So close to Bobcat fever

Larry Brown and Michael Jordan, former North Carolina Tar Heels and still Dean Smith favorites, have reunited in an orange Charlotte Bobcats swirl.

What a combo. Brown is perhaps the greatest living basketball coach on the planet and Jordan the NBA's best player so far.

Both have deep North Carolina roots, Jordan all the way to his Wilmington boyhood and game-winning shot against Georgetown in the 1982 NCAA title game and Brown to Frank McGuire's recruiting pipeline from New York City to Chapel Hill and his days as coach of the American Basketball Association's vagabond Carolina Cougars.

Of course, the fresh new Bobcats head coach is 67 and part-owner Michael Jordan hasn't been an all-star in the front office.

The last time MJ made a big move for a franchise savior named "Brown" it was using the first overall pick in the 2001 draft to select high school senior Kwame Brown, the Charleston-born center who, to put it politely, was not the Washington Wizards' difference-maker Jordan had in mind.

But Brown and Jordan can have a positive impact on the Bobcats' future.

They cannot change the disastrous past and two drafts that bounced the wrong way for Charlotte and ruined a chance to spread NBA popularity from Roanoke Rapids to North Augusta.

Not quite Dwight

That late June night of the 2004 NBA draft was a festive occasion as the upstart Bobcats invited fans to a Draft Party at their former home, the Charlotte Coliseum. It was clear to everyone the very first pick in franchise history, and the second overall in the 2004 draft, would be whomever the Orlando Magic passed on, Connecticut's Emeka Okafor or lesser known high school prospect Dwight Howard.

When Orlando snagged Howard, most of the nearly 10,000 gathered Bobcats fans erupted with joy, obviously preferring Okafor and his effort in helping UConn win a national title a few months earlier.

Who knew? Today, Howard is basking in a first-round Eastern Conference playoff conquest of Toronto in which he scored 21 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in Game 5.

Okafor this season averaged 13.8 points and 10.7 rebounds.

Nice.

Just not what you ideally want with the second overall pick in a draft.

The 2004 draft was bad luck. The 2005 draft was a mega-mistake. Bobcats beat writers insist the team had chances to move up from its fifth spot in the first round, which went like this:

--1. Milwaukee Bucks — Andrew Bogut, Utah

--2. Atlanta Hawks — Marvin Williams, North Carolina

--3. Utah Jazz — Deron Williams, Illinois

--4. New Orleans Hornets — Chris Paul, Wake Forest

--5. Bobcats — Raymond Felton, UNC

To quote Charlie Brown, "Ugh!"

The Bobcats were not the only ones who missed on Paul. But they had to know a lot about a Demon Deacon dominating in their own backyard. Thinking they needed more than one key addition, they stuck with their two first-round picks, which also included No. 13 overall Sean May of North Carolina.

This week, Paul almost single-handedly is leading the team formerly known as the Charlotte Hornets to a first-round rout of the Dallas Mavericks.

Fan basis

Howard, 22, led the NBA in rebounds this season (14.2 average) and averaged 22.6 points per game.

Paul, also 22, led the NBA in assists (11.6) and averaged 24.9 points.

The Bobcats went 32-50.

It still can work out. Brown is at his best with a young roster. Maybe the Bobcats are one first-round pick and a good trade away from duplicating the sudden rise of the Atlanta Hawks from laughingstock to playoff participant.

But consider the Howard-Paul possibilities in downtown Charlotte. The Bobcats this week might be a high seed in the watered-down Eastern Conference and good ol' Larry Brown might still be looking for work.

Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com.