he said in Friday’s ESPN Daily Dime.  So long as he can switch defenses as nimbly as he switches speaking in the second person to the first person, we’re all set.

Biggest Bummer: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s injury.

So hero-starved are Bobcats fans that Kidd-Gilchrist’s bravura debut against the Kings was borderline sexually arousing.  18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, 8 boards, 5 assists, 4 steals, +28 for the night.  And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better…it didn’t, because he tweaked his knee and we never saw him again!  Still, I don’t care if it’s Summer League, I’m anointing Jesus Gilchrist as my personal savior.

Well this game was pretty much the Byron Mullens show.  You can’t really have a coming out party during the summer league, as there have been plenty of other high scoring games by summer scrubs you never hear from again.  But in this instance, we started to see many different looks from Mullens that aren’t too familiar to us, outside of when he gets into “Pop-A-Shot” mode from the 3-point line.

I think this was a perfect example of seeing Mike Dunlap’s coaching influence on the players.  Whereas the previous games may have been less structured in order for the team to get their feet wet, this game seemed to rein in Mullens deep-heaving propensity, and started to reveal a more versatile repertoire that we’ve all been begging for since the Bobcats acquired him.

Mullens started out shooting from deep a couple times, but was able to hit early on.  But instead of being satisfied and settling to keep shooting outside, he started to become more aggressive.  After faking a pass on the perimeter, he drove hard to the basket, drew a foul, and hit a 15 foot floater.  Then he started to post up on the block, where he showed nice footwork and the ability to get a couple hook shots off.  He also received the ball at the medium post, and was able to maneuver his way into scoring position for another and 1 basket.

Another aspect of Mullens’ aggressiveness was his work on the offensive boards.  He was able to beat his man to position several times, and used some strength and athleticism to gather the boards and finish through contact for a couple buckets.   He also was able to tip the ball a couple times when he couldn’t corral it himself, keeping some plays alive for others to finish.  This shows that he wasn’t just lazily standing around the perimeter waiting for the chance to launch another three, but that he was actually aware of what was happening on offense and figured out how to get the right spots.  Very promising.

Another criticism of Mullens’ game in the past was him not running the floor hard in transition.  He often was seen just trotting down the court, or trailing the ball handler and spotting up at the top of the key for a three.  But tonight, I saw several times where he made it a point just to get down the floor into the lane, and on one such occasion, he was rewarded with a nice bounce pass from Jeff Taylor for a slam.

Mike Dunlap was an assistant coach for the last 10 years or so, starting with the NBA and going back to the college ranks, then he was hired as the Charlotte Bobcats head coach. Now, he has to fill out his staff of assistants.  The Bobcats have had some interesting assistants over the years.  Mostly determined by need and nepotism (has there ever been a coach that didn’t have a brother/son/relative on staff?) familiarity and someone that’s good at certain positions are what have shaped past staffs, but I don’t know about that with Mike Dunlap.

Like many fans, especially here at BobcatsPlanet.com, I’m hopeful things are going to change.  Not just uniforms, staff and draft picks, but a whole cultural change, starting with Rich Cho and continuing with this still, somewhat, questionable hire of Mike Dunlap.  But let’s hope for the best and assume that Dunlap will surround himself with interesting and influential assistants.

First hire, as far as I know, is Rick Brunson.  Rick Brunson is a young former player, at 40, he played for the Rockets as recently as 2006.  He finished his career and became an assistant/scout 6 months later.  Brunson was the 1991 McDonald’s All-American Game MVP, well, co-MVP with Chris Webber.  He went on to play at Temple and wasn’t drafted but, here’s where paths cross:  he was signed in 1995 in Australia with the Adelade 36ers.  That’s right, for coach Mike Dunlap.  So much for few connections, but there’s nothing really wrong with that.  Team MVP for Dunlap and he was back in the US for a few years at the CBA level, some stints with the Trailblazers and then he became a fixture in the NBA for almost 10 years.  As I said, he must have caught someone’s eye as an analytical player because he was hired at the NBA level as a player development assistant.  That somebody was George Karl, wait, not the George Karl that was so glowing about the hire of Mike Dunlap, was it?  Yes, and Mike was a fellow assistant at the same time in Denver.  Rick Brunson went on to assist at the college level and then was hired to join Tom Thibideau’s staff in Chicago, another good mentor.

After the season the Charlotte Bobcats had last year there really is only one direction for the team to go—up. Assuming that new head coach Mike Dunlap is able to work with young guys at the pro level like he was in college (since the age range is pretty similar I don’t see why not) the team could very well be on the right path to success.

Now I wasn’t a fan of the Dunlap hire when it was announced, but what’s done is done. Like most of you, I’m just going to hope for the best going forward. Should he be able to mold this collection of raw, young talent into a team the Bobcats will be fun to watch if nothing else next season.

Dunlap can’t do it alone. A coach can cover the X’s and O’s in practice and make adjustments from the sideline, but a team needs a guy that can help make those adjustments on the court rather than waiting for a time out. It needs someone who can be a leader and in the case of the Bobcats a teacher on the court.

The team needs a solid veteran presence.

The one they had was traded away; Corey Maggette for Ben Gordon and a future first round draft pick (solid trade in my opinion). Gordon is a good player, and unlike Maggette not injured a lot, but I don’t know if he has what it takes to lead this young team.

You sure it's me and not Higgins? You know, we're both named Corey, mine with an "E"

Oh Corey, sweet, sorry, injured Corey.  We barely got to know you as a Bobcat, and now, you are gone.  Stephen Jackson and Shaun Livingston to swap picks and bring in Maggette, last year on draft day, worked.  It was worth it to get Bismack Biyombo, or was it Kemba?  This time around, Corey Maggette for Ben Gordon and a protected first round pick, might just be crazy enough to work.

My question is, did Cory Higgins demand the trade because he has to be the only person named Cory or Corey on the team?  How would that conversation go?  ”Dad!  I’m tired of the coach saying “Corey, get in the game!” and then he looks at me and Maggette getting up and tells me to sit down!”

No, that probably wasn’t it.  I wondered aloud if this was a trade for trading’s sake, sort of to kick-start the week of the draft.  That was immediately met with “Nah, Rich Cho just loves him some draft picks.”  Very true.  Rich Cho is all about acquiring assets.  As “assets” go, conditional first round picks seem pretty easy to come by, if you have a guy that is that puzzle piece that a team thinks they need.

It’s interesting to me that Maggette was traded the same week as Kevin Youklis of the Boston Red Sox.  If you have read or seen “Moneyball,” you know that Youklis is the “Greek God of walks.”  Similarly, Corey Maggette is the “Greek Sub-God (if that’s a thing) of going to the free throw line).”  When he came in, a quick glance at his numbers would tell any Bobcats fan that he gets to the line a lot for a guy who doesn’t average as many points as a superstar or has the cache to draw fouls like a superstar.  His attempts jump off the page at you as probably the one thing he did really well.

I just finished watching the latest episode of the USA show Royal Pains off my DVR (great show; highly recommend it although they need to put an end to the whole sibling rivalry thing). Afterwards I scanned some of the latest and greatest tidbits on the Charlotte Bobcats (or is it just Cats now?).

In the middle of reading one article about His Airness punching former teammate Steve Kerr at practice back in their playing days I came to a realization.

Michael Jordan is a royal pain.

To be more specific, he is the taller, African-American version of Evan (played by Paulo Costanzo). In the show the two brothers, Evan and Hank, are arguing over the direction of their concierge medical practice. Hank just wants to practice medicine while Evan wants to turn it into a money-making machine.

Separately the two are floundering. Evan knows nothing about medicine while Hank knows even less about business.