I would say this is poor timing for the Bobcats, but really, is there a good time to have any of your players tear a wrist ligament? Because to me, what Raja Bell suffered this week, a partial tear in his left wrist in a preseason game against Utah, is not something that's ever good. But the implications are more than just "lost a veteran player" for the Cats. This injury impacts them on multiple levels and springs more than one leak on the good ship Bobcats.
Plus, it probably hurts a lot, too.
The Bobcats' backcourt is kind of a mess to start with. The two best players are D.J. Augustin and Raymond Felton, but both are point guards, and putting one of them in the starting small guard spot is just asking for trouble, forcing them away from their natural talents. Flip Murray was brought in over the offseason, but he's sidelined with a shin problem. Which leaves Gerald Henderson. No problem, Henderson is tall, athletic, can attack the basket and has great tangibles and scoring instincts. One problem.
He's a rookie, and Larry Brown hates rookies like I hate Thin Mints. And I hate Thin Mints. Seriously. They can troop their little selves elsewhere if they want me to buy them. Similarly, Brown has little patience, and only occasionally can stomach them, as in the case of Augustin, who committed to playing with his means.
But all of these things are difficulties in the immediate. More concerning -- much more concerning, actually -- is the fact that Bell's prognosis means he'll be sidelined right up until the trade deadline. Bell has a sizable expiring contract to go along with his experience and perimeter shooting ability (which has diminished somewhat). The Bobcats were in a fine position to dangle Bell on the open market to contenders looking for the final piece of the puzzle. Instead they may simply have to reap the cap space from his expiring deal, which won't help much given their market-size and prospects for the future, which make landing a big-name free-agent, even in 2010's buffet of ability, a hard sell.
Larry Brown has consistently outperformed expectations outside of the New York reclamation project, which ended up being his unicorn (as opposed to David Lee, who is a hippogriff). He'll need to pull another rabbit out of his hat in order to manage the Bobcats' backcourt if the worst-case scenario for Bell comes to light. He could still opt to postpone surgery, which would only mean losing him for several weeks and him living in significant pain on a daily basis. So there's that, for those of you that think being a professional athlete is always awesome, all the time.
