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October 25, 2007
Bobcats not even close to being playoff team, network staff says
File this under "for what it’s worth.’’
ESPN just e-mailed me predictions by 10 staffers (Ric Bucher, Marc Stein, Greg Anthony, etc.). All 10 had the Bobcats missing the playoffs. The consensus was the Bobcats would finish 12th among 15 teams in the Eastern Conference.
The most optimistic prediction: Chris Sheridan (formerly lead NBA writer for The Associated Press) picked the Bobcats to finish ninth, one spot outside the playoffs. Sheridan said the Bobcats acquiring Jason Richardson shows they’re more willing to spend money.
Most pessimistic: Bucher, who picked the Bobcats last in the East. He said they have a "basketball-IQ challenged roster’’ and added that Raymond Felton "still has to prove he’s a legit starting point guard."
I haven’t made a final decision where I’ll pick the Bobcats in the Observer’s NBA preview, which will come out next week. I’m leaning toward 10th in the East, and fourth in the Southeast Division, behind some order of Orlando, Miami and Washington.
Posted by Observer Sports on October 25, 2007 at 05:35 PM | Permalink
Comments
Mr. Bonnell, all of this has already been put up on ESPN.com. Also, John Hollinger had us in the playoffs until May went down. Then he knocked us out because he said losing May would cost us about 6 games and make us a sub .500 team
Posted by: Preview | Oct 25, 2007 7:15:40 PM
Espn can't pick Charlotte. They're too busy slobering over the Celtics(overrated), Redsox and Pats. Wait til G-dub and J-rich open their eyes. Maybe then they will think of something nice to say.
Posted by: david | Oct 25, 2007 7:17:37 PM
Injury-depleted or not, I think Charlotte has quite a good chance to come away with the SE division crown given the issues with the other teams.
Starting with Miami, the only sure things they have are Alonzo Mourning and Ricky Davis. You can guarantee Shaq won't play more than about 50 games, and I have a sinking feeling that Wade won't come back strong early, if at all.
Orlando has a couple of quality players in Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard, but the rest of the players in that starting lineup are average at best, and their bench is hardly even NBA-quality (Keith Bogans? Keyon Dooling???).
As for the Wizards, we've seen what can happen when any of their big three go down, and their overall depth is as bad as anybody's in the division.
It WOULD be nice if the Bobcats had a real point guard or at least traded for Rafer Alston and admitted they didn't, but the overall depth in their starters' talent is easily the best in the division, particularly if Brezec reverts to his '04-'06 form. Definitely can't have any more injuries, though.
Posted by: Michael Procton | Oct 25, 2007 10:14:17 PM
The only issue that I have with the pessimistic outlook is that the roster the Bobcats have right now is pretty much the same team that went .500 over the last 50 games of the 06-07 season...plus Jason Richardson. Basically, you lose Sean May, who was out during all of that torrid stretch, and Morrison. Now, I think Dudley will do at least as much as Morrison did as a rookie. The two other missing pieces are Voshkuhl and Knight. I think a healthy Brezec can replace Jake's performance. Knight, I'm a little worried about but the addition of Richardson should more than offset this. So looking at the roster this way, you can see at least 36-44 wins depending on the injury situation and what sort of trade the team can pull off before the deadline.
Posted by: ASChin | Oct 26, 2007 12:19:38 AM
LOLOLOL You actually think Alston is a solid pg? Not to mention he is a head case that the team would have to worry about... he's been arrested a few times, including for stabbing a guy. Yeah, he's a real pg that I want on my team. Procton, you're just not a fan of Felton. Give him this year before you say he needs to be gone. If he still takes too many ill-advised shots then you might have a case to get a new pg. For the record though, I am a believer in Felton and this is going to be his best year yet.
Posted by: Preview | Oct 26, 2007 1:24:36 AM
P.S. the stats from 06-07 show that Felton had more assists per game, more points, better fg %, better ft % than Alston and doesn't have all of the thug baggage.
Posted by: Preview | Oct 26, 2007 1:28:51 AM
No, I don't think Alson is a solid PG. I think he's a poor shooter who makes too many dumb turnovers trying to pull off And1StreetBall bullshit to impress his homies, just like Felton does. And while Felton might have been slightly better stats-wise, there's no NBA player with more comparable stats, and they're the only pair in the NBA to have ranked in the top 50 last year in FGA with FG% under 40%. Hell, they weren't even up to 39%.
Posted by: Michael Procton | Oct 26, 2007 2:47:13 AM
Did I miss something? What have we seen from Sean May that makes him that final piece in the Bobcats playoff puzzle? The most glaring need on this team is an active big man who is not a liability on offense(5-7ppg), who also can legitimately defend and rebound when spelling Okafor.
As for May, he is not that player. May is a tweener, too slow to play the 3 not athletic enough at the 4. He had an opportunity to find a niche on the perimeter in spots but that is not this team's glaring need. Also, May and Morrison are both defensive liabilities, so having them both on the floor at the same time nulifies some of their offensive production.
Posted by: northcliq | Oct 26, 2007 8:03:12 AM
It doesn not matter. Witihn 5 years this team will have new ownership or withing 10 years this francise will be playing elsewhere.
The NBA is dead. And in Charlotte it has been dead so long it is rotting.
The so called fan fest looked like a NAACP meeting. White Americans no longer care for the NBA.
Posted by: Carl Leazer | Oct 26, 2007 9:25:33 AM
Final comments, SEAN MAY: Cut him out and send it to the moon. MORRISON: He's offense have improved and he will be missed coming from the bench. HARRINGTON: Offer him an Early Retirement Plan. YES that will cost money but if you can get ANDERSON VAREJAO by doing that and let Davidson & Dudley know that they are important, it's worth it.
Posted by: RobC | Oct 26, 2007 9:55:51 AM
Right...the NBA is dead in Charlotte, but yet people steady post how sorry the Cats are. Charlotte just doesnt like that Cats for one reason and one reason only. You can tell when you see ignorant comments like..."The so called fan fest looked like a NAACP meeting. White Americans no longer care for the NBA"....WHO CARES!!..in case you havent realized...White America means NOTHING anymore..in a few yrs you will be the minority and inferior to every other race you put try to put down ...the only way you feel superior is to down other races...you people kill me..simple things like that is why Im more PRO-BLACK and not anti-white, there's a difference...GO CATS!!!
Posted by: Chan | Oct 26, 2007 10:19:58 AM
LOOK HERE IM A NORTH CAROLINA NATIVE, AND I LOVE ME SOME BOBCATS, WITH THE ADDITIONS WE MADE I DONT SEE WHY WE CANT COMPETE IN THE EAST. AND FOR THE IDIOT WHO SAID THAT FAN FEST LOOKED MORE LIKE A NAACP MEETING, WELL MORON IF MORE THAN HALF THE LEAGUE IS BLACK, WE ARE A PROUD RACE AND WE WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT OUR ATHLETES,through the good and the bad times. Oh yea LIKE MY HOMEBOY SAID GO CATS!!!!
Posted by: dbreezy | Oct 26, 2007 11:20:29 AM
Look, I'm no Sean May fan due to his injuries, but when he played he was legit.
Yes the "when he played" is a huge factor. But when he played he produced. If healthy he would provide the Cats exactly what they need - rebounding, low post scoring, and big man depth.
His two year averages:
10.4 ppg; 5.9 rpg - 21 minutes
That makes his per 40 minutes averages:
20 ppg; 12 rpg.
That is why he is a loss due to his injuries. He would not play 40 minutes, but the numbers show he was producing in his time. He will be missed this year.
Posted by: mcap | Oct 26, 2007 11:55:08 AM
Has anyone seen what Atlanta has done this preseason? They're the team I'm most worried about b/c they actually have point guards that are worth a crap this year, and more quality big men than anyone else in the division.
Miami is old and without Wade they suck. Washington's big three are not all they're cracked up to be, and Orlando's trade for Lewis is WAY overrated. I think the division is up for grabs and that the 'Cats and the Hawks have the brightest future (and the youngest, most talented rosters).
On a different note, I'm a white guy who loves the "blackness" of the Bobcats and can't stand some of the ignorant ass racist comments on this blog.
Posted by: BustaCat | Oct 26, 2007 11:57:18 AM
isnt Atlanta in the SE division??
i think Orlando gets the division and then Cats get the wildcard at number 7
Posted by: umm | Oct 26, 2007 1:30:39 PM
The East should be super competitive this year!
Barring injury, there's NO WAY the Celtics won't be in the upper echelon. Also count in the Bulls and the Pistons due to their well-balanced teams and superior defense. Count Cleveland in, just because of LeBron. I think the Wizards have to be included as well since they can outscore just about any team in the league (besides Phoenix, of course). They were first in the East at the All-Star break last year (before Jamison got injured).
The only teams I can think of that don't have a decent chance of making the playoffs are the 76ers and Pacers. This leaves 8 teams (Charlotte, Atlanta, Toronto, NJ, NY, Milwaukee, Miami, Orlando) fighting for 3 spots. I think the Bobcats will be 8 – 10 seed depending on the development of Felton. I think that hoping for higher than 40-42 wins is being unrealistic at this point in the team’s development. However, the core we have should provide lots of playoff appearances in the future (assuming we re-sign Okafor).
Cats_Fan
Posted by: Cats_Fan | Oct 26, 2007 1:37:49 PM
I think the world might be in for a rude awakening this season. I believe the bobcats can be last years Utah/Golden state (even with the injuries thus far). In 1 week, we will see....
Posted by: T-Bro | Oct 26, 2007 6:04:59 PM
Atlanta is still Atlanta, and every team in the SE division has no bench so the Bobcats will be just as competitive this year as last. Oh by the way, maybe a reason that Charlotte is lacking in some fans is because their games aren't televised in his Airness's old stomping grounds, Wilmington (no UPN affiliate).
PS. Carl Leazer, don't you have a cousin to molest?
Posted by: dave | Oct 26, 2007 8:13:20 PM
Umm...the games aren't on UPN regardless. They're on News 14, dumbass.
Posted by: Michael Procton | Oct 26, 2007 8:29:25 PM
Hey Procton. You said "It WOULD be nice if the Bobcats had a real point guard or at least traded for Rafer Alston." Those words would imply to me that you think Alston is a real pg and a solid one at that.
However, if you think that Alston is a joke and is alway doing AND1 then why should we trade for him? Even if you claim that Felton is the same as Alston, why would you trade for the exact type of player in Alston who also is a thug? I think he makes more $ than Felton too. Man you would be a horrible GM.
P.S. Felton #'s from tonight: 24pts 9-13fgs (3 of 4 from 3) and 5ast, 1reb, 2stl in 35min.
Posted by: Preview | Oct 26, 2007 10:28:29 PM
Procton saying he would trade him for Alston is just him getting in his typical dig, nothing more nothing less. He and Bonnell both have/had an affinity for Brevin Knight. They feel that b/c Felton went to UNC that Knight would/did never get a fair shake. Consequently, they are doing the same thing to Felton to compensate for this.
Conversely, they will always fail to acknowledge the disservice the Bobcats did in playing him in a system unsuited for his skills and inconsistently in and out of position for his first 2 years (out of loyalty to Knight as opposed to the future), while his adversaries Williams and Paul were playing with coaches playing to their strengths from DAY ONE. They will put his slower development ALL on him, instead of recognizing that he has things he has to work on, but that the team misutilized his strengths/skills as well. They will always look for the worst in Felton and highlight his shortcomings and mistakes while only acknowledging positives in backhanded ways, the opposite of what they did/do with Brevin ( for example calling his attitude/technicals "fire and tenacity"). I could understand this more if Felton was a selfish "me me" primadonna who didn't give max-effort or was bad for the lockeroom, but in his case it is unwarranted.
I think that he is finally now in the situation that he ideally would have been in a year or 2 ago. I think that he will have to adjust to Vincent's system while building chemistry with J-Rich and company in it. I do feel, however that the system of which they speak is better suited for him than that of the previous regime. More importantly, I think that not having Brevin?Bernie (who has done a solid/great job in building this team) will help him, his identity and confidence. I wish this process would have started at least a year ago, but Felton has to start to take advantage of this opportunity now. He has to prove his worth and I think/hope he will.
Posted by: jperry | Oct 27, 2007 12:24:40 AM
Compared to last season, the Bobcats improved only at the 2 and 3 spots, with the addition of J Rich and Jared Dudley (who is already able to contribute to the team). At point guard the team is weaker, with Brevin Knight gone and no new point guard hired. I really hope Felton will improve his game this year, I believe he's able to do it, but still - Brevin's departure is a loss to the team. Obviously, the team is not very well staffed with big men. Not re-signing Jake Voskuhl is a loss of defensive toughness and rebounding; add to this Sean May's (unsurprising) shelving for the season and Harrington's knee troubles, and we are down to two starters plus two inexperienced young players, with the rookie J. Davidson showing , thus far, more offensive skills than the rebounding ability that the team badly needs. We'll see then, probably, a lot of improvising, with Emeka playing quite a bit at center, and Gerald Wallace and Herrmann doing again power forward duty. It's the kind of improvising that coach Vincent doesn't like, for good reason - but the state of the roster will probably force him to do this. So, overall, it seems to me that the Bobcats' roster is only very slightly better than the last season, while the Eastern conference is considerably stronger than last season. The Bobcats' management should follow coach Vincent's advice and bring in another quality big man. If, as Rick Bonnell noted, that's considered to be too expensive (since it involves cutting a player with a guaranteed contract), the team still has a chance to make the playoffs, but it's a really slim one.
Posted by: Sandy | Oct 27, 2007 12:44:10 AM
No...it would remove the spectre of having a "top-of-the-line" point guard who is not and will never be. We could simply admit that PG is one one of our strongest positions and build around our dynamic wings. And I might make a horrible GM, but I sure as hell wouldn't have extended Sean May's contract a year earlier than I needed to on TWO SEPARATE OCCASIONS, as the Bobcats already have!!! Yes, you've got that right, we've got a guy who will be lucky to get back to 100% on the club dance floor at a guaranteed 3+ mil for NEXT year, too. As for you, jperry, I've already shown that: a. Felton played the VAST MAJORITY of his minutes at PG, and b. HE WAS BETTER AT SG! The fact that Felton went to UNC doesn't change the fact that he's a decent slasher who will always be a poor shooter and makes bad decisions with the ball. If Brevin Knight was so bad, how is it that he consistently managed to have more assists against fewer turnovers while shooting at a higher percentage?
Posted by: Michael Procton | Oct 27, 2007 1:48:03 AM
You can be John Hollinger Jr. as much as you like, but the pg position can not be trivialized as easily as you do it. The team WON (you know what the actual non-fantasy game is about) it's highest percentage of games when BK played LESS minutes and yet you still felt he should have started. But alas, you and I have gone through these debates enough and I'm not going to rehash them.
I'm sorry (for you and Rick) that Brevin is gone, but the only way this team would ever have the chance to move forward or find out what they have with Felton is to free itself of the Bernie/Brevin regime that kept him in neutral after initially putting him in reverse.
Brevin Knight is a great backup pg when he accepts that role. He was never going to accept it no matter how many times it was brought up at the end of a season or the beginning of the next. There was a disconnect/divide whether you and Bonnell want to admit it. Felton NEVER went public with it like Brevin did, with help from Rick, however.
Teams around the league were quoted as calling him a cancer, stating that is why the Celtics, with young Rajon Rondo at the point, didn't even consider pursuing him. THAT is why he is gone. As great a backup pg as he is, the Bobcats would have kept him. However, he saw himself a starter here and his (whining, tantruming, negative) example and style of play is not what Vincent wanted.
The sad thing is instead of moving forward with the team, you and Rick seem hell bent on continuing the same manipulated and hyperbolic discourse that you have used in the past. You seem to ROOT for Felton to be unsuccessful. Carry on, as I will watch the Bobcats and Felton as they progress. Hopefully they can find another big guy.
And for the record, I can agree with you on one thing. And I said it when they first did it. They should have waited to pick up May's 4th year option. But what's done is done. Here's to success during the year, with business working itself out as well.
Posted by: jperry | Oct 27, 2007 3:02:11 AM
Thank you jperry.
Posted by: Preview | Oct 27, 2007 3:06:19 AM
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