When your team sits at the absolute bottom of the league with a dismal 4-28 record the idea of looking forward to anything other than the end of the season (No 1) seems a little crazy. However, as someone who likes to at least try to find the silver lining in a season better compared to pyrite than an actual precious metal, I do believe we have a few things to look forward to:

The No 2 thing that we get to look forward to is a something that the team has done little of so far this season; we get to start the second half with everyone healthy! Woo hoo!

That brings me to No 3: Our next win will come against the Detroit Pistons on Leap Day, February 29. The Pistons rank towards the bottom of most significant statistical categories too. Part of the blame for the Bobcats ranking so low can be not having many of the starters during the season, but since they are all actually expected to be healthy and suit up on Wednesday I’m predicting a win.

The back of Cory's head--and that Griffin kid.

If you have not watched basketball in the last week, than you have no idea who Jeremy Lin is. To find out all you have to do is turn on ESPN. The Asian Sensation has become the hottest name in basketball as he has stepped out of obscurity on February 4 to lead the Knicks to a much needed win over the New Jersey Nets.

Most of you are probably still asking who this kid is. Well, in a nutshell he could be one of the most perpetually underrated talents. The big schools ignored him even though he was clearly one of the best players in California. Harvard gave him a chance, and he went on to be a two-time All-Ivy League first team player.

Just like after high school, he was largely ignored by the NBA once he was finished playing college ball. He got some interest as an undrafted free agent, and ended up taking less money to go with the Wizards; a year later they kicked him to the curb.

Now he’s led the New York Knicks to a five-game winning streak, and is dangerously close to making them relevant again.

By now I bet you’re wondering what in the world this means to the Charlotte Bobcats. Easy—

Where in the world is our Jeremy Lin?!?!?!

I’ll give you three guesses, but if you need more than one then you must not follow the NBA or watch FOX on Sundays (or any other day thanks to syndication; love them reruns). What’s the answer? Easy—

Low expectations.

Whether you are the optimistic or pessimistic type it is kind of hard not to agree with that. Coming into this season it was pretty easy to see that this season was likely going to be a rough one for the guys. While all the young talent is something to be excited and encouraged about, the team has no definitive leader or focal point.

The good thing is that in time a leader can develop. The problem is going to be in figuring out whom it will be and how long will it take for him to step up. Hence the theme of the post—low expectations (go ahead comedians let me have it).

I would not want to do this often, and I’m glad it is happening in a strike shortened season, but I don’t mind having a year like this. It may sound crazy, but hear me out a little.

I have to be honest. After reading a bunch of stories about the team during the week I was prepared to sit down Saturday night and write a piece on how Paul Silas might be the first coach to go in this abbreviated NBA season.

Personally, I think that we are too quick to call for someone’s job in this league. Guys need a chance to do their job. Anything less than a full season and training camp is not enough time for anyone to show what they can really do. Yes, I know Paul started last season, but he didn’t really have much of an offseason and training camp to work with.

That being said, having watched and followed this league of ours for a few decades I know the signs, and I know that owners/GMs have no problem canning anyone at any time. Some of the things that Silas said this week made me think the end is near:

“… [The starters have] just kind of given up now. I don’t know what to say.”

When asked what he could do to get an ice cold Boris Diaw going: “I really don’t know.”

“We’ve got to have more toughness and we didn’t (Friday). It’s just not a good sign for us.”

Overall, the stuff he said can be viewed as just him being honest about how he feels. What bothered me is that he sounded like he was/had given up. A coach that wants to stay employed is not going to bad-mouth his team too much. What he said along those lines I can live with, but it’s the frequency that he admits to not knowing that tells me he could be going soon.

The Bobcats game against the Knicks was blacked out again for those of us in the NYC-area—and that was the highlight of the week.  That relatively close loss was followed up with increasingly worse results against the Rockets and the Hawks.  Opposing teams aren’t just dribbling circles around Charlotte, they’re dribbling Epcot Centers.  The offense is entirely too dependent on long-range, low-percentage 2’s, and the defense is a full-fledged, catastrophic atrocity.  Teams are scoring on us every which way—through guard penetration, put-backs, 3’s, and however it is that Chandler Parsons put up 20. Oh, and don’t forget the foul line: the Knicks and the Hawks shot freebies a combined 68 times. Meanwhile, with both teams tied at 33 in the second quarter in Tuesday’s game, Houston went on the lamest 10-point “run” ever, featuring a stretch of six straight free throws (they also missed three of them—the entire gruesome sequence should be under investigation by the FCC).  The Bobcats never recovered, nor did traumatized audiences at home.  In short, it was the type of week in which every shot of beleaguered coach Paul Silas’s facial expressions reminded me of the look my dog makes when my wife tries to make him wear a t-shirt.

Typically when I write for sites I try to stay away from negative posts that just bash anything and everything that is wrong with the team. Those kinds of posts are easy to write (because all of us with access to the internet are experts at what we write about), but I think they are not near as much fun to write.

However, there are some occasions in which I feel it necessary to give a virtual b*tch slap to someone who deserves. In this case it would be forward turned center Boris Diaw.

When I read this quote from Paul Silas in regards to Diaw it bugged me:

“He’s good at everything, one of the most talented players I’ve seen at his position. As long as he comes with effort, there are very few things he can’t do.”

As long as he comes with effort? Are you kidding me?!?! The man is supposed to be a professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association.