With the season virtually over, Charlotte Bobcats head coach Paul Silas looks towards rebuilding: NBA
The Charlotte Bobcats have been the ultimate failures this season. They are currently ranked last in the NBA, with a win-loss record of 7-43 and are by far the most under-sized team in the league.
The Cats have lost everywhere this season, be it at home or away and honestly speaking things couldn’t go much worse than they presently are for Michael Jordan’s team.
Paul Silas, coach of the Bobcats knows that and has taken a rather rare approach towards team building, announcing that for the remainder of the sixteen games of the regular season, he will use his younger and less experienced
players extensively.
"We still want to win games, but the fact is we have to find out what these kids are about. If we were going for a playoff berth or something like that then absolutely we would want our veteran players in there. But we're not,
so we want these guys to play and see how they react."
This decision would mean that Kemba Walker would start in place of D.J Augustin at the point guard position. Reggie Williams will continue to fill in for small forward Corey Maggette, who is expected to miss the rest of the season
with a strained Achilles. Gerald Henderson, Byron Mullens and centre Bismack Biyombo will complete the starting five.
Silas is of the belief that his team needs a head start for next season and since his team is not in playoff contention, the remaining 16 games can be used to give experience to the junior players and also make an evaluation of
their strengths, weaknesses and game styles in a real time environment, where quick decisions need to me made on the floor.
Collectively, the nominated starting five of the Bobcats have started a mere 151 games. Henderson has started 39 games this year, the most out of any Bobcat player. Silas however is quite hopeful of an encouraging response from
his younger players on the court.
He believes they have the talent to perform at this level of the game, further strengthened by Byron Mullens inspirational performance in a 110-107 loss to Detroit on Saturday. He scored 20 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in the
match.
Whether this move of Silas pays off and in the process, some talented young players are highlighted for the Bobcats future, much like Jeremy Lin for the New York Knicks, remains to be seen. At the moment, Charlotte are on course
to having the worst win-loss record in the NBA, which will give them a 25% chance of landing the first overall pick in the NBA draft later in June. This will provide them an opportunity to draft in Kentucky’s Anthony Davis (if Davis agrees to enter the draft,
he is expected to be the number one pick), the National Player of the year at the NCAA.
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