Rick Bonnell

Rick Bonnell: What's the deal on that espn.com blurb about Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw?

I don't spend much time on Deadspin. It's often funny, generally outrageous, and well-crafted. But there's a cynicism in the way they blur news-as-entertainment that has always made me uneasy about what makes the Web the Web.

The Charlotte Bobcats start their season Wednesday in Boston against the Celtics. Observer NBA writer Rick Bonnell looks at five key questions the 2009-10 team faces.

Rick Bonnell: His contract with the Bobcats ends after this season. What would be worse entering free agency? Aging player who missed most of last season following surgery? Or aging player with a bum wrist?

I've heard from more than one referee - and long before this labor dispute - that NBA Commissioner David Stern talks dismissively to the refs as a group. They deserve more respect.

Rick Bonnell: If I were running the Charlotte Bobcats, I'd take precisely the same approach to Alexis Ajinca's contract that current management has: I'd do nothing.

If you're reading this column, there's a good chance you saw the story I wrote in Friday's Observer about second-year Charlotte Bobcats point guard D.J.

Sean May left Charlotte Tuesday as a punch line. I'm still deciding whether that says more about May or Charlotte.

Rick Bonnell: You know that prediction I made that the Charlotte Bobcats would make the playoffs next season? I might need a mulligan on that one.

Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown says it's always good when a draft pick fills a need, but that need shouldn't trump talent in making a pick.