2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats: Worst Team Ever?

The Charlotte Bobcats are terrible. Or “turrible” if you want to be a comedian.

After 60 games, the Bobcats are a pathetic 7-53. They would have to win at least 2 of their remaining 6 games in order to avoid the league record for fewest wins in a season ever. That distinction currently belongs to the 1973 Philadelphia 76ers who finished the year 9-73. 

Of the 6 remaining games, 4 come against teams who are currently seeded to play in the postseason (New York, Memphis, Orlando and Chicago). The 2 “winnable” (and I use that word loosely) games come against the 20-41 Sacramento Kings and the 15-46 Washington Wizards.

The Bobcats are 0-3 on the season against the Wizards (92-75, 113-85, 102-99). Washington is the 2nd worst team in the NBA but still find themselves 7.5 games up on Charlotte in the Eastern Conference. 

Despite the shortened season, if Charlotte were to lose all of its remaining games, it would stand alone in the NBA record books with the worst winning percentage in NBA history at .106. The 72-73 76ers had a winning percentage of .110.

Mired in a 16-game losing streak, the hopes of actually winning a game are getting bleaker and bleaker every day.

The opportunities have been there. Teams have begun resting their top-tier talent with the regular season coming to an end. Charlotte has failed to capitalize on all of those chances.

On April 13th, the Miami Heat defeated the Bobcats by 23 points despite not playing Dwayne Wade, Ronny Turiaf, Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem. The Boston Celtics knocked off Charlotte 2 nights later by 12 points without the services of their “Big Three” (Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce). Even the lowly New Orleans Hornets got the best of the Bobcats without starters Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman.

Charlotte has no offense and no defense whatsoever. The team ranks dead last in points per game (87.5) and sits 4th from the bottom in points allowed (100.9). They also rank last in rebounds (39.0) and 2nd last in steals per game (6.2).

So why is this team so bad?

CLEARLY the talent isn’t there. Charlottes leading scorer Corey Maggette (15.0 points per game) is playing for his third team in three years and has missed a majority of the season due to injury. The rest of the roster looks like a bunch of scrubs who more than likely wouldn’t make the rotation of 80% of the teams in the league.

Byrun Mullens, Derrick Brown, Jamario Moon, D.J White, Matt Carroll, Reggie Williams, Gerald Henderson…..

It’s depressing.

The franchise put a lot of stock into its 2 young rookies Kemba Walker and Bismack Biyombo at the start of the year. Unfortunately for Charlotte, neither man has really produced in season one. Kemba Walker is their point guard of the future, but his shooting woes (37.3%) and proneness for turnovers has prevented him from holding on to a starting role for this team. Biyombo has shown potential as a defensive presence down low (1.7 blocks a game), but his offensive game is still extremely limited. He will need to develop a post shot to be considered anything more than a poor mans Dikembe Mutombo.

Many have the Bobcats pegged to win the NBA draft lottery this summer and select NCAA champion Anthony Davis out of Kentucky. Finishing with the worst record in the league will certainly help their chances, but it doesn’t guarantee Charlotte the number 1 pick by any means.

Besides, how much faith can you have in a man (his “Airness) who selected Kwame Brown first overall and Adam Morrison third?

It’s going to take more than Anthony Davis to turn this team around, and that’s even if their lucky enough to pick him in this summers draft. This franchise needs a complete overhaul as well as a little luck to get this train back on the right track again.

What I do know is this…..the 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats are the worst team I have ever seen play basketball. From top to bottom, they are an absolute wreck.

With just 6 games left, they could very well end up “officially” being the worst team in the history of the league.

“You never, ever, ever want that label of being the worst team. It’s just a bad thing.” – Bobcats Matt Carroll. 

Doomsday is drawing near in the city of Charlotte.

Christopher Walder is a sports blogger and lead editor for Sir Charles in Charge. You may follow him on Twitter @WalderSports