The Charlotte Bobcats had last season their best season of the franchise, but it wasn't still enough for them to earn a spot in the Playoffs. Head coach Larry Brown did a good overall job in tough conditions at the start of the season. I remember that the Bobcats went winless in the preseason, then Jason Richardson got injured very early in the season and the team only improved when they traded Richardson to Phoenix for Raja Bell and Boris Diaw. These two players added depth and team chemistry to the Bobcats, but they lacked the presence of a true superstar that could decide games down the stretch.

The Bobcats were the worst offensive team of the league last season by scoring "only" 93.6 points per game and they relied on their defense to win - that's what every team coached by Larry Brown does in order to win. Unfortunately for them, the Bobcats didn't make any substantial offensive upgrade, so once again we can expect a good defensive team, but with limited offensive skills. The only acquisition for this season was Tyson Chandler, who got traded for Emeka Okafor. In my opinion, the Bobcats don't gain too much, yes they have now a legit center, whose defensive presence will toughen up the Bobcats' low post, however Chandler doesn't bring any substantial offensive improvement when compared to Okafor and his health can be problematic for the team. The bad news is that Chandler is already injured and we can't forget that last season the Thunder medical staff rejected him, after he failed the medical tests. The Bobcats will have something with Chandler down low, but they can lose even more, if he can't stay healthy.

Gerald Wallace is the only Bobcats player who isn't far from being a star player in this league. His athleticism and aggressiveness makes him a tough player to match, but at the same time turns him into an injury prone kind of player. Last season he missed 11 games, but when healthy he averaged 16.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg and 1.7 steals per game, while shooting 48% from the field and these are good numbers. However, the Bobcats may need him to be the offensive leader of this team and although his offensive numbers might increase early on, Wallace alone isn't enough to carry the Bobcats and he will suffer from that later on the season for having to do such heavy workload on his own.

Both Raja Bell and Boris Diaw should benefit from the fact of being in this team since the beginning of the season. Raja Bell is the kind of player who Larry Brown loves: he plays a resilient defense on the perimeter, he is a good team mate and he can hit down shots behind the arc. He averaged 13 points per game with the Bobcats last season and he should keep these numbers for this season. Meanwhile, Boris Diaw had a terrific season with the Bobcats, averaging 15.1 points, 5.9 rebound and 4.9 assists per game. His playmaker abilities is a vital piece for a weak offensive team and despite he's relatively undersized for a PF, he can make the difference for the Bobcats by involving his team mates on the game.

For the Point Guard position, DJ Augustin is the future of this organization and he is coming from a solid rookie season. When he was a starter, he averaged 17.8 points and 5.6 assists per game in 12 games and sooner of later, he will be the starting point guard of the team. The Bobcats re-signed Felton for one more season and eventually he will start early on the season. Felton is a solid PG who averaged 14.2 points per game and 6.7 assists last season. However, Felton isn't good shooter - only 39.9 % from the field on his 4-year career with the Bobcats and this hurts the team down the stretch, so I wouldn't be surprised if Augustin is on the floor during the crunch time for the Bobcats.

The Bobcats don't have a solid and deep bench this season. DJ Augustin will be their 6th man early on and the Bobcats count on their 12th draft pick Gerald Henderson to be a nice surprise. The Bobcats have also Vladimir Radmanovic, DeSagana Diop, Nazr Mohammed and Derrick Brown coming off the bench and this unit doesn't look good on paper. Although they can bring hustle and shooting abilities (only for Radmanovic), the Bobcats' bench doesn't look capable of making the difference for the team.

The Bobcats are inserted in the toughest and deepest division of the Eastern Conference and so, they will have tough battles waiting for them. They look better defensively with the addition of Tyson Chandler and Larry Brown will surely put this team on the top 10 of the best defensive teams. However, like last season, they look limited on the offensive end and they didn't make any substantial improvement for that. Raja Ball and Boris Diaw will start the season with the team and for the Bobcats to be able to go to the playoffs, the entire unit must improve, otherwise the competition on the division will kill their chances.