I’ll give you three guesses, but if you need more than one then you must not follow the NBA or watch FOX on Sundays (or any other day thanks to syndication; love them reruns). What’s the answer? Easy—

Low expectations.

Whether you are the optimistic or pessimistic type it is kind of hard not to agree with that. Coming into this season it was pretty easy to see that this season was likely going to be a rough one for the guys. While all the young talent is something to be excited and encouraged about, the team has no definitive leader or focal point.

The good thing is that in time a leader can develop. The problem is going to be in figuring out whom it will be and how long will it take for him to step up. Hence the theme of the post—low expectations (go ahead comedians let me have it).

I would not want to do this often, and I’m glad it is happening in a strike shortened season, but I don’t mind having a year like this. It may sound crazy, but hear me out a little.

Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson was deeply perturbed that his team lost to the Bobcats. “We didn’t show up,” Jackson said. “Somehow my guys didn’t come out ready to play.”  C’mon, Mark, your team’s not better than that.  The Warriors have long tried to unburden free market offense by eliminating defensive uncertainty, and on Saturday the Bobcats took full advantage of the deregulation.  As much as I would like to think that coach Silas’s decision to insert Kemba Walker into the starting lineup stimulated our flow, I’ll be much more convinced when it works against a team whose defensive strategy doesn’t revolve around Nate Robinson taking ridiculous dives against DJ Augustin as if he had just tried to tackle Earl Campbell.

Not that I’m complaining!  After the previous night’s disembowelment at the hands of the Pistons, I’ll take what I can get.  Greg Monroe and Jonas Jerebko ate our front court alive on Friday, and for awhile on Saturday it looked like the only thing that had changed were the names—to David Lee and Andris Biedrins.  But Biedrins mysteriously vanished after just 14 minutes of playing time (Did he hurt his ankle?  Was he kidnapped by aliens and returned to his home planet of Ken Doll Hair?), and the Warriors foolishly abandoned going to Lee down low.  Why?  I don’t know, because when you check out his shot chart of makes in the first and second quarters, it looks like someone emptied a Tek-9 a foot away from the rim.

Gerald Henderson has taken the next step, and moved into the starting lineup for the Bobcats this season. As many predicted, he has been a stellar performer through this seasons 7 games. Still we are all expecting his numbers to go up as the season continues. I myself am more than confident in this kid, and expect him to be a starter for this team for years to come. He has been a poster boy for professionalism, energy, athleticism and work ethics since he first put on a Bobcats Jersey, and now he has taken the next step and is showing improvement in every field, showing us that he will become a genuine starter. The debate on how good he is and can be has been going on in the forums, blogs and in Matt Rochinskis gameside chat room. How good is he defensively, offensively and how much hustle does he bring to the table? I usually like to analyze things by the eye, and personally I think he is an explosive scorer and a great all around defender. But lets run the numbers, (I did that for us) how has he been matching up against the opposing shooting guard in these last 7 games? How has he been defensively and offensively? I ran the numbers, and you might be shocked, or maybe not.

(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.

That’s right people, The Charlotte Bobcats are a mere 65 wins away from putting together that mythical 66-0 perfect NBA season that the city of Charlotte and the NBA has been buzzing about. Who gives half a crap about that funky little 16-0 that the Green Bay Packers were working on in the NFL this season, when you have a team like our Bobcats on the verge of such a legendary season… Um, yeah.

There were plenty of heroes in tonight’s game versus the Milwaukee Bucks.

• For starters we had our point-center-pseudo-smallforward or whatever the hell he is Boris Diaw playing all over the court and racking up a near triple double. Boris had 9 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 blocked shots for good measure (my fantasy team humbly thanks you).

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.