Bobcats need to ditch bad habits

Five little things need to be fixed

As coaches go, Larry Brown might best be described as a fixer -- most comfortable in the practice gym, cleaning up the little flaws that add up to a bad team.

The Charlotte Bobcats were a bad team last season -- 32-50, and as sloppy as that record suggests. There's much to be fixed in Brown's first season here. Here are five areas.

1. BETTER REBOUNDING: This team has never been good in this area, but last season was gruesome. The Bobcats averaged 3.11 fewer boards per game than their opponents, fourth-worst in the NBA.

Gerald Wallace put it well the day before training camp opened, saying the rest of the team puts an unfair burden on Emeka Okafor to grab all the boards. Interesting Wallace made that point, since Brown sees him as the primary solution.

"We should have the best rebounding 3-man in the league," Brown said of Wallace.

Brown suggests Wallace and shooting guard Jason Richardson are such good leapers, they should combine for more than the 11.4 rebounds per game they did last season.

2. SCORE MORE AT THE FREE-THROW LINE: The Bobcats shot more free throws last season than their opponents, yet scored 61 fewer points at the line.

The obvious explanation is they're lousy foul-shot shooters, second-worst in the NBA at 71.4 percent.

The subtler fix is creating more trips to the foul line. Brown isn't entirely comfortable with a roster so in love with the jump shot. He said Friday this might be the best jump-shooting team he's coached, but the best way to get fouled is to drive the lane.

3. FEWER SHOTS BLOCKED: No team in the NBA had more shots rejected last season, an average of 5.8 per game. A study published on ESPN.com showed 12 percent of the shots Okafor took were swatted away, 9 percent in the case of Wallace.

Okafor and Wallace combined for nearly 2,000 shots last season, most of them close to the rim where the shot-blockers are.

4. MORE BENCH SCORING: Charlotte's reserves averaged 24 points, worst in the NBA last season.

Some of this is self-correcting, as players recover from injury. Forwards Adam Morrison and Sean May missed last season following knee surgeries.

Injuries are inevitable, but as the roster now stands the Bobcats have three reserves -- Morrison, Matt Carroll and D.J. Augustin -- who will be dangerous scorers.

5. BETTER BALL-HANDLING: The point-guard situation was a mess last season. Former coach Sam Vincent didn't commit to Raymond Felton as the primary ballhandler until March.

The Bobcats committed a top-10 pick to select Augustin so the depth is there at the point. Brown is known for coaching point guards first and for demanding smart ball distribution.

If they listen to what he teaches, history says they'll be less sloppy with the ball.