2010-11 NBA Blogosphere Previews: Charlotte Bobcats
Posted by Neil Paine on October 22, 2010
Welcome to our 2010-11 NBA Blogosphere Previews, in which we contact the finest team bloggers on the web and ask them to contribute their thoughts on the squad they cover. What follows is their take, along with the team's depth chart (courtesy of ESPN.com), projected 2011 stats via our Simple Projection System, and polls where you get to have your say. Enjoy!
Charlotte Bobcats
Coach: Larry Brown
2010 Summary:
Record: 44-38, Finished 4th in NBA Southeast Division
Pythagorean W-L: 45-37 (15th of 30)
SRS: 1.30 (15th of 30) ▪ Pace Factor: 90.4 (26th of 30)
Offensive Rating: 104.4 (24th of 30) ▪ Defensive Rating: 102.8 (1st of 30)
2011 Depth Chart (with 2010-11 projected per-36 minute stats ... yellow = newcomer)
| Pos | Player | Age | PTS | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | FG% | 3PM | 3P% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | D.J. Augustin | 23 | 14.2 | 2.7 | 4.7 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 0.418 | 1.8 | 0.420 | 0.833 |
| PG | Shaun Livingston | 25 | 12.0 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 0.512 | 0.2 | 0.246 | 0.852 |
| PG | Sherron Collins | 23 | ||||||||||
| SG | Stephen Jackson | 32 | 18.7 | 4.6 | 4.0 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 0.416 | 1.6 | 0.332 | 0.793 |
| SG | Gerald Henderson | 23 | 12.8 | 5.9 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 0.402 | 0.6 | 0.276 | 0.755 |
| SG | Matt Carroll | 30 | 12.2 | 4.3 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 0.406 | 1.3 | 0.330 | 0.820 |
| SF | Gerald Wallace | 28 | 16.1 | 8.1 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 0.478 | 0.6 | 0.344 | 0.779 |
| SF | Eduardo Najera | 34 | 9.5 | 6.4 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 0.438 | 1.0 | 0.302 | 0.615 |
| SF | Dominic McGuire | 25 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 0.428 | 0.1 | 0.379 | 0.657 |
| PF | Boris Diaw | 28 | 12.3 | 5.5 | 4.2 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 0.489 | 0.8 | 0.349 | 0.743 |
| PF | Tyrus Thomas | 24 | 14.8 | 9.2 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 0.462 | 0.1 | 0.299 | 0.740 |
| PF | Derrick Brown | 23 | 13.4 | 5.6 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 0.472 | 0.3 | 0.341 | 0.692 |
| C | Nazr Mohammed | 33 | 15.3 | 10.2 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 0.518 | 0.1 | 0.350 | 0.634 |
| C | DeSagana Diop | 29 | 6.9 | 9.1 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 0.465 | 0.1 | 0.361 | 0.457 |
| C | Kwame Brown | 28 | 9.4 | 9.5 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 0.502 | 0.1 | 0.333 | 0.437 |
2010-11 Blogger Outlook by David Arnott, rufusonfire.com
If the Charlotte Bobcats are going to make their second playoff appearance, they’ll have to do it without a proven point guard or adequate center, or they’ll have to trade for those pieces. Though D.J. Augustin showed promise his rookie season, when he shot 43% from behind the arc, he cratered last season, leading the Cats to sign Shaun Livingston to compete for the starting point guard job and to get involved in trade talks for Jose Calderon and Devin Harris. In the pivot, Nazr Mohammed, Kwame Brown, and DeSagana Diop are the nominal centers, but if Boris Diaw isn’t traded for a point, he’ll probably play most of the crunch time minutes there. Lovely, isn’t it?
What Charlotte does have going for them is the most combustible pair of wingmen in the league -- Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson aren’t nearly as productive as LeBron and Wade, or Kobe and Artest, but they’ll both play lock down defense on anybody, and both can shoulder the scoring load for entire games. Don’t underestimate the addition of Tyrus Thomas to this mix, as he provides another super-athletic shot blocker and rebounder that will give offenses fits.
If the Bobcats play defense the way they did last year, and manage not to have the worst offense in the league, they’ll fight for one of the final playoff spots in the East.
Poll Time