JRICH GONE, WALLACE NEXT?

Standard

David Aldridge on Suns/Bobcats Trade

In his analysis of the Jason Richardson trade, NBA.com’s David Aldridge writes:

“The Bobcats are playing much better this season under Brown, in his first year with his latest team. But Brown, as ever, has been unhappy with his team’s defense and is looking to add a true center up front so current center Emeka Okafor can move to power forward.

Charlotte, a source said, will be addressing that in the next few days, using forward Gerald Wallace as bait in order to secure a starting center.”

Read the story here.

-ASChin

Charlotte Bobcats vs. Hornets 11/7/08

Standard

1. Nice win tonight, 92-89 over the visiting New Orleans Hornets.  AP story here, box score here.

2. For a Friday night game early in the season, against a top Western Conference team, with Chris Paul making his only visit of the season, attendance was poor at the Cable Box ($1, Rufus On Fire) tonight.  On the bright side, there were a handful of fans rocking old-school Charlotte Hornets teal-and-purple gear in honor of the Hornets debut in Charlotte 20 years ago.  Fun to see…

3. The story of the game from the Hornets perspective was that they basically came out flat and never got going.  Stojakovic and Mo Pete kept the Hornets hanging around in the first half; Chris Paul woke up in the second half to help New Orleans take the lead briefly late, but the Bobcats finished strong.  Tyson Chandler and David West were almost invisible tonight.

4. For the Bobcats, Raymond Felton had a strong game shooting the ball (7-9 from the field, 5-5 from the free throw line) for 20 points, while DJ Augustin and Adam Morrison hit big shots late; but this was essentially a well-rounded team effort.  Of note, the Cats were money at the free throw line all night: 29-31 for 93.5%.

5. After barely getting off the pine in the first few games, Matt Carroll got a fair amount of run tonight.  Strangely enough, it was often in a lineup with Adam Morrison on the floor as well.  I’m still not sure how we got away with that on the defensive end.  And after some impressive minutes in the past few games, Shannon Brown got a DNP-CD tonight.

6. The bigger story right now, though, is the allegedly imminent trade of Gerald Wallace.  Ugh, it’s late and I can’t even begin to count the ways that this sucks.  We all knew that LB would want to shake up the roster to some degree, but it would be much more palatable to me if it were Carroll, Morrison, May, or even Felton moving.

It would also be more palatable if any of the rumors involved the Cats getting back an equally dynamic player or at least a starting PF – not Eddy freaking Curry.  All I can hope for at this point is for this thing to fall through.  I had wondered in the offseason if Brown was going to appreciate Gerald’s game; but so far this season, things have seemed fine and Gerald looks indispensable.  Please don’t screw us up, Larry.

7. Scott Fowler from the Observer got an interview with Jordan earlier tonight, which is great and all.  But he is trying to pass it off as some big scoop that Jordan said he’d like to become the majority owner of the Bobcats someday. You think so, doctor?  Wasn’t that the intended eventual purpose of his involvement with the Wizards? And didn’t he flirt with buying the Bucks at one point?  Nothing to see here, even if the AP is trying to make a story of it…

-E

Only 6 Shopping Days Left!!!

Standard

That’s right — less than a week left!  The 2008 NBA Draft is next Thursday, June 26th.  The deadline to drop out has passed, workouts are in full swing, and rumors are flying around at a dizzying pace.

Let’s take a look at some of the rumors that directly involve or affect the Bobcats.  Most, if not all, of this stuff comes from DraftExpress or Chad Ford on ESPN.comBobcats.com has also been delivering top-notch coverage of the workouts the Bobcats have conducted, complete with video. Continue reading