Many of you have probably been asking yourselves, “What has Blogcat been doing all summer?”  Many more of you have probably not been asking yourselves that.  Or if you were, you were probably hoping the answer was, “Getting impregnated by a hideous alien and then watching in horror as the writhing monster fetus is extracted from his belly via a futuristic self-surgery chamber.”

And you wouldn’t be far off!  Because speaking of watching things in horror, what I’ve actually been doing is writing an e-book (entitled–what else?–The Breaks of the Wind) on the 2011-12 Bobcats.  Remember them?  Unless you are one of the lucky few whose health care covers lobotomies, of course you do!  Well, you can now purchase my e-book here for the low, low price of $1.99.  And I promise this isn’t some lame rip-off move in which I just compile a bunch of my old entries.  Nope, I’ve added dozens of curse words, recoils, cringes, dry-heaves, and shudders, all of which are befitting for the NBA season equivalent of a gory exorcism.  Enjoy!

Now it’s on to the next one!  I must admit I’m not optimistic about the Cats this year.  In fact, I’ve been putting off thinking about the 2012-13 season for as long as possible, hoping instead for some kind of divine intervention, such as a rogue planet entering our orbit and colliding with Earth, rendering the entire human race extinct, and leaving NBA commissioner David Stern with no choice but to lock out the players again.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that’s happening, and now I’ve got to accept that there will be a season.  Therefore, it’s time to do some previewing and predictions.

Some of you may have read part 1 of mine and Christian “Bodin” Norway’s Q & A session earlier in the week. However, the response was great the only way we could answer all the question in the detail they deserve was to split the article in two, so here it is. Part 2.

1) Isguros: What’s your opinion about not re-signing Derrick Brown, was it to clear cap space in order to sign a big free agent or do the bobcats think Jeff Taylor will be a better player this season?

James Plowright:  One thing Cho has repeatedly emphasized is he wants is flexibility, this is why he was rescinded rather than going for a big FA signing. I think just having the roster spots open and saving 3 million on CAP space is the reason. Derrick Brown was never going to be the make or break of this franchise, I mean as much as like his pre game dancing and his highlight dunks he is a rotation player. I actually think he made quite a few strides last year, he started rebounding at a better rate and began to hit the midrange jumper. But, you can see the roster changes we have made this offseason, it has been close to a total overhaul and for that to happen you need flexibility. We had not drafted Jeff Taylor (28^th June) when we rescinded Derrick Brown’s QA (18^th June). So it is not like the front office picked Taylor over Brown. However, in answer to your questions, yes I think Jeff Taylor will be a better player this season and throughout his career. Taylor is a much better defensive player, can guard 1-4, is a better shooter and is still pretty athletic.

Christian “Norway” Bodin: I’m not sure I like it really. He is showed a lot of promise last year and could be a valuable rotation player this season, especially if injury strikes either MKG (which is likely with his slim body at this point) or Jeff Taylor. I personally think Jeff Taylor could come in and do as well a job, if not better than Derrick Brown, but Brown is bigger and better inside, where he could play some 4 when going small. I thought we would keep him to play the scrap minutes at the three. As far as clearing cap-space, he would still be in his rookie contract if he resigned. It was a qualifying option, and it doesn’t seem like a lot of teams are willing to pay a significant amount of money on him. It might have been that they were trying to negotiate for someone, but failed to get it through, and maybe they will invite him to training camp and give him a new contract, who knows. Either way, I think giving him a final year would benefit us so I didn’t really get it.

Yeah, we're exasperated too!

The Charlotte Bobcats are churning.  Like, if you’ve ever made a salad all in one bowl, starting with the dressing, churning it up from the bottom, that’s the kind of turning over the Bobcats are currently engaged in.  It makes me, as a fan entrenched in my own obsessions and what I think the team should look like, almost nostalgic for the past.

D.J. Augustin and his weirdo “inside source”  are now gone, from the team and from our message boards.  Corey Maggette, the latest line in a long line of middling “stars,” gone in favor of a much younger Ben Gordon and a draft pick.  Paul Silas, not retained, a new coach that no one had heard of is now the much ballyhooed head coach that every fan hopes will turn things around.

First of all, I apologize for this stupid headline, but I had to change my original idea at the last minute once I saw that Travis had titled his latest article, “Who Can Lead the Bobcats Out of the Cellar?”  His was too close to what I was going to use: “Who Can Lead the Bobcats Out of the Gimp Trunk In the Cellar?”  Anyway, this is Part 2 of my recap of the season, and as I see that there haven’t been any news developments in the past week (nope, the team’s still a flaming wreckage), let’s jump right into it.  As I did last week, I’ll continue in the order of minutes each player played.  Also, as I did last week, I’ll try to finish the article without hanging myself:

Byron Mullens (1,465 minutes played) – Let’s start with the good: Mullens, some tall, unknown hayseed from Oklahoma City suddenly popped up days before the season began, looking for a job.  I actually picture his arrival in my mind as very similar to Axl Rose stepping off the bus in the “Welcome to the Jungle” video, complete with a piece of straw sticking out of his mouth.  From there, with absolutely no expectations whatsoever, Mullens had the team’s highest unadjusted +/- (+3.74).  Moreover, he and Reggie Williams were the only two players on both of the team’s positive adj. +/- 5-man units (post-Boris Diaw).  Of course, this is all thanks to his unique long-range scoring ability.  This is NOT thanks to his defense or rebounding.  I was about to severely criticize his 5 RPG average…until I saw that it was second on the team (I’ve got to pace myself).  If Mullens can toughen up and/or get paired with a certain game-changing rookie at center whom I won’t jinx by mentioning (hallowed be thy name!), next year could be awesome!  If not, next year could end up with him tied to a chair and screaming for his life in front of a bunch of television screens showing graphic images of police brutality, with Corey Maggette hovering over him and telling him that he wants to watch him bleed.

The good thing about having one of the lottery picks in the coming draft is that it is hard to go wrong with whoever you pick. Every player that will get taken in the early part of the first round is bound to make a difference on whatever team they happen to land on.

That is exactly what the Charlotte Bobcats will be hoping when it becomes their turn to choose from this year’s crop of future stars.

When you have a team that has played as poorly as the Bobcats have this season you’d think that the team could just put a bunch of names on a dart board have His Airness close his eyes and throw. If that dart were to land on Andre Drummond (center, UConn Huskies) would it be a good choice for the ‘Cats?

Drummond was one of the best players in the country coming out of high school in 2011. ESPN and NBADraft.net had him rated as the No 1 player in the country; Rivals.com and Scout.com had him No 2. If the NBA was still drafting kids straight out of high school he would have gone in last year’s draft.

Should the Bobcats take him he could very well be the center that the team needs. He has the size of an NBA center standing 6-foot 11-inches and weighing in at 275 pounds. He could be a tough defensive presence down low, is known for being a solid rebounder and shot blocker, and has a decent (and improving) offensive game.

The man can play; that’s a given, but do the ‘Cats need him? What about Bismack Biyombo?

Quite a lot it seems. When it was announced Derrick Brown (UPS) was coming back to the Bobcats it was met with much joy from the fans as many were sad to see him leave. UPS was a fan and player favourite who we never planned to lose as we were going to claim resign him. However, the Knicks claimed him off waivers at the last minute and he was lost. After doing nothing in NY he came back to the Cats this summer to fill the role left by Dante “weed” Cunningham who left forMemphis.

When Derrick came back many expected the same player. Someone who can’t really shoot and isn’t a great defender or rebounder but can make a good highlight play such as this:

However UPS has been much more than just a highlight player this year, he has evolved his game to where he is effective on both ends of the floor.

Brown has brought great energy off the bench this year, but along with that has come production which he lacked in the past. His rebounding numbers are at a career high both defensively and offensively, and if you watch the games you can see how much he tries to get those offensive boards. Rebounding is definitely a skill in the NBA and UPS is beginning to realize that and is using his athleticism to become more active. UPS never had a quick release on his jumper and it was always fairly unreliable, the slow release is still there but I he has become more reliable in that mid range region this year and has shot it when open. His field goal percentage may not be as good as it was in his first few years but that is because he didn’t do anything but dunk. However, even with adding that mid range jumper his FG% is still at a very respectable .515%. UPS is a great example of a guy who knows what he can do and knows his role he doesn’t try things he shouldn’t and most of the time makes the right decision.