NBA critics, here's why you're wrong

Every time I write about the Charlotte Bobcats I get e-mail from readers who claim that nobody cares about the NBA.

This column is about the Bobcats. So if you're a sworn enemy of professional basketball, tell whoever helps you log onto to your e-mail account to warm up the computer.

Curiously, only the Bobcats elicit this response. When I write about the Carolina Panthers, I don't hear that nobody cares. When I write about college football or basketball, I don't hear that nobody cares. When I write about NASCAR or prep sports, well, I don't hear from anybody.

But there is a loud cadre of readers who hate all things NBA. Some go so far as to categorize the players as "thugs."

I don't know how you define "thug." I do know that basketball players and offensive linemen are the most articulate of the athletes with whom I deal. The linemen, you see, are not media favorites. So while their teammates answer questions about key plays, perhaps the big men read novels and non-fiction.

Basketball players, meanwhile, travel extensively, often from a young age. Every time you go somewhere you have the opportunity to learn something. Most of the NBA players I talk to do.

Critics are offended that some of us like the game and to dissuade us make several bogus claims, one of which is that every game is decided in the last five minutes. The NBA would be thrilled if this were true. So would the NFL.

They say that nobody in the NBA plays defense. So Charlotte rookie Gerald Henderson, who was relentless in attempting to shut down his man under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, suddenly loses interest?

The NBA is full of players who attempt to play lockdown defense. But nobody can lock down a superior scorer. All a good defender can do is to make him take shots he doesn't want to take.

Critics say that NBA players don't hustle. But wasn't that Gerald Wallace, Charlotte's leading scorer and rebounder last season, hitting the floor hard in the team's final exhibition?

Wallace spends as much time on the floor as a broom. He went down at least three times Friday against Memphis, the scariest after going high to steal an offensive rebound.

A question: Have you ever played a game in which you didn't end up on your stomach or back?

Wallace has to think.

"Yes, when I was in for only one or two minutes," he says.

But when he plays three minutes or more, Wallace is going down.

I've had wars with the Bobcats. I'm not a fan of the absentee owner and I have reservations about the stealth-managing partner, although I did see Michael Jordan in his office during training camp. I made a wrong turn and almost walked in. And the weather that afternoon was conducive to a 5-iron.

But late last season I forgot about management and enjoyed the show. When the Bobcats made their playoff run, they passed the ball as if they didn't care who scored. They played the way you're supposed to. Had Raja Bell not been hurt, they might have made it.

Charlotte opens the season Wednesday at Boston. With the Panthers unlikely to return to the playoffs, some frustrated football fans will look for an alternative. The Bobcats, largely ignored until late last season, can be that alternative.

But the players I talked to claim they don't want to capitalize on a Panthers slump. Typical is guard Raymond Felton, who says: "We're all a family. We're not trying to steal anything from them. We just want to share."

To get their share, the Bobcats have to win enough to offer their fans hope, preferably with five minutes remaining.

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