FanHouse RaymondFelton

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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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.

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.

Adam Morrison.

Sean May.

Etc.

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.

I don't mean to disrespect Dwight Howard, but he didn't exactly have a great All-Star Weekend. I mean, consider the two lasting images of Howard from the festivities: getting teabagged by Nate Robinson, and getting nutmegged by Shaq. That's not stuff you'd want to put on your Hall of Fame highlight reel, you know?

But Howard took out his frustration on the Bobcats Tuesday, whipping out a stunning 45 points, 19 rebounds and eight blocks. Orlando needed every bit, as the starting backcourt (Anthony Johnson, Mickael Pietrus) played awful on both ends. Charlotte's Raymond Felton went off for 22 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and nary a turnover.

Everybody remember Jamaal Tinsley?

The Pacers point guard often called "troublemaker" and "malcontent" hasn't been allowed to play or even practice for the team this season. While the Pacers are still writing his checks, they've made it clear to both Tinsley and his agent that there's just not enough room on the bus, if you buy what I'm selling.

There's a new wrinkle in this particular sale, though, and it seems to be expanding rather quickly. First the NBAPA today announced that they're filing a grievance against the Pacers on behalf of Tinsley. Both sides probably have a case, but the fact that the Pacers removed his nameplate from the locker and sent his stuff to Atlanta (I hope he lives there) does not look good.

Now there's a new development on Tinsley that has him headed to... Charlotte?

The Mavericks finally completed a long-rumored deal with Charlotte, but the eventual transaction looks more like an admission of a mistake than a potentially vital move.

Previous rumors placed Dallas in talks to grab Raymond Felton from the Bobcats in a multi-team deal that sent out DeSagana Diop, a player Dallas spent a full five-year mid-level on this past summer.

But the transaction is Diop for Charlotte's Matt Carroll and minor prospect Ryan Hollins. That changes how you have to view the deal.

How bad are things in Oakland? ESPN's Chris Broussard was on the teevee this morning reporting that Chris Mullin (the GM) and Don Nelson (the coach) aren't speaking, and that Nellie is trying to trade Mully's players out from under him.

All out war has been brewing in Golden State since June, when (potentially at Nellie's behest) team president Robert Rowell vetoed Mullin's three-year, $39 million contract offer to Baron Davis, who had been prepared to sign. But apparently now the hold of the floundering franchise is at stake. Broussard reports that Nellie told Anthony Randolph's agent to try to find a trade opportunity -- Randolph has played only 12 minutes in the last three games, despite a bunch of Golden State injuries. A Randolph-Raymond Felton swap has been rumored but denied from the Warriors end.

Atma from Golden State of Mind sides with Nellie and pins many of Golden State's shortcomings on Mullin's shoulders. And it's true: Mullin has made some bad choices in the draft and free agency. But look at the two supreme bright spots on the team, Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins. That's Mullin's work. An undersized two-guard without a deep stroke and a 7-footer with no J? You think Nellie wants anything to do with that? Nelson, at this point, is Larry Brown on hallucinogens: fickle, domineering and insane.

The Bobcats not only play at the second-slowest pace in the league (no surprise there with Larry Brown calling shots) but also rank among the four worst teams in offensive efficiency. In other words, not only do they suck, they suck slowly, which is the least entertaining way.

Fortunately help is on the way: Jason Richardson, the team's leading scorer who's missed the last six games with an inflamed knee, returned to practice today and could play tomorrow. That's great news ... right?

Well, sure, but an unfortunate side effect is that rookie D.J. Augustin will have to take a backseat. Augustin, ostensibly the team's backup point guard, has played out of his mind in the last four games (starting the last three alongside Raymond Felton) by averaging 21 points and 6.2 assists, including 25 and 11 in last night's win over the Sixers.

Brown said he expects to employ a three-guard rotation, but on a team as bad as Charlotte, it's a shame Augustin can't spend his rookie year playing as many minutes as possible to expedite his development for when the wins and losses actually start to matter. That's not going to happen, though, considering Felton has played too well to justify benching but not good enough for another team to bowl the Bobcats over with a trade offer. So instead, it's back to the bench of Augustin, scratching out 20 minutes a night when he should be playing 30 or more.