"You know you're a bad basketball team when the players start turning their gear bags inside-out, to hide the team logo and name tags in hotel lobbies.

That was Fred Carter's enduring memory of the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers. Decades later, Carter still takes an odd pride in the distinction, "best player on the worst team in NBA history.'' He hopes no one from the Charlotte Bobcats gets the chance to replace him that way.

The 76ers finished 9-72. The Bobcats are now 3-22, nearing the midpoint of a lockout-shortened 66-game schedule. The Bobcats are a long way from worst ever, and will probably avoid any such indignity, but everything of late suggests a bad moon rising:

They have the worst winning percentage in the NBA at 12 percent, and none of the three teams they beat has a winning record.

They have the NBA's worst point-differential (minus-13.6 per game) by a wide margin – nearly three points a game worse than the Washington Wizards, who have already beaten them twice.

They're on a 12-game losing streak – longest in the NBA – and open a three-game home stand tonight against the Chicago Bulls. Chicago is the best team in the Eastern Conference and best road team in the East with 13 victories away from Chicago.

Fun, huh? Carter, 66, played against Bobcats coach Paul Silas and respects Silas'work as a coach. Carter says Silas'people skills – he's known for keeping players confident and positive – will be crucial riding out this mess.

Losing can start for a variety of reasons, Carter says, but losing's most dangerous quality is how it feeds off itself.

"I guarantee every team in the league looks at Charlotte on their schedule and says, 'That's a win.''' said Carter, now semi-retired after stints as a coach and television analyst. "When the Bobcats look at their schedule, there's no one they can pencil in with, 'That's a win.'"