The Charlotte Bobcats will be entering their 10th season since joining the league as an expansion team in 2004 after their previous team, the Charlotte Hornets, relocated to New Orleans. Since entering the league the Bobcats obtained a record of 250-476 with a .346 win percentage record, including making NBA history with the worst winning percentage last year. The Bobcats only made the playoffs once in the 2009-2010 season that resulted in their championship hopes getting swept away in the first round by the Orlando Magics. The Bobcats had it all that season! Making the playoffs for the first time in team history, having a player make the all star team (Gerald Wallace), had the best home record, was the best defensive team in the NBA, and finished with a franchise record of wins (43). They almost looked as if they were ready to push the bar of success even higher with this team. Charlotte set expectations on returning back to the playoffs next season but weren't able to do so because of the departure of many players and firing legendary head coach Larry Brown. Since then the Bobcats have been struggling year after year on becoming playoff contenders once again. But with all the struggles I strongly believe that Charlotte is on the right track of getting out this slump of losing and become a playoff contender team once again. How?
Well we all know this team finished off with one the worst NBA seasons of all time by any team just a year ago. But after only winning seven games last year, Charlotte was able to triple those wins this past season. Not only that but we could be seeing the emergence of a young great dynamic duo in Gerald Henderson and Kemba Walker. After only beginning his first 47 games averaging 13.2 points per game, Gerald Henderson finished his last 23 games averaging 24.3 points on .476 shooting and .858 free throw shooting. Also he scored in double figures in those 23 straight games which was the longest streak by a Bobcats player since the "Captain Jack" Stephen Jackson days. Kemba Walker lead the Bobcats in scoring, assists, and steals in 34.8 minutes per game. Walker also went on to set a franchise record for steals in a season (158) and ranked fifth in the NBA in steals. Need I remind you that this a true leader who lead his collegiate team to victory throughout the NCAA tournament and he is only in his third year coming up this season. With statistics like that he could well be on his way in the talks about being one of the top guards of the league.
Although Charlotte finished this season 21-61, you would have to take in consideration that this a team that was bit with the Injury bug very hard after losing Brendan Haywood, Ramon Sessions, DeSagana Diop, and Byron Mullens to tough injures that each player could not recover from effectively. With these players down of course being ranked 27th in rebounds, 29th in assist, 29th points allowed, and 26th in points per game last season was not a surprise. But new addition Josh McRoberts definitely helped to try to cure that problem last season. McRoberts is what you would call a "Big Point Guard." His IQ for the game of basketball is just amazing and he could definitely be a strong player for Charlotte next season on the boards, assist, and scoring. Hopefully Bismack Biyombo will take a page out this guys "Duke basketball" book.
Moving forward and not looking back! Charlotte plans to end their long, struggling, and depressing relationship tides with the name "Bobcats" and plan to make things right again with their first love the Hornets. After New Orleans decided to switch their names to the Pelicans, owner Michael Jordan reacted very quickly in bringing the name "Hornets" back to their birth place, the queen city! After experiencing the 2009-2010 playoff contendor Bobcats, it's obvious there are TRUE NBA fans in Charlotte who will support this team only if they give this city something to cheer about. Also alot of fans were not happy about the "Hornets" name being snatched away to New Orleans forcing Charlotte to search for a new indentity for their city. During the early years of the Hornets, Charlotte was able to set many attendance records that brought alot of support for this team and great revenue. The intentions of Jordan is to bring those fans back into Time Warner Cable Arena.
Along with the name transformation, the soon to be Hornets decided to fire first year head coach Mike Dunlap and brought in former assistant coach for the Lakers Steve Clifford. Along with Clifford Charlotte was able to bring in New York Knicks legend Patrick Ewing. Now I wasn't too happy after Dunlap was fired because I believed that he didn't recieve a fair chance to prove himself worthy enough to build a NBA team. But the fact that some of the players didn't like him and the emergence of NBA talents is growing tremendously, the bobcats felt accomplishing their goals would be difficult with Dunlap as head coach. But I believe Clifford and Ewing are probably going to be a "blessing in disguise" for Charlotte because of the experience these two coaches have of coaching great talented playoff teams. Also together these two helped a Stan Van Gundy Orlando Magics team reach the NBA Finals in 2009 and both helped developed a 7'0" #1 draft pick into a phenomenal Superstar. Not only will these guys be well respected by the Charlotte players but they will also bring improvement for Charlotte's struggling big men in rebounding and defense.
The fnal topic I want to touch on about Charlotte are about some free agency decisions that will fit perfect for the future Hornets. First off the Bobcats have $20 millions-plus under next season's cap, how do they put that to use? Well the decision of Ben Gordon deciding to opt-in to return to the Bobcats for one more year is just fantastic because it adds a great shooter in the perimeter to whoever Charlotte decides to sign. This could be a great year for the former Chicago Bulls star simply because of the firing of head coach Mike Dunalp. Gordon did not get along very well with Dunlap and did not recieve alot of play time minutes because of that issue. Gordon felt like he was hindered into becoming the prolific scorer he once was in the early years of his career in Chicago. I believe alot of the players did not like Dunlap because he was a collegiate coach and that cause many players not to respect him as a NBA head coach. I'm not saying Charlotte will sign NBA All-Stars like Chris Paul and Dwight Howard because of their intentions of Championship hopes now but they could go for some quality players that could push their team to #8 seed playoff hopes. Players such as Monta Ellis, O.J. Mayo, David West, Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson, or J.J. Hickson. Yes Charlotte is not a huge media market such as New York, LA, or Chicago but they could offer some good deals. Charlotte could deliver a marginal talent $40 million dollars and they would also receive excessive love from a city in desperate need of help giving the opportunity for any player to become a city's hero. No it's not going to turn this franchise around in one year but it will start the beginning of a strong young franchise that will be ready to push the bar of SUCCESS!
Great read cuz.
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