I can’t think about this anymore so here it goes:

I started by writing something really, really mean:

Kwame Brown, welcome.  No, you know what?  YOU ARE NOT WELCOME!  Go back to Georgia, throw some cake at somebody, do whatever it is you were doing!

We don’t need another reclamation project.  Don’t let MJ fool you, I speak for the greater good.

Then, I realized that was pretty mean and unnecessary.  The guy can’t help where he was drafted.  He can’t help that he was the first guy “hand picked” by The Greatest Player to play the game.  After all, it’s only the league veteran minimum.  $1,352,181, enjoy it Kwame, you may not see that kind of money ever again.

I laughed and scoffed at the Theo Ratliff trade, or whatever it was.  Larry, Michael and Rod seem to want bodies, even as I say “want” I feel like they would more take/accept than actively want players.  Sherron Collins, Dominic McGuire, Tyrus Thomas (re-signed), Shaun Livingston and now Kwame Brown coming in as free agents.  Erick Dampier, Matt Carroll, Eduordo Najera coming in via trade for Tyson Chandler and Alexis Ajinca?  I’m so confused.

Some owners have been remarkable in their efforts to get certain players in their team. I’m sure some of you will remember the Pizza Hut commercials in the 1990s that made fun of the money Jerry Jones spent to get Deion Sanders on the roster; Redskins fans are likely wishing Dan Snyder didn’t money whip Albert Haynesworth so bad.

With those two guys in mind, I have to wonder what His Airness, the great Michael Jordan, was thinking when he agreed to sign Kwame Brown to a one-year deal worth $1.3 million.

Today The Charlotte Bobcats have signed Polkadelic rapper Kwame to an unguaranteed contract.

Details Here

Wait, Hold on a second… You’re telling me that it’s not this Kwame

But this one?????

This mixup in Kwames is indeed puzzling… Which Kwame would you prefer suiting up for the Bobcats?

Stay tuned to this site, more detailed and less tongue in cheek analysis of the Kwame Brown signing is on its way very soon.

After reading further through the forums I have to say that I am impressed with most of the comments; the readers here are obviously well informed about their team and are not shy about sharing their thoughts.

That being said I have a question or more of an observation of sorts that I would like to present; I will be very curious and a little eager even to read your comments.

The concerns at point guard are clear. Whether or not the team should have let Raymond Felton go we will not truly know until the season gets going and we see what D.J. Augustin and Shaun Livingston are able to accomplish.

Stephen Jackson appears to have found a home after his first season with the team. Last season he had career highs in points per game (21.1) and rebounds (5.1; tied with 2008-09 season for career high), and seemed to compliment Gerald Wallace well.

At the forwards, with Wallace and Thomas, the Bobcats should be deadly next season. Anyone that averages a double-double over the course of the season is just a joy to watch in my book (18.2 points and 10 rebounds). In Tyrus Thomas’s short time with the team he showed some real signs of promise, and will likely be even better after going through his first training camp with the team. With Boris Diaw coming off the bench the Bobcats will not be hurting for quality play at the forwards.

However (and this is where the question comes in), I don’t know if I could say the same for the center position.

I was a little surprised that they traded for Erick Dampier from the Dallas Mavericks for one. Many of you in the forums have referred to his salary; while I recognize that as a concern, I think his play is questionable as well. His best days are well behind him (2003-04 with Golden State). His numbers have been in a steady decline along with his health. If the Bobcats could dump him on someone else through a trade I don’t think anyone would cry.

Then again the other options the team has on the roster really aren’t much better. Nazr Mohammed is obviously not a scoring threat for the team nor would he likely to be called upon to do so with players like Wallace and Jackson on the court, but he does not exactly provide the team with many second chance opportunities (2.0 offensive rebounds and 3.3 defensive rebounds last season).

DeSagana Diop is a big ole’ boy and maybe he’ll produce better than he has with more minutes. In 11 seasons in the NBA he has never averaged more than 19 minutes a game and has had the lack of production to go with it. He is definitely a much bigger body than two of the guys that the team has let go elsewhere, Theo Ratliff and Tyson Chandler.

Diop could do well as the starter. Having been in the league for 11 seasons now does not exactly make him an old man, but he is not a spring chicken either. However, when you look at his stats he has not played a whole lot over the span of his career so he can’t be beaten up too bad.

I do not write this to just bad mouth the players that the team has on the roster, and I don’t have a solution to offer either. Mostly I am interested to see what the Bobcat loyal think about their centers and what the team should do (or not do) about the position. Should they stand pat with what they got and see what happens or is there a player available in free agency worth picking up?

In my short time writing for this site I have noticed that there are lots of concerns at point guard. As a fan of the team I liked Raymond Felton and was sad to see him go; he was not great, but he was good enough.

I’ve noticed that many of you that participate in the forums are skeptical of D.J. Augustin; having Shaun Livingston as his back-up does not help either. The bad thing is that the Bobcats are within reach of becoming a perennial playoff contender if the right pieces can be found and then kept on the team.

In a previous post I reviewed the coming crop of point guard talent that the team can look to pick up in case Augustin and Livingston do not work out this year. However, what I should have done is looked at a young player that the team just signed, Sherron Collins.

Before you click off this post and curse my name for being an idiot just bear with me. Yes, I am fully aware that he went undrafted in the last draft and was forced to sign as a free agent. Conventional wisdom says that this guy must not be that good otherwise someone would have drafted him. I would like to suggest that maybe he was simply overlooked.

Most of the big name talent in college does not stay in the NCAA for long. Too many of these guys are so eager for their payday that they do not get the benefit of honing their craft in college before trying to be a pro. I am sure that most of these players simply think that they are talented enough to make a roster and get paid so they might as well and just hone their skills in the NBA.

While there are some guys that can get away with that each year, I think that the majority of them flop succeeding in getting a nice paycheck, but then diluting the game with their sub-par talent.

Then you have guys like Sherron Collins. We know he is talented; no one plays for Kansas one year let alone four without being one of the best. Prior to going to college, Scout.com had him ranked as the No. 2 point guard in the nation.

Plenty of talented players go to college every year and never pan out or even play. Collins was not one of those guys. From his freshman season (2006-07) till his final year (2009-10) he was heavily decorated and recognized often for his stellar play and leadership on the court. You name the award and he was probably nominated for it if he did not win it.

Tack on being a part of the 2008 National Championship squad and winning 130 games and you have a young man that is no stranger to winning and playing at a high level.

However, the slew of awards and all the victories are not what impress me most about Collins. He’s a smart kid. One of the many things that he was recognized for in college was academic achievement. Being willing to study in class can definitely translate into studying his game as a professional.

Staying in college can work for anyone if you use it to your advantage; I think Collins did. Gaining the experience in higher pressure games with the Jayhawks (of which he saw plenty over four seasons with the team) will only benefit his game at the pro level. Being coached by one of the better coaches in college basketball for four season dos not hurt either. In fact, I would say that not only does it show that he want to improve his game, but that he can be coached (unlike some of these guys that enter the NBA early and think they are God’s gift to the hard court).

Collins has shown that he cares about the game and wants to excel at a high level; perhaps with the right tutelage that desire can be used to mold him into a starting point guard in the NBA.

There are plenty of guys that get drafted and flop as well as go undrafted and excel (and vice versa). If Augustin and Livingston struggle early we may find out which one Sherron Collins is.

Across the forum there have been several people calling for the Front Office to trade Diaw now we have Tyrus Thomas on a starter’s contract. I think if Diaw was traded no one would argue with it or say they never saw it coming, considering he was almost traded to Toronto. However if Diaw was not moved before the start of the season there would be some benefits.

Throughout Diaw’s career, he has always been one of the most versatile players in the NBA and can quite literally play any position. I’m not saying Diaw is anywhere near as effective playing PG as he is playing PF but if there was a shortage on the roster at any position after the DUST chip (Erick Dampier) has been traded/waived then this could benefit the team and save some head scratching.

As the Bobcats stand we have 3 Point Guards and 3 centres (including Dampier if we re-sign him) which very few in the NBA would call starter material. Last year one of LB’s favourite and most successful line-ups was going small with Diaw playing centre. Due to Diaw’s above average ball handling skills this could also help with our unproven guards, take some of the pressure off them, and let them develop more freely.

Diaw has been the bobcats’ roster for a long time (in bobcat’s world where time passes at twice the speed as the rest of the NBA). He knows the coach, the players and the system. if a large trade did go down Larry Brown would have to teach half the roster the plays again which I’m not saying is a bad thing as the trade may bring the pieces we need, however it would be an inconvenience.

I recently found this quote by Boris Diaw after France’s recent loss to Canada ““They played more aggressive than us,” Many bobcats fans were annoyed at Diaw’s nonchalant attitude and lack of enthusiasm. I do not know if this is an American term but maybe…Hopefully the “penny has dropped” (if not just ask)

I am not saying I want Diaw to stay or I want him to be traded, I try to look at everything the bobcats do and find the positives, you have no choice as a bobcats fan!, I see this as a win/win situation; if Diaw goes then we get some new pieces to add to the team, hopefully some good ones. If Diaw stays then as I said in the above there could be some positives.