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.

Last year the Charlotte Bobcats were the laughing stock of the NBA, which was fair enough as they were the worst team in NBA history. Since then we have drafted MKG and Jeff Taylor, and brought in Haywood, Gordon and Sessions through FA and waivers. This team is now a lot deeper and is going to win more games and gain some respect back. However, there is a disturbing trend that I am seeing throughout this organisation.

Earlier this week it broke over twitter that Scoop Jardine may get an invite to the Bobcats training camp. At first, I had to Google this guys name (and what a name it is) to find out who he was, but then shortly after those faithful members of BCP actually pointed to him being the boyfriend of MJ’s daughter Jasmine. This to me is an insult to the organization and to players everywhere. We are doing other players an injustice by not giving them the opportunity. Scoop Jardine will not make an NBA team, the Bobcats giving him a place at training camp is all because of MJ. Now in the past I have supported the front office even in times of mass condemnation. However, this greatly bothers me as the Bobcats have a history of letting friends and family into the organization.

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.

Yeah, keep the t-shirt Kidd.

If I asked you for your ultimate set of maneuvers that shaped the Bobcats roster the day after the NBA Draft, would Ben Gordon, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Jeff Taylor be your additions?  Not many if any would have said “Yes, please!” Incredibly, the second overall pick wasn’t traded, not to any of the 5 teams with standing offers, not to Cleveland for the 4th and 24th or whatever was being offered.  The Bobcats stood pat on both of their picks.  At press time, Adam Silver is still calling names and it remains to be seen if they trade back in for another second rounder, but it’s unlikely.

I’m not as disappointed as many of the regulars to our draft chat.  I don’t think that Rich Cho took the night off or that Michael Jordan had much of anything except to approve what his front office team had come up with.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist isn’t the overall second best player but he might be just what the Bobcats need.  All Chad Ford said in his analysis was “Hardest Worker in the draft.”  He takes pride in his defense and scores enough to seem like he’s got some offensive game.  But no one will accuse the Bobcats of stealing the draft.  This isn’t like a Kevin Durant to Greg Oden’s Anthony Davis, but the Bobcats got a “character,” “motor,” guy to play at small forward, which may be exactly what they wanted all along.

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.

Jeff Siner - Charlotte Observer

I always love when a team unveils new uniforms, because it means we get these adorable, quasi-gay photos of the players fondling each other in them, looking as if they’re about to break into song.  This latest sartorial change to the Bobcats has the added bonuses of a) looking cool, b) taking one step further away from the original toxic orange color that made Brevin Knight look as though he had been dropped in a vat of radioactive Fanta (or just actual Fanta).  Even better, they’ve stripped the “Bob” out of the “Bobcats,” so we’re less reminded of original owner Bob Johnson, a man who remains genuinely miffed that fans weren’t more excited about his 30-win teams that had no regional cable deal, and that he couldn’t get more support from the community (other 100% funding for a brand new $260 million arena).