I think we learned something tonight Sports Fans—the Charlotte Bobcats play better without their coach.

In case you were not watching (don’t even try to lie and say you were; Santa Claus will hear you!), the team was well on its way to another humiliating loss to the Orlando Magic Tuesday night when they were already down by 20 with barely two minutes gone in the second period. Then the craziest thing happened.

Paul Silas got tossed after trying to argue a call (that’s not the crazy part though), and the guys started to play some real good basketball (that’s the crazy part).

They started to make a show of it in the second period when they started to battle back, and even went on a 22-1 run (crazy, I know).

Cory Maggette might finally be living up to the billing he gave himself at the start of the season when he said he was the focal point of the offense with a season high 29 points on the night. As good a his performance was the night belonged to B-mack, Bismack Biyombo. Not only did he do well against Dwight Howard holding him to 15 points and 17 rebounds (that is good against Howard), but he chimed in 10 points of his own to go with 15 rebounds and seven blocks.

I’m starting to see why this guy was so eager to get over here and start playing ball.

What up people, Toocool here with a blog in 2012. Won’t be blogging too much due to my promotion to Mod, where I do my daily duties as a friendly neighbourhood mod. But it’s refreshing after the lockout to wake up at 8:30 am today to watch the Bobcats, more refreshing to see them win. Yes, you might say ‘But we be in tank mode!’ Doesn’t mean we can’t beat a few teams so we don’t go all emo and cut ourselves.

Regardless of whether we be tanking or not, Knicks versus Bobcats was us on the big stage in Madison Square Garden. Many angry Knicks fans were there, Commissioner D. Stern and ex-Bobcat, the man with hands of stone, the rock in the middle, the amazing defensive presence Tyson Chandler. Oh wait…not even Tyson Chandler can help Anthony or Stoudemire’s crapass defense.

But that’s the reason why we won. The Bobcats shot the ball well, and we were allowed to really take whatever we want, and watch the Knicks flounder on defense. We saw guys like Diaw and Hendo hit consistently, with Diaw actually taking shots. Melo and Stoudamire got their usual high points, but they really gave it right back on defense. And well, we lead them the entire way since the first quarter.

(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Box Score

When considering the Bobcats lottery prospects this loss will likely help in ensuring a higher draft pick. In the here and now however, it raises a few concerns.

Firstly, there are few players on the Bobcats who aren’t defensive liabilities. For as much as Augustin gives on offense (26 points, 9 assists), he gives up as much on the defensive end. DJ White is more or less in the same boat. This isn’t a new issue for either, but it’s too bad considering both are off to the best starts of their careers. The rest of team has trouble defending as well, with the Cavaliers scoring 56 points in the paint, and at other times getting too many open looks. The size disadvantage contributes to this, so the return of Tyrus Thomas is needed quickly if this team wants any chance of defending down low.

This was supposed to be Kemba Walker vs. Kyrie Irving, but Walker had his worst game as a pro. Two points on 1-6 shooting compared to Irving’s 20 points and six assists. When looking back, the absence of Walker made a difference. In both of the Bobcats close games, Walker had stretches of play that kept the Bobcats in the game. He may not be a starter, but if the Cats are going to win any games this year he will need to show up.

Diaw has crashed down to Earth after his good start. He looked tired, unfocused and still out of shape. He was scoreless with five rebounds and five fouls, and it was hard to find any justification for him being in the game in the 2^nd half.

After a scoreless first half Henderson got hot in the 2^nd finishing with 16 points and seven rebounds. These numbers are what you want from him, but not necessarily all in one half. The next step for him is to become more consistent.

So we are back training, the coverage from Matt Rochinski on training camp has been pretty good so far. He has managed to get a lot of interviews with players and even one with MJ. However one thing that really frustrates me as a fan is I feel I have seen the same thing over and over. The same vague answers, I have heard them all before. “What did you work on this summer” answer = “errrr everything” or “how is everyone doing at training camp” = “everyone is playing really hard”. These generic answers annoy me, as it’s a chance to see what they have to say and they get away with basically saying nothing. Did you guys see the MJ video? Ask yourself what you learned from watching that, I learned nothing which frustrated me. I am sure he has a reason for giving these “politically correct” answers but sometimes fans just want to here the truth, I would have more respect saying it how it is.

Anyway rant over, it’s been a busy week in the Bobcats front office, I’m going to run through a few of the moves we have made (or haven’t) and give my opinion:

See you later Kwame, and thanks for Stopping by.

Kwame Brown signed in Golden State for one year at 7 million. First of all I want to congratulate Cho, as I think if MJ and Rod were still at the helm we would probably have chased Kwame and paid him. I see this as a success; we are being clever here by not overpaying (because 7 million is way too much). Instead we have signed Melvin Ely, an offensive minded big which should be a bonus as post scoring has always been a rarity in Charlotte. I am not saying this guy will be just as good as Kwame by any means, but he is a big body who hopefully Silas will rejuvenate in the same way he did with Kwame last year.

In the last two seasons of NBA basketball we have witnessed an incredible amount of hype and media attention surrounding the league’s superstars, including LeBron, Howard, Nowitzki, Melo and so on. It seems that a championship recipe these days involves two or three superstars and one full roster of washed up veterans for minimum wages, and it’s done. To some extent, it gets you almost all the way. We all saw the Heat fail to win a championship last year with a roster that included Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, arguably one of the most overpowered big three’s in the history of basketball. At least it should be, and remember, when KG, Allen and Pierce got together, they were past their prime and these guys are just entering theirs. So while all eyes are on Dwight Howard, CP3, and the extremely over-hyped FA pool, I look the other way, knowing I won’t be blinded by this hysteria.

During a solid 2009-10 season for the Bobcats, we had our first All-Star in Gerald Wallace, we had our first winning record, and we had our first playoffs birth.  With all of that momentum, great things were expected for the future.  Then things fell apart.

Before the 2010-11 season even began, Raymond Felton left in free agency and Tyson Chandler was traded for dust and bad contracts.  Then Larry Brown finally weaseled his way out of town after a poor start.  Gerald Henderson, Tyrus Thomas, and Gana Diop were hobbled with injuries, and fan favorite Gerald Wallace was traded to Portland.  The season ended with a 34-48 record and no discernible direction as a franchise.

And just like that, we began our rebuild.