The one thing about the beginning of the season is that everyone literally starts on the same plane. Prior to the first game of the season everyone is undefeated and theoretically has just as much of a shot to get to the Finals as the next guy.

Of course in time realism sets in as the teams start to play and the men quickly begin to separate themselves from the boys.

Until that moment happens though one could make a positive argument for the future of any team until it loses. So with that in mind I feel the need to pose what I think is an interesting question—

Should we get excited over the Charlotte Bobcats season opening win over the Indiana Pacers?

The easy answer is yes, because after all a win is a win is a win is a win, right? Indiana was one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference last season with a record of 42-24 and is expected to be pretty competitive this season as well. Anytime you beat a team of that caliber is reason to be happy.

Never, let me repeat, NEVER, have I been this optimistic before the NBA training camp started. Honestly, I don’t know where to start. Well, let’s just start at the top. Micheal Jordan, hey what can I say? He truly made several outstanding decisions this offseason. Here’s the top four in my book:

1. Signed Coach Dunlap – I haven’t had the priviledge of meeting him yet, but I can already tell you, this guy is the real deal folks. He’s a runner and in great shape, so he leads by example, not with his chops. He has that Drill Sergeant look and demeanour, but is a people person at the same time. He will fire up the troops, and get them ready for battle!
2.  Great Draft  (even if it wasn’t his pick) he still allowed Cho to draft Kidd- Gilcrest and Taylor, arguably, our best 1+2 picks in any draft we’ve ever entered. (No knock on Kemba and Bismack, these are two future “very good” players, I just think these 2 guys will have a larger impact their rookie seasons than they did. Seeing all 4 of them on the court at one time during some game is something I’m really looking foward to. That’s when I’ll know, we are on our way!)

It may seem a little strange, but the basketball season is not that far away folks. Training camp is right around the corner (early October I believe). First up for our Bobcats in the preseason will be the Washington Wizards. We open the regular season at home against the Indiana Pacers on November 2.

That’s not a whole lot of time.

Now the NFL has been kind enough to play some games of their own leading up to the beginning of the season to keep us occupied (thanks guys!) so before you know it will be time for tip-off!

Personally, I can’t wait for that first game to start for a couple different reasons. First and foremost so we can officially put that dreadful 2011-12 season behind us for good. I guess technically it already is, but I think we will not really be able to put it out of sight and completely out of mind until the new Charlotte Bobcats step on the court for the first time.

We’ve got reason to be a little excited this year folks. It would be pretty difficult for the team to match last season’s record so we can only get better. Like you I’m not looking to except a slew of 10 point losses over the 20 point ones, but I don’t think we are going to be that bad this year.

I think we can surprise some folks.

Michael Jordan is the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.  Now that I’ve said that, I think the following has a place on this site.  In all honesty, this is the deep dark off season.  I Google-News the Bobcats every couple days or so, I check twitter of course, and there’s nothing going on.  I decided to check ESPN.com, knowing they sometimes link to stories on the team-page that I might not come across otherwise.  Sure enough, they had a story there, that I would have likely never read or come across.

There are a couple headlines:  ”Granderson: Michael Jordan’s Obama fundraiser 22 years after Harvey Gantt,”  and “The political Michael Jordan.”  The article is by LZ Granderson, who I’ve never heard of and don’t know anything about.  At first glance I thought it was Liz Granderson but it’s not, it’s LZ, a man and a black man at that, from what I can tell.  I consider myself post-racial, so I can point things like that out.  Read the article, it’s semi-interesting in an off-season desperation sort of way.

Right now, the only Bobcats news you’re going to get is related to the DNC at the arena or this little story about Michael Jordan hosting a fundraiser for President Barack Obama.  Actually, if you have the auto-play enabled on ESPN.com you’ll see a little debate on whatever that show where they have the old guy take the wrong side of an argument over and over, stating that David Stern and Jordan are both involved in the Obama re-election fund. 

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.