Charlotte Bobcats Opening Day Rosters
Starters
Center- Ben Wallace
Power Forward(C)- Dwight Howard
Small Forward- Grant Hill
Shooting Guard- Mattias Tomsa*
Point Guard(C)- Raymond Felton
Bench-
Sean May, Joel Przybilla, Jason Kapono, A. Barros*, Bernard Robinson, Matt Carroll
*=Rookie
(C)=Captain
Coach- Bernie Bickerstaff
GM- CJ Patterson
Ass. GM- Nate Daniels
Owner-Phil Jacobs
The first 5 games
The 'Cats opened up against the Kings. In the opener, they slowed up and fell behind in the first quarter, 32-24. At the half, they were worse off, 58-43. During the halftime intermission, GM Patterson came down and gave a speech. The speech:
"Everybody in this room has a job. Whether it's kissing ass hoping for a promotion, cleaning the god damn floor, signing and trading, dealing with all you idiots' mental issues, or you bastards yourselves, playing to your best each night. This job may not seem important, because it isn't. There are more important things, sure. Hell, life is probably pointless. But dammit! The way I see it, you just gotta try and enjoy it. You're all supposedly playing your hearts out in front of a home crowd of what? Thirty-thousand? Forty thousand? Hell, whatever the number, you are there to try and make their lives enjoyable. Damn, for all we know, there could be a hundred fans thinking "If these guys aren't even gonna try, what's the point of me trying at anything? And If I'm not gonna try, why live?" They could kill themselves! Each and everyone of you has a following, whether it's a few pre-teen girls gooshing over Matt, or many revering Ben's muscles, or the NC fans loving Sean and Ray, those fans love you. So make them proud. Hit your shots, stick to your man like molasses on a damn hot summer day, do the best performance you can, and we WILL win this game. Actors are there to entertain, musicians make music to enjoy, and you too have jobs. Jobs to go out and make the fans happy, make them proud. So do that job. Make this game fun, make it exciting, and damn it! TRY! Whaddya say boys? ARE WE GONNA TRY? "YES!" ARE WE GONNA WIN, DAMMIT? "YES!!!!!" THEN LET'S GO GIVE THOSE KINGS HELL!!!!!!! "YEAHHHHHHH" "
The speech clearly worked. The 'Cats drilled shots, stuck to their men, played great. From a 58-43 half score to a 72-71 end of third score, they were playing like a TEAM. They blew the fourth quarter open, Wallace nabbed 8 points in the first 5 minutes, and in the final stretch, Felton led the way, with Howard doing well defensively. The Kings were blown out in the fourth, 37-9. Final score: 108-82
Felton had 17 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists, and 3 steals.
Howard had 14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 blocks.
POG Ben Wallace had 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 4 steals.
1-0, 81 games left.
After the fifth game, the 'Cats were 3-2, with things looking up. The day was Wednesday, and they had that day, Thursday, Friday and Saturday off. Then the Wizards, and then it was down to A-Town to play their rivals, the Hawks. "I can tell that this Sit guy is trying to do stuff, but like ours, their Board isn't very nice..."
Wednesday. 3-2. The first bad news of the season strikes. Not about the 'Cats though. Nothing about their players. It was about CJ. His life would change yet again. The 22 year old would go through a tough emotional time after the news, but business is business, and he had to get back to the grind. Especially after the following events:(TBC)