Airball: The Inconceivability of the Ineptitude of the Charlotte Bobcats

The Bobcats are the worst team in the NBA. Period. It was not like last year when there were a couple of teams that showed signs of ineptitude. The Bobcats just screamed inability, mediocrity. But where does it start?   The answer: no one really knows.

You could blame their owner, Michael Jordan. While he was one of the greatest players to hold a basketball, he is one of the worst owners in league history. While many cite his falterings in the draft, it was primarily his love affair with Adam Morrison that gave him this reputation. While Morrison is almost equivalent to JaMarcus Russell, Jordan's draft history has not been awful when he has been the owner. We only have one year to look at, but he was able to get two solid players in a very weak draft. Bismarck Biyombo shows signs of offensive maturity as he maintained a strong defensive presence, and Kemba Walker has shown some offensive brilliance. The problem is his inability to find good players. He made an admittedly decent move by getting rid of Stephen Jackson, a decent, but problematic, player. But he got the ghost of Corey Maggette. The roster right now is just horrible. While there are talented players like D.J. Augustin, Biyombo, Walker, Byron Mullens, and Gerald Henderson (one of the few bright spots), you also have guys like Tyrus Thomas, DeSagana Diop, Derrick Brown, and Matt Carroll. I don't want to give up hope for MJ, but he has to get rid of a lot of these players. Hopefully he can rebuild around Augustin, Walker, Biyombo, Henderson, and Anthony Davis, as long as the Bobcats get the number 1 pick. But they have not created a winning nor rebuilding club.

The team is also just bad in most parts of the game. Defensively, they blow assignments, allow easy points, and get beat often. Offensively, they lack rhythm at times, force jump shots, and just shoot a very low percentage. The players are not that untalented, it just seems that way. This is a flaw of both the coaching staff and the players. Paul Silas has to get his team more motivated, especially defensively. It seems like a difficult task given the lack of attendance in Charlotte, but once the team starts winning, the fans will come. But they can't win without a good defensive strategy, which starts with Silas. With a growing defensive force like Biyombo, it should not be too difficult. But offensively, they need their players to make better decisions. They can't win by taking bad jump shots. Walker could turn out to be a viable offensive option, but he's gotta work on his field goal percentage. Fewer jump shots and more shots in the paint could do him very good. Biyombo has to mature offensively. He can not just rely on his ability to rebound and block. Adding one or two post moves will significantly help his game. Augustin has to be more assertive. He played well at the beginning, but he has to take command of the team once he is at complete strength. This team is still not a championship-caliber team, but at least they are respectable.

The Bobcats have been the doormat of the NBA for quite some time. It will not get any easier. Lottery picks can only help so much. They still lack the big name city that draws free agents. They still have some very useless players on the team. But they have hope in the Oklahoma City Thunder. It only takes one player to build a foundation for the team. Once that happens, they can find the role players in the draft. But it will require them to draft smartly and to find coaches and players who can function offensively and defensively. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, much like Diop's free throws, it looks like it is going to be an airball.

The NBA's Tower of Babel: Where Every Year Is A Rebuilding Year

The Tower of Babel. It may have been the greatest tower never built. It is always unfinished, essentially being rebuilt every single time it is referenced. That is exactly what the Charlotte Bobcats are. Ever since their birth in 2004, the Bobcats have been in rebuilding mode, only making the playoffs once in this span. Whether it was getting a dominant big man like Emeka Okafor, or adding a point guard like Raymond Felton or D.J. Augustin, it always seemed like the Bobcats did not have a plan for their future.

The Charlotte Bobcats are the NBA's youngest team, so there really should not be anything expected from them. They had seasoned NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff as coach and general manager, a first in the NBA. They started out with a good addition in do-it-all small forward Gerald Wallace, though their expansion draft was unsurprisingly poor otherwise. The 2004-05 draft gave them the #2 pick Emeka Okafor from UConn. They struggled their first year, but it gave them good positioning for the next draft. The 2005-06 draft gave them two North Carolina players in Sean May and Raymond Felton. But they staggered into another poor record. Fortunately, they got a boost from another Carolina icon: Michael Jordan. Jordan pushed Bickerstaff out of the way, but then came 2007. In 2007, they drafted a long Brandan Wright, but traded him for Jason Richardson, a high-scoring, high-flying swingman. But they struggled again, leading to the firing of another coach and the entrance of legendary coach Larry Brown. Brown missed the playoffs in his first season, but added a young point guard D.J. Augustin, despite having Raymond Felton. But he brought them into the playoffs and made Gerald Wallace an All-Star. They ended the season early, but they were looking up. With an All-Star and a playoff berth, no one was going to be surprised by the Bobcats anymore.

Fast forward to now. Guess who is gone? Their first All-Star and only remaining player from the expansion draft Gerald Wallace. The only coach capable of bringing the Bobcats to the playoffs Larry Brown. And Gonzaga superstar Adam Morrison (known by many as one of the biggest busts ever). But this is no surprise. The Bobcats are always rebuilding. Despite finding good players, like Felton, they don't complement them with different players; they draft yet another point guard. They don't find another post player to complement Emeka Okafor; they find Sean May, an out-of-shape, undersized "power" forward. They will always find a way to break down their tower and try to rebuild again, much like a Tower of Babel.