Point Guard: Kemba Walker, Ramon Sessions.
Shooting Guard: Gerald Henderson, Ben Gordon, Reggie Williams.
Small Forward: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Jeffery Taylor.
Power Forward: Bismack Biyombo, Tyrus Thomas.
Center: Byron Mullens, Brenden Haywood, DeSagana Diop.
At the moment, the Bobcats don't have much. We all know that they finished last season with the worst record in NBA history. While 25-57 is still a bad record, that's a jump from .106 to .305, and I don't see them improving any more than that in a single season. There's several signs that they could potentially do better than that, but I'm going with the safe bet here. They've actually changed up their roster quite a bit and seemingly for the better. They got rid of DJ Augustin, Corey Maggette, and Boris Diaw who all didn't play well for the Bobcats. Augustin averaged 11 points and 6 assists in 29 minutes, but shot a horrible 37% from the field. Maggette averaged 15 points and 3 rebounds in 27 minutes while also shooting 37%. Kemba Walker was also somewhat of a disappointment, averaging 12.1 points, 4.4 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and shooting 36% in 27 minutes.
Across the board, the Bobcats' stats are horrible. They shot 41% as a team and averaged 87 PPG, last in the league in both categories. They also shot 29% from three as a team, with the next worst team shooting 32%. They finished 29th in rebounding (11 more than the Celtics), and took the fewest field goals of all 30 teams over the season. Defensively, they were just as bad. Their opponents averaged 100.9 points (that's a 13.9 point differential) and shot nearly 48% for the season. They gave up the second most rebounds in the NBA, third most assists, and 5th most blocks. Just about any offensive/defensive rating system shows the Bobcats finishing last on both sides of the floor. As far as offseason transactions go, the Bobcats seem to be moving in the right direction. They got rid of Maggette and Augustin who both shot horribly, they brought in Brendan Haywood, Ramon Sessions, and Ben Gordon who are solid veterans who can bring experience to this team. I'd have them finishing last in the league again, except for this guy ---->
 |
| Get used to seeing this face. |
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. he was the second pick in the draft, and everything about him screams success. His coaches, scouts, teammates, and everybody who has seen him play use the same words to describe him: Warrior. Winner. Competitor. Tenacious. Never gives up. Consistent. Fierce. 110%. Add him to any team, and that team instantly becomes better. He has all the attributes needed to become a superstar in this league. 6'7", 235 pounds. Explosive, athletic, lengthy, able to score, rebound, pass, and play defense. He's also only 18 years old. He's going to improve a lot over the next few years.
His stats in college weren't anything amazing: 11.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 49% in 31.1 minutes. He's not a three point shooter (25%), but I think that can be fixed with some devoted practice over an offseason. He's so young that he can still mold his game into anything. As one of the focal points of Charlotte's offense and hopefully one of their more efficient shooters, MKG should get plenty of opportunities to score this season. A lot of people have been staking Anthony Davis as a lock to win the ROY award this year, with Damian Lillard as the dark horse to steal it from him. I think MKG is just as likely to win it as Lillard, if not more. While Lillard might have better teammates (especially Aldridge), MKG has more opportunity to transform his team and pile the credit onto his back. If anyone is going to jump-start the Bobcats into becoming a legitimate team, its MKG. Unfortunately, it's still too hard to predict how well MKG will be his rookie year or what kind of impact he'll have on his team. To stress this again, he's 18 years old! He'll be playing with Eduardo Najera, who's twice his age! While he has great potential, I'm not so sure this will materialize right away. His talent may not start to show itself until he's 20, which often seems like when an NBA player really shows what his future will hold. I'm not saying he's going to be a disappointment, because I don't think he will be... but Bobcats fans shouldn't put too much pressure on such a young kid to transform their team immediately.
That being said, it doesn't seem like the Bobcats have much other than MKG. They've got potential in Walker and Biyombo who were both rookies last season, but Walker needs to shoot better and Biyombo needs to continue working on his post game and free throw shooting (48% last season) as well as improving his defense, which could be promising (1.8 blocks last season). They both played about 25 minutes per game last season, so I think playing more minutes could help them improve "on the job" more this season. Walker has a good chance to beat Sessions out for the starting PG spot, and Biyombo will be fighting for his starting spot against Tyrus Thomas, who was less than stellar last season averaging 5.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.1 blocks, and 36% shooting in 18.8 minutes. If those guys win out their starting slots (and they should), they'll be trotting out a lineup of Walker, Gerald Henderson, MKG, Biyombo, and Byron Mullens. That means their oldest starter (Henderson) would have three years of experience. For a second lineup, they'll have Sessions, Ben Gordon, Jeffery Taylor (a rookie), Thomas, and Haywood. To be honest, that's not really any worse than the starters. Whether that's a compliment to the bench or an insult to the starters is up to you.
Watching the "Highlights" on the right, it shows just how far the Bobcats have to go to become just an average team in the league. While it may seem like the whole "Bobcats suck" thing has been beaten to death by now, I'm serious. You could see highlights like this from any team in the D-league. Charlotte's best hope for this year to get get yet another lottery pick and try to sign a quality player while they continue to rebuild. Charlotte really needs to focus on shooting better as a team and not getting outscored by nearly 15 PPG. Seriously. With some expected improvement from Biyombo and the additions of MKG and Haywood, we can hopefully expect to see Charlotte's defense begin to get a little better. Just a little. Then again, being on a team where getting more wins than clips on a Top 10 highlight film would be a success might not be too bad a place for a rookie to grow into a franchise player.
No comments:
Post a Comment