Location: Charlotte, N.C. | Arena: Charlotte Bobcats Arena (19,026) | Majority Owner: Robert L. Johnson | GM: Bernie Bickerstaff Head Coach: Larry Brown | Titles: 0
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The Bobcats' original management team is now just a memory. Five years ago, team president Ed Tapscott hired Bernie Bickerstaff as coach-general manager and Chris Weiller as chief-of-staff/chief marketing officer.
The last of that group departed recently when Bickerstaff was told his services -- now as executive vice president -- were no longer required.
Bickerstaff will be paid for this season, but apparently the new administration didn't value his voice in the room in contemplating major decisions.
That means part-owner Michael Jordan, general manager Rod Higgins and new coach Larry Brown will run the show in Charlotte. Bickerstaff could surface in New York, where Donnie Walsh is remaking the Knicks' front office and coaching staff.
Bickerstaff never really got his due in Charlotte for how wisely he managed the team's first three seasons. He refused to take shortcuts, which meant there was plenty of room under the salary cap last summer to make the trade with Golden State for Jason Richardson.
Bickerstaff was probably a better general manager than coach in Charlotte. His best work was finding and developing Gerald Wallace (via the expansion draft), trading up to take Emeka Okafor in the team's first rookie draft, and signing Matt Carroll out of the NBDL.
As coach, he succeeded in prodding the Bobcats to play harder than the average NBA team nightly. He never let them surrender to their limitations, and his successor, Sam Vincent, never got the same results.
Bickerstaff also made mistakes. He should have traded the fifth and 13th picks to Portland in 2005, in order to draft Chris Paul. Instead, he offered that fifth pick and a future first (the one that became Jared Dudley in June), but the Trail Blazers chose Utah's offer, and the Jazz selected Deron Williams.
SEASON HIGHLIGHT For the second straight season, the Bobcats did their best work against the Los Angeles Lakers. Last season, it was a triple-overtime victory in Charlotte, in which the Bobcats fouled Kobe Bryant out of the game. This time it was a March visit to Los Angeles, and the Bobcats so frustrated Bryant that night he was ejected with two technical fouls, the second for kicking a ball at a referee.
TURNING POINT They knew (because of college basketball commitments at their arena) that 26 of their last 41 would be played on the road. They never built sufficient momentum in November and December to overcome that schedule imbalance, and four straight losses out west -- Sacramento, Golden State, Denver and Phoenix -- did them in during early February.
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The Charlotte Bobcats were only 5 games out of a playoff spot this season. I think that just having Larry Brown as the coach will add 5 to 8 games in the win column. With Larry Brown coming in, I expect some free agents to give the Bobcats a better look. The Bobcats are under the salary cap and should be a big player in the draft and free
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I can see that sman1965 bothers almost every team on their message board. While trash talking is fun, just seeing this guys posts makes me fell like I am back in the 3rd grade.
I am proposing a boycott of any thread he starts, and to any posts he makes on other threads as well...
Maybe he will start to talk smart sports conversation or maybe he will jus
This is just absurd. I have been in CLT for 7 years now and have never seen a town so unapprecative of having a NBA franchise in my life!!!!! Isn't NC supposed to be basketball country??? This year the record does not show it but we ( the Bobcats) definitely have a team on the court this year. Not to mentio
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After calling for Vincent's firing and the hiring of Larry Brown back in February, the Bobcats brass have actually done it!!
AND we have been complaining for years in the rest of the state that we cant see the team on TV, AND they signed a contract with FoxSS to televise the games.
I just cant call this place the Time Warner Cable Arena, I cant stand Ted Turner and I dont understand why the Bobcats didnt think about the Atlanta hatred that Charlotte has and the fact that TWC is based in Atlanta, so I'm looking for a nickname;
A source close to Larry Brown says the Hall of Fame coach would be receptive to speaking with the Charlotte Bobcats, should their head-coaching job become available.
Currently that's not the case: The Bobcats are still reviewing the job performance of first-year coach Sam Vincent, whose team finished with a 32-50 record.
i dont know what seed charlotte will be coming in but if they play for the lottery and they get one of the top 5 picks in the draft i strongly suggest that they draft Tyler Hansborough because as a UNC fan ive seen Sean May and Raymond Felton develop as player
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