MJ reportedly thinking exit strategy should give Bobcats hop

Assuming there are still at least three Charlotte Bobcats fans on earth, it’s finally time to rejoice.

Yes, the Bobcats lost their seventh straight game Saturday. But two other developments gave fans a strand of long-range hope.

Kentucky’s Anthony Davis showed franchise-salvaging skills at the Final Four. And better yet, word broke that the Bobcats’ owner may sell the team.

He has instructed general manager Rich Cho to junk everything and start rebuilding, according the New York Daily News.

“I told Rich to make us better,” he reportedly said. “If that doesn’t work, and I can’t make a profit in three or four years, I’m selling.”

Later Sunday, the team released a statement saying he was "disturbed to hear the false report."

We all know who “he” is, but I just can’t bring myself to write his name. I’m a hopeless romantic and prefer to remember him for what he was, not for what he has become.

It’s as if he entered a parallel universe, where the better you were at playing the worse you are at everything else (besides selling shoes).

Whatever the reasons, the facts are inarguable. He is the worst basketball executive since Red Klotz.

Even he seems to have finally realized the obvious. Cho was assistant GM at Oklahoma City and was hired before the season. Give him space, and he might do something.

But even if he fails, Bobcats fans win. That would mean Cho’s boss would come to his senses and sell to a more competent owner. At this point, any name in the Charlotte phone book would qualify.

I’d rather see Cho succeed and his boss salvage a shred of post-playing dignity. But given the size of his ego, can you-know-who really let go?

For the first 40 years of his life, everything turned out right when he was in control. His very DNA tells him keep the ball and take the last shot.

That greatness has become a liability. A top-flight free agent doesn’t need the boss’ silhouette hanging over them, nit-picking their every move.

That assumes he would even recognize a top-flight basketball talent if it dunked on his bald head. As chief of basketball operations, he has turned not one but two teams into the Washington Generals.

There’s no need recounting all the Kwame-esque personnel moves with the Wizards and Bobcats. His management style is remarkably simple.

He makes a decision. Acolytes nod. Adam Morrison appears.

Until 2010, he could have always hinted that the owner made him do such things. Then he became the owner. Nobody was happier than Jerry Jones.

No matter how much crap he takes for trying to be both an owner and G.M., there would always be somebody worse. This NBA season makes Jerry look like George Halas.

The Bobcats are at or near the bottom of the league in every statistical category. About the only good news is they can’t really challenge the futility record set by the legendary 1973 76ers.

They went 9-73 in a full season. The lockout has skewed Charlotte’s run at history, though it can still become the fifth team with a single-digit win total.

Alas, at 7-43 the Bobcats have already passed the 1947-48 Providence Steamrollers. They went 6-42. Things got so sad that coach Nat Hickey came out of retirement to play a game.

He went 0-for-6 and had five fouls. That was bad even for a 46-year-old.

I’d like to think Charlotte’s owner hasn’t considered coming out of retirement this year, but you know he has. The scary thing is Rod Higgins, the president of basketball operations/chief yes man, would have told him it was a grand idea.

It must kill you-know-who when he sees Mitch Kupchak, Danny Ainge, John Paxson or Otis Smith. He could destroy them on the court, but as G.M. they make him look like Craig Ehlo.

The best thing would be for him to concentrate on his short game and making underwear commercials. He wants Cho to “follow the Oklahoma City model.”

That sounds good. Now all the Bobcats need is for Kevin Durant to go back into the draft.

Failing that, they’ll have a 25 percent chance of getting the No. 1 draft pick.

If they get Davis, there is still hope for the owner’s legacy.

If they trade him for the rights to Nat Hickey, you’ll know he still can’t let go.