The Anatomy of Overreaction: Sizing up the Charlotte Bobcats based on PREseason

Wikpedia defines the Kübler-Ross model as a 5-step process which describes how people deal with grief.  The stages are listed as:

1) denial

2) anger

3) bargaining

4) depression

5) acceptance

If you're asking yourself why I'm referencing this model, you must not have watched the Charlotte Bobcats first preseason game.  I couldn't help but remember this cycle as I watched the "game" unfold.

I had been looking forward to watching NBA basketball the entire summer.  I spent all my lunch breaks at work checking box scores from summer league games, trying to find internet radio links to listen to the games, reading up on Larry Brown and how he was meticulously changing the Bobcats style of play. 

And there they were Wednesday night, getting run out of the building by the Magic.  My roommates and I immediately found ourselves going through the steps of Kübler-Ross...

"...there's no way we're this bad... right?..."

"...if they don't start playing seriously i'm going to kill somebody..."

"...come on cats, just give me three good minutes of basketball..."

"...dude, just turn it off.  if you keep watching you're only going to be miserable..."

"...i guess we're going to be terrible again..."

This wasn't a game.  It was an obliteration.  It was one of those "message" games, not where the winning team is sending a message that they're "for real," but rather the type of game where the loser sends the message "we're completely willing to give up on the road if we have one bad quarter."

Because that's all it was.  They played one quarter poorly, and the Magic played one quarter exceedingly well.  It was 40-9 after the first, and that margin would stay more or less the same until the game ended. 

Game.  Singular.  They played one bad quarter in one game.  Preseason I might add.  The game means nothing, right?

Well yes it means nothing... sort of. 

This was the first true test of the Larry Brown era Bobcats.  Does anyone want to argue their success, or lack thereof?  The game was broadcast on the Bobcats new TV partner, FSN south.  That means that thousands of potential fans that tuned in got to see their local NBA team get smoked. 

Hundreds of people that were already fans got to see the team they will soon purchase tickets to watch in person.  Dozens of sportswriters and analysts got to see how the Bobcats would perform with a real coach at the reins (and subsequently crossed the bobcats off their list of eastern conference playoff teams).

Is it fair for these people to make judgements based off of one game? 

Probably not. 

But this is America, a nation that thrives on the 'what have you done for me lately?' principle.  And lately the Bobcats have been getting their butts handed to them. 

Watching the game, I couldn't help but think to myself "same ol' bobcats."  There was Gerald Wallace taking off-balance shots, Raymond Felton driving out of control and making easy plays impossible, Sean May being the fat lard that still thinks winning the NCAA title makes him a great player. 

I can't blame Larry Brown for looking like he already wanted to skip town.

Was this really what we as fans have been looking forward to?  The Bobcats once again turning into the Boobcats when it mattered? 

Ever since Charlotte was granted the 30th NBA franchise it seems their luck has been non-existent.  Instead of getting Dwight Howard, the leagues premier Center and Shaq-to-be, the Bobcats ended up with Emeka Okafor.  A good player, but it's a classic case of what could have been. 

Instead of getting either Chris Paul or Deron Williams, the Bobcats ended up with Raymond Felton.  Again, good, but not great.  And then the third strike... taking Adam Morrison over Brandon Roy and Ronnie Brewer.

If you're thinking that I'm being too harsh on the Bobcats Draft Team, you might want to skip this next part. 

There, waiting in the wings, was the answer to the Bobcats biggest need this past draft... for the past 3 years they've lacked an interior scorer, and someone who could move Okafor back to his true PF position.  Brook Lopez was the obvious choice. 

Mario Chalmers would most likely be available with their next pick, so the Bobcats could take him to address their backup PG position.  Yes, everything was falling into place for the Bobcats. 

Then, a funny thing happened.  They didn't take him.  They didn't take either one of them.  Instead they selected DJ Augustin and Alexis Ajinca.  They ended up with their backup PG and Center.  Just not in the fashion that experts had predicted (or fans had hoped for).

At the time, the draft selections were devastating.  It took me all of July to talk myself into rooting for the Bobcats again.  Larry Brown is a surefire Hall-of-Famer, surely he could whip this band of misfits into a playoff team in a watered-down eastern conference. 

Then came that game, the first preseason game.  You know, the one where my worst fears were realized?  The game that single-handedly assured that the Bobcats fate would once again rest with the NBA lottery balls.

But, it was just a single game...

And they can't be that bad?  Can they?