The most interesting thing MJ said was....

Bobcats owner Michael Jordan said a lot of things Wednesday in an hour-long session with Observer reporters and editors. Some of it he had said previously -- he's committed to Charlotte, he thinks he can lure a top-flight free agent here and he's willing to spend whatever money it takes to make Charlotte one of the Eastern Conference's better teams.

All of that sounds good and I certainly believe Jordan believes it. But of course the proof will be in the pudding, and that's awhile away.

What I found most interesting in Jordan's comments? The fact that he thinks Gerald Henderson can "very well be an All-Star in two years."

Now MJ has a tendency to get optimistic about the Bobcats -- remember, he said before the season he thought the 2010-11 team could go "deep" into the playoffs. But Jordan certainly knows shooting guards, and Henderson had a real burst in the second half of this season.

I still remember watching Henderson score the final seven points of the game to beat Milwaukee a couple of weeks ago, and he had 32 points in another game recently. He has been scoring close to 20 regularly. Henderson has improved his outside shot dramatically, and the days when Larry Brown buried him deep on the bench seem a long way away. And he can get to the basket with impunity.

Still, an all-star? Here's some of what MJ said about Henderson:

"I think his confidence, in terms of taking a game-winning shot, is a plus. You can't teach that... He has the skill level. You see the explosiveness. You see the signs. Now he has to show that desire to improve and work at it and we as an orgranization have to provide the motivation to do that. He could very well be an All-Star in two years. Not now, but he could be."

So if MJ is right... Let's say Henderson becomes one of the best shooting guards in the East. And MJ also is able to lure one top-flight free agent in the next couple of years (Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, someone of that caliber).

Well, then you've got something. Then, you've got a championship contender.

CP3 and MJ? Now that would be a pair

Point guard Chris Paul can't opt out of his contract with the New Orleans Hornets for another year -- and there's no guarantee CP3 would do so even then.

But the North Carolina native will provoke a whole new flurry of rumors after what he said today in a phone interview with The Associated Press when asked if he might like to play for Michael Jordan and his Charlotte Bobcats.

To quote the AP story, which you can find in full here:

"It would definitely be something to think about," the New Orleans guard said Tuesday when asked about the potential to sign with the Jordan-owned Charlotte Bobcats in 2012. "But right now it's all about trying to win a championship here with the Hornets."

In a phone interview with The Associated Press to promote the Jordan Brand Classic high school basketball All-Star game on Saturday in Charlotte, Paul alternated praise for Jordan while stressing that his immediate concern is the Hornets' impending first-round playoff series.

Paul has had some issues with the Hornets -- mostly related to how serious they are about winning -- but those came before New Orleans' run to the playoff this season. Paul allegedly said in a wedding toast last summer that it'd be great if he, Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudamire all ended up as New York Knicks (and now the other 2 are already there).

But Paul coming to Charlotte? And as a free agent, so the team didn't have to mortgage the future to trade for him? Now that would be the best of all possible worlds for Jordan, whose regime so far has been marked by cost-cutting, not by big-time free agent signing.

I'd love to see it, and it sounds like Paul is not adverse to the idea. A whole lot would have to happen between now and the summer of 2012 for it to actually occur, but for Bobcat fans disappointed with this season that ends Wednesday night with a meaningless home game against Atlanta, it's a nice dream.

Panthers should take Cam Newton

I wrote my column today on why Carolina should use its No.1 overall draft choice on Cam Newton.

I started thinking seriously about this No.1 pick about three months ago, when The Observer sent me to the Orange Bowl to take a firsthand look at Stanford QB Andrew Luck (who then was thought to be the likely No.1 pick as long as he came out of Stanford early, which of course he didn't). I loved Luck, and I still think he has Peyton Manning potential. That would have been Carolina's ideal scenario, but he stayed in school. Good for him, bad for Carolina.

After that, I bounced around. I had fallen in love with the idea of Luck coming to Carolina, and so I wasn't really sure what the Panthers should do next when that option was taken away. I used to think Newton's teammate, DT Nick Fairley, would be the best selection. I went through a time where I thought trading down might be the best option for Carolina (and this certainly remains a viable one).

But I've finally settled on Newton, because he plays the most important position on the field, I don't think Jimmy Clausen is the answer, Newton is incredibly athletic and I see Michael Vick's (on-field) potential in him.

That's where I'd go with this pick. Best player, most important position, Heisman Trophy winner, national championship winner. It doesn't seem that complicated, does it?

Howard in Charlotte? And other notes

The Observer's Rick Bonnell has a very interesting blog today about an incident last night with Orlando center Dwight Howard, who apparently (in a teasing way, but still) referred to the possibility of him becoming a Bobcat one day.

Now wouldn't that be something? I wonder if Michael Jordan would spend what it takes to get him. Howard is the best center in the game right now -- he was chosen with the No.1 overall pick in 2004, right before the Bobcats picked Emeka Okafor at No.2. Surround him with a bunch of complementary players and one really good one and you've got a title contender every year.

So it's worth exploring, for sure, and I'd love to see it. Howard sounds like he was just messing around last night, but behind a lot of jokes there's a grain of truth. I don't see him spending his entire career in Orlando -- that just doesn't happen much anymore.

A couple of other notes:

-- The Bobcats are officially out of the playoff hunt now after losing to Orlando (but much more respectably than those horrid losses to Washington and Cleveland).

-- Gerald Henderson has looked more and more like a player over the past month. It was only a matter of time before he had a breakout game like his 32-point performance Wednesday.

-- My colleague Tom Sorensen is at the Masters this weekend. Watch for his reports from there, as long as those from the legendary Greens (Ron Jr. and Ron Sr.), who are two of the best golf writers in America. I love reading all their stuff.

Greatest sports moment in NC history is....

I wrote a column about the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame trying to determine what the best sports moment in N.C. history is. (They want your vote at www.ncshof.org).

It's an admirable effort, although somewhat awkward since they don't differentiate between team and individual performances (or even a meeting, in one case). But a panel of experts did narrow an original list of 22 down to five, and you're voting (once each, please) on the final five.

Here's the original list of 22 moments (which also left out some great stuff, of course, including Michael Jordan's shot to beat Georgetown in the 1982 NCAA title game and Duke's 2010 thrilling win over Butler in the NCAA final).

I have put in bold-face the 5 finalists that the hall of fame named. Most of them can be found on YouTube, of course, including Jim Beatty's four-minute mile in 1962 and highlights of the various basketball games.

What do you think is the best moment of these? Or would you pick something else not even on the list?

The N.C. Sports Hall of Fame's list of 22 greatest sports moments in the state's history (the five finalists are bold-faced)


October 16, 1895: College football’s first forward pass, thrown by North Carolina in a game against Georgia.
January 1, 1942: The Rose Bowl football game is played in Durham less than a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Oregon State defeated Duke, 12-7.
July 1, 1946: N.C. State hires Everett Case, the driving force behind the Tobacco Road basketball phenomenon.
September 26, 1948: North Carolina defeats Texas, considered the nation’s best college football team, with Choo-Choo Justice playing a prominent role.
May 8, 1953: The Atlantic Coast Conference is voted into existence with seven original institutional members.
March 8, 1957: North Carolina maintained its perfect record with a controversial win over Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament.
March 23, 1957: North Carolina defeated Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain to win the NCAA basketball championship with a 32-0 record.
February 10, 1962: North Carolina’s Jim Beatty became the first man to break the 4-minute indoor mile (3:58.9) in Los Angeles.
March 2, 1974: North Carolina’s basketball team trailed Duke by 8 with 17 seconds left, and won dramatically in overtime, 96-92.
March 9, 1974: No. 1-ranked N.C. State defeated Maryland in “the greatest college basketball game ever played” for an NCAA berth.
March 23, 1974: N.C. State snapped UCLA’s 38-game post-season streak in double overtime to advance to the national title game.
April 4, 1983: In what some regard as the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history, N.C. State beat Houston for the national title.
July 4, 1984: Richard Petty won his 200th and final automobile race beating Cale Yarborough by one foot at the finish line at Daytona.
March 30, 1991: Duke upset UNLV en route to the NCAA crown the year after losing to the Runnin’ Rebels by 30 points in the title game.
March 28, 1992: Christian Laettner hit a dramatic turn-around shot just before the buzzer and Duke beat Kentucky, 104-103, in the East finals.
March 15, 1997: Dean Smith passed Adolph Rupp for his 877th career victory, beating Colorado in the East Region in Winston-Salem.
January 18, 2004: Just two seasons after a 1-15 record, the Carolina Panthers defeated Philadelphia and advanced to the Super Bowl
February 13, 2006: Greensboro’s Joey Cheek became one of North Carolina’s most unlikely heroes winning the gold in Olympic speed skating.
June 19, 2006: The Carolina Hurricanes beat Edmonton, 3-1, in a dramatic seventh game in Raleigh to bring the Stanley Cup to the state.
March 24, 2007: Anthony Atkinson scored 10 points in 39 seconds to lead Barton College to the NCAA Division II basketball crown.
September 1, 2007: Appalachian State shocked the college football world with a 34-32 victory over fifth-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor.
April 6, 2009: North Carolina’s basketball team won its fifth national championship beating Michigan State, 89-72, in Detroit.

Worst title game I've ever seen

Don't know about you, but I wish I had a couple of hours of my life back after watching that Connecticut-Butler cringe-fest Monday night.

Congrats to UConn -- I guess -- after surviving, 53-41, to win the NCAA men's title. But what an ugly, awful game. To watch Butler shoot the ball last night was to watch Roseanne Barr butcher the national anthem. Or like watching a 0-0 soccer game or a 3-0 NFL game with 14 turnovers.

Basketball is predicated on making shots. Neither team could make them in the first half, and only UConn could in the second. The fact that Butler didn't score a single point inside the paint for the game's first 33 minutes still blows my mind.

UConn's defense was great, and it got the Bulldogs panicking after about blocked shot No.6. But geez... 53-41? I've seen a lot of first halves where that was the score.

This game was a giant letdown in a lot of ways, and I didn't really have a dog in the fight. I would have liked to have seen Butler win just because I'd like to see a mid-major win one at some point, but more than that, I would have liked to have seen a game on the order of the Duke-Butler thriller from 2010.

No such luck. At one point, Butler was 8-for-50 from the field. The Bulldogs' story no longer felt like "Hoosiers." It felt like a bad horror film.

Bobcats blow one, and I think they're done in playoff chase

The Charlotte Bobcats' playoff hopes are still technically alive, but I believe they officially ended Sunday night with a 97-91 home loss to a pretty terrible Washington team.

Washington entered the game 2-35 on the road this season -- 2-35!! -- and yet now has its third win courtesy of a Bobcats team that couldn't keep the Wizards out of the paint. Washington outscored Charlotte 58-36 in the paint, which allowed the Bobcats to waste good performances by D.J. Augustin (21 points, seven assists) and Matt Carroll (a season-high 26, including 17 in a dazzling fourth quarter for him and a bad fourth quarter for everyone else). Washington big man Andray Blatche (25 points, 17 rebounds) absolutely destroyed the Bobcats.

This isn't a huge surprise, of course -- Charlotte handcuffed itself this season with the Gerald Wallace trade. But to lose to the Wizards?! Charlotte had a great chance to gain a game on Indiana Sunday (the Pacers lost to New Orleans) but instead stayed two behind with six Bobcat games to go (and four for Indiana).

I write in my column for Monday's newspaper that the Bobcats would need to go 5-1 or 6-0 to surpass the Pacers (who also hold the tiebreaker over Charlotte), but that it ain't going to happen. No way this team can go on a run like that, not with games against Orlando and Miami remaining. They would need a near-total collapse by the Pacers and some sustained great play over the next nine days -- it's just too much to ask.

No, this loss sealed it in my opinion. There's realistic way to catch Indiana now. Charlotte might make it close for a couple of days and get a few more wins -- especially if Stephen Jackson returns from his hamstring injury this week as he hopes to -- but it's just too much ground to make up.