The Charlotte Bobcats surprised many in their debut season, doing a lot better than the average expansion team in their first year. But it seems like it’s stopped at that with not much progress in terms of the winning. By now the Bobcats should have at least made it much closer to being a playoff team and yet they’re still one of the worst teams in the league. But all is not lost, they’re a talented young team and they will get there but I guess it’s time for some changes. Bobcats part owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan announced that current coach Bernie Bickerstaff, who also is the team’s general managers, will finish the season but will not return as coach for next season.

While Bickerstaff will still be the general manager, perhaps it’s time for him to focus on his GM duties rather than playing a double role that could be very demanding for one person to handle. Perhaps the team also needs a new voice to elevate their standings to a higher level. It’s this news that has shown Larry Brown some interest in the soon to be vacant coaching position.

“I don’t know about anything right now, and that includes Charlotte,” Brown told me yesterday, just hours after reports surfaced that Michael Jordan and the Charlotte Bobcats will have a new head coach next season in place of Bernie Bickerstaff. “No one has contacted me. I have no idea what to expect, and I really don’t care, at the moment, because I’m enjoying my life watching the game of basketball, being around a lot of the coaches and just getting my enthusiasm back.

“As far as Charlotte goes, everyone knows I have a very special relationship with Michael. I’ve known him for years. We’re family, and I love him. So saying ‘no’ to him would be almost impossible for me, just because it would be hard for me to say ‘No’ to him about anything. But I haven’t heard anything from him and I have no idea what my future holds.”

Stephen A. Smith, Philadelphia Inquirer 3/14/07

The Bobcats will need a new coach who can handle the job and Larry Brown has the resume for it but after what happened between him and the New York Knicks, I’d much rather take my chances with someone else if I were managing the Bobcats. I’d much rather trust the Bobcats with some other guy like Terry Stotts for example (who just got fired from the Bucks). Another thing that scares me about Brown taking over if ever is that the Bobcats are a young team whose players need enough playing time to grow into even better players. Given the way he handled the development of Darko Milicic with the Pistons, I wouldn’t trust him with these young players. In other words you’ve had your glory Larry, stay retired!