Sports Passion The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 3 (February 2014) | Page 31

Charlotte Bobcats: A “Big Al” Of A Difference The NBA All-Star Weekend has begun, and with that, the NBA Trade Deadline will close shortly. Teams from both the East and West are nearly solidified, but as always, last minute transactions should be imminent. One club that has some pieces put together is the Charlotte Bobcats. A team that looked physically defeated for the past two years winning a pitiful twenty-eight out of a hundred and ten games. The Bobcats have also seen multiple coaching changes in their history, from Larry Brown, Paul Silas to Mike Dunlap and presently, Steve Clifford. Multiple seasons since the franchise’s installation, Charlotte has only berthed a playoff spot one out of twelve times. The differences slewed from coaching, but also the player dealings impacted the franchise greatly. Players have come and went, Tyson Chandler, Raymond Felton, and former All-Star Gerald Wallace. However, this was all due to planning for the future. Cap space was cleared and more potential of rookies and veteran signings were to be accrued. The long process of trading, signing and drafting lottery picks has somewhat come to fruition for the Bobcats. Their roster currently is lined up with a powerful bunch. The transformation of the sub-par Bobcats to the present day ‘Charlotte Hornets’ is stunning to say the least. Their roster packed with a foundation of young players has found itself in the eighth seed of the Eastern Conference. Yes, the East, truthfully mediocre in its own right, but the Charlotte Bobcats have finally found itself in playoff contention since the 2009-2010 season. The backcourt of Charlotte is compact, featuring the speedy 6ft. 1 Guard Kemba Walker, shooting guard Ben Gordon (AKA British Mamba), and Ramon Sessions. Highlights of the roster, however is not the back, but resides in the front. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Bismack Biyombo and rookie Cody Zeller are all stellar forward/centers. The big difference between the backcourts of others teams and the Bobcats, unnoted by most, is Al Jefferson, acquired by the Bobcats in a free-agent signing this past preseason. Al is one of the big defensive anchors in the league, and it shows heavily contrasting the stats of the Bobcats from last year to present. Without Jefferson, the Bobcats allow opponents to score 102.7 points on average; with him, the Bobcats rose from the 29th worst defense in the league to top four only allowing 97ppg in the 2013-14 season. Al Jefferson does this by his presence in the post. For example one of the top leading teams, The Indiana Pacers, played the Bobcats twice this season. Despite two bouts both being losses for Charlotte and Jefferson, they saw bright spots in his defensive game. In the paint (non restricted-area) the Pacers shooting percentage was 41% overall. When Jefferson was off-court, the likes of Roy Hibbert and the rest where pounding inside at a staggering 75%. When Al was posted in the key that percentage lowered exponentially to a 25%; for the restricted area with him on, the Pacers shot 48%. Him off, the restricted area was targeted to be scored on 61% of the attempts. That statistic shows Al effectively can lower the efficiency of post-players when he is on the floor. He is also currently averaging 1.6 blocks, 10.5 rebounds and a staggering 20.1ppg. A big man doing those numbers with such defensive prowess is uncanny, but Jefferson has been on fire lately. Page | 31