Charlotte Bobcats Team Report

Despite their improved ball movement the second half of the season, the Charlotte Bobcats still finished last in scoring at 93.6 points per game. They've improved as shooters and in creating easy shots for each other, so the next step is creating more possessions. The Bobcats finished the season ranked 27th among 30 NBA teams in both rebounding and turnovers. When you keep giving the ball away and are poor at getting it back, it's challenging to create the extra possessions that raise your scoring average. Coach Larry Brown is probably more concerned with the poor rebounding than the overage of turnovers. Center Emeka Okafor (10.1 rebounds per game) was one of just six NBA players to average double-figures rebounding this season, but he doesn't get much help. Brown isn't happy with his team's turnovers (15.6 per game), but he doesn't see all turnovers the same. He's fine when Boris Diaw attempts a daring pass that could have led to a teammate's lay-up. But the careless turnovers, particularly those at mid-court, not only sacrifice possessions, they lead to easy baskets at the other end for the Bobcats' opponents. Diaw led the Bobcats in turnovers at three per game, and Raymond Felton wasn't far behind at 2.8. Rookie point guard D.J. Augustin seems a safer passer at 1.7, but he didn't do a lot of playmaking the second half of the season, after suffering an abdominal strain that essentially turned him into a spot-up jump shooter. Backup center DeSagana Diop is really the only Bobcat with much capacity to up his rebounding. Vladimir Radmanovic has height at 6-10, but he's much more an elongated small forward (think Hedo Turkoglu) than someone who can be counted on to rumble in the lane. SEASON HIGHLIGHT: For the second time in three seasons, the Bobcats swept the Los Angeles Lakers. They've now won five of six against the Western Conference's premier franchise and the last of those victories, at home March 31, extended a late-season playoff run the first time this team has played consequential games in April. TURNING POINT: The season's first four months, the Bobcats were good about minimizing losses to bad teams. But the last six weeks, with the playoffs at stake, they lost road games to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards and Oklahoma City Thunder. That knocked them out of the playoff hunt with four games to go.NOTES, QUOTESBobcats director of player personnel Buzz Peterson is returning to college coaching at Appalachian State, where he got his first head-coaching job. It was no secret that Peterson missed coaching greatly, so much so that coach Larry Brown considered moving Peterson to the bench to keep him on the staff. Peterson will stay with the Bobcats through the draft before returning to Boone, N.C.With the third-best record among non-playoff teams (35-47), the Bobcats have just seven chances in 1,000 of winning the No. 1 overall pick in the May 19 draft lottery. Most likely, the Bobcats would end up selecting 12th overall in the June 25 draft. They have never won a top-3 pick in the lottery process.Bobcats majority owner Bob Johnson told the Charlotte Observer he "absolutely" would never move the franchise out of Charlotte, but is receptive to selling majority control to Michael Jordan. Jordan is now one of 19 minority partners in the ownership group, and has oversight of basketball operations. Earlier, the Observer quoted sources as estimating that the Bobcats might lose roughly $35 million over the next two seasons. The Bobcats are not alone in losing millions in this economy. The question is whether an upgraded roster will raise attendance and revenue next season.QUOTE TO NOTE: "I always tease that he has an 'A' in stretching, Pilates and yoga. I'd like him to have an 'A' in basketball." Bobcats coach Larry Brown, on how he admires C Emeka Okafor's conditioning regimens, but would like him to work more in the offseason on basketball skills.ROSTER REPORT MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Gerald Wallace's numbers weren't dramatically better than in past seasons, but he benefited greatly from Brown's coaching. He plays smarter and more precisely at both ends. He cut down on the gambles for steals that compromised teammates defensively and took fewer bad shots early in possessions. MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER: Everyone was relieved when Adam Morrison was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers in early February. He melted under the pressure of being the third overall pick, and asked for a trade. Vladimir Radmanovic didn't have a great season, in exchange for Morrison, but he made as many big shots in a week as Morrison had the previous three months. FREE AGENT FOCUS: The major issue is point guard Raymond Felton's restricted status in July. D.J. Augustin was drafted as insurance against losing Felton, but he's been more effective as a shooter than as a distributor. F Sean May's contract also expires, but it seems unlikely the Bobcats would tender him a $3.6 million qualifying offer, as little as May has played this season. PLAYER NEWS:C Nazr Mohammed has made it clear that if the Bobcats don't plan to play him, he wants to be elsewhere. The problem is the remaining two seasons and approximately $13 million left on Mohammed's contract. Trading him, particularly in the current economic climate, without taking back a similarly bad contract, will be quite a challenge.G Dontell Jefferson is under contract, unguaranteed, for next season, which could be one more reason to doubt Sean Singletary's future with the Bobcats. Jefferson is 6-5 to Singletary's 6-0, and coach Larry Brown prefers his third point guard to be tall. Also, the Bobcats can avoid paying Singletary some guaranteed money if he's cut before September.F Boris Diaw will have a busy summer playing for the French national team. He'll have just a couple of weeks break between the end of his responsibilities with the national team and the start of training camp in Charlotte.C DeSagana Diop has a flawed offensive game, and coach Larry Brown has suggested Diop work some this summer with former NBA player Derrick Coleman on developing more low-post scoring skills this summer. It doesn't help that Diop shot just 27 percent from the foul line as a Bobcat.F Sean May has lost about 45 pounds since mid-summer and hopes to be back with the Bobcats. He plans to spend most of the summer in Charlotte, improving his conditioning.F Vladimir Radmanovic finished the season in a deep shooting slump. He was 12-of-40 from the field in his last six games, five of them Bobcats losses.F Juwan Howard looks like he can still be effective. Denver might regret not re-signing him, after waiving him in the early season to facilitate the trade that brought Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets. MEDICAL WATCH:G Raja Bell (calf strain) missed the last six games. Once the Bobcats were eliminated from the playoff race, there was little sense in pushing the injury in the final three games.