2007-2008 Charlotte Bobcats Preview
Last Season- 33-49 (4th in Southeast
Division)
Additions- Jason Richardson (Golden State)
Jared Dudley (1st round
draft pick)
Subtractions- Brevin Knight (LA Clippers)
Where we last left the Bob's boys from
last season was a team on the rise and a few
key injuries away from making a lot of noise
in the Eastern Conference. During the NBA
Draft, the Bobcats traded first round pick
Brendan Wright to Golden State in exchange
for Jason Richardson. Richardson finally
gives the Bobcats a true scorer in those
clutch situations in the fourth quarter, the
team has never had on in the three previous
years. When October came around, the talk in
Charlotte was playoffs, but three weeks
later the team is struggling to keep enough
bodies on the floor. Season ending injuries
to Sean May (he has only played in less than
70% of the games since his drafting two
years ago) and Adam Morrison have taken away
a lot of fire power that new coach Sam
Vincent could have used to bring the Bobcats
into that next realm of the playoff
spectrum.
Point Guards- Raymond Felton and Jeff
McInnis
Felton will finally have this position
to himself all season after the Bobcats let
Knight go in free agency to the Clippers.
Felton who will love Vincent's up tempo
style of play should be in for a career
year. Felton is a good passer who protects
the ball very well and doesn't have very
many turnovers should raise his assist total
by at least two more assists a game because
of having Richardson on his wing catching
those sweet alley-oops. But for all the good
Felton does, his shot is very suspect and
takes a lot of bad shots as the leader on
the floor. If he can get that field goal
percentage up by at least 3 percent over
last season he could take that Deron
Williams and Chris Paul leap that the team
has been looking for. McInnis a journeyman
point guard is a Charlotte native who came
in last season and couldn't find much of a
role but now he can come in and play and
let Felton play the shooting guard role.
McInnis is a good backup player but has
concentration issues and has been a concern
in locker rooms for a few years now.
Grade- C+
Shooting Guards- Jason Richardson, Matt
Carroll and Derek Anderson
Finally Bobcat fans can breathe easy
knowing that we can finally say we have a
go-to-scorer when we traded for Richardson
in June. Last season his numbers might have
taken a dive compared to other years but he
was a bit injured last a season and the
finally he has that opportunity to be the
number one option again in Charlotte.
Richardson is a good shooter and we all know
about his ability to make that slam dunk. He
is an underrated defender and could have a
possible All-Star year in Charlotte. Carroll
got his pay raise after proving to
management that he can improve his game for
the last two seasons. Carroll is the team's
best shooter and plays enough defense to get
buy but will never win the defensive player
of the year award. Carroll is a sixth man of
the year sleeper pick and can score points
off the bench. Anderson will be more a
player-coach on the floor like he was last
year. He can fill-in and play both guard
positions but will be only used when needed.
Grade- B
Small Forwards- Gerald Wallace and Jared
Dudley
Wallace put in a career year in 2006-07, he
improved all of his numbers all-around and
became the 4th player to complete the two
block and two steal a game average. A player
that gives his all on every play is become
the team's leader and the heart and soul of
this franchise and finally got rewarded for
his hard work by getting a $57 million
dollar contract in the off-season. There
isn't one thing that he doesn't do very well
and we could be in store a special 2007-08
season. Dudley, the rookie from Boston
College is a hard-noised player that does
the little things that you don't see in the
stat sheet. But he is behind Wallace, so the
minutes could come few and far between.
Grade- B-
Power Forwards- Emeka Okafor, Walter
Herrmann, Othella Harrington and Jarmearo
Davidson
Okafor entered the season without his new
contract. At last check, Charlotte
management is trying to have that deal done
before July and Okafor hits the open market.
He has gotten better and better each season
and is at the point where he is a constant
double-double on a nightly basis. A very
good shot blocker and is working more on his
offensive game to complement his defensive
prow less. He needs to work on his
free-throw percentage but no one's perfect.
(Note to Charlotte Management, if your
reading this article, PLEASE RESIGN OKAFOR,
we don't need another Alonzo
Mourning situation ever again.) Herrmann
came on strong last season after injuries
tore apart the front-line. An underrated
defender who plays with a fire and passion
and can get under people's skin. A good
shooter who can stretch defensives with
shooting. Harrington will be a banger and
Davidson is a D-League candidate.
Grade- B
Centers- Primoz Brezec and Ryan Hollins
This section of the team is going to be
short and sweet. In Vincent's situation
neither one right now will play a lot
minutes because of what they want to do on
offense. Brezec does not rebound very well
for his size and Hollins is still a project
in the works. So Okafor will be playing this
position a lot in 07-08
Grade- D-
Outlook: A season of promise took a bunch
of hits with injuries in the preseason with
May and Morrison being out for the season.
What Vincent has to do is get a good
rotation going and some nights have to out
shoot his opposition due to the lack of size
and rebounding that the team does not have
this season. What we do know is that with
Richardson, Wallace and Okafor we have the
right building blocks in place. If Felton
can keep the point under control we could be
a dark house in the East. But rebounding
issues and size makes Charlotte on year away
from contending.
Prediction- 38-44 (4th in the Southeast and
10th in the Eastern Conference)
6/18/07
The
Great Debate at Number Eight and Twenty-Two
The 2007 NBA Draft being only a
few weeks away, the Charlotte Bobcats could
take both of their first round picks and
could possibly turn two players into key
role players on next season’s roster. At
Number 8, the bobcats could look at a number
of players that could help fill the holes on
the roster. Realistically, the team could
try to fill two major holes in the starting
line-up. First, the team needs another big
man. I know the team has Emeka Okafor, Sean
May and Primo Brezec on the roster for next
season, but all three have had injury
problems over the last couple of seasons,
especially May who has missed most of his
two seasons with an assortment of injuries.
This season is a make or break year because
his contract is up at the end of the season.
Not only is the big man spot a weakness but
a pure shooting guard or small forward
wouldn’t hurt either. Remember the Bobcats
have never had a shooting guard who could
live up the starting role over the team’s
three seasons and passed on a couple of
players in past drafts that could have been
starters by now. (Remember Gerald Green and
Brandon Roy)
So where can we go at number 8?
Most NBA insiders think Kansas underclassman
Julian Wright is the logical selection here,
but there could be other alternatives at
this selection. If not Wright, Charlotte
could opt for Florida’s Corey Brewer, Joakim
Noah, and Al Horford (the last two if there
available), Georgetown’s Jeff Green (if he
decides to stay in the draft) or Washington
freshman center Spencer Hawes. Brewer, a
defensive terror, would be a great fit on
this roster because he can play both
shooting guard and small forward and make
Gerald Wallace even better on the defensive
end because he wouldn’t have to play all
sides of the floor. Noah, the charismatic
forward, would help out in the inside and
has enough energy to make Okafor not have to
take a pounding and is a good shot-blocker
as well. Horford, a bull on the interior
would make a great addition to the front
line and at his height and size could even
help out at the center position. Green, a do
everything small forward doesn’t do one
thing outstanding but he does everything
that you could ask for and is a great team
player. His only draw back is the last game
we saw him in he was not himself in the lost
to Ohio State in the Final 4. Hawes, a true
7-foot big man is learning the post position
but has enough skills to make an impact as a
rookie in the league. My Pick: Corey Brewer
Number twenty-two is a harder
pick to figure out because it depends on
what the team takes at number eight. If a
small forward is taken, then a front line
player should be on the ajenda. Pittsburgh’s
Aaron Gray, Spain’s Marc Gasol (Pau’s little
brother), Brazil’s Tiago Splitter and
Croatic’s Ante Tomic are good possibilities
here or don’t be surprised if the team takes
a hard look at Eastern Washington’s Rodney
Stuckey or Arizona’s Marcus Williams. My
Pick: Marc Gasol, only because buying
Splitter’s contract would out really hard
because of the fact of his club has a huge
buyout clause in his contract.
Any
questions for me or any comments can be sent
to me at
QCbigcat21@aol.com.
I promise to answer everything sent to me.
6/7/07
Now What’s
Next for Bob’s Boys?
For
Charlotte Bobcat fans the 2006-07 season was
filled with a lot of ups and downs as well as a
bit of hope that this team can turn the corner
next season. This team lost a lot of time this
season to injuries and hopes that of 2007-2008
can be the teams first playoff season in
franchise history. The Cats ended up this season
7 games out of the final playoff spot in the
eastern conference. This is without power
forward Sean May who missed around a two-thirds
of the season with his reoccurring knee injury,
Emeka Okafor who missed 10 games in a key
stretch of the season with back problems and
Gerald Wallace and Matt Carroll’s injuries that
kept them out of games in late March and April.
This off season is the most important
now in the team’s young 4 year existence. With a
full salary cap to use, a new coach to find and
another two first round draft choices, The
Bobcats can use this off-season to build the
final foundation pieces that can help this team
be a playoff contender for the next few years.
So what can the Bobcats do with all of these
burning questions in the off-season? Well I have
a few solutions to each of those problems over
the next couple of weeks.
1.
With the
NBA’s stranglehold on the cap over what can the
Bobcats really attract in the free agent market?
With the
approximate cap for 2007-08 season being around
58 million dollars, the Bobcats have around 18
million to spend on free agents and resigning
their own players. Michael Jordan has said on a
number of occasions that the team will spend
money on bringing in players to help this team
become a contender. With that being said, two
major market free agents and a few players that
can be traded lead the talks of being new
bobcats. Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis lead the
free agent market but talks of bringing those
guys in on contracts could cripple the team for
a long period of time. Carter who could be on
his last contract in the league and who is one
the best 10-15 players in the league could
demand a lot more than the team could offer him
without keeping the team in tack. Carter could
ask for around 14-16 million per season and I’m
hoping that isn’t in the best interest of the
team. Lewis on the other hand is looking for his
big payday. At 10-14 million per season risk the
team would acquire a shooter who can score on
the low block but his defense is shaky and he
hasn’t been a big player on the boards in his
career. Tradable players include Sacramento’s
Mike Bibby, Detroit’s Chauncey Billups and
Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal. Out of those three,
Bibby could be the most likely to be acquired
but that would take a gutting of the young
nucleus of guys that the team has on its roster.
O’Neal wants to be in New York with Isiah and
Billups would rather stay in Detroit and finish
his career. So what to do? Well Gerald Wallace
is a free agent and would like to resign here
because Charlotte has turned him into a rising
star in this league. Yes Gerald will never be
that big time superstar but he is the most hard
working player on this team and he is the one
that does all of the little things and plays
defense on the best player on each team every
single night. Matt Carroll was a D-league find
two seasons ago and has turned into a regular
starter and big minute guy for the last two
years. He might not be the best defensively but
his shooting ability and willingness to be a
team player is everything you want a player to
have on this team. Last but not least there is
some player who isn’t a free agent but you like
to have resigned before he becomes one is Emeka
Okafor. Resigning him is a no-brainer. He’s the
team’s franchise player and a year or two away
from being the on the best power forwards in the
league. These three guys deserve their bigger
paydays depending on who you’re talking about.
Resigning those three players would cost the
team around the same money it would take to
bring in a Carter or a Lewis. Now Mike if you
are reading the words that are in this article
please don’t pull a Washington Wizard front
office move and get rid of youth for name
players. Remember these two words, Richard
Hamilton.
Any
questions for me or any comments can be sent to
me at
QCbigcat21@aol.com.
I promise to answer everything sent to me.
5/28/07
A Fans View of
the Final Home Game
