Bobcats Beat Warriors At Their Own Game

Bobcats Charlotte Bobcats @ Warriors 1/29/10

Staying with the “Running Diary” theme recaps…

FIRST HALF

Lots of talk from the Warriors broadcast team about Stephen Jackson coming back to Oaktown. Boos aplenty. Wow! The Bobcats have their very first heel!

Great moment midway through the first quarter which illustrates Larry Brown’s impatience with Rookies. Derrick Brown checks in to give Diaw a breather and proceeds to fall asleep in transition defense. LB yanks him after thirty seconds and inserts Stephen Graham for the rest of the quarter. Talk about a short fuse.

Ronny Turiaf checks in later in the quarter and starts making plays immediately. I wrote in my Power Forward Trade Column recently that Turiaf would be a great fit as a backup four in Charlotte and he’s proving me right again this evening with lots of energy on the offensive glass, a few nice put-backs and one crazy steal and almost finish on the fast break. If the ‘Cats could get him for Henderson and Law straight up I say make the deal immediately.

Just caught the box score for the Philly/Lakers game. Anybody realize that both Primoz Brezec AND Jason Kapono play for the Sixers? Me neither, maybe because they both logged DNP-CDs tonight. Somewhere Bernie Bickerstaff is crying.

My first look at Steph Curry as a pro. I wasn’t sure how he was going to turn out but thus far I’m impressed. He has some pass-first PG acumen; is an As-Advertised great long range shooter and is a little bigger than you’d think. Will probably play just as long as his pops (16+ seasons) in the League and be at worst a Steve Kerr role player on a contender.

Starting the 2nd quarter now and we have a SPECIAL GUEST ANNOUNCER joining the Warriors’ broadcast crew. “Oh my gawd King, it’s that sadistic bastard Paul Heyman!” No, it’s Dell Curry! DC4THREEE! chats about Steph’s success, the JAX trade, Monta Ellis’ dependence on his right hand, Steph’s mouthpiece fetish (possibly inherited from watching so many Crash games in CLT), the light, skin-tight kevlar body armor that so many players are wearing these days (including Gerald Wallace), etc, etc.
I’m actually starting to think that Dell could be a great ambassador nation-wide for Charlotte Pro Basketball. Sort of an Obama/Brad Daugherty gene splice. He’s no Mike Gminski yet but a strong upgrade from Adrian Branch/Henry Williams.

Who is that tall, bearded guy on the Bobcats bench wearing a suit? Did Sean May lose a bunch of weight and go all Joakim Phoenix on us? Oh, that’s the guy we traded our franchise center for, Tyson Chandler. Tyson Chandler everybody! Woo-hoo!!! Sixteen games and counting!

Starters (especially JAX and CRASH) playing a ton of minutes in the first half. D.J. comes in to to give Raymond a blow. Augustin nails two straight threes and looks confident. Then he loses that turnover to Run Ronny Turiaf who embarrasses him with the aforementioned steal and almost finish. Still, D.J. with a respectable eleven points in the first half.

Bobcats up 65-59 at the break.

SECOND HALF

JAX and CRASH haven’t come out of the game yet and Boris has only been out a minute. The announcers for GS are talking like this is a good thing. I’m a little worried about all of this wear and tear.

RADMAN in the house! Not sure if it’s a Bay Area inspired thing but Vlad has suddenly started looking like the lead singer from Loverboy.
Also, Warriors fans must be in secret agony every time they see Vlad get toasted by JAX. Golden State really didn’t get enough for him in that trade. Kind of like when the Bobcats play the Hornets and Emeka Okafor drops a double-double on Tyson Chandler’s replacement.

I’m a Boris Bee-Liever but Diaw has been hit or miss all season and I’m starting to think that he’s gonna be the player that the team moves if you believe Bill Simmons’ assertion that the ‘Cats are making another trade before the deadline. Carlos Boozer for Diaw and change? A Felton/Jackson/Wallace/Boozer/Chandler lineup is a tough matchup for anyone in East. I’m warming to the idea.

Back to Raymond for a second, I feel like his beard is under-discussed. Baron Davis started doing this and his game went to the next level a few years back. Not to mention Magic in the 80s. I’m calling on Ray to push it at least as far as QuestLove before the Playoffs. Felton is playing so well these days (16pts on 6-10, 6asts tonight) that I’m a little worried that the Lakers are gonna sweep him up this offseason to replace Derek Fisher. They’ve liked him since the ’05 draft and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Ray running the point next year for Kobe and Phil.

Nazr Mohammed has played a total of 17 minutes and Gana Diop’s nearing a DNP-CD himself. Larry Brown chooses to go small with JAX and CRASH alternating playing the four and Diaw taking Center. Bobcats up by double digits in the Third.

WOW. Andris Biedrins with a Turiaf-esque steal of a Felton pass and then a one-on-none fast break JAM. Let’s talk about Biedrins’ hair for a second. Is he purposefully trying to invite Dolph Lundgren comparisons? He basically looks like any Eastern European tough guy involved in a Russian Arms Deal Gone Bad. I’m gonna search later for photographs of Andris wearing a grey sportcoat and black undershirt.

Monta Ellis looking every bit as you’d expect. Scoring at will. Driving the lane and hitting jumpers from the outside. Looks like a young Iverson. Warriors hot all game shooting 56% from the field but can’t secure a rebound while the ‘Cats aren’t doing too bad themselves at 50%.

CARTIER MARTIN SIGHTING! Yes, Cartier “That’s Really My First Name” Martin just checked into the game and put one up over JAX. He then gets hyper and starts launching threes – all errant. Thanks for the memories, Cartier.

Fourth Quarter and the Bobcats look like the better team. They blow the game open and build a 20 point lead with just a little over six minutes left and are killing the W’s this half with a 20-9 rebounding advantage (CRASH lead the way with 13 to go along with an impossibly quiet 30pts).

JAX with a killer 3 (bringing his scoring total to 30), D.J. with another killer three and for some reason Larry Brown decides to leave his starters in with 6:30 to go with the ‘Cats well ahead and the Warriors trotting out Cartier and Anthony Tolliver (GS’s answer to Stephen Graham).

Warriors make a mini-rally but come up short and LB empties the bench with 2:20 to go in the game. Gerald “The Sequel” Henderson comes in and looks as though he’s never even seen a basketball before, missing free throws, slipping on the floor, throwing the ball away. Doesn’t matter. Bobcats in control and take this game 121-110 to go 23-22 on the year while improving to 5-17 on the road.

AP recap here. Box score here.

Enjoy the win Bobcats fans…

-ASChin

Why Is Everyone Hating on the Bobcats?

From the national media to the local press and back, it seems that everyone’s expectations are pathetically low for the Charlotte Bobcats as they enter the ’09-’10 NBA season.

[see also: ESPN The Magazine Eastern Conference Predictions | The Sporting News Season Preview| TSN’s Shoals on the Bobcats “Mess“]

Am I missing something here? Was there a secret meeting held somewhere deciding that all b-ball pundits reverse jinx the deepest, most talented squad in the Bobcats’ brief history?

Allow me a few points as to why the Bobcats are going to “BEAST IT” this year:

1. The team goes 2 deep at every position.

Gone are the days of depending on Jeff McInnis, Bernard Robinson, Adam Morrison and Melvin Ely to fill minutes. As John Hollinger likes to point out in his team assessment, the Bobcats have historically relied upon a disproportionate number of “sub-replacement level” players to contribute. By having players like McInnis, Morrison, Cartier Martin, and “Fat” Sean May sucking it up on the court, the ‘Cats have put themselves either in deeper holes or lost leads when they could have been staying in games. That changes this year.

Even with Raja Bell out indefinitely with a gimp wrist, the ‘Cats can still go two deep at SG with Gerald Henderson and 6’4″ Flip Murray. Henderson had a nice rookie preseason and Flip garnered some Sixth Man Award attention last year while playing with the Hawks. Hardly Kareem Rush-caliber options in my opinion. Things get even better when Raja comes back into the mix.

At the Point, the Bobcats are set. Raymond Felton, while not the world’s greatest PG, is a starter in the NBA and by all accounts a great leader. His backup, D.J. Augustin, is probably going to take over the starting gig by midseason and looks like he could turn out to be a sort of a “Damon Stoudamire: EVOLUTION” when all is said and done.

The team’s best players start at the forward spots. Boris Diaw and Gerald Wallace is the best forward combo the team has ever trotted out and you’d have to go back to the Anthony Mason/Glenn Rice combo in the late ’90s to find a more versatile, skilled frontcourt in Charlotte NBA history. Unlike last season, when the ‘Cats had to basically add 10 points to the opponents’ score whenever the two starters went out, this season the team has real quality on the bench with veterans Vlad Radmanovic and Stephen Graham and youngsters Derrick Brown and Alexis Ajinca. Last season ‘Lex was one of those sub-replacement guys. This season? If he keeps up what he started in the preseason, he might be a real contributor off the pine. The rookie Brown also showed consistency and poise during the exhibitions season. Either way, expect the Bobcats to go a reliable four deep at the forward position.

With all of the talk of salary dumps and downgrades at the Center spot, the ‘Cats still find themselves 3 deep in the middle. While Nazr Mohammed and Gana Diop aren’t players that you want starting for a playoff team, as 15 minute role players they are huge upgrades over the Primoz Brezecs, Jamaal Sampsons and Andre Brown’s of the world. Nazr has looked good in the preseason and I find it hard to believe that Diop won’t eventually play his way into shape come December. Meanwhile, Tyson Chandler is healthy and should make up for some of Okafor’s lost offensive production with his extroverted exuberance and energy.

2. Larry Brown has history. Don’t screw with history.

Brown has coached 11 NBA team during his career. NEVER has one of those teams failed to make the Playoffs two years in a row. I don’t think that this can be stated enough. There is magic here. Maybe if that coaching factoid was something like “in 3 coaching jobs in the NBA, coach Jeff Van Gundy has never…” but no, we’re talking about ELEVEN. Whatever Brown is doing it’s not accidental. He’ll find a way to make this happen. Watch and Learn.

3. The Sun Shines on a Dog’s Posterior Every Once and a While

It’s been five years. The team has made so many poor business and personnel decisions and had so many bad breaks over the past half decade that their luck is bound to change, right?
This season, that luck will probably be reflected most in their draft selections. Between 2005 and 2007, the team had 5 first round draft picks (#5, #13, #3, #8, #22) that, as of October of 2009, has resulted in the following players: Boris Diaw, Raja Bell, Raymond Felton and Vlad Radmanovic.

Alright, I apologize. I realize that after reading that last fact, you’re probably contemplating a cyanide tablet. But here’s the brightside: The last four draft picks look like keepers. Augustin, Henderson and Brown look like at minimum second contract guys and Ajinca could either be a stud or a bust, we’re not quite sure. This is an upgrade from last season, of course, when we were sure – that he sucked.

IN CONCLUSION:

I challenge the fans, the bloggers and the local media to expect more from this team going into next week’s Season Opener. This is the best team that the organization has ever assembled with the best coach and the best talent. Expect them to be good. Very good.

-ASChin

Classic Bobcats

So what if the Bobcats are only five years old. They’ve got folks doggin’ on the franchise like they’ve orchestrated decades of horrible personnel/strategy moves. The roster for the 2008-09 is looking a bit shaky so far (with or without Okafor). Still, Bobcats fans have seen much worse.

Here is our list of classic Bobcats:

Primoz

1) PRIMOZ BREZEC
A few may recall Primoz’s historic role in the Bobcats’ first tip-off photo, most of us would like to forget it. Outside of the Bobcats Baseline crew, not too many folks sported an autographed Primoz jersey but it looks like someone really wanted him to stay in Toronto. . . http://www.resignprimoz.com/

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