For those of you who follow the NBA very closely, you’ll know that it isn’t a great time to be a Charlotte Bobcats fan. For those of you who don’t follow the NBA very closely, there’s a fairly new team in Charlotte, NC. They’re called the Bobcats. They’re beginning their fourth season in the NBA, and they’ve got some problems.

Many of their problems are the same as those of any expansion team, and like any expansion team, they’ve been building their team through the draft. They have some good young players, but now two of their best young players are out with serious injuries. Sean May, who was a national champion with North Carolina in 2005, will miss the upcoming season with a knee injury. Adam Morrison, the All-American from Gonzaga University has a torn ACL and will have surgery that could keep him out for the whole season as well.

If you look at the pre-season roster for Charlotte, there are a lot of missing pieces, but there are also two familiar names, especially for Hoya fans. Othella Harrington and Jameel Watkins are both listed on the 17-man roster from their pre-season loss to Phoenix on Sunday. NBA rosters have to be limited to 15 players by the day before the season begins: October 29.

Harrington has had a good NBA career since his rookie year in 1996-97, but Watkins has never made an NBA roster. This might be his best shot. Watkins has been playing overseas since he finished his career at Georgetown in 2000. In that year, Watkins was a graduate student who had earned a fifth year of NCAA eligibility. At that time the Hoyas were in a difficult stretch of their history, but Watkins was helpful in the Hoyas’ Big East Tournament run to the semifinals, highlighted by their win over Syracuse.

Kevin Braswell and Lee Scruggs were the two most memorable players from that season, but Watkins did a lot of the dirty work that helped those two make some headlines for the Hoyas. Watkins was always polite and very quiet, but it would be nice to see him get at least a cup of coffee in the league. He still has to beat out two players for the last roster spot, but it would certainly be an excellent example of perseverance if Jameel could find a home in Charlotte. It would also add a silver lining to his career as a Hoya to finally see his NBA jersey hanging on the wall in McDonough.