Last season, the Charlotte Bobcats made history in their futility, winning only seven of 66 games for a winning percentage of .109, the worst mark in the NBA's long history. On top of that, they weren't even an especially exciting team — they didn't score much, didn't defend with any particular high-risk strategy, and saw irregular flashes from their best young players. While the Bobcats figure to be better in 2012-13 — how could they not be? — that woeful season could haunt them for a while.
Unfortunately, sometimes the NBA forces nostalgia. Every offseason, our friends at NBA.com and Turner Sports put together a highlight reel for every NBA team of the 10 best plays from the season that was. On Wednesday, the NBA's official YouTube page premiered their installment for the Bobcats. It's not the best set of highlights you'll ever see, to put it lightly, and there are few reasons for celebration. At Deadspin, Barry Petchesky provides some helpful context for the plays: only three came from Bobcats wins, and the top play — a game-saving block by rookie Bismack Biyombo — came against the lottery-winner New Orleans Hornets, which means this particular win might have hurt Charlotte in the long term.
Yet, despite, the overall lack of excitement, only a true cynic couldn't derive any pleasure from this video. Yes, there are much better top 10 clips around the internet, and a truly great NBA game could feature more than half of these plays in its 48 minutes. But the fact that any of these plays happened at all, let alone from literally the worst team in league history, is still something worth cheering.
For instance, consider how good a point guard has to be to thread a bounce pass between two defenders in transition (No. 7) and send a defender flying via crossover (No. 6). That Kemba Walker can do these things without being a particularly good NBA player is somewhat mind-boggling, in the grand scheme of things. On top of that, the Biyombo block that ends the reel wasn't only dramatic given the context of the game — it required elite athleticism and a total lack of fear.
Again, these are for the most part not shocking plays to see in an NBA game, but that does not have to be a reason to hate on the Bobcats. Instead, why not celebrate that a team this bad can entertain? That this video remains watchable whatsoever is a testament to the quality of NBA basketball. The worst team ever can still be thrilling.
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