Charlotte Bobcats 2010-2011 preview
Will the Bobcats be as good as the 44 wins they got last season? Probably not, but they should still be able to put a good season together if Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace can stay healthy.
Charlotte ranked first in defence last season, a stat they’re unlikely to replicate considering they lost Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler. Wallace and Jackson were fourth and fifth in minutes last season, a stat which shouldn’t continue on to this season, unless coach Larry Brown wants his two best players to hit the wall and break down.
Inevitably then the defensive stats will drop and their win total will take a hit. Offensively they ranked 24th last season and haven’t addressed the situation in the summer. Charlotte could actually be in trouble, all things considered.
But they do have Brown as head coach. With his ability to get the most out of players Charlotte could find themselves in the play-offs once again.
Off-season moves
With Felton signing with the Knicks as a free agent the Bobcats turned to an often injured point guard who has never averaged over 10 points per game. Not only that but he’s never even played over 65 games in a season and his highest assist per game for a season was just 5.1. He can defend somewhat but this is a major downgrade on Felton who gave them 12.1 points and 5.6 assists last year.
Tyrus Thomas was re-signed to a five-year $40 million contract and if he continues improve could prove to be a great signing. The signs are already there with Thomas scoring 10 points a game and grabbing 6.1 rebounds in 25 games with the Cats. He could be one to watch.
They signed Dominic McGuire to the veterans minimum to play defence rather than offense and Kwame Brown is teaming up once again with Michael Jordan. Brown was picked as the No.1 pick in 2001 by Jordan when he was at the Washington Wizards, becoming one of the biggest busts in recent history.
The biggest move, however, was the Tyson Chandler and Alexis Ajinca trade to Dallas for Matt Carroll, Eduardo Najera, Erick Dampier and cash. Dampier was the only player who the Bobcats received that could actually play any time. But, and this is a big one, Dampier was waived before training camp because they couldn’t afford to keep him. Presumably they made the trade with the intention of moving Dampier and his non-guaranteed contract to another team but nothing like that materialised – seemingly a huge blunder by the front office.
Prediction
Losing Felton and Chandler will be a big blow to Charlotte, who have failed to replace both players. With their defence likely to suffer as a result and their offence not being greatly improved, a mark of 35 wins looks like the Bobcats’ target.
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