Charlotte Bobcats

[Karma]

Charlotte Bobcats - season preview

POINT GUARDS

Raymond Felton / Brevin Knight

SHOOTING GUARDS

Kareem Rush / Matt Carroll

SMALL FORWARDS

Gerald Wallace / Bernard Robinson

POWER FORWARDS

Emeka Okafor / Sean May / Antonio Meeking

CENTERS

Primov Brezec / Melvin Ely / Jake Voskuhl​

Other Players : Alan Anderson (SF/SG), Kevin Burleson (G)
2004/05 : 18 - 64
Key Additions : Raymond Felton, Sean May
Coach : Bernie Bickerstaff

Strengths : Heading into their 2nd campaign, Charlotte have collected a solid front court. Okafor leads the way at both ends of the court and again will be relied upon heavily to keep this team competitive. One of the surprise packets last season was the breakout year of Primov Brezec. After years riding the pine, Brezec came in and took his opportunity with both hands, impressing at the offensive end. In this years draft the Bobcats picked two local products in Felton and May. Both will be required to learn on the run as this team progresses through its growing pains. Felton is an exciting prospect and will have a good tutor in Brevin Knight who had a solid campaign last season.

Weaknesses : This team will again struggle to score points with a very thin roster. Their swingmen players are all role players and lack the game needed to lift this team out of the basement. Charlotte are a very young squad and will rely heavily on 2nd year player Okafor and rookie Felton. There lack of quality veterans will again see them as fodder on the road and inconsistent at home. The Bobcats really need to add some quality to the shooting guard and small forward position, otherwise Okafor, Brezec and Felton will get quite banged up on the excess attention.

Key Player : Rookie point guard Raymond Felton comes into his local franchise with a large burden on his shoulders. The North Carolina product has the weight of the community riding him to push this team up the standings. Felton will have the luxury of having Brevin Knight sharing time at the point, but the lack of offensive output from this squad will lead to pressure to play the rookie heavily. How will the kid handle the load?

Overview : You have to remember this team is heading into only its 2nd season with restrictions on its salary cap. There 18 wins last season was a mighty achievement considering its roster. This season they have added the talented Felton and May, but they will again struggle to score points. Last season this team hustled and eeked out some ugly wins. The same intensity is required again just to maintain their 18 wins. I see a similar season next season with minimal road wins and some nice surprises at home.

Win Range : 17-22 wins

 

[highplainsdrifter]

You da man Karma!!! You are writing all this yourself arent you? Major props for that, you know the NBA inside and out! Ill still say Fosters are on me, unless you have a better Austrailian beer of choice...

As far as Charlotte, they will be battlin with New Orleans for the worst record in the league this year i think (seriously, a moment of silence for NO.....). Atlanta will be better with JJ, Hopefully the local talent will get the fans in the seats. They are headed the right direction for an expansion franchise, and I hope they do well. Its all about Okafor IMO, will he be better than Dwight Howard this year? We shall see. Our beloved Cavaliers better sweep them again this year!

 

[West Remy]

Its all about Okafor IMO, will he be better than Dwight Howard this year? We shall see.

I'm not sure if Okafor will be better than Howard this year. I liked Howard more than Okafor last year and that shouldn't change this year (barring injuries or something else).

 

[cavincali]

it really dosent matter if he is better than howard, if the catts want to be any bit of good he will have to be better than shaq in his prime.

this team looks really really bad and i only see them winning games when other teams take a night off or cant buy a bucket.

 

[Karma]

Ill still say Fosters are on me, unless you have a better Austrailian beer of choice...

I'll take a Toohey's mate!

The progression of an expansion is a slow tedious one. They need to draft well and results should follow after 4-6 years if they can keep the young stars happy despite the losing. The 2 and 3 spots are the easiest to find, yet their talent level there is non existent.

Will be interesting to see where their free agent ex-Cav forward, Jason Kapono signs. Rumour has Minnesota.

 

[ChicagoCavFan]

Kudos Karm's

Isn't May out for some time too? And what happened to Kapono?

These guys are even younger than Atlanta. However, ATL has weapons that can catch fire on a night. The 'Cats have nothing. Shut down Okafor, and you get a win. I think its that simple.

Nice work Karma. You get a beer from me as well. And one always leads to many, many more. All on me.

 

[CornerThree]

This team is pretty awful. They are trotting out possibly the worst starting SG and SF combo in the league. Gerald Wallace is an idiot if he's playing for the QO, when you are slightly above average, and you get a 3 year MLE offer, you gotta take it.

 

[LyXo]

The Bobcats are a decent team for being cap restricted. Okafor is a solid leader and perfect building block. May will also be a great addition: he can play alongside Okafor in some occassions to disrupt the post. And Felton can run with the best of them, and has Brevin Knight to mentor him, following his 9 assist season.

 

[TruBuckeye22]

after further review hello last place for these guys. but Atl won't be much better.