"There's the concept in nuclear science called a "half-life." It's the idea that radioactive material will become half as potent ... then half as potent ... then half as potent over time.

Boris Diaw has a kind of half-life as an NBA power forward. He's been traded twice during his NBA career. Each time he has a great start and a deteriorating finish at his new stop.

It's clear we're in the second half of Diaw's half-life as a Charlotte Bobcat. Not sure how this will turn out, but I suspect what we will see is less than what we have seen.

Diaw is the guy who had a triple-double in Philadelphia in mid-January. He's also the guy who played all of four minutes in the second half (and none in the fourth quarter) of a comeback victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.

Bobcats coach Paul Silas is frustrated with Diaw, and he has the options to work around him if he chooses. Tyrus Thomas can be a starter and D.J. White has shown some promise since arriving from Oklahoma City. Friday was a message to Diaw that either he changes or the circumstances around him will.

When former Bobcats coach Larry Brown was here, and you'd ask why Diaw passes up an open shot or doesn't always rebound, Brown would shrug and say, "You're never going to change him."

Brown was nothing like a defeatist. In fact he was a relentless fixer. Almost compulsively, if he saw a hole in a player's game, he'd set out to fill it. But Brown never did that with Diaw, I suspect for two reasons:

He saw Diaw as a guy with a strikingly wide skill set and he saw Diaw as a guy disinterested in change."