You Start Getting Excited, (Fill-in the blank)
09/04/2008I am not going to lie, I am jonesing for the NBA right now. I know I am not the only one - Matt of Hardwood Paroxysm is too: They have been running a countdown for what seems like a month now (actually, only since August 11th - here is the first and also the one for today - No Bobcats included so far, I will see if I can convince HP to include a Charlotte player in the series). The problem? The countdown is at 54 days - until the NBA season starts. Unfortunately for fans of the Bobcats, our countdown is at 56. 4 months since a game that mattered and almost 2 more until the next - and some people say the season is too long.
Since I am ready for the season to start, I assume that there are others out there (yes, I chose the day the NFL season started to do this - I like football - I love basketball), so I wanted to give a couple of reasons for fans to be excited about what is ahead.
1. Hollinger and Berri both liked the Cats to make the playoffs last year - Hollinger changed his mind when May had surgery (see his preview here, if you are an Insider). Berri liked the Cats even better when Morrison got hurt - preview here. Why does that matter? Well, this year's team should be better than the team they thought had a shot at the playoffs. Here are the changes, and what I would call improvements:
Primoz -> Nazr
McInnis -> DJ Augustin
Sean May(be) healthy?
Jason Richardson -> No longer new
2. To Repeat - Jason Richardson has been here a full season - At the start of last season, the addition of a prolific scorer in Richardson seemed great - except the team struggled to incorporate him early on, leading me to write this post about how the offense worked better with Carroll than Richardson. Consider this - First 2 months of the season - Cats with Jason: 100.4 points per 100 poss on O, 106.6 on D. Last 2 months - 108.2 O, 108.0 D. It would appear the team started to click.
3. McInnis is gone - I have said a lot about this in past. Just search for McInnis on the right if you have questions.
There are 3 reasons to get you desire piqued. More to come - I plan to start review/previewing each player on the roster over the coming weeks as a buildup to a full blown season preview.
(If you recognize the quote, please do not use the original in a reply - I will be forced to edit it. But, I will be impressed by your taste in movies if you acknowledge it.)
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