Playoffs? Lottery?

I definitely want the team to make the playoffs or at least stay in the hunt until the very end. Otherwise, these last few weeks become a waste of time and money. Having said that, if they miss the playoffs, it doesn’t turn out poorly either. It’s a “can’t lose” proposition as long as the Cats give good effort from here on out.

And one other side note, I don’t consider Matt Carroll an original Bobcat. He was signed from the D-League midway through the first year, then traded away to Dallas, and then brought back last year.

that I was going to write one about all the reasons we need to make the playoffs, using Chicago and Oklahoma City’s rise as one reason. Another reason was player evaluation. Making the playoffs and getting swept last year let us know what our biggest weaknesses were and what we needed to improve on. The playoffs are the reason we didn’t commit to Felton this off-season. Whether that was a mistake or not is debatable, but it sure made it a lot easier to say goodbye to him.

Off to read the rest.

I actually don’t believe that nothing else is acceptable (as long as the team plays their best to close out the season, I’m good), but it’s the closest to how I feel.

even when my confidence took a nose dive after the trade deadline. There’s no doubt our chances took a hit with Wallace and Nazr gone. Add in the recent injury problems we’ve been facing, and that pretty much explains why we’re something like 5-16 after the deadline.

But looking at where we’re at today, with the playoffs still possible (no one said easy, though), I mean, as a player, wouldn’t you want to win and earn a playoff berth? I mean, I certainly would. That’s what the team’s original goal was the start of the season. MJ sent a clear signal with the trade at the direction he’s going in, but despite that, we still have playoff chances. It’s really a win-win for MJ.

I’ll be satisfied as long as the team continues to put forth good effort. Jax, while perhaps not 100% well, is certainly putting his heart into it.

But you betcha I voted that “nothing else is acceptable”

What does making the playoffs do for us? If we get knocked out of the playoffs in the first round, what was the point in making the playoffs? If we have pick 15, that is a far cry from pick number 10. Even if it is a miniscule chance, what if we landed the number one pick by chance? We could not do that making the playoffs. Picks 1-13 are remarkably better than picks 15 on. Making the playoffs gives us no added value, a lottery pick will. We need to do our best OKC impersonation, and load up with lottery picks, and lucky late picks (See: Serge Ibaka). We need to play this rebuilding process very smart, because if we screw this up, we may not have the Bobcats in Charlotte much longer.

Either way, if we make the playoffs, hopefully we can make it as interesting as possible! If it’s against the Bulls, I think we’ll win at least a couple of games out of the series, and not get swept.Now , if we don’t make the playoffs, and we end up in the lottery picking late and with the other pick, I wouldn’t be mad about it. I saw alot of good players during this NCAA tournament this year, that I think plays with chips on their shoulders and would possibly carry that same attitude in the NBA with alot to prove! Now, some of these guys are at smaller schools, and this is where I lose trust with the front office’s ability to grade talent. We have to do our homework and evaluate the lesser talent coming out this year, that are tough guys, that can flat out ball! Like that Faried guy for Morehead, I think he could have a decent career as a power foward for us, especially working with Oakley, he could be our young Ben Wallace or even better! So regardless of where we pick in this supposedly weak draft , it might not be to weak at all, we just have to do a better job of evaluating the talent, and that’s not always at a bigtime school or even in America! We need to look at some overseas talent too! It helps!

He wanted us in the lottery, But the way Silas empowered these players to be the best they can be there’s no quit in this team. I thought we were done last week, But were finding ways to win. With what little we have to play with it looks like were capable of winning one or two games from the Bulls if were healthy and show up to kick some a$$. I’ll take whatever happens playoffs or not because MJ tried to send us to the lottery. This off season will be very interesting for our franchise.

To be honest, I don’t think this team as it’s currently constructed is capable of making the playoffs, so I think the question of tanking or not is irrelevant. If we’re being realistic about the way Indy has been playing (they upset Boston tonight), we need a 6-3 stretch to even have a decent shot (remember, it’s two games to make up with the tiebreaker in Indy’s hand), and it would take 7-2 run to control our own fate. Even before Gerald got gone, did we have a run that good all year? Hell, let’s break down the games left:
*vs. CLE/WAS-We should be able to count on these at TWC, but these Bobbies are also a team that will punt ‘em against the NJs and Indys of the world even at home. Still, I’ll give us a pair of Ws.
*2 vs. Orlando (1 away, 1 home)-It works in our favor that Orlando is virtually locked in to the #4 seed, so they won’t have a real need to win these games. Still, we’re 0-2 so far against them, and the roadie wasn’t even close. We could easily lose both these games, but let’s hope they play inspired at home and pull it out. Note, however, that that home game is the second of a back-to-back. That’s 3 wins now.
*@CLE-This will be their first home game in a week, and it’s one of the two winnable games left on their home schedule (us and Washington in their finale) to put a decent ending on what’s been a miserable season. Still, this is a game we should be able to take. 4-1
*@MIA-No chance in hell, and we almost certainly can’t even hope they will have shut it down, because they have a home game against Boston two days later. 4-2
*vs. DET-Better take this one, and I feel pretty confident we can, in that they’re a team on the way down and we’ve won our last two against them by a combined 15 (including a 10-point win in Detroit.) Only potential drawback is the Sunday 6:00 start time, which might lead to a flat crowd. That situation is also true of the Washington game in Charlotte. 5-2
*@NJ-Weird team. They’ve lost six of seven, including 1-4 in their last five without Deron Williams. He obviously changes that team greatly, and will reportedly play Wednesday in an effort to see whether he can gut his way through the end of NJ’s season. This game will also be NJ’s home finale, and I’m sure the club would like to end things on a good note if they get they chance. If he’s still playing by then, I’d say this is a likely loss. 5-3
*vs. ATL-Atlanta is another team almost certain to be locked into their current spot in the standings (#5), so they’ll have a chance to rest guys if they want, but because they’re pretty young, I don’t see guys getting rest just to get rest here, particularly in the last game of the year. They do have some injury concerns with Joe Smith and Horford playing through some nagging stuff and Joe Johnson currently listed as day-to-day with a sprained thumb sustained in their last game. Bottom line, though, if this game is for the playoffs, the Bobcats better pull this one out at home. 6-3

So, I actually talked myself into a better record than I’d imagine, but here’s the problem: that record relies on the Bobcats winning the games they should, which we all know has at times not been their strong suit. That would also require Indy to go no better than 3-4 the rest of the way against a schedule that includes three of the teams I’d count as reasonably sure wins in DET, MIL, and WAS. If they won those and stole one against Atlanta or New York with those teams likely locked in by then, 6-3 wouldn’t be good enough and the odds would get even longer.

When it comes to the draft, I don’t think that matters either. As many have said, the difference between 8 and 15 might not be much, and the odds are pretty slim you’re moving up from that range anyway.

If Mjs soul purpose was to miss the playoffs then Jax would be a maverick right now. Look, we are not going to have a top 5 pick either way so its ok to chill on the tanking talk. It’s way too late for that anyway. Appreciate the fact that we can at least be a perennial playoff contender even though we supposedly have one of the weakest rosters in the NBA. Trust me when I say the youngsters growth in the playoffs will prove to be a lot more valuable than moving up spots to get a slightly better role player. If we get to that point where we think a player can come in and be a franchise changer, we can package the picks and move up.

and no star player, we keep shifting players around trying to find the solution to losing. LB liked vet players, so he trated away our young players and picks like brown to LA. I’m sticking to need of a stud PF we have no inside play, and won’t have any for a couple of years as long as we have Kwame and the rest. Getting better while still winning will require replacing one piece at a time, we can critique every move management makes, but they have to have the vision to make the right decisions. I don’t like mayo he plays no defense, his shot is inconsistent, and he’s a head case if he was that good the Griz would not let him go at such a young age. Hendo would eat him up 8 times out of 10, offense or defense.