FanHouse BorisDiaw

FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

If you're attempting to put together a competing team without a superstar, you need a lynchpin. A guy who can do several things well, if no one thing brilliantly. Some opt for a point guard, some opt for a traditional big man. Larry Brown opted for Boris Diaw.

Since being traded to Charlotte last season, Diaw went from being the gap filler in Phoenix who could never quite fill the tank completely, to the lynchpin in Charlotte. The Bobcats came on strong at the end of the year, narrowly mising an oppotunity to lose to the Celtics in fewer games than the Bulls did. And if they're going to build on that success, Diaw is going to have to maintain his role on the Cats.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The Bobcats are a playoff contender. I know it sounds weird. If you need to take a few minutes to repeat that to yourself in order to suspend belief in pursuit of finishing this column, feel free. I'll wait.

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Ready? Okay, let's begin. The Bobcats are a playoff contender, and have been since Larry Brown decided to dump his best player (Jason Richardson) to Phoenix for jack-of-all-trades-master-of-awkward-spacing Boris Diaw and older than dirt Raja Bell. When that trade occurred, there was universal questioning of what in the carolina blue blazes Larry Brown was thinking. You don't ditch your best player!

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I would love to be able to defend Charlotte coach Larry Brown's comments regarding his plot for new Bobcat Tyson Chandler. The Baseline's Sean Deveney jumped on Brown's post-trade conference call, where Brown told reporters he'd be using the 7'1 Chandler as Boris Diaw's back-up at power forward.

I really wish I were brave enough to applaud Larry's idea. But unfortunately, I didn't drop enough acid this morning.

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

"Love bravely, live bravely, be courageous, there's really nothing to lose." -Jewel

And really, what says "Charlotte Bobcats" like Jewel?

The Lottery is littered with teams that failed to meet expectations. Their hopes broken, their efforts for naught, they're left with nothing but frustration and depression. They limp towards the offseason with hope for nothing more than pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

You don't get that feeling from the Bobcats.

FanHouse's NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't.

HEADLINER
San Antonio at Utah, 9PM ET

The Spurs couldn't overcome a deeper, more talented Lakers team in L.A., no matter the moxie that runs through those San Antonian veins. The Jazz dropped back-to-back home games against the Cavaliers and Nuggets, and haven't come a shred closer to good health. This can't possibly be the shot in the arm Utah needs, can it?

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Forgotten man Greg Oden must be tired of being ignored with all this Darius Miles errata going on. Oden went ballistic against a possibly tired road-trippin' Milwaukee team with 24 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Portland's starting line-up annihilated the Bucks; Oden was a +27 and Brandon Roy went +30. The Blazers aren't good enough to count victories before they hatch, so efforts like this from the rook mean something.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* "It amazes me how quickly the question 'Who is the best player in the NBA?' has been rendered moot." -- The Painted Area.

* "(Bleep) that guy, he's walking around rubbing everyone's nose in the deals he's made and even with all those lottery players his team is still not in the playoffs." -- The Oregonian, via TSB.

* "[Gerald] Wallace's true talent is much more valuable to the team than [Boris] Diaw's. What scares me about this little brushup is that Larry Brown probably has never understood that because he doesn't like Wallace's style, and this is just a preliminary indication that Brown wants to move him." -- Rufus on Fire.

* Ridiculously interesting "heat maps" from Obsessionism, photos of a young Mark Cuban squeezing some dames, and when good logos go bad.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

While everyone else was watching Darren Sproles make himself about a bazillion dollars en route to a San Diego win, the NBA had itself one heck of a night.

It started off with Kevin Martin unleashing a 45-point barrage in a losing effort against the Pacers and Danny Granger's 35, 6, and 4.

Then the universe decided to implode as the Bobcats, yes, the Bobcats, polished off the surprisingly good Bucks by 10. The Bobcats cruised in this one, which was both a model for the 'Cats' success and completely bizarre. And not just because the 'Cats won. It was a perfect setup for this roster because they were led by Gerald Wallace, Emeka Okafor, and Boris Diaw, who continues to be brilliant since his trade to Charlotte. They got 12 points and five assists from D.J. Augustin, and they attacked the Bucks in the paint. It was bizarre because the Bobcats were outshot (50 percent to 47 percent), out-rebounded (35-32), and had only two fewer turnovers. Still, if the 'Cats are going to get anything going this season, this has to be the model. Did I mention Wallace and Okafor only had nine rebounds between them? Bizarro World.

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.

This weekend's historically bad matchup between the Wizards and Thunder stood on its own awful pedestal while telling a really depressing truth about today's NBA: there are a bunch of really bad teams in the league.

For some of these teams, the depths are only a brief stop on the path to regained greatness. But for others, the stench of the blighted air they inhabit threatens to stick long after the current draft class matures and the Summer of 2010 passes.

For these -- the NBA's Bleak -- no days look bright. Which teams do I speak of? Follow us into the future, after the jump.