It may seem hard to believe anyone can say this, but I like the Charlotte Bobcats. I think this team has a lot of promise and a whole lot of very young talent. I can see this team along with whoever they get in the coming draft at least being competitive next season.

Keep in mind, I just said competitive in a general sense. It would take the mother of all turnarounds for these guys to become post season bound, but you never know. The Rams were supposed to suck when they won the Super Bowl back in 1999.

The difference maker for the Rams then will be the same for the Bobcats next season—coaching. Paul Silas may have been good at one time, but last year he was awful beyond words. You can blame injuries and a lack of experience, but I think he wanted to win as bad as Kobe Bryant wants to run the Amazing Race with Shaq.

So who’s next?

A veteran head coach would be something the fans would love to see. Last season they had no reason to go see Bobcats home games other than to check out the opposition’s superstars and the Lady Cats (because those ladies have great personalities). A veteran would give the fans reason to believe that the team will improve; it will give them a reason to buy tickets.

For those that have been paying attention, yes, I have been on a ‘who should they draft’ kick for the last month. With the team doing as poorly as they did, it was getting to be a little too depressing to talk about it. At least in the end the team did one thing right and got rid of Paul Silas.

Going forward (since it is too depressing to look back) it appears that the Charlotte Bobcats are virtually guaranteed at least one talented player. Odds are good they’ll get the No 1 pick and highly likely that they will at least get the No 2 or 3.

What if they the basketball Gods decide to spit on Jordan the Owner since he was so successful as Jordan the Player and the ‘Cats get a later pick in the lottery (all the way down at 4)?

Most of the predictions and mocks that I’ve read all said the same person is expected to go No 6—North Carolina small forward Harrison Barnes. On the off chance that the Bobcats happen to be at the 4th spot or if they trade down a few slots, should they pick him and be happy?

Absolutely not.

I didn’t watch much North Carolina ball last year or the year before (I live in Indiana; I think there’s a law against watching anyone but IU and Butler). To talk about this guy I had to do my research.

Everyone says he has the body of a NBA small forward at 6-foot 8-inches and 210 pounds. Most people call him athletic (there was a couple that said he lacked athleticism). The 7-foot wing span is nice. People said one thing in many ways, but when you cut through the crap all they were saying was he’s a good shooter.

When this season started I professed to the world that I would not be another one of those guys that just harped on every little bad thing that the team did. As it turns out, it’s good that I held onto that idea as long as I did; there are just too many things. However, now that my optimism has turned into skepticism I find it hard not to complain about something.

Michael Jordan needs to fire Paul Silas.

Yes, you’ve heard me complain about the man before, but his abject refusal to even try to win a game has me shocked that he’s still got a job. I can’t stand that he’s having his son coach the team. It’s not his job. Paul needs to be doing whatever he can to lead the team to victory. That doesn’t include getting his son experience as a head coach.

This alone is enough for me to fire him if I ran the team. The fact that he didn’t even try to have the team do something when they were only down by five with 14 seconds left Wednesday night against the T-wolves was just absurd. At the least he should have had the guys foul Minnesota and make sure they earned the win.

I could care less that the man came out of retirement to coach the team or that he’s 68; no one made him take the job. Being tired is no excuse to do a shoddy job down the stretch. It’s no wonder that the team packs it in on occasion. I guess the players think it’s okay to pack it in since the head coach does.

Some may consider this no big deal, but I think it is.

The supposed head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats stepped aside Saturday night and let his son—who does happen to be one of his assistant coaches—and let him coach the team. Apparently it was not the first time he’s done this but the fifth. Two of the other times it was because he was ejected; twice it was by choice.

So since it was not the first time that he willfully gave over control of the team it should not be surprising, but it’s the first I’ve heard of it being done. Had I heard about this before, I would have written this piece then.

Paul Silas is the head coach of the team. It is his job to get the players in shape to win the game every time they step on the court. Yes, he has assistants that will help him in the task, but the job and responsibility is ultimately his.

When I read the news that the Charlotte Bobcats had bought out the contract of Boris Diaw I couldn’t help but think that it was about darn time.

All season long we’ve been reading about a guy that plays hard when he wants to; he slacks off; he’s talented; he can’t focus. Aargh! It was like reading a list of reasons why the really dumb kid in class was smarter than the valedictorian!

What always got me was the way that Paul Silas just seemed to accept it. Now some of you might think ‘what else is he going to do?’ The answer to that is easy—for quality coaches. You either get the best out of someone or you bench his sorry behind. Yes, you do have to sometimes have to temper your style to fit the player, but Diaw was not coach-able.

The guy needed to get cut some time ago. There has been little to cheer about in Charlotte this year, but losing is no excuse for the lack of effort that this guy often exhibited. He wanted to be elsewhere? So what. He didn’t like losing? No one does.

When you’re being handed the gift of all gifts, the chance to play a game and get paid ridiculously well for it, you should be happy to be on any team. You don’t get to pick and choose who you get to play with or where all the time.

I’m not a fan of Paul Silas, but I like the way he handled being asked about Diaw leaving:

“I’m not going to say anything about that. We have to go straight up with who we have and we wish him well.”