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Wed11

5th year franchises

Posted by on Mar 11, 2009 in Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Toronto Raptors | 0 comments

In my quest for context with this whole success thing that the Bobcats seem to be having lately, I’ve looked to the other previous franchises in their early existence. I’m really curious to see how we line up. There doesn’t seem to be a blueprint or any type of standard that has been set. No team comes into the league and lights the world on fire out of the gates. Here’s a short synopsis of what I’ve found so far:

1988 Charlotte Hornets – The team we’re all probably most familiar with, except the young guys on the board here. Kelly Tripuka was the instant offense, Mugsey Bogues and Rex Chapman were the stars, then came Kendall Gill but no big win totals even though it was the hugest thing ever for this city with every game selling out for 9 straight seasons and season tickets accounting for about 20k seats a game. It was a different time, first time for this city with any major league professional sport and really, no one knew how bad these guys were. 20 wins, 19 wins, 26, 31 then finally in their, hey wait, it was the 5th year that they broke out onto the scene with their largest win total behind the strong play of Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning, then a rookie. The next year, no playoffs but the year after was the best year until Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets went and had the best record in the West. So, lesson there: draft well (Gill, Johnson and Mourning) fill in with role players and you might make the playoffs in the 5th year. Pretty easy to draft well when you hit the lotto once and then get the 2nd overall with Mourning. Notice there’s no mention of coaches, that would probably be because the Hornets didn’t have any to speak of until Bristow and he was a one hit wonder, never to coach again that I know of.

Hornets: first 4 years nothing, 5th year playoffs and a freak first round win.

1988 Miami Heat – Miami had a bit harder go at it. I’m not sure why but they were placed in the Western Conference to start out and their road trips had to be the worst. Rony Seikly was their top rookie the first year and they finished with 15 wins, only to match that last year, the year after winning their championship but I’m skipping ahead. 18 wins the next year and 24 the year after, basically by adding Glen Rice, who coincidentally led the 2nd wave in Charlotte with the Hornets. The 4th year the Heat actually made the playoffs with Rice, Seikly and Steve Smith, who was a rookie that year and also coincidentally came to Charlotte in the expansion draft and then was sent back to Miami to be a part of the Championship team. Playoffs year four, not in year 5 back in year six and they’ve been on the up and up ever since. You could always tell when Miami was good or bad by when Pat Riley was coaching. Things started going bad so he fired himself and put Stan VanGundy in after a 25 win season in 02-03 then when they were good again he took over for VanGundy, then he backed out towards the end of last year when they were really bad and in full tank mode trying to get the first overall pick. I like Miami. They faught throughout the ’90s with the Knicks, that makes you cool to me.

Heat: First 3 years worse than the Hornets but Playoffs in year 4.

1989 – Minnesota Timberwolves – The Wolves have had a pretty hard time. They haven’t had a whole heck of a lot of luck and when they did put some pieces together, they lost in the first round of the playoffs. Really, they should have changed their name to bounced in the first. It’s hard to pick on them because they’re the first team we’re looking at in the Western Conference and also because they’ve never done anything. It’s like picking on the chubby kid in gym class. You may like him, but he’s not that good at anything. But you know they’ll hit a high point and maybe they’ll get that one magical day playing hockey or something and score like 5 goals, never to duplicate it again. Minnesota played their first season in the Metrodome, which is huge and I know you’ve seen the piece they do every year before the Final Four about how it throws you off playing in a huge arena. Tony Campbell(?) was their leading scorer and I really couldn’t name any other players except for their horrible drafts where they had to take Christian Latener and they wound up with Isaiah JR Rider somehow. That’s it. Just look at their chart on basketball-reference.com You can tell where Kevin Garnett came in and thus the first round losses, one good year where they made it to the Western Conference Finals and now they’re bad again.

T-Wolves: NOTHING UNTIL YEAR 8!!!

1989 – Orlando Magic – Other than Charlotte probably the team you know the most about. Orlando got some star power early and played pretty well until Doc Rivers lost them, as he might have in Boston before the never-fail gift of last season. They parlayed that year into Dwight Howard. Anyway, the first few years was basically a whole lot of Nick Anderson, Scott Skiles and a little Sam Vincent and Reggie Theus. I actually read where Sam Vincent was injured and that was part of the reason the second season went a little down hill. How do you like that, the most I’ve heard about him in any capacity than holding back a good team as a coach. Anyway, in the win department they went 18, 31, 21 and then the Diesel came to town. This guy is a big deal, we all know that now. He was the first rookie since MJ to make an All Star game. He tore down entire basket stanchions, he was the most dominant offensive force and back then he even blocked shots. His rookie year he took the Magic to a tie for 8th but they didn’t have a tie-breaker with Indiana, so they didn’t make the playoffs. The next year, they did. The year after: the Finals. I don’t care what they’ve done since Shaq left, they were huge in the early ’90s.

Magic: Sam Vincent, Shaq, Playoffs in year 5(but could have easily been in year 4).

1995 – Toronto Raptors – Joining the Bobcats as a first year franchise with a Rookie of the Year, Damon Stodumire and the Raptors tore their way to a 21 – 61 record. A little better the next year and then crash and burn in year 3. Then Isaiah Thomas left and like always, things got better. I really don’t have much to say about Canada except that they too made the playoffs in year 5.

Raptors: Isaiah Thomas, Damon Stodumire, Camby then they got real in year 5 and made the playoffs.

1995 – Vancouver Grizzlies – Vancouver was horrible, Memphis wasn’t much better, except for the Hubie Brown years. Seriously, Big Country, Sharif Abdu Rahhim and not much else…they didn’t make the playoffs until year 8, and they had 8 wins one year ( the 98-99 strike shortened year ). EIGHT! I don’t know but I can’t think of anything good to say about the Memphis/Vancouver franchise.

Grizzlies – NOTHING UNTIL YEAR 8!!!

So that’s it. 6 teams in my lifetime. Two have done nothing. Two were pretty successful and 2 moved. As to playoff berths, everyone has made it at some point. The only team to make it before the 5th season was Miami. Miami has to be the measuring stick you look at for a “modern” NBA franchise. They’ve had the fewest coaches, they’ve won a championship, and promoted from within. Does the fact that they’re in Miami help? Yeah. Has Pat Riley’s influence helped? Probably. Were their first 5 years as successful as the Bobcats? I don’t know. It depends on what you call success. Attendance, wins, playoff appearances, popular players. I’d say even on playoffs in 5 years (assuming the Bobcats make it this year. HUGE ASSUMPTION). Even on popular players (both teams have developed from within and through drafts). Wins, Charlotte has more. Attendance is no comparison. It was impossible to not sell NBA tickets in the early ’90s especially in new cities. Miami hasn’t always had the best attendance but Charlotte is so far lacking, even the win difference (Charlotte had 14 more after 4 years) is hugely overshadowed by the seeming irrelevance to the team’s home city.

I feel like, as Bobcats fans, we can be happy, not disappointed with the first 5 years of the new Charlotte NBA franchise. They have gotten better every year except for the debacle that was the Ham Biscuit Era. With a little luck and a lot of hard work this team could make the playoffs this year which would be right about on pace with everyone else, except the horrible, hapless Timberwolves and the sorry, sad Grizzlies. That sounds a lot better than the same adjectives before “Charlotte Bobcats.”

Tue03

Charlotte Bobcats. Contender?

Posted by Ziggy on Mar 3, 2009 in Featured, Toronto Raptors | 0 comments

Charlotte Bobcats: Contender?

It seems like the world is turned upside down. Detroit is falling behind in the East, Phoenix is on the outside looking in right now, Dwayne Wade is the leading scorer and playing though injuries, Allen Iverson made Detroit worse not better and the Charlotte Bobcats have won 3 straight, on the road, against the Western Conference. Of the Eastern Conference, the Bobcats have the longest win streak right now. I read a recap of the game the other night against Golden State and the writer opened with something like “For a team that is 5 games under .500 the Bobcats sure aren’t shy about talking up their playoff chances.” The AP wrap from ESPN.com doesn’t state it as bluntly or as condescending “The Charlotte Bobcats lost an inordinate amount of close games early in the season. They just hope it won’t come back to haunt them, now that they’re within striking distance of the franchise’s first playoff berth.”

Yeah, it was tough sledding in the first part of the season, really and truly frustrating. But then again, for all of us who have been around since the beginning, that’s nothing new. We’ve been over the renovations to the roster by way of trade and the addition of real veteran leadership in Juwan Howard. We’ve had the possible addition by subtraction story with Jason Richardson and his love for doing strange things in his car and the duplication of seemingly never on shooters Adam Morrison and Matt Carroll. We know what the Bobcats are right now, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to execution. (What the hell does that mean “proof in the pudding?” Somebody get Alton Brown, the real life Anal Retentive Chef on the phone.)

I really don’t think you can blame whatever happens on those early close losses. You have to know what the mistakes were, whether game plan or execution and move on. The gamble is, in the close games where it comes down to one shot at the buzzer or one play with about 19 ticks left on the clock, who is the guy that is going to make the shot? Raymond Felton has seemed like the guy but who knows. Diaw hit the go ahead 3 the other night against Golden State but can he be unselfish and not necessarily reliable. I don’t want close games but they happen, because this team is so defensive minded and the offense is weak. It’s just the bottom line, this team will not blow anyone out with any regularity.

Four up four down since the All Star break. The whole month of February the ’Cats are nine for the good and nine for the bad. The part that bothers me though is that 3 of those losses came against the Orlando Magic. I hate the Magic. Dwight Howard is one of these guys who is too big for his body. He seems like a nice enough kid but against smaller centers he throws elbows then looks at the refs like he can’t believe it when a foul is called. I liked Superman last year but come on, lets get original this year. I know he leads the league in rebounds and blocks and double-doubles but he’s a jerk and I don’t like him. Poop-head, really I don’t have an argument here except I don’t like the attitude. Rashard Lewis is 6’10″ and from the United States, get on the blocks young man and help your team. I’m just saying, let’s not just roll over and take it from these guys mostly because I don’t like them and I’m starting to feel like they’re the bullies and we’re the geeks.

So what’s the point? I think that these Bobcats the way they are set up right now have a shot to make a run into the playoffs and depending on who they see (Boston rather than Orlando or Cleveland) could make waves in the first round. I think that with the shooting of Vlad Rad, the rebounds and defensive presence that Okafor brings, the winning experience of Raja and Diaw, the interior passing of Diaw, the solid decision making when reigned in by the coach of Ray and DJ, all of that sets this team up for possible success. Possible, but not definite. The bench is still weak. The decisions that Ray and DJ make when the ball is in their hands are sometimes questionable (I think LB said “If you jack up another 3, so help me I’ll bring in MJ and Dean Smith”). I don’t know about Gerald Wallace’s durability, we call him “Crash” for a reason. We don’t have that last minute all things necessary scorer.

There are questions but the discussion is there. It’s legit. The Bobcats are possibly on a playoff run. Upcoming games against Chicago (2 games ahead in the East), New York (half a game back), some more against the West and then closing out the month with a run against the Pacers, Raptors, Sixers, Knicks and Lakers, whoa. You better get your tickets now, both for the games and for the bandwagon. Just remember who told you, the Bobcats are good and they will be good now and into the next month and a half and will make the playoffs, well, unless they don’t.

Wed03

BigCat’s Post Turkey Day Recap

Posted by on Dec 3, 2008 in Minnesota Timberwolves, Toronto Raptors | 0 comments

Last night I had the best tickets I’ve ever had for a sporting event in my life. Keetch hooked me up with his 4^th row behind the Bobcats bench seats. It was fantastic. I’ve not been that close to players since the old days at Paul Porter Arena (AKA The Boiling Springs Bakery) at Gardner-Webb. I was so close I could see Larry Brown’s ear hair. I was in the middle of a rhombus of Larry Brown, Michael Jordan, Maake Kemoeatu and DeAngello Williams. This is why I’m thankful to have the NBA in my city.

The game was great. I mean sure the T-Wolves came out hot with the threes. Actually, I wasn’t sure if they knew they could take a shot closer than that line to the basket until about 4 minutes in. There were some spectacular plays by the Bobcats. J-Rich played out of his mind and kind of makes me wonder if he’s like a normal person. He had his knee scoped 2 weeks ago. They cut a hole in your skin around your knee then poke around in there looking for stuff with a tiny camera and maybe removing some scar tissue. Lucky for us he didn’t have any major damage. Unlucky for the Timberwolves and Mike Miller in particular he did things like this:

Looks like that was the NBATV play of the night. Bobcats played out of their minds last night. As we’re only going to see Minnesota one other time this year and I didn’t do a preview, I really couldn’t tell you how good or bad they are. Without question their best player is Al Thornton. He’s averaging 22 ppg but until his few garbage baskets in the 4^th quarter, Okafor and company were holding him to 4 points! Kevin Love had his first breakout type performance a couple nights ago but the ‘Cats held him to 10 points and 8 rebounds. Actually that’s pretty good for a guy who couldn’t make a shot in pre-game warm ups.

It was total team last night. Raymond Felton with 14! FOUR-TEEN!!! Assists, 14 points and 4 rebounds. Emeka Okafor had 24 points and 10 boards and 5 BLOCKS! I looked up and saw the guys who put up a big neon orange B for every block and they had about 7 or 8 and I turned to the guy next to me and asked “There can’t really be 7 blocks right now, can there?” It ended up being 9, but the T-Wolves had 9 too? How could that be? Who cares because the point guard accounted for at least 42 points, if you value each of his assists as 2 points? I haven’t even mentioned Gerald and J-Rich (other than that sick, sick, sick, nasty dunk. He’s a freak).

Interesting to me, Sean May started again. I know he’s basically the only match-up option for us at PF because you have to start 5 guys who all fit into one of those 5 positions right? You can’t roll out your best 5 players because you don’t know how the match-ups will shake out at first. May hit the first shot taken in the game. He finished with 5 points and 3 rebounds. Sitting so close you hear a lot that is said but the way the rows are and the seats and people between you and the bench, it’s often hard to make out exactly what is said. May had this horrible look on his face like he felt so bad for being fat and out of shape and he knew he was slowing the team down, especially in transition and not helping at all on the boards. On one particular play Gerald Wallace was charging to the basket, going up strong and it looked like May didn’t know where Crash was going, or he couldn’t get out of the way quick enough. Gerald went up, went for a layup and missed but got fouled on the play. He sort of jogged over to the bench and either said “He’s got to GO!” or “Sean’s got to GO!” May looked like someone had just run over his dog. Larry sort of gave the hands up, shrug, like “Hey, what can I do?” I almost feel bad for Big Boy but he’s dug his own grave.

As for Wallace, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s been around since day one. He was one of the first players we selected in the expansion draft. He calls Charlotte as well as Alabama “home.” Yet there are tons of rumors about trading him. I know he’s got one of those, “he’s great for the money” contracts. He fills up a stat sheet. Look at his line from last night: 15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and 1 steal. That’s like a regular night. Gerald is one of those franchise guys for us at this point.

One thing I kind of didn’t like: those who didn’t play. Shannon Brown and Ryan Hollins didn’t dress for the game. MJ came in and made them move to the back row of the bench area. I tried to ask Ryan if he was ok but he didn’t even flinch. Matt Carroll and Alexis Ajinca: DNP-CD. I am not one to pick apart a complete team win but, I thought these guys were a serious part of the rotation. What do I know? I was on the fourth row behind Larry not sitting beside him.

It was fantastic. I really enjoyed myself. The whole “Sean has to go” thing may be more than I think it was. I am 85% positive that’s what I heard Gerald say. Just a near-perfect, complete, team-win against an OK team. These guys are obviously coming together. First beating Philly, playing pretty well in Toronto, beat Indiana, then pushing Boston to the limit, then just dominating Minnesota. Somewhere I read that it’s traditional for Larry Brown’s teams to start slowly and end up finishing pretty strong in his first season there. I don’t know about all that but J-Rich, Ray, Mek, Gerald, DJ and maybe some of the bench guys (Dudley, Ajinca if he could get some good PT, Ammo) are all on board. It’s going to be great. I can’t say completely without equivocation that this team will go on a run and make the playoffs, have a couple All-Stars and win over the city, but I like what I’m seeing so far.

Over Thanksgiving I think I heard the best analysis so far. My English Father, who has only been to one NBA game in his life and that was 10 years ago; never watches games; barely keeps up; you should hear what he calls NBA players (overpaid is the least of his worries; he said “You know it’s just that the other team is putting more in the net than the Bobcats.” No my Dad is not John Madden. Dad meant that the Bobcats looked better than the Raptors. They were doing all the right things, making good “moves” on the court as Dad explained later. It just happens that Toronto was scoring and the Bobcats weren’t. Sure Dad, makes sense if you explain it, which he barely could, God bless him. He was trying to make me feel a little better about my disappointing team but he truly believed using the eyeball test, as a novice to say the least, that the Bobcats were the better team on the court. I like that.

Fri28

Charlotte Bobcats / Toronto Raptors Recap 11/27

Posted by on Nov 28, 2008 in Toronto Raptors | 0 comments

Bobcats Lose to Bosh. Who does he play for again?

Great point made by special contributor to the Observer, Doug Smith: “And facing a great big man, the kind they’re not really built to contend with, the Bobcats would have needed far more offense than they were able to muster.”

Chris Bosh, who I used to really think was a crap player, went off for 39 points and 11 rebounds last night. That’s pretty solid! His high total other than 39 is 42 and he’s only done that twice and one of those was in double overtime. Who do the ‘Cats have to match up with this guy? I thought maybe a combo of Ajinca, Hollins, Dudley and Okafor could slow him down but ugh, not so much. Ajinca isn’t ready. Hollins may never be ready. Dudley and Okafor are shorter and slower than Bosh. In Dudley’s case, much shorter. Dudley had a nice game. 13 points for the guy with the high-basketball-IQ. Okafor looked like “himself” I don’t know who exactly he is after his injuries, great year last year, then down again this year but 16 points and 14 rebounds to go with his average number of blocks (1 and a bit) is good.

If the Bobcats are going to beat a team with a guy who is all but guaranteed to score piles of points their defense won’t be the match-up. It would have to come from the offense. Bosh outscored the next highest Raptor by 22. Some guy named Joey Graham scored 17. So, looks like the Bobcats should have the match-ups covered elsewhere if no one but Bosh wants to have a big game. They didn’t. Gerald Wallace scored 23 but shot 8 for 20. That seems like a bad shooting night. 40%. That’s Paul Pierce’s season average. Kobe averages 45%. That’s not bad but it feels like it. Okafor’s 16 helps, as does DJ and Dudley with 13 but that’s not going to get it and it didn’t last night.

I’m not worried about it really. The Bobcats didn’t sit back and watch him go off. The effort was there. LB even said he was proud of the way the guys played. Bosh’s biggest play was an ally-oop in the fourth quarter. Then a few misses, Okafor scores a couple times and the Bobcats are right back in it. It’s not horrible. It’s not a win, but it’s not a bunch of guys who sit back and say to themselves, “We’re getting beat by a guy who we can’t stop. That’s it. It’s all over.” These guys play as a nice team, missing a couple parts. One of which might come back against the Pacers, as Coach Brown said he needed one last full practice. The other part we’re missing, we’re not exactly sure where it will come from. The power forward position remains a big empty void.

Alexis Ajinca is starting at center with DJ Augustin at the PG which moves Raymond Felton to the 2 guard and Okafor to the PF. It worked against Philly, not so much last night. Ajinca didn’t get the minutes last night. Sean May shouldn’t and can’t take the minutes. I haven’t seen him leave his feet more than 5 times in any one game all season, forget keeping up with the pace of the game. I don’t think moving Okafor to the PF and starting Ajinca every game or Nazr or Hollins is going to help us, last night or in the future. It’s not a permanent solution. So how do the Bobcats overcome these deficiencies? Trade? Not this year.

I’d like to talk to someone in the front office and see what the plan is. I really think someone other than Bonnell should be allowed access. He is the only person that his entire job is to cover the Bobcats. Any other writer that writes about the ‘Cats is either an AP guy or a part-timer, whose real interests are elsewhere (Panthers, College B-Ball and Football, sometimes even High School Sports.) Write emails to whomever and get BIGCat in the arena! I’m going to start a campaign because I really can’t find quotes from anyone other than LB and the players in pre- and post-game pressers. BIGCat for beat writer, 2008-09!

Thu07

Blogcat’s Take, 8/7

Posted by on Aug 7, 2008 in Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors | 0 comments

ESPN’s announcement that “Earl Boykins has joined the growing legion of veteran role players unable to resist the lure of European riches” raises a critically important question: how many people does it take to qualify for a “legion”? Depending on how you slice it, Boykins’ legion totals either 9 (anyone who played in the NBA last year who will play in Europe next year) or 3 (previously exclusive NBA players who will play in Europe next year). No wait—that should be eight and two, because one of those legionnaires is Carlos Arroyo, and he’s going to Tel Aviv, which is—technically–not in Europe. I suppose you could also say that Boykins is part of two legions, one more exclusive than the other.

But back to my original question: how many do you need for a legion? According to dictionary.com, you need to have at least 3,000 people to call yourselves a legion. Plus you have to be armed and Roman. Hmm, well Earl is going to play for Italy, but I don’t know what sort of weapons arrangements he’s negotiated into his contract. Never mind.

Oh wait, now I see this is one of those multi-part definitions. Let’s see…well, the other definitions have no specific ethnic or armament requirements, but they do stipulate that you need a “large” or “great” number of people in order to call yourself a legion. And I’m not sure if eight or nine cuts it. Take the “Legion of Super-Heroes,” for instance (that would probably be the best historical example): I seem to remember hundreds of them, to the point that I think the DC comics artists were just making ones up on a bet (The Dog Catcher, Cell Phone Boy, etc.). On the other hand, a legion like WWE’s “Legion of Doom” only consisted of two wrestlers. Even counting their football pads, that was probably a misnomer, though, and they should have just stuck with “Road Warriors.”

Anyway, bye-bye, Earl. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. He didn’t get here until February, and he only averaged just under 16 minutes of playing time. Never a great assister, his 2.34 A/TO ratio would have placed him 41st in the league if he’d played enough minutes to qualify–or the meat in a munchkin sandwich between Allen Iverson and Kyle Lowry. His defensive level was also Arena Football-caliber—he had just 14 total steals for the year.

Part of me feels like Sam Vincent didn’t allow Boykins enough playing time to ever get comfortable, yet he also never really flashed any potential either. Even Adam Morrison contributed several “Wow” moments during his supposedly disastrous rookie season; Earl’s top games were (take your pick): his 14-point, 4-assist masterpiece in a March loss to Utah; or his 6-point, 8-assist, 1-steal tour-de-force in an April win against Toronto. These were mot exactly the types of games we’re going to be talking about 20 years from now, asking each other where we were when Earl dropped 6 on the Raptors. On the other hand, we paid less than a jumbo mortgage for him; at $350 K, he was a penny stock. So good luck in Europe, Earl: fly high, go hard like geese erection…

In other non(sense)-news, we signed free agent SG Shannon Brown for an undisclosed amount in order to…what? I’m not sure. Is it possible to use players as dummy corporations in order to launder money? That’s about the only reason I can fathom for picking up yet another shooting guard. You know how in the movies the cops will say that Such-and-Such Restaurant is merely a “front”? Like the Bada-Bing in The Sopranos? I think that’s what we may have here. Shannon Brown is a “front” for Bob Johnson to hide money, or for stashing MJ’s gambling proceeds or something. That would also explain why the amount of the contract is “undisclosed.”

Sat05

Bobcats / Raptors highlights from last night

Posted by on Apr 5, 2008 in Toronto Raptors | 0 comments

Last night the Charlotte Bobcats defeated the Toronto Raptors 105-100 behind strong games from Raymond Felton, Jason Richardson and Emeka Okafor. Highlights are below.