With the way that this season is turning out, there aren't a whole lot of positives to talk about. Even though we're only half way through the season, this year is basically shot. There have been so many injuries that its been very difficult to achieve any continuity or evaluate the progress of many of the players. To this point in the season, the are a few things that we HAVE learned.
One is that it appears that Raymond Felton will be a legitimate NBA point guard, I still wish that we had moved up in 2005 to draft Chris Paul, however from what we've seen over the last couple of weeks, it does look like Felton will be able to hold down the point position for years to come.
Another thing that we've learned is that Emeka Okafor MUST do something to improve his low post offense, We don't necessarily need him to score 25+ points a game, but we do need him to shoot a higher percentage from the power forward position. 40% shooting from a Emeka simply won't cut it. Lets hope that in the summer of 2006 he spends more time working on his footwork and post game, than he does on yoga.
We've also learned that despite Bernie Bickerstaff's faith in Kareem Rush's ability, that Kareem is NOT the shooting guard of the future for the Bobcats, Hes hurt too much, and when he is in the lineup, he doesn't do anything that impresses anybody. Best case scenario would be for him to be a backup to a legitimate shooting guard.
The last thing that we've learned is that Gerald Wallace is the core of this team and is irreplaceable. We survived and remained competitive with other injuries, but when Wallace went out of the lineup, all bets were off. His energy and defensive intensity makes him an all-star level talent. Unfortunately he won't get in this year.
In this train wreck of a season this is what we've learned.