I wonder will the Charlotte Bobcats get to put an asterisk by
this season’s win total since their record-setting season of futility didn’t
happen during a standard 82-game season?
Doubtful that would matter much to the people of Charlotte
who have had to endure this miserable 7-59 debacle that has been the Bobcats’ season.
Even worse though is the fact that this team doesn’t look to make any
significant improvements anytime soon.
Basketball doesn’t have a draft system that automatically rewards
the worst team with the top pick like football does. Indianapolis Colts’ fans
have known for months that their team would be able to draft Andrew Luck with
the first pick in the NFL Draft since the Colts were a league-worst 2-14 last
season.
Sure Charlotte will have the best chance to win the pick but
the NBA’s lottery system rarely awards the worst team with the first pick.
In other words the lottery system is doing what it was
designed to do. The lottery system was put in place to discourage teams from
deliberately tanking the season in order to acquire the draft’s best player.
And no matter how much we loved Michael Jordan the player or
root for him to be successful as an owner, this is not the time to reward him
for his incompetence in running this franchise.
Although they weren’t regular participants in the playoffs
this team was pretty good before Jordan decided to break it up. He chose not to
resign point guard Raymond Felton and he traded Emeka Okafor, Stephen Jackson
and Gerald Wallace.
He signed under-achieving Tyrus Thomas to that ridiculous contract
and released productive forward Boris Diaw. Judging by the questionable moves he
has made so far, it’s doubtful that even if the Bobcats were able to draft this
year’s consensus number one that Jordan would be able to surround him with
talent.
And that may be a blessing for Kentucky’s Anthony Davis who
everyone believes will be the first pick in the draft. Forcing him to play for
this pitiful franchise is a fate that even Jordan himself shouldn’t want to
subject a talented player like Davis to.
It would help if Jordan realized that every franchise has to
crawl before it walks. It only took the Bobcats six years to make it to their
first playoff appearance. It took the Minnesota Timberwolves eight years to earn
their first playoff berth and the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies took nine years.
Of the eight teams that have been added to the league since
1980, only two of them have won championships. The Mavericks are the oldest of
the expansion franchises and they just won their first championship last year.
The Miami Heat were added in 1989 and they won their lone championship back in
2006.
The six expansion teams that remain have two Finals
appearances among them and both of those were by the Orlando Magic. Not to say
that Charlotte has to wait as long as Miami and Dallas waited to win a title it
should be understood that you don’t put together a championship team overnight.
But Jordan stated when he traded fan-favorite Wallace to the
Portland Trailblazers that he wasn’t content just competing for the eighth spot
in the playoffs every year. That’s sad when you consider that Jordan the player
didn’t give up so easily.
Especially when he was getting thwarted by the Detroit
Pistons who stood in the way of his Chicago Bulls’ championship hopes for three
years straight. Before that they were knocked out twice in a row by the Boston
Celtics.
Bottom line is that Jordan the player didn’t come into the
league knowing how to win championships he had to learn from his many failures.
Maybe one day Jordan the owner will realize that he needs to keep his good
players around long enough for them to learn from theirs.
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.
Have you ever watched the Bobcats? Boris Diaw, though skillful, was useless on the team and had been for at least 2 years. That would be specifically why they couldn't trade him anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI guess some sites just prefer to report what they see onthe outside with NO research on the inside.
What reason was there for watching him play for the Bobcats? They suck. I have seen him help take the Suns to the playoffs and make considerable contributions for the Spurs just this past weekend so I know he is still skilled. Before you blame someone for lack of research maybe you should look at Diaw's whole body of work first before you deem him "useless" and put the blame squarely where it belongs: the Bobcats' coaching staff.
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