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.
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!
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.
The Charlotte Bobcats have widely been considered a joke over the last five years for several reasons. Kind of a silly name. Already lost one franchise to New Orleans. Michael Jordan and a passion for North Carolina players.
Today they've got a huge opportunity to shake off that reputation versus a former Eastern Conference title contender, pull within 1.5 of that team, and further the notion that this franchise has turned a corner. Or they can lose their third straight to playoff teams and confirm their skeptics' worst criticism: They're just not that good.
Let's talk a little bit about Charlotte versus Detroit, tonight at 6PM EST.
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.
David West took a bad step in the second quarter. A really bad step -- he could barely jog through the second half, limping heavily. Like it mattered.
West played nearly the entire second half on one leg, scoring 19 points in that span to finish with 40 on the game. He added nine rebounds and six assists, helping New Orleans remain in position to beat Sacramento, which it did on a Rasual Butler three at the buzzer. On the game-winner with the Hornets down two, West managed to screen off two Kings in the paint. An unbelievable performance from West at a time when his team (missing Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic) couldn't possibly survive another injury.
The NBA features an 82 game season. As such, some weird stuff is going to happen. The Clippers will beat the Celtics. The Kings will beat the Suns. And often times, they're simply the result of back-to-backs, injuries, or that most crucial of variables: a bad shooting night.
But tonight was kind of different. As Robin Williams once said (yeah, I'm quoting Robin Williams, you got a problem with that?), "It's not the end of civilization, but you can see it from there."
Okay, two lottery (most likely) teams beat two perennial contenders. Your average bizarro night. But there were things in these wins that forecast the future.
If you were of the opinion that the league was somehow cracking down on flagrant fouls this season, then the events of the past week or so might go a long way to change your mind.
Andrew Bynum, as you may recall, partially collapsed Gerald Wallace's lung during the Lakers' loss to the Bobcats, and received neither a fine nor a suspension for the flagrant foul that caused the damage. Although the injury sustained by Wallace was a serious one, most thought that Bynum's play was reckless, but not intentionally meant to hurt anybody.
That's Kendrick Perkins headhunting Jason Maxiell, getting himself booted during the fourth quarter of a tight road game against a rival. Smart move, Holmes. More ridiculous than this unnecessary foul were the arguments from Perk's teammates that the Big 'Drick shouldn't have been ejected.
Gerald Wallace spent Tuesday night laid up in a Los Angeles hospital, possibly with a collapsed lung and fractured rib. When you see the name "Gerald Wallace" you may assume this is another of those unlucky crashes on a reckless drive to the rim. Nope. The reckless one here was Andrew Bynum.
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?
FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.
FanHouse 
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, 
The Charlotte Bobcats have widely been considered a joke over the last five years for several reasons. Kind of a silly name. Already lost one franchise to New Orleans. 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
The NBA features an 82 game season. As such, some weird stuff is going to happen. The Clippers will beat the Celtics. The Kings will beat the Suns. And often times, they're simply the result of back-to-backs, injuries, or that most crucial of variables: a bad shooting night. 
If you were of the opinion that the league was somehow cracking down on flagrant fouls this season, then the events of the past week or so might go a long way to change your mind. 
FanHouse's 
