about the Bobcast, from today's ESPN Daily Dime
"
Last season Larry Brown traded superstar Jason Richardson for Boris DiawRaja Bell. People said he was crazy, that those players were too incomplete, they'd never improve. They made a serious push for the playoffs that was only bested by Chicago's easy late schedule.
This summer, they traded franchise center Emeka Okafor for Tyson Chandler. People said that it was a terrible trade and the Bobcats would regress. Then Jackson traded Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic for Stephen Jackson. Mercurial, high-maintenance, wanted to play for a contender. Surely this was a disaster.
The Bobcats started the season as the worst offense in the league outside of lowly New Jersey. They had no perimeter scorer, no slashing guard, no compliment to Gerald Wallace, who has played at an All-Star level this season. So adding Jackson made a lot of sense, and yet the jeers continued, primarily (and reasonably) because of the long-term cap complications of their roster makeup. Even though Brown has shown no hesitation or difficulty in moving contracts, it seemed like they had simply compounded their long-term limitations.
So with an incomplete roster, on a night where Wallace had a bad night, with doomed long-term viability, and after facing a very good playoff-contending team in the Houston Rockets, Brown walked to his car -- with a smile on his face. Or rather, whatever resembles a smile when it's on Brown's face.
'Captain' Jackson scored a career-high 43 points and the Bobcats' defense held Houston to just 24 points in the second half, and the Cats improved to 17-19, 14-4 at home (tied for best in the league), and 7-3 in their last 10. Once again, Brown's crazy alchemy is netting results. The East is in yet another year of mediocrity past the top four seeds, and the Bobcats find themselves in the seventh seed, just a game behind Miami for fifth.
Look out, the crazy old guy has the Bobcats playing legit.
To read more, check out Moore's TrueHoop Network blog, Hardwood Paroxysm ." and

Reply With Quote
