Bobcats Owner Embarrassing Performance on CNBC

There were no highlights and several lowlights courtesy of Bobcats owner Bob Johnson's appearance on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." Johnson was a guest on the show along with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to discuss the NBA's job cuts, but virtually none of the five minute conversation was about the nine percent reduction in the NBA workforce. Right from the start Bob Johnson joked, "Mark should go first, he's got the better team." It's impossible to imagine the reverse occurring. The mere notion that owners such as Cuban, Jerry Richardson, or Jerry Jones making statements such as this are preposterous. Even though few would argue with Mr. Johnson, making your team the butt of a joke just as the season begins causes even Donald Sterling to mockingly chuckle.

It would only get worse for Charlotteans and Bobcat fans... Johnson would then go on to avoid a question about ticket sales, preferring to focus on the team. "I gave Michael Jordan a blank check and he exceeded it." Exceeded what? The Bobcats are one of only five teams below the NBA salary cap. He then goes on to point out that the team just needs to, "put the right players on the field." Field? FIELD? Bob, it's a basketball team you bought. We know you never cared about the team, preferring to look at this as just another business venture, but can you at least get the playing surface right? Johnson would then go on to refer to the improved health of "Scott May." Again, it's impossible to imagine Cuban calling Dirk Nowitzki, "Deiter," but this is just another in the mounting pile of reasons why people call this team second-rate and a minor league team.

At the conclusion of the discussion Johnson makes an astounding recommendation to wealthy investors, "Here's what you do, you buy beach front assets like the NBA. There's only 30 NBA teams. Buy an NBA team." Cuban was quick to point out that his team was not for sale, but Johnson seems to imply one of two things: either he wants to sell his NBA team or he's happy and not incurring as much in losses as he wants the city to believe. Either way, Bob Johnson's performance did very little to endear himself with the fans and could easily have driven even more away. This city will not embrace the Bobcats as long as he's the owner and his name is on the jersey. With a group of young, talented, classy players it's a shame that they'll probably not get their just due in this city, because they have an apathetic owner who cares more about his socks than his NBA team. Start the movement:



Original video can be found here.