Fear not the moustache

Adam 'Moustache' Morrison entered the NBA to great fanfare; he was the next Larry Bird, the great white hope for a generation tuckered out from watching the Y,B,+F ride around in their Bentley coupes. Hell, he even entered it on a team in need of what he supposedly provided; a top-notch pure scorer unafraid to shoot early and often and unafraid to create his own shots. The Bobcats are not exactly laden down with an excess of star-quality talent for Moustache to take shots away from. I love them with all my heart, even included Gerald Wallace on my All-Lamar team over the summer.

But, Moustache has been something less than advertised. Rather than providing some steady production to the Bobcats' lineup, he provides only a willigness to take shots. For every performance in which he drops 30 like it's absolutely nothing, he's left standing in despair 2 others, wondering why his shots won't drop.
I have heralded him as the White Glenn Robinson, but he has done nothing but show flashes of the awesome streak-shooting that could turn this prophecy true. It could turn out that he is the White Antoine Walker, forever doomed to toss up lines of 8/20 and to look like an oversized (and desperately un-cute) infant.

Ironically, the Bobcats had the solution to their shooting woes in-pocket throughout the entire Morrison saga. Matt Carroll ain't no household name, but he does do what the Bobcats need the most: knock down wide open jump-shots when he is passed the rock. But, the main problem with Carroll is that he is not a star and never-ever-in-a-million-years will be a star. I assume with that assumption that whiteboys with a pretty good stroke from outside that look and play pretty much like a taller Steve Kerr will not suddenly become vogue.
Morrison has the potential, which I know is kind of a filthy word to certain old-guard broadcasters and coaches, to become a star in the league. A star completely opposite his defense-minded counterpart on their roster.

EDIT: As soon as I finished writing this, I saw that the Bobcats beat the Pistons (again), with Moustache contributing 16 from the bench on 6/15 shooting. He was what I thought he was I guess.

Wave of Mutilation

Small Forwards are incapable of deciding a game of basketball. Since Larry Legend, none of the swingmen have done anything but flail helplessly at the monolith of guards and centers. While SFs are often praised for their versatility, that same versatility also condemns them to the life of an outsider--never intimately wrapped up in the outcome of the game. The ghetto of the swingman is one near impossible to break out of. If one does, one does it in style.

On to the next two of my Starting Five.

SF: Gerald Wallace

A ghetto superstar if there ever was one. G Walls was dumped unceremoniously on the Bobcats by the Sacto Kings after he failed to develop as they thought he might.

There, he blossomed into a dunking and occasionally shotblocking force at the SF spot, finally reaching a more perfect state in 2005-6 season. His offensive game has matured to the point of illness, his defensive game on its way.

His dunks have some of the power of Nique, along with some of his explosiveness to and from the ball. If he ever harnesses his physical power more than he has now, watch out.

PF: Josh Smith

He's techinically an SF, but then what the hell do positions mean anyways?

Smith is raw power embodied--his dunks are the most vicious since Shawn Kemp. He is still figuring out how to play the game though.

One night he might block five shots, dunk the ball six times, and make the opposing coach cry twice, but the next he could slip down into the oblivion that has occupied Small Forwarddom since Legend and Nique hung up their spikes.

He will fit into this squad's tempo perfectly, and give us another crazy person to hammer down dunks on unsuspecting opposition.