Chapter 7: Re-enter the playoffs
Half a month after the end of the 2012 draft, the Mavericks cut center Brandon Haywood with an amnesty clause, and then the Bobcats successfully bid for 3 years and $5.7 million to sign the high school forward with excellent defensive ability, and on November 14, just one game into the new season, the Bobcats made a deal with the Hornets, and the Bobcats traded Matt Carroll for the Hornets' violent forward Hakeem Warrick, and before the February trade deadline, the Bobcats sent Varik to the Magic. Thus got the Magic's all-around forward Josh McRoberts.
Last season, the Bobcats only won 9 games, playing the first defeat rate in NBA history, the rhythm of the game is basically to meet who was beaten by whom, and the home court was also beaten, and the beaten ass blossomed and pouted the ass to invite people to be lucky, head coach Paul Silas naturally became the team's scapegoat, and he was removed from class immediately after the end of the season, and his place was replaced by Mike Dunlap, the first assistant coach of NCAA St. John's University, this brother has a longer face than Li Yong, and his eye sockets are deeper than the Mariana Trench, After entering the NBA coaching, he did not show extraordinary strength in a short period of time, which coincided with the expectations of the Bobcats management, the Bobcats are now mainly rotten, the more they lose, the happier they are, throughout the season, Charlotte Bobcats, Orlando Magic, Saramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Hornets Several teams had a miserable NBA shameless competition, for next year's champion signing, they are all fighting, you lose one, I lose two, I make a three-game losing streak, I went on a five-game losing streak, all for next year's No. 1 pick.
In the 2012-2013 season, the Hornets had a 21-61 record, and in the shameless tournament, they lost to the Orlando Magic by one game, ranking second to last in the league, which made the Bobcats' probability of winning the top pick in next year's draft plummet from 25% to 19.9%.
The 2013 draft was known as the draft year, and none of these young people in the draft had the absolute strength to become the champion, but it was a pity that the Bobcats team, who had worked hard for a season, ended up only drawing the fourth pick, and then the Bobcats used this pick to unexpectedly select Cody Zeller, a sweet boy from Indiana University.
Zeller is 213 cm tall and weighs 104 kg, serving as a center on the court, throughout the history of the Bobcats, they always like to hoard some players who are strong and weak in the fifth position, but Zeller is the opposite, he has a very delicate and smooth feel, and the ball quotient shown in college is also very high, and there are many ways to finish the offense on the offensive end, but the presence on the defensive end is insufficient, and the arm span generally leads to a very average rebounding ability, although the long is tall and big, But when he smiled, the shy smile told the others that he was actually just a big boy born in 1992, and his personality was too docile but not aggressive. At that time, in fact, there were many talented young people under Zeller, but Jordan chose Zeller, judging from the trajectory of development in the following years, rookies in the same class such as Victor Oladipo, Michael Carter Williams, Nolens Knol, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Rudy Gerbert has become the star of the team, Otto Porter, Kenta is Oss Pope, Trey Burke, Steven Adams Kyrie Olynyk has also grown into a player who can take charge of the team, In that sense, Cody Zeller is a bit of a small laggard right now and he needs to work harder to catch up.
Back in the 2012-2013 season, Jordan used the No. 4 pick in the first round to select Cody Zeller in the draft, which is understandable, because the Bobcats couldn't find a suitable candidate for the No. 5 position last season, and Biyombo started 65 games. Averaged only 4.8 points per game, Brandon Haywood started 17 games, and averaged only 3.5 points per game, at this time the Bobcats were lacking a qualified starting center, Cody Zeller entered the Bobcats at this time, undoubtedly the best choice for this position, everyone thought so, but everyone was wrong, after the draft, the Bobcats signed free agent Al Jefferson with a 3-year, $40.5 million contract, with an average salary of $13.5 million and the youngest in the history of the Bobcats, you must know that it is as strong as Elvis Presley Gerald Wallace, and he only got a 6-year $57 million contract, the average salary is less than 10 million.
Al Jefferson's five big and three thick, black Li Kui's fierce appearance, at first glance, it's scary, take a closer look, it's even more scary, this unpleasant appearance and unpleasant style of play made Jefferson before 2016, in a twelve-year career never been selected as an All-Star, but it is undeniable that Big Al has the strength of an absolute All-Star player, he is 208 cm tall, weighs 120 kg, belongs to the stump-type inside, omnipotent on the offensive end, strong play, basket foot, hook hand, mid-shot, It's simply a textbook level of interior singles, once praised by ESPN as the only player comparable to Duncan in the interior offensive technology, basically averaging 20+10 per game in his career, but on the defensive end, Big Al is a little powerless, 208 cm tall is a hard injury, and too much weight leads to slower defense, especially the pace of helping defense, and passing is more average. Al Jefferson is affectionately referred to as "rare equipment" by the majority of Chinese fans, which means that Big Al often plays critical hits and scores a lot of amazing statistics.
In the 2013-2014 season, Big Eyre averaged a team-high 21.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, shooting 50.9% from the field. Kemba Walker, who was promoted to the starting point guard, averaged 17.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.2 times per game, and the shooting was still a hard injury, and the shooting rate was less than 40%, Gerald Henderson averaged 14 points and 4.0 rebounds per game as the team's starting point guard, McGee was able to average 7.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, and Josh McRoberts was also able to score 8.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game as the starting four, perfectly replacing Boris Dior's position that year, and before the trade deadline in February of the new season, the Bobcats and the Bucks completed the transactionThe Bobcats sent the newly signed backup point guard Ramon Sessions to three-point shooter Gary Neale and veteran point guard Luke Ridno, both of whom played an important role off the bench.
This season, the Bobcats have won 43 games in the combination of Big Eyre and Little Walker, ranking seventh in the East, and the Mountain Cats have reached the playoffs for the second time in history, which is something to celebrate, but unfortunately, their first-round opponent is the Miami Heat with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. How far can they go in the game?
On April 20, 2014, the playoffs officially began, the Bobcats went to Miami, the first game, the first quarter, the Bobcats seized the Heat's weak inside attack, Big Eyre scored 8 points in a single quarter of 4 shots, leading the team to lead the Heat 23:19 in a single quarter, in the second quarter, Big Eyre once again contributed 6 points, but the Heat side of the Big Three hit two shots, a total of 15 points in a single quarter, the first half of the game, the Bobcats fell behind by 7 points at 42:49.
In the third quarter, Kemba Walker vs. James, both of them scored 8 points in a single quarter, and the team score was 23:23, the Bobcats were still 7 points behind and entered the fourth quarter of the game, and in the key fourth quarter of the game, it was the Big Three of the Heat who dominated the rhythm of the game, James, Wade, and Bosh each scored 7 points, 7 points and 6 points, while the Bobcats Kemba Walker scored 6 points, Josh McRoberts scored 7 points, and no one could help the team. He scored 18 points and 10 rebounds in the whole game, Kemba Walker scored 20 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, Neil played well, came off the bench and scored 17 points, McRoberts scored 15 points and 7 rebounds, James Wade on the Heat side combined to score 50 points, and the originally weak bench also broke out, James Jones scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and "Birdman" Chris Anderson scored 8 points and 10 rebounds on 3-of-5 shooting. The Bobcats lost 88-99.
In the second game, McGee, who did not play well in the last game, broke out, he scored 22 points and 10 rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting, Al Jefferson also scored 18 points and 13 rebounds, Kemba Walker scored 16 points and 8 assists, Gerald Henderson fought to six fouls and left, and finally he scored 15 points, and the result of the game was that the Bobcats lost to the Heat 97-101, and Jampo combined to score 52 points and take away the game.
In the third game, the Heat team James scored 30 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists on 10-of-18 shooting, Wade scored 17 points and 6 assists, and Chris Anderson scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting, which was the only three players in the Heat team who scored double-doubles, but Rao was like this, the Bobcats still didn't play, and the final result of the game was 85:98, the Bobcats suffered three consecutive defeats, and Big Eyre scored 20 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks on 8-of-13 shooting, Chris Douglas Roberts, who was signed from the Development League, was a god in the game, scoring 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, but unfortunately couldn't help the team to a victory. McRoberts and Kemba Walker each contributed 13 points.
In the fourth game, the Bobcats fought for a victory, although the game was hopeless, but this was a game that determined dignity and could not be given up, all the Bobcats players tried their best to add a playoff victory in team history, but the Heat did not give the Bobcats any chance!
James scored 31 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals, Doctor scored 17 points and 8 rebounds, Norris Kerr came off the bench to score 13 points, Bobcats Kemba Walker scored 29 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals on 11-of-13 shooting, 3 blocks and 5 turnovers, Neil shot 16 points, Bobcats suffered four consecutive defeats at 98:109, entered the playoffs for two years, but did not win a victory on the playoff stage, which cannot but be said to be a pity, May 21, 2014, The Bobcats held a press conference to announce that the current Charlotte Bobcats have officially changed their name to the Charlotte Hornets, and the Bobcats have been in Charlotte for a full ten years and will eventually become a piece of history.