Category: Charlotte Hornets Blog

The Charlotte Bobcats couldn’t even beat a Knicks team resting most of its starters, finishing with the worst winning percentage in NBA history after a 104-84 loss on Thursday night.

J.R. Smith scored 22 points for the Knicks, who pulled away in the second half to clinch the Eastern Conference’s No. 7 seed and a first-round playoff matchup against No. 2 Miami beginning Saturday.

Gerald Henderson had 21 points for the Bobcats, whose 23rd consecutive loss left them with a winning percentage of .106 (7-59) in the lockout-shortened season. The record was set 39 years ago, when the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers finished 9-73 (.110) in a full regular season.

The Knicks held out Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler and Baron Davis, while Amare Stoudemire had 21 points over two quarters.

— Reported by the Associated Press

It was only a few years ago that Larry Brown had the Bobcats in the playoffs, but Charlotte is poised to become the worst team in league history and the coach had some thoughts Wednesday on what went wrong during his tenure there.

Brown said on “The Dan Patrick Show” that he experienced communication problems with team owner Michael Jordan and then was devastated when he was fired.

“It’s one thing for me to get fired, but I have four or five assistants and they’re out there not able to work,” said the 71-year-old Brown, who was named SMU coach this week. “And it was the worst. And when your hero fires you… I just couldn’t believe it. You know I love the guy, think he’s brilliant, but he’s around people who don’t have a clue. And they won’t challenge him. And the more you challenge him, the more you get from him.

“I was sick about it. I haven’t spoken to him since. I don’t like seeing what’s going on.” …

“When I was able to visit with him and pick his brain, he knows, but he’s got people around him that just make you sick,” Brown said to Patrick. “And it was not comfortable. It was almost like there were spies wondering what you were doing and getting back to him. I should have spent more time face to face with Michael because I do see the passion. I think he’s hurt right now.”

— Reported by ESPN Chicago

Charlotte forward Tyrus Thomas was ejected from the Bobcats’ game with the Wizards for throwing an elbow at Washington’s James Singleton late in the first quarter on Monday night.

Thomas was dribbling and Singleton was defending him when the Charlotte forward elbowed him with 3.6 seconds remaining in the quarter. He was immediately called for a flagrant 2 foul and ejected.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Charlotte Bobcats President of Basketball Operations Rod Higgins announced today that the team has signed forward Jamario Moon.  Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Moon will wear No. 9.

A four-year NBA veteran, the 6-8 Moon has played in 278 career games for the Raptors, Heat, Clippers and Cavaliers, with career averages of 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds.  He was signed by the Raptors as a rookie free agent prior to the 2007-08 season and went on to earn Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors for January 2008 before being selected to the All-Rookie Second Team following the season.  Moon also participated in the Rookie-Sophomore Challenge and the Slam Dunk Contest during the 2008 NBA All-Star Weekend.

In 2010-11, Moon averaged 4.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in 59 total games split between the Cavaliers and the Clippers.  He saw action in 40 games for Cleveland, averaging 4.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in 19.1 minutes, before being traded to the Clippers along with Mo Williams in exchange for Baron Davis and a first-round draft pick.  With the Clippers, he averaged 3.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 19 games played.

Moon becomes the 52nd player this season called up from the NBA D-League, where he played for the Los Angeles D-Fenders.  In 12 games this season, Moon averaged 17.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks in 37.8 minutes.

After playing one season at Meridian Community College in Mississippi, Moon began his professional career in 2001-02 with the Mobile Revelers of the NBA D-League.  He also played for teams in the USBL, ABA, WBA and CBA, as well as in Mexico during the six-year period before he joined the Raptors in 2007-08.

Charlotte Bobcats forward Corey Maggette will miss the remainder of the 2011-12 season due to the continued strain in his right Achilles tendon that he initially suffered on March 30 against Denver.  He missed a total of four games with the Achilles strain from March 31-April 6, but did come back to play in the Bobcats’ last three contests in a reserve role.

Maggette appeared in 32 games this season with averages of 15.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists, while connecting on .856 from the free-throw line. In January, he missed 19 consecutive games with a left hamstring injury and one with a lower back contusion.

Maggette was acquired by the Bobcats from Milwaukee as part of three-team trade in which the team also received the draft rights to Bismack Biyombo from Sacramento in exchange for sending Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston and the draft rights to Tobias Harris to Milwaukee on June 23, 2011.

Charlotte Bobcats forward Eduardo Najera underwent successful surgery this afternoon to repair the fractured frontal bone in his forehead he suffered last night from an inadvertent elbow during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks. The surgery was performed at Presbyterian Hospital by Dr. Daniel Spagnoli, who specializes in maxillofacial surgery.

The injury occurred at the 11:07 mark of the second quarter and Najera was immediately taken to Froedtert Hospital, where a CT scan showed no brain trauma but confirmed the fracture. He was later released and flew back to Charlotte with the team.

He is expected to miss the remainder of the 2011-12 season.

Bobcats Sports & Entertainment Chairman Michael Jordan today released the following statement:

“I was disturbed to hear the false report that I intend to sell my majority interest in the Charlotte Bobcats.  I am 100% committed to building the Bobcats into a contender and have no plans to sell the team.”

Bobcats Sports & Entertainment owns the Charlotte Bobcats and operates Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena.