Charlotte Bobcats 2010 Preview & Predictions

Charlotte Bobcats 2010 Season Preview, Predictions Picks & Odds

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Charlotte Bobcats 2009-2010 NBA Record: 44-38, 4th in Southeast Division.

Charlotte Bobcats Betting Trends & Betting Angles:
• 2-18 SU past 20 Dec road games
• 10-2 ATS past 12 at home to Atlanta
• 8-1 SU, 7-2 ATS past 9 vs Washington
• 1-11 SU past 12 vs Orlando
• 8-3 ATS past 11 at home to Miami
• 5-1-1 ATS past 7 trips to Miami
• 13-2 SU past 15 games as favorite

Charlotte Bobcats 2010 Preview & Prediction

It took the Charlotte Bobcats six seasons, but they finally made their NBA playoff debut in 2010. It didn’t last long, however. After obtaining the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs with their first-ever winning record (44-38), the Bobcats got pulverized by Orlando in the first round, falling in a four game sweep. The Bobcats have been licking their wounds since, trying to figure out what the next step for the 2010-11 season will be for a team that has finally become pretty good but remains along way from great. Michael Jordan bought 80 percent ownership of the team in February for approximately $220 million and has been far more engaged with the squad and the community than when he was a minority owner. Jordan’s team didn’t make the sort of obvious improvements that a number of other Eastern teams did in the offseason, however. The Bobcats had no draft picks, and they lost starting point guard Raymond Felton to the New York Knicks. They also traded away center Tyson Chandler – who had one so-so year as a Bobcat – for three players who won’t start. That’s not a lot to get excited about, but Jordan insists the Bobcats will be better this season than they were last year. That may be true, as Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown is quite an asset and enters his third season with the team. Brown also has two standout players in Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson who can keep the Bobcats in any game.

Charlotte Bobcats Coach: Larry Brown (3rd season)

Charlotte Bobcats Projected Starters: PG D.J. Augustin, SG Stephen Jackson, SF Gerald Wallace, PF Boris Diaw, C Nazr Mohammed.

Charlotte Bobcats Key Additions: C Kwame Brown, C Erick Dampier.

Charlotte Bobcats Key Losses: C Tyson Chandler, G Raymond Felton.

2010 Charlotte Bobcats Point Guards:

Raymond Felton was a solid starting point guard during his five seasons in Charlotte twice ranking in the top 10 in assists but the way that Orlando’s Jameer Nelson completely undressed him in a four game first round sweep underscored the notion that Felton is not likely to be the starting point guard for a legitimate contender any time soon. The undersized D.J. Augustin regressed after having a solid rookie campaign. Shaun Livingston has the size and skill set to be an excellent point guard but he has never been healthy enough to play more than 61 games in a season: his last four seasons consisted of 36, 12, 0 and 54 games, so it is unlikely that he will turn out to be Charlotte’s point guard of the future. The best case scenario for Charlotte is that Augustin returns to his rookie form, Livingston stays reasonably healthy and at some point in the next year or two the franchise acquires a top notch point guard via the draft, a trade or free agency. Free agent rookie Sherron Collins was added in August to boost point guard depth. He played well for Charlotte in the summer league.

2010 Charlotte Bobcats Off Guards:

Stephen Jackson was the third leading playoff scorer for San Antonio’s 2003 championship team. He was the second leading playoff scorer for the 2007 Golden State team that pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NBA history by knocking off a 67-win Dallas team that had played in the NBA Finals the previous season. Jackson is tough and he makes pressure shots-but his .419 career field goal percentage suggests that Jackson is not quite efficient enough to be the top scorer on a legit championship contender. He also commits a lot of turnovers for someone who has averaged more than 4 apg only twice in a 10 season career. Boris Diaw, the blank Scrabble tile of NBA players who is capable of playing any position, will get some minutes here. He is not a great shooter or a dynamic scorer but he is a good post up player who is also capable of using his size and length to defend against shooting guards. A former MVP of the D League, Carroll’s best years have been in Charlotte. He wasted away in Dallas but could be valuable off the bench in Charlotte. He has the strength to defend. Carroll could carve out a place for himself in the rotation if he can rediscover the shooting touch that enabled him to rank ninth in the NBA in three-point field goal percentage in 2007-08.

2010 Charlotte Bobcats Small Forwards:

Gerald Wallace is aptly nicknamed “Crash” because of the way that he relentlessly pursues rebounds and loose balls. He ranked ninth in the NBA-and first among small forwards-with a career-high 10.0 rpg average last season. Wallace ranked second on the Bobcats in scoring (18.2 ppg) and became the first All-Star in the franchise’s history. The 2006 NBA steals leader did not finish in the top 10 in that department for the first time since 2004, but he still averaged a quite respectable 1.5 spg to go along with his 1.1 bpg. He is not known as a great shooter, but he connected on a career-high .371 from three-point range and he has shot .804 and .776 from the free throw line the past two seasons after shooting below.700 in each of his first six NBA campaigns. Despite his intense style, Wallace played in a career-high 76 games last season and ranked second in the NBA at 41.0 mpg. The Bobcats will need for him to be that durable again because they do not have a lot of depth supporting Wallace. Diaw can only fill one position at a time and Eduardo Najera is literally on his last legs, but the Bobcats hope that Derrick Brown can complete his ongoing transformation from a college power forward to an NBA small forward. Dominic McGuire started 57 games for Washington in the 2008-09 season but rarely saw action before then and has not played much since that time.

2010 Charlotte Bobcats Power Forwards:

Boris Diaw will start and get most of the power forward minutes, though he will be asked to play other roles at various times. Diaw is not a prototype power forward in the Charles Oakley rebounder/bruiser mode, but he is a very skillful player who can rebound a bit, handle the ball, make plays, hit an occasional three-pointer and defend multiple positions. Diaw is not a high energy guy-think of him as the anti-Gerald Wallace in that regard-so there is always the chance that he could end up in Larry Brown’s doghouse, though Diaw did start all 82 games last season. Tyrus Thomas is an electrifying athlete, but despite all of his leaping ability he has never averaged 7 rpg or 2 bpg in a season and he has scored more than 10 ppg just once in his four-year career. He seems to be the kind of player who will first tantalize but then ultimately disappoint his current team’s fans.

2010 Charlotte Bobcats Centers:

The Bobcats ended the five-year Emeka Okafor experiment last season, trading him to New Orleans for Tyson Chandler, but Chandler battled injuries all season and had his lowest scoring average since 2005-06 and his worst rebounding average since 2001-02, his rookie year. In the offseason, the Bobcats shipped off Chandler to Dallas for Erick Dampier, Matt Carroll and Eduardo Najera. The Bobcats are expected to waive Dampier to get salary cap relief. Balancing the financial books is laudable but who will man the pivot for the Bobcats in 2010-11? Nazr Mohammed averaged 17.0 mpg and started 29 games for Charlotte last season and the Bobcats will probably rely on him even more heavily in 2010-11. DeSagana Diop can provide 8-10 mpg of shotblocking but he has no offensive game outside of dunks and putbacks.

Charlotte Bobcats 2010 Season Predictions

We predict that the Charlotte Bobcats will finish 4th in the NBA Southeast Division .

Charlotte Bobcats Betting

Charlotte Bobcats NBA Championship Odds: +10000
Charlotte Bobcats Eastern Conference Odds: +5000

Charlotte Bobcats 2009-2010 Betting Stats

Charlotte Bobcats Straight Up: 44-38
Charlotte Bobcats ATS: 44-37-1
Charlotte Bobcats Home ATS: 23-18
Charlotte Bobcats Away ATS: 21-19-1
Charlotte Bobcats Record As Favorite: 31-8
Charlotte Bobcats Record As Dog: 13-29
Charlotte Bobcats Over/Under: 42-38-2

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