The Bobcats really did look like this was going to be the year. A playoff appearance, some silencing of the incessant critics who said this team was not only horrible, but would be horrible for the next five years, maybe a slight reprieve of all the negativity that’s devoured them pretty much since inception.
And then the All-Star break came.
Something happened between Dallas and now that shifted the chemistry, balance, and ability of the Bobcats. They are two and six since then, and as the Charlotte Observer notes, Gerald Wallace isn’t exactly keeping an upbeat attitude.
“That was a team,’' Wallace said of the Bobcats’ former incarnation, following a 104-80 loss. “This one is just guys out on their own as individuals. Not talking, not communicating on defense.’' And the implications?
“Very worried,’' Wallace said of the playoff prospects. “Even if we manage to figure this out and some other team slips up, I don’t know what kind of game we’d play. I’m worried if we do (make the playoffs), we’ll get swept.’'
The Bobcats are built around a pretty reliable system: overwhelming defense, limited hot spots of offense, and a solidified team effort. But Wallace is right that the Bobcats seem to be playing for themselves lately.
Wallace was a strange mix of satisfied and subdued when he spoke at media day at All-Star Weekend, talking about how happy he was just to be there. He then went out and gave one of the biggest mail-ins in dunk contest history, and struggled to do anything at all in the All-Star Game.
It’s hard to tall what exactly has gotten into the ‘Cats, but if they don’t get it fixed soon, it’ll be another year where they get early vacation.