FanHouse DJ Augustin

I would say this is poor timing for the Bobcats, but really, is there a good time to have any of your players tear a wrist ligament? Because to me, what Raja Bell suffered this week, a partial tear in his left wrist in a preseason game against Utah, is not something that's ever good.

But the implications are more than just "lost a veteran player" for the Cats. This injury impacts them on multiple levels and springs more than one leak on the good ship Bobcats.

Plus, it probably hurts a lot, too.

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.

...

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!

---

---

Sean Deveney of The Baseline reports that Charlotte point guard Raymond Felton plans to accept the $5.5 million qualifying offer presented by the Bobcats at the start of free agency. The qualifying offer allowed Charlotte to match any offer sheet from another team signed by Felton. But Felton never found a team willing to pay what he desired. Felton will be an unrestricted free agent next July.

While this result is hardly surprising, there remains a herd of elephants in the room. There's D.J. Augustin, the lottery pick successor to Felton entering his second season. There's Larry Brown, the notoriously trigger-happy boss of the team. And there's Felton himself, who has proved if nothing else over his four seasons that he is just not very good.

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.

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.

The Grizzlies lost to the 76ers, and that's to be expected. Memphis falls to 16-45, a welcome visitor in the Dungeon of Doom populated by your Kings and Thunder and Clippers. But things got a little weird Saturday night in Memphis.

Two Grizz scored at least 30 points. O.J. Mayo? No, he had only 11. Rudy Gay? Nope, just eight. How about ... Marc Gasol and Mike Conley? Baby Gasol finished with 30 points (and 13 boards and three blocks) and Conley racked up 31 points and nine assists. WHAT.

The Maui Classic has always been one of the must-see events of the early part of the college basketball season. You get to see coaches in Hawaiian shirts (picture Phil Martelli), beautiful bump shots of the beaches and some good hoops action.

This year's Invitational is no different. The No. 1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels headline the event which begins today. But they aren't the only story to watch as six of the eight teams in Maui were in the NCAA Tournament last year:

North Carolina: The top ranked team is the favorite to win this thing but the Heels are coming in on shaky ground. Marcus Ginyard is still out as is Tyler Zeller who is done for the year with a broken wrist. The story will be Tyler Hansbrough's shin. He played Friday against UCSB but will see his minutes carefully monitored this week. If he does well, so will the Heels.

Notre Dame: Doesn't everyone want to see a matchup of Hansbrough and Luke Harangody? It could happen if the Irish get by the Texas Longhorns. The key to winning the Maui will be Mike Brey's coaching against some of the biggest names in the nation.

Here's a look at the top ten players we saw at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

1. Jerryd Bayless: Who cares that him running point was like a Ben Stiller movie or that he managed so few assists his teammates almost decided to bring their own ball on the court to play catch? The kid was transcendent. Floaters, fadeaways, dunks, steals, you name it. If it's got flash, Bayless was unleashing it on someone this week.

2. Kevin Love: You know how some people's college game just doesn't transfer to the pro game? Yeah, Kevin Love won't be having that problem. Tough, resilient, with a range of moves and offensive versatility to go along with the sweetest, yes, outlet pass we've seen, Love was incredibly impressive.

3. Anthony Randolph: Youth and athleticism rules! The lanky Warrior started the week off with a bang and played solid throughout. His impressive handle really made him stand out, along with a tenacious effort on defense.

Earlier today, my esteemed colleagues Charles Rich and Michael David Smith labeled Memphis's vicious blowout of Texas as yet another boring game in a string of second-weekend snoozers. Now, I like a close game as much as anyone else does, but I fail to see what is so boring about the most athletic team in the country playing at the height of their powers against another Top 10 team.

When Memphis is on, they're quite simply awesome to watch. Their superb athleticism at every position creates countless alley-oops, blocks, and transition opportunities. Derrick Rose, a certain Top 3 pick in June's NBA Draft, dominated DJ Augustin, a player most experts call the best point guard in the country. The Tigers used their insane quickness to make one of the quickest, steadiest backcourts in the country look out of control and outclassed. From my point of view, these accomplishments are rarer and more noteworthy than a tight finish. No matter the score, Memphis will always make a few plays that make your draw drop.

Exciting endings are obviously great and memorable, but they often come at the end of mediocre games. For instance, it's hard to argue that either Kansas or Davidson looked particularly stellar in today's admittedly exciting second game. As cool as it was to see the Wildcats nearly nip the Jayhawks, I have to admit that I had more fun watching Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts dismantle the Longhorns.