Editor’s Note: The modern era of the NBA is generally accepted to have begun with the 1979-80 season, the advent of the 3-point line in the NBA. The lists to follow—one for each of the NBA’s 30 teams—will only consider seasons since 1979-80. We continue the series today with the best of the now-renamed Charlotte Bobcats.
This one gets complicated.
The Charlotte Bobcats were born as an expansion franchise in 2004, just two years after the original Hornets left Charlotte for New Orleans.
The Bobcats are now gone and the Hornets—the name, at any rate—are back in Charlotte, with the team rechristened the Charlotte Hornets for the 2014-15 season.
As part of the name change, made possible after the franchise in New Orleans changed its name to the Pelicans in 2013, the teams did a little swapping of histories, as well.
The record books now show the Bobcats/Hornets history as extending from 1988-2002, the time the original Hornets franchise spent in Charlotte, and resuming in 2004-05 with the arrival of the Bobcats.
However, since I already detailed the best players in New Orleans Pelicans history including those guys from the first era of Charlotte Hornets, this piece will only reflect the history of the Charlotte Bobcats.
The franchise made the playoffs just twice in 10 seasons as the Bobcats, in 2009-10 and again last season. The Bobcats also set an NBA record for futility in 2011-12, with their 7-59 equaling the worst winning percentage in league history.
In 10 years, the Bobcats tore through six coaches, with Larry Brown the Bobcats’ all-time leading winner with a record of 88-104 in parts of three seasons.
There were three general managers—Bernie Bickerstaff, who doubled as the team’s first coach for its first three seasons, from 2003-07; Rod Higgins from 2007-11 and Rich Cho, who has been in place since June 2011.
The Bobcats went 0-8 in their postseason history, being swept in 2010 by the Orlando Magic and going down in four games this spring at the hands of the Miami Heat.
Here are the best players, by position, for the Charlotte Bobcats in the 10 years they existed. Players had to have played 200 games for the franchise and averaged 25 minutes per game.