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If you’re wondering why the line is blank, it’s because we don’t really know who the team is going to be just yet. When training camp opened Friday the team didn’t have more than 10 players under contract. Now of course that number stands to grow in the coming days, but then the question remains who the team will actually sign.

It’s pretty much a given that His Airness is not going to sign any big name talent. I could on about this point at length, but I think my fellow Bobcats bloggers have done a good job in their most recent posts. No need for me to rehash their thoughts. That leaves the question of the day being this—who will the team actually sign?

One guy we know they got is Derrick Brown. If you’re asking who, you are not alone. Without the beauty that is the internet I would not have known myself. From what I can see, it is pretty clear that this guy is filler. If we didn’t like him the first time around enough to keep him in 2009, how will this season be any different?

Luckily, it will not be. Head coach Paul Silas says he doesn’t expect Brown to be more than a reserve player.

Negotiations are still on going with starting center Kwame Brown (yes—I said starting). It is still seems a bit strange to call this guy a starting center or to even say his name without cringing. The man may have started his career in the NBA in dreadful fashion, but he wasn’t bad last year down the stretch. He is not a long-term solution—unless he continues to get much, much better. Only time will tell.

Apparently getting embarrassed in Orlando, Denver and Los Angeles wasn’t enough. The Charlotte Bobcats, missing captain Stephen Jackson, made it a perfect 4-for-4 of disgrace on their road trip, being trampled by the Portland Trail Blazers 93-69. Gerald Henderson led the Bobcats with 16 points, and that’s all you need to say to know it was a bad night.

You know you have a problem, as an NBA team, when the guy that was your third string shooting guard and could not get on the floor is the high scorer for your team. You know you have a problem when you start a road trip and lose the first game by 25 points. I hope the Bobcats know they have a problem, because anyone watching this team knows they have problems. This team, known for defensive tenacity , does not at the moment appear capable of stopping anyone from scoring. The Nuggets had seven players score in double figures. You know you have a problem, if your calling card is defense, when you lose by 40 points. It is unfortunate that Charlotte fans have another 22 games of this until the season ends, because if this team can’t play any better than this…it will not end soon enough.

After the trades of co-captain Gerald Wallace and Nazr Mohammed yesterday, and the requisite waiving of Sherron Collins, Dominic McGuire and Derrick Brown, the Charlotte Bobcats entered tonight’s game against the Sacramento Kings with eight players in uniform. Stephen Jackson, DJ Augustin and Gerald Henderson made sure that wasn’t a problem.

The Charlotte Bobcats came up short last night in the first game of their back to back against the Knicks. In the battle of past and current Bobcats point guards, DJ Augustin more than held his own against Raymond Felton. DJ lit up the Knicks to the tune of 24 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Felton countered with 16 points and 9 assists and had his hands full keeping up with DJ all game.

The Bobcats fell into that familiar pattern that we’ve all grown accustomed to. Start off sluggish, fall behind by double digits in the first half, raise the defensive intensity in the 3rd, then turn it over to Stephen Jackson to hit huge shots in the 4th quarter. While I must admit that watching Captain Jack repeatedly nail illogical three pointers in the 4th quarter is entertaining, I’m pretty sure that it is not exactly how you want to structure your late game offense each and every game. Fun yes, Successful no.

Highlights

As part of the Bobcats/Mavericks trade, we would like to welcome former fan favorite  Matt Carroll back to the Charlotte Bobcats.

In his last go around with the Bobcats in the 2007-2008 season, Matt only saw 14 minutes per game of  court time. At the time, the thought was that his game didn’t really seem suited to be a Larry Brown type of perimeter player ( long, rangy, athletic, defensive minded ).  Although I seriously doubt that he has added those tools to his toolbox, I hope that he does find a way to get on the court in spots and be a productive player this season.

If we’re lucky, maybe he’ll bring this type of play back to town with him.