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.

While I was watching the playoffs this weekend, I found it fascinating how many former Charlotte Bobcats that there were playing a significant role in this year’s playoffs. Since our squad isn’t going to play another relevant game until November-ish, I thought that it would be fun to follow along with some of our former Bobcats brethren in their journey through the playoffs.

First up G-G-G-G-Gerald Wallace ( that brought back memories didn’t it ). In the last few weeks of the regular season Gerald Wallace had been absolutely killing it, even managing a 40 point outburst against the OKC Thunder. Unfortunately for Crash, those good times didn’t carry over into Saturday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. In that game Crash played 38 minutes but only produced 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals. On the bad side of the ledger he had 3 turnovers and had his shot blocked 4 times.

The culprit of a few of those blocks was another former Cat, Tyson Chandler. I’m sure that most of you remember that there are two things that Tyson does well and that’s rebounding and playing defense…. When he isn’t in a walking boot. Saturday versus the Blazers he had a typical Chandleresque stat line. 4 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.

New Orleans is another one of those good teams, coming into last night’s game 24-16, that the Bobcats have to beat.  Well, they had a chance but squandered it by regressing.  Too often last night the ‘Cats fell into old habits of complaining, protesting calls, slowing down the offense and allowing easy baskets off of turnovers.  Biggest single example?  Tyrus Thomas giving the ol’ crook of the arm to former Bobcat Emeka Okafor.  The play resulted in T-Time’s ejection, 2 shots for Okafor (which he made…go figure) and the ball for the Hornets.  81-77 when the rebound occured and 85-77 at the end of that exchange.  Two and a half minutes to go in the game and one act of stupidity results in an additional 4 points that the offending party wouldn’t be around to help get back.

And all through the House, Former Bobcats past and present were getting their groove on, even Primoz Brezec who defends as if he should be wearing a blouse… OK, I know my rhyming skills need some work, but Christmas is right around the corner and as Bobcats fans I think we all need a little something to lighten the mood. So, With that I present to you 3 videos for your enjoyment.

#1 – Raymond Felton, DJ Augustin, Larry Brown, Primoz Brezec, Gerald Wallace

There are many good ways to spend a Saturday evening. Unfortunately for us Bobcats fans, none of those ways involved anything that happened in last night’s Bobcats game.

For starters, we had Emeka Okafor come back to town. Emeka is a nice guy, and to be honest with you he was one of my favorite players during his time as a Bobcat. With that being said, it was more than a little bit painful watching him put up 16 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and 1 steal while playing solid D. The guy that we got for him ( Tyson Chandler ) when we traded him away this summer had a nice suit, a great view of the game from the bench while resting his eternally gimpy ankle… again.

Next was the George Shinn factor. When Shinn ripped the NBA out of Charlotte almost a decade ago, he single-handedly managed to sour the fanbase on the NBA to the point where people are still reluctant to come back. So to watch that little goofy assed dwarf’s Mr. Shinn’s team come back and drop an ‘L’ on the Bobcats was unpleasant to say the least.

Next on my list was watching a rookie fill in for CP3 who was out and not miss a beat with 24 points and 4 assists. Seriously guys, Darren friggin Collison????

Next, puzzling rotations. Let me preface this by saying that Larry Brown knows more about basketball than 99.99% of the human population, BUT his rotations baffle me at times.  DJ Augustin was playing really well ( 5-6 from the field, 5 assists but only 18 minutes ). Nazr Mohammed played Emeka well in the first half but we don’t see him on the court in the 4th quarter with the game on the line, Instead we go small?

The final straw to a rotten Saturday night was the 3rd quarter collapse. They entered the 3rd quarter up by 10, they exited the quarter down by 5. They gave up a ridiculous 36 points in that quarter and the defense looked nothing like the devastating D that we were seeing during the month of January.

All of these factors combined to create a pretty rotten Saturday evening.

What were your thoughts on Saturday’s game?