| Charlotte Bobcats 2nd Half Summit Authored by David Mosley, Joel Dawes and Andrew Perna - March 12, 2008 - 3:03 pm
Who’s the team’s Less Obvious MVP (kind of like second-in-line) thus far?
DM: To answer this question we have to first establish who is the “First-In-Line MVP”. For most teams in the NBA that’s an easy question, but for a fourth year expansion team stuck in the lottery it’s not as easy. Based on the incredibly accurate and always entertaining “Hammer of the Game” totals on the boards, the MVP is Gerald Wallace, which would make the “Less Obvious MVP” a toss up between Emeka Okafor and Jason Richardson.
JD: In what has become a season of disappointment (I honestly thought we could push to win the South East Division at the start of the season and maybe even make it past the first round of the playoffs) bookended by season-ending injuries to key role players before the season even started and a coach who seems to be out of his depth (see below!) it's hard to find shining lights - let alone 2nd level MVP's. The tandem of Gerald "Crash" Wallace and Jason "Swish" Richardson has been a successful one even if it has not shown in the win loss column. Emeka Okafor has shown glimpses of a much improved offensive game and some much needed aggression but we've only seen that spasmodically at best. Raymond Felton is still trying to find his identity and place in the NBA with the Front Office intent to seem to pigeon hole him as a combo guard rather than a PG who will lead us to the promised land. For me, the "unsung" MVP would be Nazr Mohammed. Since coming across in the trade with the Pistons Nazr has averaged a very respectable 10.4ppg, 7.5rpg, 1.3apg along with almost a block and a steal a game in only 24.9mpg. He's added some much needed rebounding and an additional interior presence next to Okafor. The range on his J is better than expected as is his ability to play the high post. Now, if only the head coach would play Okafor and Mohammed together.
AP: I have to go with Emeka Okafor. For the first time in his career he’s playing healthy and has been a true force in the Eastern Conference. 13 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks would have gotten him some All-Star consideration if he wasn’t playing in Charlotte. If he continues to improve he could leapfrog guys like Wallace and Richardson as the team’s most valuable player next season.
Playoff Predictions? If not, will the lottery bring them to the next level?
DM: The Bobcats have no shot at the playoffs, even in the East. Despite playing more home games than any team in the league (31) they are still 5 games out of the 8th seed. Considering their abysmal 4-22 road record, a second half playoff push seems rather impossible. Sadly, unless the Bobcats land in one of the top 2 or 3 spots, I don’t see how the lottery will get them to the next level, at least not next year. The team needs a superstar, a point guard, a leader and a new coach (Beasley or Rose would be a start).
JD: At the start of the season we had some of our players, our new coach and the front office telling us that we were playoff bound this year. Oh how 4 months can change things!! The way that the Bobcats schedule is structured we needed a dynamite start to the season and to hit the All-Star Break well over .500 to have a shot a the playoffs. The 2nd half of our schedule is heavily geared towards road trips and back to backs and considering we are currently 4-19 on the road, things do not bode well to close the season out and make that 1st playoff birth. Of course, this is the East and in the East a team with a record that would make them the worst team in the West can still sneak into the Playoffs!!
The lottery is something that us Bobcats fans both love and dread at the same time. The idea of shiny new players, watching NCAA games and conducting our own little scouting reports like our lives depend on it, trying to identify the "missing piece" has become the norm. But after some disappointing draft results - both with how the balls have dropped and how we have drafted (yes, I'm looking at you Sean May and Adam Morrison!!) - it can be a painful experience. It's hard to say if the lotto will bring us to the "next level" but it's fair to say that we have some great all around talent................except for the "missing piece" to complete the picture.
Could Rose running our offense be that piece? How about the post scoring of Beasley? The poise of DJ Augustin perhaps? Maybe small ball will be the way to go with Felton at the point, Mayo at the off guard, Richardson playing the 3, Wallace a full time power forward and Okafor rounding out the starting 5? Who's to know if we'll even be in a position to draft any of those guy's? With the East being the way it is, maybe we do finish the season just missing out on the playoffs and end in "no man's land" - that horrible position of drafting 12-14. Not quite good enough to make the playoffs but not quite bad enough to draft the next big thing!!
The draft is a crap shot at best. While we might luck into the Rose/Beasley stakes, I'm not sure if they alone will be enough to get us over the hump.
AP: You know things are bad when you aren’t within a few games of the final playoff spot in the East. Only New York and Miami have posted a lower winning percentage than Charlotte this season and they appear headed for the lottery once again. As of now, they are looking at the sixth or seventh pick in this June’s draft. I think Michael Jordan will have to decide what the team needs more – another point guard or an interior presence alongside Okafor.
Most Promising Young Player on the Team?
DM: Last year’s answer was Raymond Felton. That didn’t really pan out like expected. This year Adam Morrison certainly was the young player with the most room to improve, based on his rookie season, but how he responds to playing after tearing his ACL is anyone’s guess. Even with a healthy knee, the expectations for Adam have been greatly revised…… downward. Jared Dudley is certainly both young and promising, but Dudley probably does not have a ton of room to grow. He is a solid contributor and plays like a veteran, despite being a rookie. Therefore, I would say Sean May. May has tremendous talent, but has a rotten knee and rotten conditioning. Assuming a miracle happens and his microfracture surgery is a success, May has the potential to become an 18 and 9 type player and that’s with the rotten conditioning. I’m reaching, I know.
JD: Jermareo Davidson, a kid we picked up from the Warriors in the draft day deal that landed us Richardson last year, has shown some nice things. He has that "Chris Bosh" feel to him. A long, lean player who is very comfortable shooting the 20ft J from the side of the key and also block some shots. Not that he'll even be as good as Bosh, but that style of play. Unfortunately, like Bosh, he's come into the league as skinny as a yard rake!! He really needs to add a lot of bulk to have any sort of impact on the game and learn to be a little more physical. The kid that really stands out though, the kid that I was pretty excited about drafting is Jared Dudley. He's the glue guy that every good team needs. A scrappy, hard nosed, no fuss, no fan fare player with varied skills and a real ability to find the ball and be in the right place at the right time. He's very Shane Battier like in that his impact on a game might not be seen as much in the box score as it is on the court with the potential to be an all round player like lesser version of Paul Pierce. He's a real keeper.
AP: This is the toughest question of the lot because I consider “young” to be any player twenty-five years of age or less. The Bobcats have eight players that fall under that category. Taking Okafor and Wallace out of the mix because of the success they have enjoyed in their careers, I’ll go with Felton. As David mentioned, he should have been last season’s most promising player but he failed to deliver. However, he’s still young and the team desperately needs him to step up his game. Davidson could certain end up taking the cake, but stints in the D-League put him below others in my estimation.
How much longer does the current coach have in your estimation?
DM: Hopefully only two more months… Sam Vincent has been awful this season, undoing in 4 months what Bernie Bickerstaff spent 3 years building. Vincent was Michael
Jordan’s handpicked successor to Bickerstaff. Will Jordan be able to admit his mistake after one year and replace Vincent with an experienced coach? Leaving a young team in the hands of a rookie coach was a recipe for disaster. Recently the team has shown signs of turning on Vincent, which may mean the relationship is past the point of no return.
JD: So, you've finally reached the "see below" section of the article!! When it was known Bernie Bickerstaff would be stepping aside as Head Coach at the end of last season, a wave of excitement came over all Bobcats fans. A feeling of "we've arrived" was embraced. While Bernie did a fantastic job building the team, installing an amazing work ethic and passion in the team, his play book was never one of his strengths. Plus the bringing in of a new head coach was like the training wheels coming off and, in a way, our chance to grow up. Word out of the front office was that we were looking for the next Avery Johnson. Someone who was fresh with passion and a clear direction of where the team should head. The usual names were kicked around (Larry Brown, Jeff Van Gundy etc) with a strong feeling that a one time (albeit a short time) assistant coach of the Bobcats who left to be the head coach of the Canadian based team and was out of contract at the end of the season might have been the prime target. But in the end, an unknown who had travelled the world, the D League and Woman's basketball coaching was appointed the position. Plus he was an ex-team mate and friend of part owner and Manager of Basketball Operations, Michael Jordan. The credentials seemed to match up with what we were told we were looking for. He is young, a new comer, is said to know the game and had a clear idea of how he wanted us to play. Up tempo ball focused on defensive was what we were told we are built for. With athletes at the wings, a big man who can get up and down the floor quickly and a PG who liked to explode, we all bought into it. Half way into the season and we are 19 and 35 with no real game plan, no real style, no identity, no up tempo, no defense and a head coach who seems to alienate, insult and unjustly embarrass his players any time he speaks with the press and every single Bobcat fan is scratching his/her head. Is Vincent in over his head? Are the players just not buying into his system? Are the players not "basketball smart" enough to get the job done? Any way you slice it, the appointment of a green, rookie coach seems to have been a poor one. Most believe that Vincent would have made a fantastic assistant coach under a Bickerstaff, a Del Harris, a Jeff Van Gundy - even a Larry Brown - for a season or two and then, after he had gained the rosters trust, taken over the head coaching role.
Instead, we are left with what seems to be a rift between our players and the head coach and a roster that was once the talk of the NBA with our passion, our never say die attitude and our all out effort to a roster that, at times, is ok with being thumped by 30+ points more than once a week. Jordan has been known to axe a coach after one season, it's hard to say if he would do it again to a hand picked choice of his, but one thing is for sure: When you've got 3 or 4 players, 3 or 4 of our best players, very unhappy about things the new head coach has said or done, there is a common denominator there..............and I can't see the front office sacking 3 or 4 of our best players! Maybe taking a look at replacing the coach would be a good step in the right direction of getting us back on track? Maybe the new coach just needs time? Remember when Sam Mitchell was almost run out of Toronto after a year? Now he's the toast of the town!
AP: David and Joel have pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one. It’s amazing to believe that a team with the type of young talent that Charlotte possesses can’t even make some sort of background noise in such a weak conference. The blame has to fall on the coaching staff, and that doesn’t bode well for Vincent – or at least it shouldn’t.
How do you feel about how the GM constructed the team in the offseason and before this season's trade deadline?
DM: I am probably in the minority of Bobcats fans, but I believe the Richardson was probably not the best move for the long term future of the franchise. The front office thought Richardson, a veteran scorer, would be the player that propelled the young team into the playoffs. But after 54 games the Bobcats are nowhere near the playoffs and seemed to have regressed from last year, not to any fault of Richardson, who has been everything the team expected. Compounding the deal for Richardson the Bobcats signed Matt Carroll to a long term deal and then traded the fabulous, one-armed bandit, Walter Herrmann for Nazr Mohammad, another vet with a large deal. The Bobcats gambled that the vets would get them over the hump and the gamble failed. In the process they lost a lottery pick, an exciting young prospect and much of the cap space that they had been preciously hoarding for 3 years. In 2011, Richardson, Mohammad and Carroll will be making, roughly, a combined 25 million. Now what? On the positive side, resigning Gerald Wallace was a great move.
JD: The draft night trade that sent the #8 pick (Brandon Wright) to the Warriors for Jason Richardson and the #36 pick (Jermareo Davidson) was a move that had to be made. Too many times in the past the Bobcats had been in a game heading into the 4th only to be beaten because we had no one to carry the scoring load. Bringing in Richardson gave us a much needed "go to scorer" and his work ethic, team play and personality fit wonderfully into what we are building. It took Richardson a little while to come around and accept the trade as a positive which lead to him having a slow start to the season, but since December he's been putting up stellar numbers across the boards. His ft shooting is up, his rebounding back to where it should be and his 3pt shooting has been nothing short of amazing. No longer do we have to struggle through sub-standard shooting guards jacking up shots and thinking they are better than they really are (man I wish we had those two 2nd round picks back from the Lakers!!) and instead have a vet shooting guard who is still young and can score in a variety of ways and carry the load. Bringing in Richardson (along with extending Wallace and Carroll) over the summer should also finally put to rest the common misconception that the Bobcats, and mainly owner Bob Johnson, would not spend money to put a winning team on the hardwood.
Of course for ever good, there is a bad. We go into the season with a serious lack of talent and depth at the point guard position. In drafts gone by where teams were selling off late 1st's and other teams were picking up young PG's like Rondo, Marcus Williams, Kyle Lowry, Jameer Nelson etc, we are left with a career journeyman and alleged team cancer (not that we have seen that at all in Charlotte) and a very, very, very, very undersized SG as our back ups at the point. Most feel it was a position that should have been addressed in the off season - especially if the front office want to make Felton a combo and not a pure point (this is where the need for a Rose/DJ player in the draft comes in - even better, a Calderon!!).
AP: I don’t think a fair assessment of the Richardson trade can be made until Brandon Wright has been given enough time to show what he is capable of accomplishing in the NBA. What the Bobcats did get was a leadership presence in their young locker room though with J-Rich, something that may not be evident until next season when the team gets a few of their injured players back. Obviously Wallace had to be re-signed; the only worry now is the post-concussion symptoms he’s suffering. If they don’t bobble their upcoming lottery pick, I think the Bobcats will be in pretty good shape heading into the next decade.
What's the key to the team in the second half?
DM: The key to the second half is to spend the remaining games evaluating the Felton (as a point guard) and restricted free agent, Okafor (in terms of contract value), while also getting some of the younger players, such as Dudley, Ryan Hollins and Jamareo Davidson some much needed playing time.
JD: The key to the 2nd half of the season is to regain some of the dignity and respect that we had earnt over the past 3 years and seem to have lost this year. We need to win on the road. We need to learn to play better as a team and not rely so much on playing 1 on 5. We need to play Okafor as much as possible and give him as many looks as possible to see what sort of money he is worth over the summer. We need to let Felton play the point full time and for 40mpg to see if he "has it". We need to let Davidson and Hollins along with Dudley play as much as possible to see who is a keeper and who is fodder. We need to either develop some chemistry between the players and the head coach, or cut our losses with the head coach and bring someone else in. Most of all, we need to not lose faith!!
AP: In a word, growth. As David mentioned, I think the team really needs to take stock of what they have with Felton and decide whether or not they use this summer’s draft pick on a point guard to replace to spell the former Tar Heel. Winning games won’t matter in Charlotte, unless the likes of Indiana, Chicago, Milwaukee and Atlanta stumble down the stretch, putting the Bobcats in the playoff picture. However, that would spell nothing but trouble as they would loss a valuable lottery selection while bowing out in the first round at the hands of either the Celtics or Pistons. |
