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| This happened. Against a lottery team. |
In short, this is going to be a hilariously depressing preview because honestly, there is no positive about these Bobcats. They are absolutely awful in just about every way, with their only bright spot being that they have a new crop of rookies. To be fair, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is a very well regarded rookie to be sure, but there is no guarantee that he will amount to anything. At the very least, he is much more promising than the Bobcats' crop of young players, who include the (surprise!) inefficient Kemba Walker (37% FG), the brick that is Bismack Biyombo (46% from the field, 48% from the line), and the unstoppable duo of Cory Higgins and Jeffery Taylor, players who were second-fiddles even at mediocre college programs.
I suppose it is possible that there is a little hope here. Kidd-Gilchrist gets rave reviews for his maturity which, in a basketball sense, is better than being immature. Kemba Walker wasn't completely awful (only 1.8 TO per game?) and new addition Ben Gordon (12 PPG on 10 shots per game) is slightly more efficient than the outgoing Corey Maggette (27% usage rate to go with his stellar 37% FG). Honestly, the only hope here is that it can't get any worse. After securing a big extension, Tyrus Thomas dropped from lottery disappointment to absolute disappointment, averagin 6 PPG and somehow shooting under 40% despite only ever trying to dunk. Presumably, he can't get any worse than he was last season, but Thomas has been known to defy (positive) expectations.
I sincerely apologize, but that's the most positive I can possibly be. This is a team that scored 87 PPG last year (worst in the NBA), yet gave up 101 (only 4th worst!). Ramon Sessions has come in to be a solid point guard, even if he shouldn't really be a starter (11 PPG and 5 APG in his career). Even that seemingly bright spot is tarnished by the fact that Sessions is obviously worse than D.J. Augustin, the outgoing starter who was plagued by injury and playing for the Bobcats last season. Looking at their roster, one can make a compelling argument that at least half of their players shouldn't be in the NBA, yet Byron Mullens will probably be a starter. There is absolutely no hope for the Bobcats this season, and there won't be any hope for a long time, given the track record of their ownership.
The top four players in the front court combined to average less PPG than five other individual NBA players. Matt Carroll got paid to be a 3PT specialist, yet shot 19% from deep, which is the same percentage as LaMarcus Aldridge and only four percentage points better than DeMarcus Cousins. Matt Carroll shoots worse than any variety of Marcus, and yet he gets to be called a shooting guard. Gerald Henderson played 33 MPG last year, and compiled a whopping one Win Share. Lebron James produces more Win Shares in three games than Gerald Henderson does in an entire year.
Frankly, there is no way to look positively on the Bobcats' season. They will be bad, probably the worst in the NBA, and quite possibly the worst ever. They have some heady competition there, as the team they would have to "beat" is, of course, last year's Bobcats.
This article plants the seeds of depression in my basketball soul because the bobcats are on the short list of teams that might become the sonics
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot better chance of Seattle getting the Kings, thanks to their arena deal and the cut-throat nature of the Maloofs. However, if we were to get the Bobcats, they would almost certainly clean house entirely, which would essentially boil down to the Sonics being an expansion team. It sucks, but I would rather have years of losing than nothing at all.
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