Back in the Mix

Ladies and gentlemen, Raymond Felton! Where have you been all our lives? Ray Ray often gets lost in the shuffle when talking about the Bobcats. This isn’t too surprising, seeing that Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson command a lot of positive attention, while Desagana Diop and Boris Diaw make up much of the cynical conversation. Felton falls in between. He’s done hardly anything this year to prove he deserves to be gushed over, but he also is a floor general that you want to have in the game. Such is the duality of Raymond Felton.

Tonight, however, Felton stole the show. It was one of the few times all year #20 took over. Hell, we may even have to go way back to the days when Sean May was still wolfing down hot dogs in the Dean Dome. Tonight, Felton played like a number five pick in the draft. He ran the pick and roll like the marquee point guards drafted before him. It was only the third time all season he’s reached double-digits in assists. Why can we not see this night in, night out?

No one single player in the NBA, can stay in front of Felton if he attacks the hoop. That’s a claim you can only make about a handful on players. The problem is Felton doesn’t attack the hoop. I realize the Bobcats are one of the only teams in the NBA that actually run plays, but you can’t tell me if Raymond drove and dished more frequently the Cats wouldn’t shoot a better percentage. And that’s the difference between wins and losses. The Bobcats do not shoot the ball well. They run these elaborate motion plays and players get a bit of daylight, but it doesn’t matter if you lack a jump shooter. Dumb it down Coach Brown. Pick, roll, drive, dish. That’s the NBA.

Speaking of shooting, it’s been nice to see DJ Augustin lighting it up lately. He’s really finding his form now that the bulk of the season is in the rearview mirror. Perhaps he just needed more playing time to get his confidence back. It sure came in handy tonight, when he and Raymond were the only ones to rally the team back against the Heat. Best statistic of the game: Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson combining for 0 points in the final period. The team’s top two scorers shut out in the last 12 minutes. They put up about the same numbers combined as Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash. If those two guys don’t score in the fourth is that team winning? Is Louis Amundson taking over? Don’t think so.

That tells me two things. One, Gerald Wallace may become the Jamaal Magloire of NBA All-Stars (dear god). And two, this team is hungry for the playoffs. No way in hell they should have won that game the way Wallace and Jackson were chucking up bricks. But they found a way, and that’s what hungry teams do. They will themselves to victory. I’ve joked that Boris Diaw’s mouth is always watering for something. Now it looks as if it may just be the postseason (and maybe some stuffed-crust pizza).

There were some classic moments during this weekend’s homestand at the Cable Box. I never knew we had so many California transplants in the Queen City. Nothing infuriates me more than seeing star-chasing fans cheering against their hometown team. For all you hear about Kobe Bryant being one of the most hated players in the NBA, well, apparently those pollsters have never been to Charlotte. It was a lovefest that would make Richard Gere and Julia Roberts vomit. As if it couldn’t get any worse, the Davidson fans came out of the woodwork to see Stephen Curry play. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely root for Steph. He’s going to be one of the best in the league someday. It’s one thing to hope he does well, but to pull for the Warriors against the Cats — come on Davidson fans. I realize you’ve never had an athlete of that caliber come out of your institution. That doesn’t make it okay for you to scream in my ear every time Anthony Tolliver makes a free throw. Go tend to your garden or something.

So hear we are, back in the race. With one win against the Heat we’ve solidified the tie breaker and leapfrogged from ninth to seventh in the Eastern Conference. There’s more reason to rejoice. Through Friday’s game against the Lakers, the Bobcats had the third most difficult schedule in the league. From here on out, they have the third easiest. Wait, didn’t we lose to the Nets twice? Nevermind. This may not end well.

The Best Owner to Ever Play the Game

Everything Michael Jordan has done since retiring from basketball the Chicago Bulls has been memorable for the wrong reasons. His front-office failures rival moves made by Matt Millen and the hapless Detroit Lions. Even after all the shoddy personnel decisions (Kwame Brown, Sean May, Adam Morrison, Matt Carroll, Sam Vincent and so on), I still believe this is the best possible scenario for the Bobcats.

Let’s just get this out of the way: Bob Johnson was a terrible owner. There’s no getting around it. It’s unfathomable how poor of a job he did selling his franchise to the city. The only Bobcats billboards you’ll see in Charlotte feature Raja Bell holding a bottle of Sprite. Bell has been a Golden State Warrior since the middle of November. Oops! The marketing ineptitude goes back further than that. At the beginning of the season there were still banners outside the arena of Emeka Okafor, Matt Carroll and Adam Morrison. Seriously.

If you haven’t noticed, basketball fans in the Charlotte area don’t give a damn about the NBA. They used to care about the Hornets, but George Shinn’s arena-extortion tactics and rape trial put an end to that pretty quickly. Professional basketball in Charlotte has never rebounded, so to speak. Instead of publicizing all the good things the Bobcats players do for the community (and they do a lot), Bob Johnson decided to hide the players from the public. I mean, there are times when local news cameras aren’t allowed to show the faces of players at charity events. What the hell is up with that? Juxtapose Johnson’s stand-off ownership approach and the family feel of the Jerry Richardson regime with the Panthers. Apples and oranges.

Sure the team is losing thousands of dollars every week, but you can still put up the facade that the Cable Box is the place to be. Make it seem like the public owes it to themselves and the city to show up for game night. Allow Stephen Jackson to let his hair down in uptown. Let Desagana Diop play in traffic. Just put the players out there for the city to see. And for god’s sake put up some damn billboards. Fortunately, if there’s one thing Michael Jordan knows how to do outside of actually playing basketball, it’s marketing basketball. I can see it now, an ad featuring Jordan in a suit surrounded by the Bobcats starting five with some cheesy line like, “My Squad, Your Team.” Come on Panthers fans. You can dig on that.

That promotion stuff is all well and good, but the real upside of the Jordan purchase is it’s exactly what Larry Brown wants. Jordan’s the reason why the Hall of Fame coach is here in the first place, and Brown is the reason why the Bobcats are a playoff contender. Aside from the Diop acquisition, Brown and Jordan have combined to make some very shrewd personnel decisions. Turning Raja Bell and Vladamir “Don’t Call Me a 3-Point Specialist” Radmanovic into Stephen Jackson proved to be the best NBA trade of the year. And putting the pieces together to get Tyrus Thomas before the trade deadline is probably the next best trade this year. Thomas is getting hands-on training every day from Coach Brown and it’s definitely paying off. Tyrus is averaging 13 points and more than 3 blocks per contest in about 25 minutes of action. Hooray for efficiency!

So going forward, it makes sense for Jordan to be at the helm. He can still spend countless hours working on his short game on the links; all I’m asking for is a stronger push to get the city excited about its professional sports franchise. That, and continue making savvy personnel decisions. Good riddance Bob Johnson! You’re not fit for this ownership gig. Stick to perpetuating young, black stereotypes through music videos.

Beat the Best, Lose the Rest

Ahh, the roller coaster ride called the Bobcats 2009-2010 season continues. I’ve never felt better as a fan than I did on Saturday night. The stars aligned and rendered Antawn Jamison completely incompetent. The Cats were absolutely unconscious, hitting jump shot after jump shot and making stop after stop on the defensive end. I was giddy. Fast forward 24 hours and you would have thought you were witnessing Charlotte’s inaugural season all over again.

The Bobcats struggles away from the Cable Box are well documented. But you had to feel they would walk all over the Bucks after that beatdown against the Lebrons. Alas, another classic letdown against an inferior foe. Blowing out the Cavs is special, but it doesn’t matter much when you forget to show up against sub .500 teams — or in the Nets case, sub .200.

Before I delve deep into the bad stuff, let’s look at the trade for Tyrus Thomas, or as I like to call him, Mr. Instant Impact. During the first 30 seconds of his professional playing career with the Bobcats, he managed to swat an Antawn Jamison attempt (this happened to the poor chap a lot) and save an errant pass while diving into the front row. He probably got a face full of South Charlotte silicone for his effort. Welcome to the Queen City.

Despite the fact the Cats didn’t have a backup power forward, much less a conventional one on the roster, I spoke with a lot of people who were more than skeptical about giving up Flip and a first rounder for a “head case” like Tyrus. They said he was just a junior version of Tyson Chandler. Hmmm…. maybe if Chandler actually sprinted up and down the court and, oh I dunno, jumped about a foot and a half higher. And to all the Okafor-truthers who long for their stoic savior and his god-awful contract, consider that Mr. Instant Impact is putting up better numbers in 10 fewer minutes a contest. Granted, it’s only been two games, but Tyrus hasn’t exactly had time to get accustomed to the Bobcats playbook yet. Still, his debut was infinitely better than that of Cleveland’s latest addition. Antawn Jamison had Cavs GM Danny Ferry reciting the G.O.B. Bluth trademark. I’ve made a huge mistake. Bottom line, Larry Brown will get Tyrus Thomas playing the right way and may eventually be able to squeeze 18,14, and 4 out of him. Remember, he’s only 23 and now has the “me against the world” factor going for him. Look out.

I really did like Flip Murray. He single-handedly won a couple of games for us this year with his clutch shooting. But that’s the extent of his ability. It would have been nice to have another scorer coming off the bench, but that’s DJ’s role now. Time to step up. So far so good young man. As for losing a first-round pick, I think we can stand to lose another 20-something pick who wouldn’t even dress on a Larry Brown-coached team. (Any Alexis Ajinca fans in the house? Anyone? Bueller?)

Is Gerald Wallace still the All-Star among the bunch? Is he more valuable than Stephen Jackson? Three months ago it would have been an unequivocal yes. Now, I’m not so sure. Like I said before, All-Star weekend may have been the worst thing for G-Force. He hasn’t been the dominant player he was before the announcement. Meantime, S-Jax has been unstoppable, scoring at least 22 points in seven of the last eight games and topping 30 three times. Wallace has scored below his season average in six of his last seven games. It was Jackson who helped the team claw back from a 20-point deficit to the Bucks. And they almost completed the rally, notwithstanding Gerald’s 11-point performance. I’m just saying.

That being said, it should never have gotten to that point in Milwaukee last night. You can’t just get up for the the marquee games and give 75% against the Nets, Knicks, Bucks, or any other sub-par franchise. This usually falls on the coach’s shoulders, and I think Larry does deserve some of the blame. But I put the brunt of the Bucks loss and the pathetic effort against the Nets squarely on the shoulders of the captains. Gerald Wallace and Raymond Felton are the ones who are supposed to make sure the players on the floor are focused for 48 minutes. That isn’t happening in these embarrassing losses. You have to treat every game as if you’re the underdog. Maybe it’s all part of a ploy to stay in that 8th seed of the Eastern Conference. We don’t want any part of the Magic or the Hawks, and you know the Cavs don’t want any part of us in the first round. Forget the image of Mutombo holding the ball above his head after the eighth-seeded Nuggets toppled the Sonics in 1994. This year that’s Desagana Diop’s moment!

Fail: The Nets Have Your Number

What a better way to kick off your push for the playoffs than playing the Nets. You couldn’t ask for an easier task — shooting fish in a barrel or bagging a girl from the Jersey Shore don’t stand a chance. They’re poised to be the worst team in NBA history.

Oops. Now they’ve won 5 out of 53, and your Bobcats account for 40% of those victories. No one can escape criticism this time. A couple players don’t have an off day when you lose to the Nets. It’s a complete collapse of basketball and coaching ability. Think of it like the modern United States losing a war to the Aztecs, or Usain Bolt losing a foot race to a three-toed sloth. IT SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN.

What the hell was up with the transition defense? There were several occasions when the Nets were on the fast break after a made Bobcats free throw. One of the first things you learn in basketball is to not let that happen. That, and not tripping over your own feet (Desagana Diop).

Nazr Mohammed was torched up and down the court in the first half. But that certainly didn’t warrant him not playing a minute in the second half, did it Coach? No wonder we couldn’t score with Chandler and Diop taking up space in the middle. Those guys have concrete blocks for hands. And for crying out loud Tyson, where did you learn to defend the pick and roll? Brook Lopez ripped you a new one. I’m no Phil Jackson, but even I know you shouldn’t be switching on that pick every single time. It’s elementary. (Wow, imagine if we took Lopez over DJ in the 2007 draft. Just think about it for a second…. just imagine…. 19 and 9 every night… are you pissed off yet?)

I’ll give the Nets credit. They didn’t miss the opportunities they were given, although they were some pretty easy opportunities. I’m still trying to come to grips with hearing “Basket by Kris Humphries” way too many times.  The Nets shot a blistering 52% from the field — an entire 10 percentage points higher than the Cats. When New Jersey did miss, they had no trouble getting second chance opportunities.

Perhaps the most glaring error in the box score is three point percentage. Stephen Jackson couldn’t hit the broad side of Sean May, tossing up 6 long-range attempts and missing on all counts. At least Boris Diaw was aggressive on the offensive end. But he couldn’t hit anything either. Hey, it takes a perfect storm to lose to the Nets! Apparently, these storms come twice in a matter of weeks.

I was baffled at the personnel choices by Coach Brown tonight. I thought Tyson’s return would mean a shorter bench and better matchups. Nothing could have been further from the truth tonight. It was something about that vaunted Nets lineup fit with Jarvis Hayes and Yi Jianlian that really thew the Hall of Fame leader for a loop. He went big, small, young, old and terrible. No squad he sent to the floor could produce. It’s obvious he didn’t get the team ready to play coming out of the break. There’s no excuse for that against the worst team in NBA history.

Gerald Wallace finished with 21 and 10 and had a monster block that’ll make the highlight reels. But I honestly think going to the All-Star game was the worst thing for him. It’s quite apparent this guy hates attention. Did you see how he acted over the weekend? He looked like he didn’t want to be there. Yes, it was only the All-Star game and dunk contest, which don’t matter at all. But now it’s like everyone expects greatness from him, and he’s not used to that. He surprised us all — night in and night out. Now we expect it. I know I was losing patience after seeing him put up a paltry 3 points in the first half tonight. Where was that unmatched aggressiveness? It surfaced in the second half — just a little too late. It’ll be interesting to see how he performs in the weeks to come. I hope he can live up to being an All-Star. When the team goes down by 11 to the Nets, I want to see him take charge. I didn’t see that tonight. I guess he’s just recovering from all those emphatic jams over the weekend. I kid, I kid.

Destined to be Above Average

I’m not one to believe in destiny. For every storybook ending like the 2010 New Orleans Saints, there’s another of Goliath ripping David to shreds. So I hate hearing trite things like, “After everything they’ve been through, this team was fated to come out on top.” But man, I can’t help but notice the ball has bounced the Bobcats way more often this season than in all other five seasons combined.

Last year, if Raymond Felton hits that shot with two seconds left, then Antawn Jamison comes down on the other end and banks in a 40-foot three at the horn. And last year it would have been the Bobcats throwing the ball away under the opponent’s basket, leading to a last-second dunk. Not this year. This year it’s Nazr Mohammed slamming it home for the win.

How about the play from Mr. Mohammed lately? No offense to him or anyone in the Naz Squad, but he’s got to be one of the last guys you’d expect to drop 21 and 20. Huge. That being said, welcome back Tyson Chandler. Forget all the haters. Forget the fact that you’re the highest paid player on the team by nearly three million dollars. I’m just thrilled we don’t have to play Mr. You Know Who. Let Tyson get his sea legs back. You’ll be happy when he’s shutting down Rasheed Wallace in the first round. His return also means the Cats are playing eight-man rotations, which is definitely a good thing considering the bench we’re bringing to the table.

Back to this whole destiny thing. Name me the last time in Bobcats history Gerald Wallace scored 5 points, Raymond Felton sat out the entire game and the backup center went absolutely bananas — hitting the game-winning bucket on the road. You can’t do it. Such a scenario has never even come close to happening. Before we start popping champagne, this did happen against the Timberwolves. And the Bobcats did blow a 21 point lead. But who cares? They were about as depleted as it gets, and Gerald Wallace made a strong case for Stephen Jackson to take his place on the All-Star roster. Yet, they came away with a victory they never would have come close to grabbing in years past.

As I was walking home from the Wizards game, reveling in the spoils of victory (my impulsive S-Jax jersey purchase), I stumbled across none other than the mayor of Charlotte. There he was, standing all by himself at the crosswalk outside the arena. I mean all by himself too. It was just me, my buddy Hambone, and the mayor. Our exchange went like this:

Me: Mr. Mayor! How ’bout them Cats?!

Mayor: Hi there! (Shakes hand) Great game, huh?

Me: Yeah! You need to make a public service announcement to the city. Tell them to get behind this team or your raising taxes and limiting one child per household.

Mayor: Ha! They’d have my head on a stick. Not a bad idea though. Say, you’re that guy that writes for BobcatsDen aren’t you?

Me: What?! How’d you know that?

Mayor: Oh, I can just tell. It’s a big hit among everyone on city council. We all hate Desagana Diop.

Ok, so I made the last part up. But what the hell was the mayor doing standing by himself at a crosswalk outside the arena at 10:15 on a Tuesday night? I still can’t decide what is more improbable: Raymond Felton hitting an unreal, MJ-esque fadeaway to win the game or seeing the lonely mayor putting out the vibe on the street corner. I’m telling you something weird is going on with this team. Whatever it is, I hope it stays.

Tomorrow I’ll have thoughts on the trade deadline craziness. I’ve got some strong opinions about this. Stay tuned. Let’s go Cats!

Coach the Right Way

Tiger Woods cheated on his wife, Al Pacino stopped acting in good movies, Metallica sued Napster and Larry Brown coached a terrible basketball game. Yes, even the best of the best can make a mistake. Although some of the aforementioned examples are more egregious than others (Gigli, anyone?), Larry Brown’s effort this past Saturday was not the work of a Hall of Famer.

Everything seemed to be going as planned. Stephen Jackson was dominating. Nazr Mohammed was continuing his hot play. It was a great first half. But it all seemed to change in the blink of an eye. A 10 point second half lead was all but completely reversed by the time I hit up the concession stand for a 9-dollar beer. The questions started racing through my mind. What the hell just happened? Did Chris Paul put off knee surgery to play tonight? Who let 2003 Peja Stojakovic in the building? Why is Stephen Graham still on the floor? Why is DJ Augustin still on the floor? WHY IS DESAGANA DIOP STILL ON THE FLOOR?!

Minute by minute, the deficit and my anger grew. No timeout. No subs. I clenched my watered-down, overpriced lager like I was gripping the wheel of an out-of-control Toyota. I was fuming. The end of the third couldn’t come fast enough. Okay, five points. That’s manageable. Larry’s got to just be saving the starters legs for a 12-minute assault. Right? Nope. Out come the reserves.

The minutes go by — still no Stephen Jackson. Darren Collison drives for another basket — still no Raymond Felton. The Hornets lead increases and Stephen Graham is starting to think he’s back at Oklahoma State — still no Stephen Jackson. Finally, with 6:30 left in the freaking game, S-Jax returns. What does he do? Two three-point plays in less than two minutes to bring the Cats that close to a victory. There is absolutely no excuse him being out that long. Hell, Gerald Wallace missed the previous game with a hamstring injury but managed to play all but three minutes of the game. Meantime, Stephen Jackson saw seven fewer minutes of action than Boris Diaw. That’s never a good thing.

You can blame it on the defense, which was unbelievably shoddy, but much of that had to do with the personnel on the floor. Don’t get me wrong, I like DJ and Stephen Graham. They’re great role players to have. But you have to expect them to give up the lead when they’re playing against the opponent’s studs. And when you’re losing in the second half and no one is in foul trouble, they don’t need to be in. By the way, Diop only needs to be in when fans are in desperate need of comic relief at the end of a blowout. He’s the human victory cigar — a stogie that’s been rolled around in dog feces. Do we really have to see him instead of Derrick Brown? Really?

If Larry Brown didn’t wipe out all chances of a victory against a depleted Hornets squad, Boris Diaw sure did his best to make it happen. His ability to suck never ceases to amaze me. In hindsight this was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen at a professional basketball game, but at the time it was infuriating. Diaw was perfectly set up by dribble penetration and received the ball at the three-point line. There was not an opposing player within 10 feet. The crowd rose in optimism. Surely this will go in. But Boris wouldn’t let the fans have the satisfaction of a shot attempt. As soon as he pulled the ball down, a cacophonous groan swept through the arena. He dribbled away, forced a pass to a heavily guarded teammate, who then had to throw up a circus shot before the clock expired. Everyone was stunned. From there on out it was game over for Boris. He proceeded to step up his passiveness a notch by playing hot potato as soon as he got his hands on the ball. He’s playing so bad we couldn’t trade him now if we wanted to. Who the hell could we get in return? Brandon Bass? I’m sold. Somebody call Mark Cuban.

Somehow, despite the poor coaching and nauseating play from Diaw, the Cats came awfully close to winning. But again, free throws did us in. How much more can I stress it? The Bobcats shot 66% from the charity stripe. That’s awful. Flip Murray missed four in a row with less than two minutes left. Playing the right way starts with defense and fundamentals. Making free throws is fundamental. You can’t win close basketball games without them. Just ask all John Calipari-coached teams. And to the untouchable Larry Brown: coaching the right way starts with playing your best players whenever you can.

Taking It on the Chin

I’m not upset the Bobcats were blown out by the Blazers. Sure, I wouldn’t prefer that outcome. But I’m not upset. Every now and then you need to get whooped up and down the court to put you in your place. Coming up one win short of a franchise record four straight road victories is nothing to get down about.

This is probably the toughest six game stint the Cats will face all year, and the worst they can finish is 3-3. At this point that’s probably how it’s going to end up. The glass is totally half empty going into tomorrow’s game against the Lakers in the Staples Center. After all, they’re up against NBA World Champion Adam Morrison and the man, the myth, the legend Sasha Vujacic. We need to find some way to move Desagana Diop to the Lakers’ roster. The benefit to the Bobcats is glaringly obvious, but it would also solidify the most abhorrent bench in the history of sports. Diop, Morrison, Vujacic — worse than the worst Nic Cage movie.

So why are my expectations so low? For starters, Boris Diaw tricked me into thinking he’s a valuable basketball player. Before my inbox becomes inundated with complaints from Diaw apologists, explain this one to me.  How do you play 70+ minutes over two games and take 7 shots? You can count on Stephen Jackson to rip off 7 shots in 5 minutes without breaking a sweat. Breaking a sweat — another thing Boris Diaw doesn’t do.

Don’t give me that bull about how he’s a distributor, always looking for the open man. He’s afraid to shoot! Bottom line. His teammates do all the dirty work to get him an open shot, and he won’t take it. Maybe if someone dangled a bear claw in front of face he’d be a little more motivated. If you think I’m being too rough on Boris, tell your boy to prove me wrong. Show me some consistency and I’ll show you a retraction.

OK, the real reason I’m not fretting the loss against the short-handed Blazers or the pending loss in L.A. is because this tough six-game stretch is followed by the easiest stretch of the season for the Cats. After we lick our wounds from the Kobe-Morrison beatdown, we get the Artists Formally Known As the Charlotte Hornets, the Artists Formally Known As the Washington Bullets (wink, wink Gilbert), the hapless Timberwolves, and back at home against the horrib… uhh suddenly formidable New Jersey Nets! (You remember what happened last time we underestimated the Nets.) Hell, I’ll even throw in the Cavs game after that. Yeah, they’re the best team in the league. But don’t forget we’ve won the last two meetings. And the Cavs have a lot working against them, namely Coach Mike Brown, who goes out of his way to make sure LeBron James doesn’t use his athleticism to his full potential.

So let’s just push those 21 turnovers and 40% shooting performance against the Blazers out of our minds. And don’t worry about how they do against the Lakers. The Bobcats doubled their road win record over the past week and a half. That should be enough to hold you over until we can get back to the Cable Box. That’s where we go to work. If you see Boris Diaw, tell him to show up.

Congratulations G-Force

2009-2010 Eastern Conference All-Star

Stephen Jackson Gets Intimate… Again

“I make love to pressure.”

It’s been a couple weeks since that Stephen Jackson quip. And Casanova of the Court was caught on tape making love last night too.

What an addition he’s been. For all the inane moves Jordan and GM Rod Higgins have made in the past three years, the Stephen Jackson acquisition makes up for them all. This team is playing for the John Wall sweepstakes without him.

An added bonus has been the signing of Flip Murray. He earns a little less than two million dollars a year, making him the best bang-for-the-buck guy in the league. Consider this: when the Bobcats take the floor with Felton, Jackson, Wallace, Diaw and Murry they’re outscoring opponents by 38 points on the year. Replace Murray with Mohammed and they’re outscoring teams by 7 points. Replace Murray with Chandler and they’re getting outscored by 24 points. (Searching for Tyson Chandler excuse…)

Murray did his best Jason Voorhees last night, driving a stake through the heart of the Suns, who have now dropped seven of their past nine. Think Amare Stoudemire will be shipped out soon? You betcha. Let’s just hope he doesn’t go to the Bulls. He won’t have to play a lick of defense (thanks to Joakim Noah) and will still have a top point guard feeding him the rock. If it happens we can still count on Vinny Del Negro to call a timeout when they don’t have one or pull Derrick Rose in the 4th quarter for the likes of Lindsey Hunter. How does he still have a job? He makes Sam Vincent look like Red Auerbach. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be wrong at work all the time with no repercussions? You’ll get ‘em next time coach!

Actually, Stoudemire might not want to go to the Bulls once finding out they play the Cats two more times this year. Last night he was held to a pedestrian 12 points, while he and Steve Nash turned the ball over a combined 11 times. (The Bobcats only had 12 turnovers as a team.) Larry Brown has made it quite clear he’s going to make teams beat us by hoisting up three point attempts. If you go back and look at the Miami game, there were often times when no one on the Cats could touch a Miami three-point shooter with a yard stick. This defensive mentality is a little unnerving to watch. I find myself screaming at the TV, “Come on! He’s wide op… Good D, Good D!”

By packing in the paint and doubling down on bigs, it takes away the playmakers like Dwyane Wade and Steve Nash. Phoenix shot a whopping 34 threes last night and made 15 of them. If this approach worked against that gang of shooters, I’m confident it will work against any team. Just to show you how little teams respect the Bobcats jump shooting ability, the Suns played a 2-3 zone for long stretches of the game. It may have actually worked if Phoenix played defense like it’s a priority instead of a chore. Those guys are finished. It’s time to blow up the team. P.S. — Thanks for taking on Jason Richardson. It looks like that’s working out well for you.

The most telling thing about that victory wasn’t Steve Jackson’s ongoing relationship with pressure or Flip Murray’s contributions, but the ability for the team to come back late and win in overtime after its star player fouled out. It’s a testament to the unselfish play of Boris Diaw and the leadership of Raymond Felton. The Cats simply wanted it more. And sometimes that’s what it takes when you don’t have a Steve Nash or an Amare Stoudemire. It takes heart (and a little love making).

How Things Change

My, oh my, how quickly things change. One second you’re getting two-minute breakdowns on SportsCenter, the next minute you’re getting jeered by local news anchors.

You shouldn’t be surprised. This Bobcats season has been comprised of winning and losing streaks. I feel like I’m being led on by the hot girl on campus. We’ve gone from she totally wants me; she’s come over the past four nights to she won’t even look at me; she’s spreading rumors about my sexuality.

Tonight’s loss at Denver hurts big time. No Melo and no K-Mart should have paved the way for a Pacquiao-style beatdown on an overrated Nuggets team. But the Cats protected the basket like Adrian Peterson protects the football. The offense kept them in the game, but when Aaron Afflalo is ripping you apart, it’s tough to win. The Bobcats went from the fifth seed to the eighth seed in the East over the course of the weekend. Ouch.

This should serve as a wake-up call to all those folks who championed the unstoppable force that is Nazr Mohammed/Desagana Diop. “We don’t need Tyson Chandler,” they say. “See! Look how we were winning without him.” Uhh… no. Sorry, my delusional friends. Tyson Chandler, however flawed, would have won that game tonight. He’s never going to drop 30 points. But he’s big and athletic, and most importantly, he alters shots. You’re telling me he wouldn’t have done a better job on Nene than Diop did? Come on. Gerald Wallace is playing way too many minutes. And since Nazr is better suited on the offensive end and Diop is better suited bagging groceries, G-Force and Diaw are having to guard guys twice their size. It worked during the recent homestand, but it’s going to wear them down quickly. Mark my words: this team is infinitely better when Tyson Chandler is in the rotation.

I don’t think it would hurt the team to take a few more free throw reps in practice from now on. The Bobcats rank among the league’s worst in free throw shooting, and it’s definitely cost them of late. Tonight, the Cats laid some serious bricks, barely making seven out of every 10. Same story against the Magic and the Hawks. It was refreshing to see the Nuggets sink 85% of their attempts from the charity stripe. Can’t we sign some goofy, unskilled dude from Valparaiso who shoots 90% from the line? We could just feed him vodka bombs before the game and turn him loose to drive straight at Dwight Howard like a madman. Hey, it could work for a game or two. At this point, I’m not above anything to get back on the right track.

Speaking of acquisitions, I may have jumped the gun saying this team is a playoff team as is. I would love to see a midseason move to bring in a rebounding power forward. Pick your poison: DJ Augustin or Boris Diaw. At least one of them would have to go. The rumor swirling around is that Jordan isn’t ready to give up on DJ. According to my buddy who works for the team, DJ kills Raymond Felton in practice. Why aren’t we seeing any of that? We know you can shoot. Show us you can run an offense. By the way, there have been no reports of Desagana Diop killing anyone in practice… on any team… ever.

Someone needs to right this ship. Charlotte is actually getting behind this team. The Orlando game was packed, and I actually overheard two 35-year-old women talking about the Bobcats in the grocery store the other day. Let’s not lose these fair-weather fans just yet!  Let’s take down the Suns, the Stephen Curry’s, and the Kings.