So you may have seen the post on the forum about a question and answer session with me and Christian “Norway” Bobcats. We got a bunch of questions, so we decided to do it in two parts. If you have any questions reading it please post them on the forum

Part 1

1) SJackson1: Has MKG got the ability to be an All-Star?

James Plowright: Ability is an interesting word to choose here, has he got the drive? Definitely, but players need more than drive to be an all star. Many compared MKG to Gerald Wallace due to his athleticism, motor and inconsistent jump shot! Now, Gerald Wallace as we all know did become an all star and remains the only Bobcat in history to do so. However, I would argue that MKG has a higher ceiling than GW due to where he is in his development in relative terms to GW. MKG is just 18 and is way ahead of where Gerald Wallace was at that stage in his career and like I said before has the a similar if not even better work ethic than GW. So overall yes, MKG does have the ability to be an all star, but not right now. If MKG does have all star potential, I can assure you with his drive he will fill it to the max.

Christian “Norway” Bodin: It’s hard to tell whether or not MKG’s game transitions well into the NBA. A lot of times players struggle to do the things they did so easily in college, in the NBA. Also there is something to consider, which is the fact that most of his style of play doesn’t show up on the scoreboard. He was drafted out of college as a utility guy, the player who did a little bit of everything. He reminds me a little of a young Shawn Marion who never really did one thing in particular, but was decent at pretty much every aspect of the game, and he is a four time all-star. Another all-star is our very own Gerald Wallace, who did pretty much exactly what MKG was brought in to do. MKG has similar size; similar playing style, is hard on defense, a decent scorer, a good rebounder and a reckless hustler. Not to mention that MKG is better at his craft now, than both Marion and Wallace were at the same age. He also played on a stacked team in Kentucky, where he pretty much only did what the rest of the team didn’t, he was never asked to be the leading scorer, but was asked to help the team in every aspect of the game, which he did, and it led him to an NCAA championship.

So to answer your question; Yes, he has the POTENTIAL to be an all-star. I think one day he could be, if he is ready to take every aspect of his game with him to the next level. “Hard work beats talent, when talent fails to work hard”. He is crafty and with the right attitude, a good coach and hard work he should be.

I am a Bismack Biyombo fan. I didn’t know much about him when he got drafted, but when I read about how he was willing to pay a cool million of his own so that he can come to the U.S. and play in the NBA I couldn’t help but like the guy. It’s not too common in professional sports these days to see someone that eager and excited to play.

There were times that we were able to catch glimpses of the guy that His Airness was hoping to see when the team made him a lottery pick in the ’11 draft. If you’re the type that likes statistics just take a look at his block numbers. He ties Josh Smith for No 8 in the league with 115 (giving him a per game average of 1.83—good enough for No 9 on the season list).

Yes, I know it’s only blocks and there is a lot more to the game than that, but the fact that he was as high up on the list while playing far fewer minutes than every player above him speaks for his raw talents. With the right coaching and guidance the sky could be the limit for this young man. He could be getting both in new head coach Mike Dunlap and recently added veteran big man Brendan Haywood.

Father and Son

The Panthers have training camp in full swing, and we’re sort of covering it over at PanthersPlanet.com, but training camp doesn’t lead to many stories, other than that whole Jeff Otah deal.  Well the Bobcats have training camp coming up too, which will be less hurried and lockouty this year.  The only interesting thing so far is that Scoop Jardine from Syracuse is going to be invited.

Scoop Jardine isn’t really the story.  The roster is at 13 and the other two spots aren’t likely to be filled by a combo guard coming off a broken foot that was unlikely to be drafted anyway.  Scoop Jardine is likely invited, according to PhillySportsLive.com, because of who he’s friends with.  That’s the issue I have, the blogger is pointing to a photo of Jardine with Michael Jordan’s daughter from Facebook, which might be a stretch but it leads me to a larger problem with the Bobcats:  Nepotism.

I know I’m beating a dead horse here.  I think I’ve hit on this every time an assistant is hired, a front office spot is filled or a low-level roster spot is filled.  It just keeps coming up.  You don’t see the Knicks, Nets, Heat, Thunder or Lakers doing this.  Actually, I doubt the Wizards, Hornets, Clippers or Magic do either.  It’s just so obvious and needless.

Dear Mr. Jordan,

I just wanted to take the time here to apologize for a past transgression of mine.

Being the loyal reader of Bobcats Planet like I’m sure you are, you had to have seen my post where I called you a royal pain. Although I stand by my analysis at the time, but after some of the moves of the last few weeks I had to reevaluate what I thought of your ability to lead the team from the owner’s chair.

With my tail tucked between my legs I am glad to admit that I was wrong.

Like many fans, I see the potential in some of the young players that you have in Charlotte, but also like many fans I believed the team needed something more to become competitive sooner rather than later (if at all). At the time I didn’t see anything being done to help the team do anything, but fail once again.

I was not on board with your choice of head coaches. I thought we could have done better. With a 4-1 record after Friday’s loss to the Grizzlies in summer league play the man must be doing something right. I know this is only summer league, and that it shouldn’t hold much weight, but in my mind it tells me that with more time under Dunlap the ‘Cats could be alright (key word—could).

As for personnel, I guess I just needed to be patient and see what could happen. You may not have brought a true blue superstar to the roster, but the team is shaping up. Dare I say it, but I think the ‘Cats look pretty competitive. The additions you’ve made have been pretty good.

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.