Charlotte Bobcats Byron Mullens suffers ankle sprain

The Charlotte Bobcats frontcourt is a glaring weakness for this team, and it just got a whole lot weaker with the news that starting center Byron Mullens suffered a “severe” ankle sprain in the Bobcats 110-88 loss to the Denver Nuggets a couple of nights ago. The 23-year-old has clearly been the Bobcats best big man, and it can be argued that he is the team’s only legitimate big man.

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Mullens has posted big numbers with an average of 12 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game. He left the loss against the Nuggets late in the fourth quarter, but he made a huge impact on the game with a big double-double of 16 points and 14 rebounds. He also dished out four assists, which is certainly no easy feat for a center. Mullens also blocked two shots, added a steal, and drained a couple of three pointers in a truly complete game.

One of the things that makes Mullens so unique and impressive is his ability to stretch the floor, because he isn’t your average center. Mullens does things that other big men can’t, and it makes his loss even tougher for the Bobcats to handle beyond the fact that there is little depth at the position.

Hopefully Hakim Warrick can be the ideal “next man up”, and he does show flashes at times. There is currently no timetable on Byron Mullens’s return, but he was seen on crutches and the prognosis doesn’t look good at all due to the classification of “severe”.

Head coach Mike Dunlap told Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer , “From my eyes it’s not good.”

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