Bob Johnson selling the Bobcats?

Chip did too.

 

If they did not suck they might win some fan support. It is hard to get a lot of fans excited about a team that wins 30 games every year.

 

That's true that they suck, and I realize they could never hope to recreate the excitement that the Hornets had, but they have been more competitive and won more games than the Hornets did their first four years.

I don't think they've ever had the worst record in the NBA (although they were close that year Paul/Williams/Felton were drafted.) We've been very unlucky in the Draft Lottery, and unfortunately made a couple of shitty decisions draft-wise. That's enough to doom a team that can't compete in free agency.

 

The Hornets first four year were and entirely different dynamic. The NBA as a whole was a lot more popular. People came to see the Hornet so they could see Kareem, Bird, Magic, Jordan, etc. It was also a big deal for Charlotte to have its first "major league" team. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then, most of it bad.

I agree that they have made some bad draft choices. They have managed to put together a decent talent base though. Wallace and Richardson are both very good players. Okafor is a good defensive big man. They have some other decent role players. I think where they screwed up royally was hiring Vincent. Bernie had them playing hard and improving each year. They added scorer in Richardson and should have been ready to take a step forward and be a playoff team. Vincent was a train wreck. We will see if Larry Brown can do something with this roster. If he gets them to win a lot of games and make the playoffs you will see a lot more fan support.

 

So is this the first season you're not predicting the playoffs, Thelt?

 

No doubt the fan support will increase, but has Bob pissed off too many people in this town for them to make a significant improvement in fan support? I think that's gonna be the big question.

 

I don't think most people care enough to be pissed off.

 

Then that's a problem, because that's kind of what I was getting at in my first post. If people are just apathetic about the Bobcats (and obviously they are,) can they even survive with a new owner?

Or are the Bobcats already a lost cause?

I think their exposure on satellite and basic cable this year will help more than people think. It was their biggest off-the-court (i.e. not drafting or personel related) mistake, having their games only available on a special cable subset.

If Brown has them more competitive than Vincent, people might be surprised at what they see. I thought the Bobcats were pretty fun to watch their first three years, last year was a disaster though. Brown obviously will raise the national profile of the team, for good or bad, but that won't sell tickets.

 

Maybe that means they will actually have a shot this year, if you apply the Whatever Thelt thinks or predicts, the opposite becomes true theorem.

 

Here comes another, so get ready. You're an idiot. You can't seriously think the reason people in Charlotte don't support the Bobcats is because of the skin color of the owner or players. They supported the Hornets at one point and the players were black. They support the Panthers and the players are black. People in the NC and the South in general support their favorite college basketball and football team and the players are black. A lot of people like myself just don't find it to be an entertaining product anymore.