The Charlotte Bobcats, a team shrouded in mystery. Well, maybe not mystery. It’s more annonymity than anything I’d say. It comes a bit from lack of identity. Limited success, smaller market, no stars and thus, no national TV games and little exposure otherwise. I have come to terms with the Bobcats place on the national stage. I’m not happy about it and I won’t sit by and let national bloggers, “Sports Guys” or other ESPN personalities push the Bobcats to the margins but I understand it.
There is a limited history to look at. I think there have been some great characters that have come and gone through the organization. From owners, coaches, General Managers, to players and even some interesting regular fans like the Orange Jacket Guy. Certainly, you can point to Michael Jordan and Bob Johnson as the cornerstones. You can definitely say there have been eras: The Bernie Bickerstaff Era, the Michael Jordan/Sam Vincent Experiment, The Larry Brown Era and Rebuilding. Right now we’re in the rebuilding phase. Once Jordan and GM Rod Higgins decided to fire Larry Brown just before Christmas 2010, the team was starting down a new path and it’s become rebuilding.
The one constant was Gerald Wallace. That is, until he was traded back at the trade deadline in early May 2011. Gerald was a diamond in the rough, pulled from the Sacramento Kings in the expansion draft and became the Bobcats lone All-Star. He was the secondary star to Emeka Okafor in the early years, until Okafor became injured. Okafor was a great player in college, and a solid player in the NBA but he never broke through to become dominant. He was traded in an offseason after Larry Brown joked about he and MJ having a laugh hoping that Mek would try to do as much on the basketball court as he did on the yoga mat or something. It seems like none of the pieces really ever fit together.
We can talk history all day but what do you want to know about the Charlotte Bobcats as they stand now?
I was thinking about this today, well, early this morning when the movie Almost Famous was on. The story of the movie is based on Cameron Crowe the writer/director/filmmaker behind Jerry Maguire, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and the new PJ20 documentary on the early years of Pearl Jam. Crowe was a music writer for Rolling Stone when he was something like 15. I didn’t know anything about the movie until I was interviewing some Christian rock band backstage at a festival in Greensboro my freshman year in college. Basically, the promoter didn’t want me backstage but there were 5 bands I set up to interview for the college radio station that did. This band said to me “We went to see this movie last night, totally seems like you. Young guy trying to get interviews, you should watch it.”
I never had such grand plans or visions of myself as all that. I just wanted to get some sound bites for the 10 hours a week or whatever I was responsible for at the radio station. I also wanted to talk to the people that made the music I listened to. Anyway, this kid starts asking serious questions at some point, rather than just being enamoured by the band he’s following in Almost Famous. I wondered, what the hell did this kid want to know from these people? Then I thought, what the hell do I want to know, if I’m so starved for information about the Bobcats currently?
It’s hard to say. It’s a really confusing time for the entire NBA and everyone surrounding it right now. It’s even worse for the Bobcats. The team only has about 6 or 7 players left from their regular rotation last year (for the record, I don’t call Desagana Diop or Matt Carroll regular). Two of those guys were only around for the last 2 months of the season. So, it’s a little hard to say what we know and even worse, what we’d like to know.
So, I ask you, humble reader, what do you want to know about the Bobcats? I worry that the only people paying attention right now, deep in this lockout, already know everything and like me are looking for new information. But what about this team remains a mystery to you? No matter your level of involvement as a fan, what’s got your curious? Feel free to tweet me your questions at my page listed below, post on the wall for the site at Facebook or just comment below.
Andrew Barraclough is Senior Editor for RobertoGato.com, a Charlotte Bobcats Blog on the Fansided Network. Follow him on Twitter @therobertogato and Like the site on Facebook.