Everyone knows the Charlotte Bobcats haven’t been the most offensively gifted NBA team during their brief history. In fact, even when Gerald Wallace, Boris Diaw and Raymond Felton were around, this was a defensive-minded team that rarely lit it up on the offensive end.

However, if Charlotte plays their cards right and uses the right people, that could slowly change.

They already made a strong effort to get better on that end of the court. They brought in Ramon Sessions to rotate with Kemba Walker. Both guys can shoot and score the ball, and if Walker can’t distribute, we know Sessions can.

The future could also be bright with big man Byron Mullens, who has a nice jumper and mid-range game. Even star rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has some nice potential on the offensive end – although we may have to wait a while to see it really pay off.

But in the here and now, a good amount of the team’s offense is likely to come from the shooting guard position. Gerald Henderson was the starter last year and made a leap in his progression as a player. With a full off-season to further develop, there’s a decent chance he has a better all-around game, as well as a more reliable outside shot.

Bobcats like that word chance. That, or they cringe at the sound of it.

How about a guarantee?

My original plan was to turn from previewing the forwards in the first column to the centers in this column.  But then I saw Gana Diop’s gargantuan landmass body and Louisiana Purchase-sized contract and realized I needed to turn away.  I’m sorry, but I just can’t talk about him yet; there are still too many demons.  Plus I just got through the Tyrus Thomas/Bismack Biyombo combo we’ve got going on at the 4-spot, and to go from there to the Brendon Haywood/Gana Diop platoon at center would be like having to review back-to-back screenings of Battleship and Sparkle.  So instead I’m going to pace myself by hitting the guards next.  I should have a hold of myself in time to talk to the centers later in the week.

As for the guards, to the extent that the Bobcats have a best unit, this is it.  I was thrilled that Charlotte didn’t re-sign DJ Augustin, who had regressed last year and started suffering chronic injuries.  For better or for worse, Rich Cho has shown that he’s not going to overpay anyone.  In the case of letting Augustin walk (or limp out on his cracked feet) and signing Ramon Sessions to a stunningly reasonable 2-year, $10M deal, it’s all for the better.  As the bigger player, Sessions is much more effective at getting to the rim than Augustin was and a more able rebounder and defender.  If you want to be as conservative as possible, you can just consider his time with Cleveland last year and ignore his time with the Lakers, in which all of his stats got turbo-boosted (and, needless to say, Cleveland’s team is a far better comparison to Charlotte than the Lakers).  With the Cavs, Sessions’ eFG% and passing rating were basically on par with Augustin’s, but he took more than twice as many foul shots and held opponents to a PER of 16.5—compared to Augustin’s 19.8.  These might seem like small potatoes, but consider that the Bobcats would have had to make a qualifying offer of $4.4M to Augustin to retain him, and for just $600K more they got a better all-around player who has also played in over 95% of his games since 2008.  The fact that I have had to justify this move more in accounting terms than in basketball terms is admittedly not very inspiring, but just remember all of this when we see Augustin sitting on the Indiana bench for a third of the season, nursing his cracked feet and tendinitis.

We’ve already analyzed the fantasy value of Charlotte Bobcats point guards Kemba Walker and Ramon Sessions. Now it’s time to dig a little deeper and come to a firm conclusion as to which of the two should be the team’s starting point guard.

Naturally, as the lead point guard, you’re expected to be a leader on the team. There is a hope that you’re vocal, can come up in clutch moments, and play a big hand in the outcome of the game. However, the actual importance of the said starting point guard can differ greatly when that role is semi-split down the middle with another point guard. It’s not as effective. It lacks consistency, and it can keep one or both of those players from realizing their maximum potential – in turn hampering their maximum impact for the team.

That’s why the Bobcats need to give the majority of the minutes to Kemba Walker.

I don’t dislike Ramon Sessions. On paper, he’s a better natural passer than Walker is. In fact, in just about every way (on paper, at least), Sessions looks and feels like the more consistent, polished player.

No franchise in recent history has been maligned as much as our Charlotte Bobcats have been. After a 7-59 season you can say that it is kind of warranted, but why dwell on the past?

The one thing about a team that has fallen down as much as the Bobcats have is that it has to go up; there is nothing else for it to do. This is something that has to be done franchise wide too; not just on the court, but in the front office, the scouting department, etc.

Basically, the business of basketball has to improve as much as the product on the court.

I’ve written a few posts to this degree as have others on this site and all over the internet, but the product in Charlotte is going to be much better this year. With all the players that have been brought in this off season as well as a new coach it is hard to believe that the team will not do better this year.

That just leaves the business of basketball. So far I’d have to say that it is getting better.

I’m not privy to the inside track of what His Airness is doing or intends on, but there are a couple of moves that I think speak well of the direction the business side of the team is going.

First there are the new uniforms. Personally, I dig the darker navy blue. I think fans will find them easier to match up with other things, and that will encourage sales. It might seem silly to say that fans will buy more because it will match other things, but it’s true. I can see fair weather fans being more apt to buy something they think they will look good in.

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.

I’ve already profiled Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as an NBA player. I’ve come to a fluid conclusion; that he’s not going to be the savior for the Charlotte Bobcats, but that he will eventually be a huge part of a turnaround. It may take some time, but I firmly believe that it will happen.

But that doesn’t mean that he can’t make a sizable impact in the fantasy realm in there here and now.

MKG is slated to start as a rookie, and he should be fed minutes like crazy barring awful defense and/or foul trouble. If he can keep his hands clean for the most part, I’m expecting around 30 minutes per game, with a chance at 10+ shot attempts.

It’s important to note that this isn’t his team yet, though, and that minutes may not translate right away into a smooth jumper, consistent outside range, or elite overall numbers. Just ask Evan Turner. Or maybe ask MKG’s new teammate in Charlotte, Kemba Walker.