I recall a story of Sam Vincent being locked out of the locker room during his time as head coach. I can’t find anything online about it, can any of the old heads on here fill me in with a brief recap of Vincent’s season and why he failed?
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There’s also the story of the Bobcats almost had to forfeit a game due to their flight getting cancelled and Biscuit dropped the ball on getting an alternate flight.
The funniest part of Sam Vincent’s tenure was the Fine Ham Biscuit thread on Bobcatsplanet. If anyone has access to that; ring us up!
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Searching the “WayBackMachine”…
I had the raw data but Ziggy and I decided it was fruitless to try convert it. I did try but it was going to be an unmitigated mess considering how different the old forums hierarchy and this one relate thread content (plus a lot of other difficulties). Consider that data lost to time unless Ziggy still has it in a queyable database.
Web Archive to the absolute rescue there but think the OG thread is what you were looking for, not the return to mystery mountain one.
Hahaha… “ILBIT.” We were so young and foolish then.
And now so old and foolish.
I didn’t realize Hogwarts had basketball…
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No disrespect to those fine young men but come on that’s hilarious.
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Whaaaat? Sam Vincent is coaching a World of Warcraft team??
That team looks like it’s full of absolute cold blooded assassins.
Well, probably mages, but yes. I’d uninstall.
Yeah you’re right. It’s probably a Magic The Gathering team.
Talk about memories!
I can’t remember how we found out about him getting locked out of the locker room… an insider? And was it MGinis who supposedly did it?
Man the stuff we went through no one could have thought to make it up.
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Mike Dunlap.
wild times.
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Saw this article. Every paragraph sums up why he’s the worst coach we ever had. Doesn’t mention being locked out, but you could see how this would lead up to it.
Also, wasn’t there something weird about our sole nationally televised game? Think it was against Orlando or something.
The first-year coach ripped his point guard and suggested his players weren’t giving a complete effort. The players then angrily defended themselves.
The Charlotte Bobcats picked a bad time to start bickering as they boarded a plane for Los Angeles on Sunday, clearly in disarray as they begin a stretch of 21 of 29 games on the road in what is approaching a lost season. The boiling point was reached Saturday night.
Moments after an ugly home loss to Philadelphia dropped them to 17-27, coach Sam Vincent took aim at his players.
“The coaching staff cares an awful lot about winning, but the guys on the floor have to care about winning more than the coaching staff,” Vincent said.
Vincent wasn’t through, suggesting that Jeff McInnis, who was filling in at point guard for the injured Raymond Felton, was so limited offensively that the 76ers were able to sag off him and focus on other players.
“Now you’re playing four on five,” said Vincent, who yanked McInnis for most of the fourth quarter. The comments were met with icy stares and defiance in the Bobcats locker room.
“I just missed a couple shots that I make,” said McInnis, who had four points on 2-for-5 shooting. “I think everybody misses in a game, don’t they? I missed and I came out. That’s the reason, whatever he said. Four on five, whatever.”
McInnis then ended the interview, while across the locker room, Jason Richardson was visibly upset at Vincent’s suggestion that they lack passion.
“We play passionate all the time, every time,” said Richardson, who had 35 points against the Sixers. “I don’t know if it’s frustration for him, but I don’t understand that. Guys playing hurt, guys playing with bruises, bumps, sprained ankles, we play. If a guy is able to walk up a down the court, he’s playing.”
Frustration was the common theme Saturday, as the Bobcats have been unable to put together a prolonged period of good play.
“It was just one of those games where fatigue took its toll on us,” said forward Gerald Wallace, who scored 20 points but was 0-for-7 from the field in the second half. Charlotte’s flawed roster, which lacks frontcourt depth, has worn on Wallace. He’s averaging 40 minutes per game and played all 48 minutes in a loss to Dallas on Wednesday.
The heavy minutes for Wallace and Richardson have caused Vincent to virtually eliminate practice. It’s one of several changes for the rookie coach, who has struggled to find a rotation and is clearly learning on the job.
Vincent has been starting Felton and McInnis and moved Wallace to power forward. The small lineup sometimes is overmatched defensively, and Charlotte has struggled to find consistency on offense.
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Ben Gordon enters the chat
Since we can’t go to the historical posts here, I was digging around another message board and found a few more illuminating items:
According to reports, Michael Jordan is disenchanted with Sam Vincent. At the same time, the Bobcat rookie coach appears to have alienated the majority of players. Then how do you explain the team’s just-concluded 3-1 West Coast road trip, its most successful in team history? “The players had a meeting and said, ‘[Bleep] the coach, let’s win for ourselves,’” a Charlotte source was kind enough to clarify.
Sam chose not to fly the team to a Bucks game because of weather - but the airport was open. He flew them later, they got caught in a holding pattern and got to the area pretty much right at game time.
That is against the Leagues travel laws (who knew??)
If they arrived late to the game it would have cost the team around $5,000,000 (estimated by MJ). Sam made the call not to fly, but it was not his call to make and he very nearly ended up with 5 million dollars worth of egg on his face.
He said that Steve Robinson told him that all the players on the Bobcats have tuned Vincent out. I asked him how did Robinson know that…his source was Phil Ford. Ford said it’s a complete mess right now with the lack of communication between Vincent and the players. Robinson also said Felton has asked Roy Williams for advice on what to do.
“I don’t regret it one bit because I planted a seed in our guys’ minds that we were trying to get to the playoffs,” Vincent said. “You know what, sorry we didn’t make it. Oops. But we’re trying again next year.”
The rookie coach, Sam Vincent, is capable of saying just about anything after a loss. It started after a December game in Toronto, when they played somewhat below their standards. Vincent speculated that his players must be lax in getting their sleep and eating right.
When I asked various players about that, several looked stunned, particularly Raymond Felton. Felton isn’t the quintessential NBA point guard, but certainly he’s professional. He seemed shaken and disappointed that Vincent would assume that about his players’ preparation.
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Ooh, did find an official reference to the locker room lockout of the fine Ham Biscuit from a reputable source:
…Once again, Larry Brown is raving over role players like Andre Brown and you think, Jackie Butler. But it could be worse, and it has been. The rumor is the players last season were in such a war with coach Sam Vincent they locked him out of the locker room at halftime several times.
And found a reference on another teams fan site
- Winning – Prior to Larry Brown, the Bobcats were horribly mismanaged by rookie Coach Sam Vincent (aka the Ham Biscuit). At one point, the players locked him out of the locker room at halftime, and Charlotte fans pretty much unanimously called for a new coach.
Larry Brown the next LAC coach? No thank you. - Clips Nation
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Re reading these stories and recalling what a spectacle of futility and failure this franchise was reminds me of why everyone is so excited about retaining the core of this 43 win team. By comparison, this current roster is basically the 1992 dream team than anything from the blunder years.
I get it. We’ve seen some shit as Charlotte Horncats fans. The fine ham biscuit, whatever Mike Dunlap was going for, the cutting edge genius of rich cho, etc.
The real question is: who was worse? Dunlap or The Fine Ham Biscuit.
I vote Dunlap. Isn’t he coaching a high school team now? Edit: nope, he’s some sort of assistant on the bucks, I’m thinking of someone else. Fun fact: Mike Dunlap was born in Fairbanks Alaska.