The Cho Objective

Here in our Bobcatsplanet Forums we’ve come up with a term for all of the losing that the players and fan base have had to suffer through this season. We have given this painful process the title of  The Cho Objective. Now we didn’t give it this name out of anger or in a ‘Lets run Rich Cho out of town’ mentality, This title is actually named out of respect for what Rich Cho is doing…

Yep, you heard me right. The Bobcats are planted firmly at the bottom of the league’s standings yet we as fans are very happy with what he has done, And this is why. As an organization in a small to mid-sized market in today’s NBA, moving players that will not be a part of your long term plans ( like Gerald Wallace or Stephen Jackson ) for draft picks is the right thing to do. If you look at it from a long term perspective, moving a player that won’t be helping your team 3 to 4 years down the road for additional spots in the draft is like getting Free Picks.

Rich Cho understands all of this perfectly. He realizes that the NBA of today that unless you’re the Knicks, Heat or Lakers then you have to get decidedly worse before you have any chance at all of getting better. Small to mid-sized markets like Charlotte will never get their hands on the type of game changing free agent that can single-handedly turn around a team’s fortunes. It simply will never happen. Rich Cho realizes that having a mediocre team and pinning your hopes on nabbing that free-agent savior to push you to that mystical next level is a fantasy.

Taking that approach doesn’t build championship caliber teams, what it does build are teams that fight for the 7th or 8th seed of the playoffs every season. It builds teams that are never good enough to to seriously challenge for a title and are never quite bad enough to snag a draft pick high enough to give them a young difference maker on their roster. Teams that are structured this way also never seem to have the cap space available to take on an extra contract which might give them a chance to maneuver their way into an extra draft pick or dealing their way into higher draft position ( See the Stephen Jackson / Milwaukee Bucks deal on draft night that nabbed us rookie big man Bismack Biyombo ). If we were hell bent on trying to compete this season for a 7th or 8th seed then we would still have Captain Jack on our roster with his marvelous ball-stopping jab step and Bismack Biyombo’s enormous potential would be growing on another team’s roster.

We have to get really, really bad in order to one day become really, really good. This strategy clearly works, see the Philadelphia 76ers and the OKC Thunder. Think back to how terrible these teams were 3 or 4 years ago. The losses that they suffered then were worth it to get to the position that they are in now. Don’t you agree?

Do you support The Cho Objective?