The Charlotte Bobcats snapped their disgusting losing streak at 18 games, but there is still a lot of improvement to be made on both sides of the ball. With the NBA trade deadline quickly approaching come February, Charlotte may want to consider sending off some young guys or players in contract years in an effort to land a major upgrade.

And while at the moment it’s just gossip, there’s a real chance the Bobcats make a legit run at landing a potential superstar. It’s just a blurb in Marc Spears’ NBA Power Rankings, but it’s still worth noting: the Bobcats could make a run for Sacramento Kings’ big man DeMarcus Cousins.

With Byron Mullens hurting and struggling with consistency even when healthy, landing a balanced star like Cousins could completely change the dynamic of Charlotte’s attack at both ends of the court. The Bobcats already have a steady and growing young point guard in Kemba Walker and a forward with loads of upside in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Landing a premier threat down low that can pound inside, shoot mid-range jumpers, handle the rock and even play defense could go a long way in helping Charlotte turn back into a playoff team.

It wouldn’t be a lock to happen this year, but it would certainly be a huge step in the right direction.

You sure it's me and not Higgins? You know, we're both named Corey, mine with an "E"

Oh Corey, sweet, sorry, injured Corey.  We barely got to know you as a Bobcat, and now, you are gone.  Stephen Jackson and Shaun Livingston to swap picks and bring in Maggette, last year on draft day, worked.  It was worth it to get Bismack Biyombo, or was it Kemba?  This time around, Corey Maggette for Ben Gordon and a protected first round pick, might just be crazy enough to work.

My question is, did Cory Higgins demand the trade because he has to be the only person named Cory or Corey on the team?  How would that conversation go?  ”Dad!  I’m tired of the coach saying “Corey, get in the game!” and then he looks at me and Maggette getting up and tells me to sit down!”

No, that probably wasn’t it.  I wondered aloud if this was a trade for trading’s sake, sort of to kick-start the week of the draft.  That was immediately met with “Nah, Rich Cho just loves him some draft picks.”  Very true.  Rich Cho is all about acquiring assets.  As “assets” go, conditional first round picks seem pretty easy to come by, if you have a guy that is that puzzle piece that a team thinks they need.

It’s interesting to me that Maggette was traded the same week as Kevin Youklis of the Boston Red Sox.  If you have read or seen “Moneyball,” you know that Youklis is the “Greek God of walks.”  Similarly, Corey Maggette is the “Greek Sub-God (if that’s a thing) of going to the free throw line).”  When he came in, a quick glance at his numbers would tell any Bobcats fan that he gets to the line a lot for a guy who doesn’t average as many points as a superstar or has the cache to draw fouls like a superstar.  His attempts jump off the page at you as probably the one thing he did really well.

Post All-Star break/ Wallace & Nazr trade

First off Gerald “Crash” Wallace, You will be missed. Any true Bobcats fan has appreciated your effort which has continued from day one after the expansion draft. So my inaugural blog pooping goes to the Bobcats front office. But this poop I might just seal in a bag and wait on throwing. No TheGayKid but I love Gerald Wallace. He has been my favorite Bobcat since day one. He’s the working mans player. Blue collar basketball skills. Basically this teams skinny Oakley. But getting two 1st rounders from a team thats going through it’s own type of rebuild without Brandon Roy in their future. Those picks depending how structured, could end up pretty high. I know for one I will be rooting against Portland like they are Duke for the next couple years.
And I F*CKING HATE DUKE!

Via HoopsWorld:

Multiple sources have reported the Portland Trail Blazers have acquired former All-Star small forward from the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for center Joel Przybilla, forward Dante Cunningham, and two first-round picks.
The details of the first-round picks aren’t clear year, but Portland owns two in 2011 – their own, and New Orleans’ from the Jerryd Bayless trade earlier in the season.
The move for Charlotte was all about cutting off the $17 million Wallace is owed in each of the next two seasons. Przybilla’s contract expires this season and is $7.4 million.

Full Article

Update: PBT has updated their site to say “looks like” a done deal… There is still hope that this traveshamockery of a deal may not happen. stay tuned.

Yet another update: Jason Fleming – 02/23/2011 8:40pm EST-
Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting the once-done Gerald Wallace to the Portland Trail Blazers deal may be off. He says Michael Jordan may be getting cold feet with regards to whatever the package was Portland was offering – of which, we still don’t know what that was.
Wallace was a much-rumored piece to be moved in the past, too, and then pulled back late.

ProBasketballTalk

UPDATE 3:51 pm: It is a done deal, Gerald Wallace has been traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, according to a tweet from the well connected Dwight Jaynes. And no, Nicolas Batum is not part of the package headed back to Charlotte. That makes this a win for Portland at first glance.

The deal will send Joel Pryzbilla, cash and other players back to Charlotte. The Bobcats had been working hard to save money and that seems to be what they get out of this deal. Not players that make them better.

Stay tuned to our blog and trade discussion forum for the latest details.

Dr E. over at Bobcats Baseline has an excellent writeup showing how Gerald Henderson has progressed since Larry Brown was fired and replaced by Paul Silas.

Here’s a great example from the January 18th win over the Bulls.  Watch the whole highlight package and note how many times Derrick Rose abuses DJ Augustin. With the Bulls down one with a chance to win at the end, Silas inserts Henderson in the game specifically to check Rose.  Watch Henderson hound Rose on the last play, forcing him out into taking a fading, off-balance, 22-footer that he misses.  Aren’t many people can do this to Derrick Rose:

With the trade deadline approaching, Rumors are running wild. Here are a few interesting ones that you can rattle around your head.

• Gerald Wallace to Houston via SBN
• Vince Carter (half man – half washed up) to the Bobcats
• Bobcats are looking to get away from their financial commitments to Boris Diaw and Stephen Jackson via SI.com
• Ron Artest for either Stephen Jackson or Gerald Wallace via LA Times thanks but NO thanks.

With all of the rumors that are bound to be bounced around over the next few days, be sure to stay tuned to our trade discussion board to get up to the second updates on any potential deals that may be happening in Bobcats-Land.