Great stuff QC thanks for digging that up. I had no idea.
Now I feel bad about the crack tho!
Oh yeah, it’s all good, he started with the terrible hitch, to having his elbow inverted to the left side of his head to… something.
But this paragraph on Wikipedia sheds some light on why a lot of us were longer holdouts that he could eventually come around.
On November 10, 2012, in just his fifth NBA game, Kidd-Gilchrist had 25 points and 12 rebounds in a 101–97 win over the Dallas Mavericks, marking Charlotte’s first-ever win over Dallas in the franchise’s nine-year history, ending a 16-game losing streak against the Mavericks.[11] He had a second 25-point, 12-rebound effort on December 19, 2012 against the Phoenix Suns.[12] He became only the second player in NBA history to post two games with at least 25 points and at least 12 rebounds before his 20th birthday and became just the fourth player in 20 years to record two such games in the first 25 games of his career.
The trajectory looked good! Just not coming from his hands…
Gerald Wallace really hated Rod Higgins for that trade at the time. Higgins and MJ were close and probably still are, so maybe with the new ownership something could be done like a Bobcats night where we bring back all the legends.
Primo Brezec
Melvin Ely
Adam Morrison
Walter Hermann
Raymond Felton (As he enters doing the Larry Brown half court spin play)
Yeah for a bit there he looked better than Richards to me.
Great find and thanks for sharing this! Was never too high on him as a player, but he seems like a genuinely good guy who’s doing some really impactful work. Great to hear the update.
Yeah, me too. I remember posting once that I thought we should keep him over Richards. That post didn’t age well. Nick was always the better athlete but just didn’t have the coordination early on. Once the game slowed down for him a bit though, he improved exponentially. I think VCJ’s lack of athleticism has probably hurt him a bit. His game just doesn’t seem compatible with what people are looking for these days.
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I was happy when we drafted him. Thought he was a versatile big, who could eventually stretch the floor etc. Oh well, guess not.
Remember feeling OK at #32 picked Carey. Confused A few minutes later traded for project Nick Richards at #42.
Mitch preaching patience as expecting both 2 years away from possibly being worth getting any minutes.
Then next year draft Kai & JT…poster said always stuck with me…2 years away from being 2 years away.
And Carey didn’t just sophomore slump after decent rookie prospect…fell apart. Somehow made 16 TO in gleague Swarm game.
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An instantly mature, solid backup PG on two worthwhile Larry Brown Bobcat teams('08/09 and '09/10). You could get really cheap tickets at times and it was quality basketball. One weeknight I saw rookie DJ battle rookie D-Rose for 5 bucks, and the Bobcats won in OT. Augustin had 29 points with 16 FG attempts. Good stuff.
We all know he wasn’t the right draft pick, but I think I’m finally over that part.
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I am not banned. Thank goodness.
Look I wanted to post this yesterday but I took a break. This is about Mr. “Born Ready” himself. This just confirms everything we knew/suspected about his failure in Charlotte.
For the Love of God how can a person take the chance of a million lifetimes for granted? Then again, you give 20 year old unimaginable wealth and no guard rails and bad things are bound to happen about 80% of the time.
The players union should provide mandatory ongoing money and life counseling to young players for at least 3 years. (I think the only get about 1 day of such training.) I admire the wealth that these young men create for themselves. They are the epitome of the American dream! But the Union needs to protect these players from themselves. Anyway enough of my commentary.
Interesting. Revisionist? It was always said that LJ and Zo were oil and water. I think it was a Rick Bonnell article in the 90s that spelled out some of their differences.
They both wanted to be the man, and Shinn chose to pay LJ, and a lot of people around the league thought they should have paid Zo.
History says that’s right - even though LJ’s back injury had something to do with that.
I looked up a couple of those Bonnell articles - my best guess is that Mourning held some resentment because LJ got paid - in those articles, Mourning said he didn’t want to leave, but Shinn couldn’t meet the contract demands of his agent David Falk, even with being willing to take a pay cut compared to anywhere else.
I ultimately think if they ended up paying Zo, the Hornets would have never left in the first place.
Funny, I was going through some old paper files today, and I found an Observer article written after LJ and Zo had fought as Knicks/Heat players. I don’t know if that’s one of the ones you found online, but it mentioned the story about LJ picking on Zo, gloating about his ROY jacket. Also picking on Zo about UNLV defeating Zo/Mutombo in the NCAA tourney. Also their different approaches on selecting suits and how Zo was unimpressed with LJ’s approach. Honestly though, it was just a few snapshots into a 3 year relationship, and the stuff might’ve just been overblown, tabloidi-ish stuff. Zo was kind of an intense guy who maybe just wasn’t the type to always joke around. I do think that LJ’s injury and Zo’s departure soured things for the fans, even though Bob Bass did an amazing job continuing to bring wins. It was a lesson that the whole thing is a business and you can’t get too emotionally attached. Mayberry had to learn.
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Well damn. Good for Ashley though
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