You usually don’t get a seventh chance to make a first impression. That said, gotta wonder whether this, the Bobcat’s seventh NBA season, isn’t their last best chance to endear themselves to Charlotte sports fans.
Certainly the opportunity is there. The Panthers are horrid. And it’s likely that the prospects of a NFL player lockout will generate a whole lot of negative publicity come the spring. So perhaps people will discover the other major sports franchise in town.
Maybe. The Bobcats are hard to love, for a variety of reasons. They managed to achieve averageness last season, and were rewarded with a cameo playoff appearance. Whether this year’s product can do better, and become one of the league’s elite or near elite teams remains to be seen. Certainly few analysts expect the Bobcats to be more than again maybe average.
It doesn’t help build excitement early in the season that Larry Brown-coached teams typically start slow. Or that the Bobcats reliance upon the trade makes it difficult to follow exactly who’s on their roster. Or that their biggest off-season move was to dump salary.
But if not this year, when? Or how much longer does it go until the Bobcats are essentially playing out the string here, just waiting for the cost of breaking their arena lease to be low enough to allow for a move elsewhere?
