Charlotte Bobcats training camp has already felt odd, and I don't just mean because some Christmas trees were purchased before balls were bounced.
Everyone in the league knew it would get weird when the start of free-agency and the start of training camp was simultaneous. The Bobcats haven't experienced any of the crazy stuff in New Orleans, Orlando and Los Angeles, but that doesn't mean it's not different.
When you go to the trouble of assembling two lottery picks (and that doesn't happen without trading Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson) you expect those guys to be available the first day of camp.
Three days into camp, Kemba Walker is signed. Bismack Biyombo is still watching from a folding chair, and that must be driving him nuts. As soon as practice officially ended (as soon as he could emerge from timeout, kindergarten-style) he was doing wind-sprints from baseline-to-baseline.
It reminded me of the kid the NCAA holds out because he took a hamburger from a booster. But in this case, Biyombo isn't a guilty party. He's just forced to wait the civil-court process in Spain.
-- It was really interesting the day after the draft when Walker announced -- with no prodding -- that he would be pushing D.J. Augustin from Day 1 and that Biyombo would do the same with all the power forwards.
That would have sounded like empty bravado from a rookie, except Walker is a doer, not a talker, and apparently Augustin got the message. Coach Paul Silas volunteered Sunday that he's never seen Augustin more focused. If that's so, it has to be the prodding effect of Walker's presence.
Augustin is not complacent. But he lacks self-confidence, which can bleed into a lack of assertiveness. Challenging him with a clear-and-present alternative has to be healthy.
Remember: Owner Michael Jordan was the driving force in drafting Walker. Jordan saw his own alpha-male persona in Walker. In a season that is mostly about deferred gratification, Walker pushing Augustin could be interesting.
