Drool of Regret in Charlotte?
With the NBA season well underway, the Bobcats can take some initial stock of their off-season acquisitions of Jason Richardson and recent acquisition of Nazr Mohammed. The verdict? Blech.
Rick Bonnell in the Charlotte Observer with this summation on the Richardson experience so far:
"They're paying more than $12 million a season to a guy who is averaging 16 points while shooting 40 percent from the field and 60 percent from the foul line. He has not performed like the offensive difference-maker he was billed to be. His salary approaches that of Atlanta's Joe Johnson, and he's not Joe Johnson."
No, he's not. And, as someone who owns him on a fantasy league team, he shoots like he's blind these days. That acquisition always was sketchy, particularly at the money it required. If Charlotte was going to finally dip into its horde of cash, one might have thought they would do so in a manner that made some sense. To date, spending it on Jason Richardson has been a mistake. Toss in that they gave away talent to acquire a 10-year journeyman like Mohammed at $6.5 million per for three years and Charlotte was pretty much setting fire to bundles of cash last off-season and continues to do so.
And, as far as motivation goes, I am not sure this is going to have the desired effect. Not unless old guys talking about how it used to be is more motivational in Charlotte than it is in the rest of the world.
