Tom Talks

Crowd, Kemba impressive, but Charlotte Bobcats lose

    This was the best crowd any Charlotte team will play in front of all year. Time Warner Cable Arena was full of middle-school cheering wildly for the home team. Schools decide which students will make the trip, and everybody gets in free. The game began at 11 a.m.

     Milwaukee came back from a 20-point deficit and beat the Charlotte Bobcats 100-90 in Charlotte's next to last exhibition. The Bobcats open the season at home a week from Friday.

      Milwaukee hammered the Bobcats, who often played a small lineup, on the boards. The Bucks had 56 rebounds, the Bobcats 38. The Bucks had 21 offensive rebounds. The Bobcats 12. The Bucks had four players with seven or more rebounds. The Bobcats had Brendan Haywood.

      The Bobcats rested Gerald Henderson most of the second half and played Michael Kidd-Gilchrist only 13 minutes total. They practiced long Wednesday so the idea was not to wear players out.

      Although Kemba Walker shot only two of seven from the field in the fourth quarter, he finished with a game-high 20 points on 16 field goal attempts.

       He played 40 minutes and had seven assists, also a game high. Most impressively, did not have a turnover.

       I don't think 11 a.m. tipoffs will catch on. But if I had a vote, they would.

Carolina Panther GM Marty Hurney says he failed to find a leader

    Marty Hurney, the deposed Carolina Panther general manager, said he failed to find a player who could take over a locker room and compel teammates not to accept losing.

     He said the Panthers have many potential leaders. But they don't have a player who at the moment fills the role Ray Lewis (who is out for the season) did for Baltimore or Tom Brady does for New England.

     "Leadership in the locker room is one of the most underrated parts of this league," Hurney said.

      The Panthers have never won in consecutive seasons and haven't had a winning season since 2008. They're 1-5 this season and have lost four straight.   

      Panther owner Jerry Richardson asked Hurney when the losing would stop, and why would it stop. Hurney couldn't offer an answer that satisfied Richardson.

       "There's something that has to change," Hurney said in an intervew with four reporters Monday afternoon.

       On Monday, the leadership of Carolina's football operation did.

Fired GM Marty Hurney talks to the Observer

  After Carolina's 19-14 loss to Dallas Sunday, Marty Hurney and Jerry Richardson talked Sunday night for close to two hours.

   On Monday morning they talked again, and Richardson, who owns the Carolina Panthers, fired Hurney as general manager.

    Hurney told me late Monday morning that every week a losing team says that if they had made one more play, they could have won. Some teams say this 12 times a season. They finish 4-12. But it's always about more than one play. There's a reason some teams succeed and some fail.

    The Panthers haven't had a winning season since 2008. There's a losing culture -- Hurney's term -- and Hurney said he's responsible. He hired the players and he hired the coaches.

     Hurney said fear is a great motivator. People in the organization have told him and will tell him that they feel bad for him. Then they'll worry about their own jobs.

 

 

Firing Panther GM Marty Hurney now makes no sense

   Why now?

    Why would the Carolina Panthers fire general manager Marty Hurney six games into the season? How will a new general manager fix the roster now?

     Obviously, the Panthers are flawed. A team doesn't lose as many games as it has, close or otherwise, without flaws on its roster and with its philosophy.

     But owner Jerry Richardson told me before the season that he wouldn't trade Hurney for any general manager in football. The Panthers were undefeated then. They've lost four straight and are 1-5 now.

     If a sacrifice was required, Hurney was the obvious candidate. Every player and almost every employee on the football side of the operation went through him, was hired by him.

     Hurney doesn't call plays or devise strategy. But he hired the people who do.

     Perhaps a fall guy was required.

     But the Panthers have never been so fragile that they would fire a key employee to satisfy angry fans.

      The timing makes no sense.

       Meanwhile, it's just another quiet week in Pantherland.

 

 

Think I saw a steer outside Bank of America Stadium

   This feels like football. Streets outside Bank of America Stadium are crowded 2 1/2 hours before kickoff. Streets and sidewalks are filled with pedestrians. Tailgates are full. There are more hospitality tents in front of the stadium than there have been or will be for any other game this season.

     Yes, thousands of the fans are wearing Dallas jerseys and oversized Cowboy boots and hats. They're entitled.

     I get emails from readers wanting me to encourage Panther fans to sell tickets to only Panther fans. Or to promote a new Carolina fight song or cheer.

     Sorry. I don't care about songs or chants or other jerseys. Cheer for the team you want, and have a good time.

    So far, this crowd is.

 

Bobcats at 1, Panthers at 4:05. Not a bad Sunday.

    Double-header today. The Charlotte Bobcats play their first exhibition at 1 p.m. in the arena and the Panthers play Seattle about three hours later in the stadium.

     I'll miss the usual pre-Panther banter but nobody said it would be easy. Probably somebody did. But he or she was lying.

        Panthers have to win. I tire of people calling games a must win, because most aren't. This is. You don't come back from 1-4, not with the schedule Carolina has. Also, confidence has to be earned. How do you earn it? Just win.

       Bobcats, meanwhile, have been retooled, reshaped. They've changed their court and uniforms. More importantly, they've stuck talent into those uniforms. I like their rookies, kind of like their free-agents. Curious about what the season will bring.

So if Rivera had gone for the first down, and failed...

    There were horrendous mistakes Sunday -- Carolina's mismanagement of time at the end of the first half, breakdowns in the secondary, fumbles and penalties, so many penalties.

      But Ron Rivera's decision to punt on fourth and a yard was not one of them. Most coaches would do what he did. Atlanta, as you know, had no timeouts.

      Rivera is getting killed for the decision. Had he elected to go for the first down, and failed, he would have been butchered even worse.