Charlotte Hornets' 10 Greatest Players During Bobcats Era

The stereotypical image of the Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats franchise is one that the team can't emerge from the depths of the Eastern Conference. While that is true for the most part, the franchise has made two playoff appearances in the last five years—once in 2010 and once this year.

In between the inaugural 18-win season and this year's seventh-seeded squad, Charlotte has produced some quality players, including Gerald Wallace, Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw (the three pictured above).

While they're no Kobe, Kareem or Magic, these players serviceably represented a franchise that has only existed for 10 years.

While Tuesday's name change brought the Charlotte Hornets' stats and records from 1988 to 2002 back to Charlotte, this is a look back at the players to don a Charlotte Bobcats uniform from 2004 to 2014. Read on to find out where the aforementioned three, and others, rank in the Charlotte "Whatever You Want to Call It" 10 greatest players in franchise history.

Note: Ranking criteria include each player's top-10 franchise ranking in 12 different categories (per Basketball-Reference.com), a general summary of the kind of player they were for the Bobcats and whether they contributed to either playoff team. Players had to play a minimum of two seasons with Charlotte.

10. Matt Carroll

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No. of Seasons: 8

Games: 3rd

Minutes: 8th

Points: 8th

Rebounds: 9th

Assists: NR

Steals: 7th

Blocks: NR

Three-Pointers: 3rd

Free Throws: 7th

Player Efficiency Rating: NR

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes: NR

Matt Carroll resembles a poor-man’s Matt Bonner, except playing for a much worse team. He was a nice stretch 3 or 4 during his extensive tenure with Charlotte and only ranks at No. 10 because of his non-rankings in the last two statistical categories compared to the No. 9 player.

9. Brevin Knight

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

No. of Seasons: 3

Games: NR

Minutes: 9th

Points: NR

Rebounds: NR

Assists: 2nd

Steals: 3rd

Blocks: NR

Three-Pointers: NR

Free Throws: 9th

Player Efficiency Rating: 4th

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes: 5th

Although Brevin Knight was a journeyman throughout his NBA career, he did spend three seasons with Charlotte in its inaugural three years. He was never a scoring point guard, but served more as a facilitator, which is acceptable since that was the prototypical point guard when Knight was in his “prime” in the early 2000s.

8. Stephen Jackson

Kent Smith/Getty Images

No. of Seasons: 2

Games: NR

Minutes: NR

Points: 9th

Rebounds: NR

Assists: 8th

Steals: 9th

Blocks: NR

Three-Pointers: 7th

Free Throws: 8th

Player Efficiency Rating: 7th

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes: NR

Stephen Jackson’s biggest contribution in any of his NBA seasons so far was averaging 21.2 points and 5.1 rebounds for Charlotte in its first-ever playoff season. He only played in Charlotte for two seasons, but certainly contributed more than his fair share, averaging over 18 points in his second season with the team.

7. D.J. Augustin

Ron Turenne/Getty Images

No. of Seasons: 4

Games: 6th

Minutes: 6th

Points: 6th

Rebounds: NR

Assists: 3rd

Steals: 10th

Blocks: NR

Three-Pointers: 2nd

Free Throws: 6th

Player Efficiency Rating: 8th

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes: 7th

After Raymond Felton left, D.J. Augustin saw his role increase with Charlotte—and he fared quite well. He has never really been a standout point guard, but he’s capable of starting for a playoff team, as he did for the Chicago Bulls this year. He was on the Bobcats’ 2010 playoff team, but only started two games during the regular season.

6. Gerald Henderson

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No. of Seasons: 5

Games: 5th

Minutes: 5th

Points: 4th

Rebounds: 8th

Assists: 7th

Steals: 6th

Blocks: 7th

Three-Pointers: NR

Free Throws: 4th

Player Efficiency Rating: NR

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes: NR

Gerald Henderson has epitomized “serviceable” in his five years with Charlotte. Although he didn’t provide the flash many hoped he would out of Duke in 2009, he has been a solid 2-guard and small forward for the Bobcats and been a part of both playoff teams.

5. Boris Diaw

Brian Babineau/Getty Images

No. of Seasons: 4

Games: 7th

Minutes: 4th

Points: 7th

Rebounds: 3rd

Assists: 5th

Steals: 8th

Blocks: 5th

Three-Pointers: 8th

Free Throws: NR

Player Efficiency Rating: NR

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes: NR

Despite his brief stint with Charlotte compared to some of the other players, Boris Diaw ranks highly in all the major statistical categories. He also averaged 11.3 points and 5.2 rebounds as a key player on the Bobcats’ 2010 playoff team.

4. Kemba Walker

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No. of Seasons: 3

Games: 9th

Minutes: 7th

Points: 5th

Rebounds: 10th

Assists: 4th

Steals: 4th

Blocks: NR

Three-Pointers: 4th

Free Throws: 5th

Player Efficiency Rating: 3rd

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes: NR

Kemba Walker has caused the recent resurgence of the franchise, bringing Charlotte its second-winningest season in franchise history, which has caused cautious optimism for many fans. He is the spark plug to the current team and already ranks highly in the career statistical categories despite only playing two seasons with the club.

3. Emeka Okafor

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No. of Seasons: 5

Games: 4th

Minutes: 3rd

Points: 3rd

Rebounds: 1st

Assists: NR

Steals: 5th

Blocks: 1st

Three-Pointers: NR

Free Throws: 3rd

Player Efficiency Rating: 2nd

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes: 3rd

Emeka Okafor is Charlotte’s best-ever big man, and although he was given a raw deal coming off a national championship at UConn, he established himself as a serviceable NBA big. Unfortunately, he never got to see the playoffs with Charlotte.

2. Raymond Felton

Brian A. Westerholt/Getty Images

No. of Seasons: 5

Games: 2nd

Minutes: 2nd

Points: 2nd

Rebounds: 4th

Assists: 1st

Steals: 2nd

Blocks: NR

Three-Pointers: 1st

Free Throws: 2nd

Player Efficiency Rating: 10th

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes: NR

Raymond Felton avoided the abysmal first NBA season for the Bobcats after coming into the league in 2005, and after a first-round sweep in 2010, he bolted for playoff basketball. He was the franchise’s best-ever guard and ran a sufficient point for five years.

1. Gerald Wallace

Gary Dineen/Getty Images

No. of Seasons: 7

Games: 1st

Minutes: 1st

Points: 1st

Rebounds: 2nd

Assists: 6th

Steals: 1st

Blocks: 2nd

Three-Pointers: 6th

Free Throws: 1st

Player Efficiency Rating: 1st

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes: 1st

Gerald Wallace was with this franchise from the beginning and carried Charlotte to its first-ever playoff appearance in 2010, averaging 18.2 points per game during that season. Even though he endured many losing seasons, he’s clearly the franchise’s best-ever player, as shown by his statistical ranks.