Welcome to the Charlotte Bobcats fan forum!

[onewickedlady]

Are you going to the preseason game in Greensboro, OWL?

Our season tickets arrived today. GO BOBCATS

I haven't got any tickets yet. Will let you know if that changes. Especially for the G'boro game because that will give us a chance to get together!

[onewickedlady]

Are you going to the preseason game in Greensboro,OWL?:

YES!!
I just got myself a ticket to the G/boro game. Can't wait to see G-Dub. He's always been my fave. What a sexy man.
I'll be on my own so I can arrive early to chat, have a hotdog, whatever.
Where would be a good place to meet?

Anyone else going to the game?

[TarCat]

YES!!
I just got myself a ticket to the G/boro game. Can't wait to see G-Dub. He's always been my fave. What a sexy man.
I'll be on my own so I can arrive early to chat, have a hotdog, whatever.
Where would be a good place to meet?

Anyone else going to the game?

I do not know where we are dining. The Bobcats are chartering a bus for some season-ticket holders.

Where is your seat?

I know that we are seated in the lower bowl.

If we were driving, I would suggest Stamey's Barbeque...one of our favorite places.

[onewickedlady]

I do not know where we are dining. The Bobcats are chartering a bus for some season-ticket holders.

Where is your seat?

I know that we are seated in the lower bowl.

If we were driving, I would suggest Stamey's Barbeque...one of our favorite places.

Section 209 Row A Seat 2

[rufuspaul]

Well they billed this as the first meeting between Mek and Chandler and it looks like neither is going to be there. Oh well.

[onewickedlady]

Will we have a new B4E thread for tonight's game done by either B4E or Timmeh? Or should one of us put one together instead?

[Bobcat4Ever]

Will we have a new B4E thread for tonight's game done by either B4E or Timmeh? Or should one of us put one together instead?

Got ya covered ;)

[onewickedlady]

Got ya covered ;)

Great! Thanks! It just wouldn't be the same without you.

[CoverTwo]

I became a Bobcats fan after going to school at USC (the real one in SC) so me and my boys would go to a few games every year .. Looking forward to the season but man last night was rough.

[onewickedlady]

I became a Bobcats fan after going to school at USC (the real one in SC) so me and my boys would go to a few games every year .. Looking forward to the season but man last night was rough.

And all this time I thought that the real USC is the University of Southern California, where I grew up. Oh well. Live and learn. :

[onewickedlady]

We're actually ahead of the Pacers by 20 points.

[onewickedlady]

I'm so sick and tired of reading Rick Bonnell. Where else do you all go for articles on the Cats?

[Timmeh]

As far as beat writers go, I think Bonnell is the only one for the Cats. Anything else, you're subjected to blogs (which may not be updated daily) and the ever-critical AP reports, which are few and far between.

[onewickedlady]

This was an article from yesterday before we lost to the Hawks but it's a good example of how the Cats are being noticed.

Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:46 pm EST
The Bob-castaways are finally a team

By Roy S. Johnson

Who's laughing now?

Throughout their six seasons of life, the only positive claim the Charlotte Bobcats could make was: Well, at least we aren't the Clippers!

Still, they were a ragtag, patchwork team of rejects, misfits and unwanted players owned by a guy bold enough to name the team for himself (Bob Johnson), coached by basketball's No. 1 nomad (Larry Brown) and managed by a legend who hadn't seemed to be able to do anything right since he last donned sneakers (Michael Jordan).

When the team's name was uttered by many fans,"Charlotte" was often followed by "Hornets," their predecessors who had long ago moved to the Big Easy.

This season, their roster includes castaways like Boris Diaw(notes) (Phoenix), Tyson Chandler(notes) (New Orleans), Acie Law(notes) (Atlanta) and Nazr Mohammed(notes) (pick a team). And then there was the NBA's ultimate castaway/scoundrel, Stephen Jackson(notes), who brought so much baggage when the team obtained him from Golden State in November that the airline's "extra luggage" charge threatened to put to Bobs over the cap.

Playoffs? Please. It's always been 82-and-out for this franchise and no one thought any different, even as MJ and his general manager, former teammate Rod Higgins, shuffled seemingly marginal players in an out with little semblance of a clue or plan. And that was before they traded for Jackson.

But now, the Bob-castaways are legit. In fact they've been the league's best team in 2010 -- 9-1, which includes a six-win homestand sweep that ended with a science-class dissection of Dwyane Wade(notes) and the Miami Heat, 104-65.

They're 21-19 now and fifth in the East, atop the conference's "second-tier" teams Miami, Toronto and Chicago.

That the catalyst for change in Charlotte has been Jackson surprises no one. That such change has been positive might leave your mouth agape.

At 6-foot-8, Jackson starts at shooting guard and along with power forward Diaw, also 6-8, the duo presents opponents with "twins" who often switch places and are equally deft at playing either position. (Jackson, in fact, once pulled a "Magic," playing all five positions in one Warriors game.) If a team's top defender is charged with checking Jackson, small forward Gerald Wallace(notes), the team's best player throughout the lean seasons, can break out. Check Wallace and Jackson can explode.

The cohesion didn't happen immediately, but almost. The Bobcats lost their first three games after Jackson arrived, then went 18-10.

They were averaging 82.4 points per game BJ (Before Jackson); now they hit at a 97.7 clip.

Jackson is the Bobcats' leading scorer (20.9 ppg) and should be -- gulp! -- an All-Star this season.

But Jackson's been equally impactful in an area beyond the box score -- swagger.

The attitude that has always seemed on the precipice of exploding (the only player more associated with the infamous 2004 Pacers-Pistons brawl than Jackson is Ron Artest(notes)) has infused the Bobs with a new confidence.

But their swag is about to be severely tested. On Friday the 'Cats began a real-or-fraud road trip in Atlanta. They will also soon visit Denver, Phoenix, Portland and the Los Angeles Lakers. Those teams win 65 percent of their games. The Bobs were notoriously bad on the road pre-Jackson (they lost 13 of their first 14 and even became a rare notch on the Nets' belt). But since then, they've beaten Miami and Cleveland on the road.

Teams without swag don't do that.

That swag has given Charlotte, in fact, an identity.

One that is finally beginning to overshadow even MJ's prodigious shadow

[Timmeh]

Still a huge sense of sarcasm, though appreciative. Still not cool with that.