HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

Whereas every other team in the Southeast has a set plan and direction they are headed in, it’s a little tougher to decipher what is going on with the Charlotte Bobcats. Team owner Michael Jordan has always made puzzling moves and right now his team sorely lacks the depth it’s going to take to compete for a spot in the playoffs. You can count on Bobcats head coach Paul Silas to get the most out of whoever he is coaching, though. He’s turned out to be a great higher in Charlotte and someone who the players really connect to well. Hopefully Jordan understands the situation and that he’s not exactly giving Silas a surefire playoff team to work with.

5th Place, Southeast Division

- Yannis Koutroupis

Youth has been served in Charlotte, and with it will come a lot of losses in 2011-12. The best outcome for the Bobcats this season would be a record bad enough to land Harrison Barnes or Andre Drummond in next summer’s NBA draft. Gerald Henderson and DJ Augustin looked good together late last season, and it’s clear Paul Silas is the right coach to help the young kids mature, so it’s not all bad in Charlotte. It would be nice if Tyrus Thomas would finally become the player everyone thought he would be. One way or the other, the future is much more relevant than the present for the Bobcats.

5th Place, Southeast Division

- Bill Ingram

This is going to be ugly. Over the course of the last year, Charlotte has cashed out nearly all of their veteran assets to bring in younger guys, draft picks, and cap space. That means we’re staring directly into the blinding glare of the rebuilding process, so expect a long season with a big number in the loss column. At least it will be fun to watch Kemba Walker, Gerald Henderson and (maybe) Bismack Biyombo come into their own as pros.

5th Place, Southeast Division

- Joel Brigham

The middle of the pack in the NBA is a destination no franchise wants to inhabit for long. These teams usually find themselves just outside of the draft lottery or holders of a conference’s last two playoff seeds. The Bobcats have been stuck in this predicament over the past few seasons and as a result decided to go the route of completely rebuilding their roster. First, All-Star forward Gerald Wallace was sent to Portland at the trade deadline, then veteran shooting guard Stephen Jackson was dealt to Milwaukee on draft night sending out payroll for cap room and young talent. The team left June’s draft with exciting prospects Kemba Walker and Bismack Biyombo in the first round and will rely on cagey veteran Corey Maggette to provide leadership and scoring. But without an established franchise leader currently on the roster, expect this to be a tough season to endure as a Bobcat fan.

5th Place, Southeast Division

- Lang Greene

The Charlotte Bobcats have some intriguing players and they’re certainly heading in the right direction. With that said, there’s no question they’re still a rebuilding team. The offseason acquisition of Corey Maggette gives the Bobcats a veteran presence, but the team will be centered around young pieces such as Kemba Walker, Gerald Henderson and Bismack Biyombo. These players will have every chance to succeed since they’re viewed as the cornerstones of the franchise and they’ll likely receive a large number of minutes from day one. After trading Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson in recent months, this is the beginning of a new era in Charlotte. Young players will have a chance to shine, but it’s unlikely the team will compete for a playoff spot in the competitive Eastern Conference.

5th Place, Southeast Division

- Alex Kennedy

Top Offensive Player: There’s not much question here as Gerald Henderson is head-and-shoulders the most talented player Charlotte has on its roster. Entering his third season out of Duke, Henderson showed flashes of brilliance at times last season and is expected to be relied upon heavily this season by the offensively-challenged Bobcats. This is true especially with Stephen Jackson now residing in Milwaukee as Henderson will get the lion’s share of Jack’s shots. In order to move forward, Henderson must work on his perimeter game and learn to be more consistent as he’ll be more of a priority this season for opposing defenses. Henderson scored 20 or more points in three of the Bobcats final five games last season and Charlotte hopes the 24-year old continues to evolve his game going forward.

Top Defensive Player: With Jackson and Gerald Wallace no longer on the team, this distinction likely falls to oft-injured power forward Tyrus Thomas. When healthy, Thomas has the strength, athleticism and length to cover nearly every position on the floor and do it well. Unfortunately for both himself and the team, Thomas has had a hell of a time staying on the court since being acquired by Charlotte before the 09-10 season. In just two seasons with the Bobcats, Thomas has missed a whopping 98 games – leading many to wonder if the 25 year old will return to being the dominant defensive player he was in Chicago. Right now, Charlotte’s hoping he’s shaken off the injury bug and is ready to be this team’s defensive anchor moving forward.

Top Playmaker: When motivated, 6-8 power forward Boris Diaw has all the tools to be a driving force on the offensive end of the floor in any game. The problem is Diaw isn’t always first in line to take charge on the floor. This has to change this season with Diaw remaining as one of the only veteran influences expected to see significant minutes. While Charlotte figures out just who is going to lead this team from the point guard position, Diaw would be ideal to run point on at least half of the team’s offensive possessions. With a nearly 50 percent career shooting percentage (49.5) and with averages of over four in both assists and rebounds for his career; Diaw’s well-rounded game could be this team’s steadying force on offense this season.

Top Clutch Player: Although Henderson is the future, newcomer via trade Corey Maggette will likely be looked upon to take a last second shot or two with the game on the line this season. Maggette, a 12-year veteran who’s averaged over 16 points per game for his career, looks to fill the cagey veteran role on this team previously occupied by the volatile Jackson. While not as explosive as he once was, Maggette has a decent perimeter game and is big enough and crafty enough with his back to the basket to wreak at least some havoc on opposing defenses. He’s not exactly in the prime of his career, but Maggette looks to have enough in the tank to provide some veteran leadership and maybe even a few game-winning buckets over the course of the 2011-2012 season.

The Unheralded Player: Even though it appears UCONN’s Kemba Walker is going to quickly become both his immediate and future successor in Charlotte, D.J. Augustine has shown the innate ability to lead this team with the ball in his hands the majority of the time. The 24-year old out of the University of Texas started all 82 games for Charlotte last season and his 6.1 assists per game led the team in that department. His size (he’s listed at 6 feet tall but is really closer to about 5-10) and his lack of athleticism have kept him from playing an even larger role on this team — and may ultimately be his undoing in Charlotte — but the truth is his court presence was a huge factor in the Bobcats mid-season surge last year. It may not be in Charlotte, but Augustine has the tools to succeed at the NBA level.

Best New Addition: Both Kemba Walker and Bismack Biyombo look to play large roles in Charlotte this season and the two top-10 overall picks of last year’s draft are expected to see plenty of time on the court early and often this year. The inside, outside combo of the point guard Walker and power forward Biyombo is what Charlotte hopes to have as centerpieces (along with Henderson) that, a few years down the road, push this squad from being perennial also-rans in the East to legitimate contenders. Is that view warranted? Only time will tell, but with the abundance of talent these two exude it’s not exactly a pipe-dream to believe this team can be better than the one that featured Jackson and Wallace as it’s star.

– Derek Page

1. Gerald Henderson – This is the guy Charlotte is hanging its hat on going forward to lead this team out of oblivion. In fact, this is about the only relatively known quantity the Bobcats have going into next season. Henderson has all the tools to be an All-Star player in this league and this season he’s going to have the minutes and expectations to back it up. It’s up to him to finally reach his full potential in this his third season in the NBA.

2. Paul Silas – The no-nonsense head coach proved last year that his take no prisoners’ attitude works wonders for floundering teams with diva veterans populating the roster. The question now moving forward is if the old-school Silas can reach a team that features a markedly younger core than the team he took over early-on last season. With Silas at the helm, Charlotte made a push at the playoffs after a dismal 9-19 start, although injuries and trades decimated this team by the end of the year. Silas signed a one-year extension at the end of last season and will be counted on to teach these young players the NBA game this year.

3. Rich Cho – Charlotte needed someone to bring a reality check and, while Cho wasn’t the first to realize this team was treading water, he was chosen as GM to make sure this team heads in a different direction moving forward. The Bobcats’ brass made it clear last season with the trades of Wallace and Jackson that just squeaking into the playoffs every year wasn’t going to be good enough going forward. This team wants to be legitimate contenders and Cho is going to be the man in Michael Jordan’s ear going forward in regards to all personnel decisions.

4. Bismack Biyombo – Although he’s still having issues securing his release from Spanish league team Fuenlabrada, the 6-9, 229 pound forward looks to have a large role with the Bobcats this season. At just 19 and loaded with potential, the physical freak will have every opportunity to see plenty of time on the court this season. He’s still a raw talent, but will get some much-needed on the job experience in the NBA this season.

5. Kemba Walker – The man that has incumbent starter D.J. Augustine reportedly working out more strenuously than ever this offseason has plenty of fans excited about his potential going into the season. Walker, who led the Huskies to their third National Championship in his college career, has the type of winning mentality that is infectious – especially with younger teams. More of a scorer than a distributor, Walker’s expected to at least be in a time share at the point guard position to start the season and it’s only a matter of time before he’s got a hold of the reigns for good.

- Derek Page

This team’s youthfulness is going to put them in position to win some games they’re not supposed to this year simply because they have four or five players at or under the age of 25 that are filled to the brim with talent. Henderson, Biyombo, Walker and Thomas all have game-changing ability that is just waiting to be tapped.

- Derek Page

What makes this team dangerous also hinders them. Charlotte hopes it’s youth is set to propel them going forward in the years to come, but a roster of guys in their early 20’s isn’t exactly set up to win now. While the time on the court this season will be invaluable in these players development over the next few years, this team is going to have it’s fair share of growing pains this season

- Derek Page

I hope you are excited for this year. We have depth and athleticism and we should play exciting, fun basketball. We need to turn things up on the defensive end, there should not be anything held back from any starter because we have the depth to go to reserves early and often. In fact, this will determine how good we can be. Our rookies will need to step up into productive roles early: Kemba, Bismack, this means you. I think the key will be how we can turn our defense into early offense, because we struggled to score last year. The more we convert from one to the other, the better off we will be. Commit to playing for one another, and the rest will take care of itself.

- Anthony Macri

The simple answer is no. They came close last year, even after trading away Gerald Wallace, and they would have secured the eighth seed in the East had Jackson not gone down with a bum left hamstring late last season. Unfortunately for Charlotte there’s no more Captain Jack to play Superman for this team. Say what you want about the volatile forward, but he had a knack for putting a sub-par Bobcats team on his back and in a position to win most nights last season. The direction they’re heading is miles ahead of where they were — and if they stay together this could be a tough team down the road — but Charlotte is not going to contend for anything but a high lottery pick this season.

– Derek Page