The Bobcats Against the Best - 2007-08 Version

06/23/2008

In an effort to pass the time before the draft, I will revisit a post idea - The Bobcats Against the NBA's Best (Part 1) and Part 2. With another season complete, and 3 new (well, a fair amount of overlap, but freshly annointed) All-NBA teams, now is a good time to see what improvements the Bobcats have made against the elite.

Possessions	Bobcats Points	Offensive Efficiency	Opponents Points	Defensive Efficiency	Net Efficiency
1851	1846	99.7	2050	110.8	-11.1

To paraphrase Jim Murray, they turned the Bobcats into 33 feet of lumps. There is no way around it - the Bobcats cannot handle the Truth...or Black Mamba...or Big Baby Jesus...or any of these guys. And the worst part? They were better against them in 2006-07, with a net efficiency of about -8 points per 100 possessions. Next question: Did they get worse against bigs, wings, points or all?

	Possessions	Bobcats Points	Offensive Efficiency	Opponents Points	Defensive Efficiency	Net Efficiency
Bigs	1072	1072	100.0	1173	109.4	-9.4
Wings	885	880	99.3	932	105.5	-6.2
Points	390	385	98.2	470	120.8	-22.6

To be fair, the "Points" category is composed of Chris Paul, Steve Nash, and Deron Williams - all 3 of which play for elite teams, while there are middling teams included in the "Wings" category. With that said, I still did not expect to see the breakdown come out like this. I am particularly impressed by the solid showing against the premier wings of the league. Which leads to a breakdown by player:

Player	Poss (off/def)	Bobcats Points	Offensive Efficiency	Opponents Points	Defensive Efficiency	Net Efficiency
Kobe Bryant	153/157	177	115.7	168	107.0	+8.7
Kevin Garnett	197/195	204	103.6	210	107.7	-4.1
Dwight Howard	317/314	316	99.7	342	108.9	-9.2
LeBron James	238/238	240	100.8	263	110.5	-9.7
Chris Paul	122/118	113	92.6	156	132.2	-39.6
Tim Duncan	118/119	96	81.4	114	95.8	-14.4
Steve Nash	110/112	99	90.0	112	122.3	-32.3
Dirk Nowitzki	132/133	136	103.0	158	118.8	-15.8
Amare Stoudemire	62/64	70	112.9	76	118.8	-5.9
Deron Williams	160/159	173	108.1	177	111.3	-3.2
Carlos Boozer	172/171	183	106.4	202	118.1	-11.7
Manu Ginobili	118/113	84	71.2	120	106.2	-35.0
Tracy McGrady	155/154	139	89.7	155	100.6	-10.9
Yao Ming	74/76	67	90.5	71	93.4	-2.9
Paul Pierce	222/221	240	108.1	226	102.3	+5.8

You know, when I said middling team earlier, I was mainly commenting on Cleveland...but it appears I focused on the wrong squad(s). If it were not for Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant, these numbers would have been far worse than they already were. When Kobe or Paul was on the court, the Bobcats were +7 points per 100 possessions. Even better? When Gerald was on the court at the same time as one of them, the numbers go all the way up to +25.8 points per 100 possessions for the Bobcats, while holding the opponent to 92.5 points per 100 possessions. Gerald Wallace = The New Kobe Stopper?

Wrapping up, the Bobcats were horrible against the great players this year (with a couple of exceptions). Big or small - it does not matter - the Bobcats cannot handle great players yet. The thing to be learned from all of it is that there is not one main hole in the lineup - the talent level of the club as a whole needs to improve and then the gap with the elite will begin to lessen. Until then, take solace in Gerald's periodic greatness (unless he gets traded).
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