Charlotte Bobcats: The Worst Team in NBA History
How did the best NBA player of all time help to create the worst team in NBA history? Let's find out how Michael Jordan created the 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats.
The Worst Team in NBA History
The Charlotte Bobcats finished as the worst NBA team of all time with a 7-59 record in a season shortened by the NBA lockout. The Bobcats were outscored by 14 points on average and won just 10.6% of their games. These are the reasons which led to the worst team in NBA history.
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan became the second largest shareholder of the Charlotte Bobcats in 2006. In 2010 Jordan became a majority owner with a 97% controlling stake. He became the first former NBA player to become a majority owner in the process.
In Jordan's first season as majority owner, the Bobcats somehow recorded a respectable 34-48. The Bobcats weren't as good as their record suggested but there weren't any obvious signs yet that the Bobcats were about to become the worst team in NBA history.
We can all agree that Michael Jordan is the worst owner in basketball right? pic.twitter.com/BD6lipluZs
— Trae Rodgers (@traerodgersog) June 24, 2022
The Bobcats Failed 2011 Draft
Michael Jordan has a habit of making the worst NBA draft picks. Jordan picked one of the biggest NBA draft busts of all time. He selected Kwame Brown straight out of high school with the first pick of the 2001 NBA draft when he was part owner and president of basketball operations at the Washington Wizards.
The Charlotte Bobcats issues first started with the 2010 NBA draft. The Bobcats traded all their picks away but could have drafted the likes of Avery Bradley, Hassan Whiteside or Eric Bledsoe. The Bobcats had an even better opportunity in the 2011 NBA draft, a class which isn't far from being considered one of the best NBA draft classes of all time.
Michael Jordan and the Charlotte Bobcats had the seventh and ninth picks in 2011. Bismack Biyombo was selected with the seventh pick. It was risky, but he had the potential to become one of the most dominant defensive bigs in the league. With the ninth pick the Bobcats selected Kemba Walker. Walker was seen as a likely scorer, a leader, and a game winner.
The Bobcats drafted their future point guard and center but they missed a huge opportunity with the Biyombo pick to strengthen their offense.
When you look at the fact that Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Vucevic and Jimmy Butler were all left on the board by pick seven, you realize the Bobcats had every opportunity to avoid being the worst team in NBA history.
Bad Trades Created the Worst Team in NBA History
Heading into the 2011-12 season the Bobcats had key departures which weakened their roster. In 2009 they traded Tyson Chandler to the Mavericks, likely because he was injury prone. Chandler went on to win an NBA championship in 2011 with Dallas. He then became NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2012 and was voted to the All-Star team in 2013 while at New York.
In early 2011 the Bobcats then traded Gerald Wallace to the Portland Trailblazers. Wallace became the only player in Charlotte Bobcats history to appear in an All-Star game in 2010. Wallace also earned All-Defensive First Team honors in his All-Star year, and along with David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon are the only players ever to average at least two steals and two blocks per game in a season.
Between Chandler and Wallace, the Bobcats lost their most important defensive pieces. Wallace was also one of the rare entertainers in an otherwise boring history for the Charlotte Bobcats and they lost all their flair and hustle when the appropriately nicknamed "Crash" was traded.
...OK tribe, keep a look out for tomorrow's post as I go in a bit more detail how the Bobcats became the worst team in history. We also go through some hilarious "highlights".
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I would not have expected Michael Jordan to do so badly in this operational side of basketball. But it just shows that operations and the actual sport are two complete different things.
100%. He really does not have an eye for talent. Perhaps he needs better advisers too
It seems they changed their name in 2014, that's really some sports story. Wondering how much money they burned.
Yep but the Hornets name does have history in the city so was probably for the better. The original Charlotte Hornets got relocated to New Orleans, then the Charlotte Bobcats where an expansion team and eventually took back all original Charlotte Hornets history and records
Must have been a totally new experience for Jorden. But his making money with his brand up until today, didn't kill his image.
Just because you are a big name in a particular sport it doesn't mean you will be successful. I would have thought he would have done a better job especially being an owner.
Yep same. He left my fav. team the Wizards in disarray off the court but he arguably helped to put the ailing franchise on the map again when he came out of retirement
ooof. I knew they were bad but they have been such a non-issue to me that I didn't even pay attention to exactly how terrible they were. Oh well, the Kings, the Clippers, the Cavaliers, and many others have risen from obscurity in the past. We'll see where they are in 10 years. My guess? Another city.