Bobcats Are Actually 33 Points Worse Than The Grizzlies
This game was over after the first quarter. A 33 point loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, yea the freakin’ Grizzlies, showed all the flaws of the Charlotte Bobcats. Every blemish on this club became a crater, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed as a fan.
Without Gerald Wallace (busted ankle from the Toronto game), no other Bobcat made the effort to step up in his place. Charlotte’s offense fell apart in the second quarter and they had no intention on playing defense at all. It was clearly a bad situation when the TV broadcast was showing D-Mac highlights on the way back from half-time (with Charlotte down 36-59). Somehow, the Bobcats forgot how to play basketball during the second quarter and they spent the rest of the night making the Memphis Grizzlies look like the Harlem Globetrotters.
Lately, I’ve contemplated the need to keep Bobcats Baseline running. Tonight’s horrible Memphis beat-down made me seriously consider giving up on this team. I mean, how can we keep watching this outfit? Without Gerald Wallace, the team has no finishers. Co-captain Stephen Jackson was absolutely useless on the court. He’s done, and Charlotte is stuck trying to use him as a go-to guy. It’s clear that his antics have worn on the coach. After the game, Old LB vented about his team’s effort,”No effort, no teamwork, guys don’t run back… blaming it on the referees.” He sounds about as enthused as this disheartened Cats apologist. Coach Brown seems sick of trying to motivate this team, and I’m kind of getting sick of expecting anything from them. If this is all part of the cycle Larry uses to bust up the roster, then I’m board. Things have got to change.
If you’ve seen the Charlotte Bobcats you may notice that they like to spend a lot of time on the court without scoring basketball points. I’m not sure why they’ve made this strategic decision, but it’s apparently the result of the coach’s game plan. I used to be a big supporter of defensive-oriented teams. Overall, it’s not a bad idea if you don’t have mega-talent on your roster and you want to keep games close. Now, it’s tough to support that approach if your team can’t actually play defense or keep games close. So, will Larry Brown give up on trying to force his team into his ideal mold or will Brown need to adapt to the talent that he’s got? My bet would be that Larry’s not gonna budge an inch, leaving the team to support him or tune him out (or has that already happened?).
So what’s next?
A day off until Friday’s game against Atlanta. It’s unlikely that Gerald Wallace will be back in time to play the Hawks, so we might see another 20-30 point dismantling in Georgia. Will Jordan step in and help Larry shake up the roster? If not, how long does Larry Brown stick around?
-Mike
POLL : What Will Be Next For The Bobcats?
- Larry Brown Will Resign (22%, 15 Votes)
- Larry Brown Will Be Fired (10%, 7 Votes)
- Stephen Jackson Will Be Traded (55%, 37 Votes)
- Gerald Wallace Will Be Traded (12%, 8 Votes)
Total Voters: 67
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LB needs to quit or be fired. I know some of the guys that write here think LB should be given a pass because he’s done so much for this team, but you lose 2 out of 3 games and both losses equal to over 60 points, how can you say LB’s doing a great job?He’s got talent but he doesn’t want to play them, he doesn’t want to change his format, this is all Larry’s fault and he should be fired.
its hard to imagine any coach being able to do a better job with this team than Larry Brown. But…somethings gotta give. Does Jack even have much trade value?
Matt – That’s a tough question. Stephen Jackson seem to be worth about 40% what he could have fetched over the summer. He makes quite a salary, and could have been a better guy to unload rather than Tyson Chandler (who has an expiring contract at the end of this season).
The idea of making trades is nice, but probably tough for the Cats. The whole team looks so bad that it’s hard to say that any team would be interested in anybody but Gerald Wallace right now.
I would guess that MJ will keep Larry Brown around to get 10 more wins, in order to top Don Nelson as the coach with most all-time wins (ABA + NBA). After that, who knows what will happen?
So I’m seeing some rumors out there that we’re interested in Rip Hamilton. Comments? My thought is, another wing player?!?!
Geez, I hope the Cats don’t go after Rip. He’s got a bloated contract that goes for the next 3 years.
Actually, his deal makes Stephen Jackson look alright. I mean they both gripe about calls, get techs, get ejected, and play about half as well as they used to. What makes Hamilton worse is that his contract goes for another year beyond Jack’s, and at a few million more each season.
Never, Never, Never Give Up.
We’re 3-5 in December. 6 games left and four are very winnable. I’ll take .500 in Dec though it sucks how we got here with these blowouts. Every game in Nov was close but we were 6-8. October was 0-3.
This whole time we’ve wondered what the teams identity was. This month a path was chosenn about playing D and staying uptempo. That normally works for us. But guys, when we play a team that equals our D we lose big.