Here at Sparty and Friends, we have reached NBA preview time (again). There will be one team per work day leading up to the season opener (Celts vs. Cavs, October 27th at 7:30pm on TNT). The teams are ordered by record starting with last place and going up through the non-playoff teams, followed by the playoff teams in order of elimination (or lack thereof in the Lakers’ case). We’ve already grabbed a Sac(To) lunch, went off to see the Wizards, turned to JP and the Clips, visited a Grizzly veteran, played some Timber sports, found our inner Warrior, rolled with the Thunder, wonder ed why there exists in today’s hip-hop NBA a team named after a older than old school piece of clothing, shared the regret of naming a team after a popular movie, headed to Brooklyn Russia New Jersey, tried to Buck the trend, and now we Bob for Cats…

The Bobcats depth chart will scare you. Not in a good way. I almost can’t wait for you guys to click the jump. They might have some decent starters, but this team is bare after that. So, last season I talked about how the Bobcats should just bring Jordan back to playing because it would be the only way to make the team interesting. I stand by that. Now, the only thing that was remotely exciting about them last season is now gone. That was Jason Richardson. They got back a jerk and a fat guy so that’s always a good trade. I hate to reiterate the point but I really don’t see the point of
Jordan not playing. They got Larry Brown and missed out on the Allen Iverson Excitement Train. They still have Gerald Wallace but have lost Emeka Okafor. It’s like they can’t put anything together. In fact it’s exactly like that. They can’t put anything together. Check the jump for that depth chart…

Here you go (you asked for it)…

Last Year’s Record: 35-47 (2nd to last in Southeast Division, 6th to last in Eastern Conference, 12th to last in the NBA)

Last Year’s Prediction (GITC): 30-35 wins, 9-13 in the Eastern Conference

Coach: Larry Brown

Expected Starting Lineup:Raymond Felton, Raja Bell, Gerald Wallace, Boris Diaw, Tyson Chandler

Expected Bench Contributors: D.J. Augustin, Ronald “Flip” Murray, Vladimir Radmonovic, DeSagana Diop

So they are starting Bell and Diaw. That’s bad. Diaw only thrived under D’Antoni and is now fat, and Bell is a solid defender who can’t really do that too well anymore. Felton got no offers in the restricted free agent market because he simply isn’t as good as he was supposed to be. Tyson Chandler won’t be the same without CP3 tossing the lob. So that leaves you with Gerald Wallace who, while being a very serviceable starting swingman, has some holes in his game and really shouldn’t be your star player. Augustin is fine off the bench, Flip was just signed and continues to be Flip Murray, Radmonovic is a coin flip for “washed-up” status, and DeSagana Diop is a random big man.

I’m not sure where the Bobcats are going, but it might be another city. I just don’t like the fact that they seem to have no plan. How is it that they miss out on AI with LARRY BROWN as the coach. It just doesn’t make any sense. It also doesn’t make sense for Bob Johnson to hire Michael Jordan to run the team after he killed the Wizards. It also doesn’t make sense to buy an NBA expansion team and then name them after yourself. A lot of things make no sense. If I were the Bobcats I’d hire a new GM and just start trading stuff until you’ve improved enough for your team to qualify in the category of “has a future.”

Video of the Day time! This is a Gerald Wallace highlight reel. It was the only thing that I could think of. Really. The only thing.

Best Comment From Last Season’s Preview of This Team time! This one goes out to gchan1983 for his look ahead to the Bobcats’ season…

i had some slim optimism for the bobs this year, but this preview just made me so depressed…

they’re gonna suck.

Yeah, that was a good call.

Prediction time! They deffinitly have a shot at the playoffs. It’s just that they’re so mediocre. I’m going with this…

Prediction: 35-40 wins, 7-11 in the Eastern Conference

Guyinthecorner is an author here at spartyandfriends.com. He writes the NBA section, X-Games section, and contributes to College Basketball and MLB. He doesn’t watch hockey except when the circumstances are dire. He’s not sure how to rate Michael Phelps on the scale of athletes not only because he doesn’t directly compete against people, but because he is a fish. He doesn’t understand the hate for the 2002 National Champion Maryland Terrapins and wishes everybody would just shut up by now. He is known for having statistical formulas and might be Bill James or Joe Lunardi depending on who you ask. His identity is as hidden as many times over as the number of internet memes he employs in his comments. Some have called him “The Riddler.” He can be reached at gitc@spartyandfriends.com. “GITC” is an acronym for guyinthecorner in case you aren’t that perceptive.

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