Posted by tkf:
I am confused with some of the bobcats moves. Ok, they get jason richardson, but now they seem to have buried carrol after signing him to a nice size deal. They never really got a legit backup PG, or any talented bigs to come off the bench.. I never liked sean may really, but I do like that jared dudley kid. I don't know if the cats are a playoff team yet, but they do play hard, that they have done since last year.
Unlike the knicks as you said, they do have roster flexibility and some workable talent... As of this point, I don't think they are as good as the hawks but they are surely better off than the knicks. I agree with that...
The problem with the Cats this season, other than their depth has been the weird dynamic between Okafor and Felton. I don't think those 2 enjoy being on the court at the same time. Mek has been wildly inconsistent and not the dominant defensive player he was last year. Also on offense you seem him trying to establish position, but most of the time Raymond doesn't pass it to him. (Probably because Mek is not a very good offensive player) It seems like Mek is blaming the guards for not getting him the ball and earlier in the year he had a blowup with Sam Vincent in practice.
Also the past 2 games before the Pistons one, Mek was benched the entire 4th quarter in favor of Nazr. The Cats seem to play much better with Nazr on the floor. FINALLY Sam Vincent did some actual coaching and benched Mek. He responded and came back with a huge game against the Pistons. Actually he was VERY impressive on offense and defense. Best game he played all season from start to finish. And coincidently, Raymond didn't play because of an injury he suffered the night before.
So right now we don't know if Raymond is the problem or if it's Okafor. It could be both. And Ray was moved to the 2 guard because he's been inconsistent at the point. But, Ray plays well at the point when Nazr is in the game and Mek is on the bench. It's confusing, I know.
And believe it or not, Jason Richardson is one of the best shooters I have ever seen. Yes he can be streaky, but my God if the Crawful lovers like chitown saw JRich in action every day, they'd realize just how terrible Crawful is. And I was not a JRich fan right away because in the beginning he was the spitting image of Craw. But after the first 5 games of the season, his shooting has picked up and in the last month, his defense has improved too.
Matt Carroll is just in a shooting slump. He doesn't really make that much money where it affects the salary cap situation. I've been disappointed in him.
A huge problem right now is depth. Injuries have hurt the team and no reliable back up point guard. McMinus sucks. Carroll has been inconsistent so there really is nothing good backing up Crash and JRich. Dudley has looked good, but SV plays the starters a TON of minutes so he's lucky if he sees more than 6 or 7 minutes a game. Ryan Hollins a young 6-11 big man has been impressive at times. Problem is he's a youngin and needs to put on some weight. And the final problem is Sam Vincent. He was not a smart choice. MJ has already had to rescue him by giving the team a pep talk and practicing with them. It actually worked and the team played well. SV finally made a good coaching move by benching Okafor in the 4th quarter against Cleveland and Boston. Sent him a message and he responded. Other than that, SV hasn't really done much at all, although he is hamstrung because of lack of depth. He could be fired at the end of the season.
Gerald Wallace is amazing. Light years better than anyone on the Knicks. Well maybe not light years but picture a player with MORE energy than Balkman, who is fearless driving to the hoop with unbelievable speed and power. He also has range on his shot and does make big 3 pointers. His problem is that he's asked to do so much that sometimes he can get a bit out of control. On defense it's been a mystery but for some reason he's been getting beat more often than not this season. Strange. Defense was the Bobcats strong suit last year, this year their defense has been medicore. Although Sam Vincent has invented some sort of weird zone which seems to have worked at times the past 4 games.
Now the reason why I was ticked they lost to the Pistons is because for the first time all season the team has played some great ball on both ends of the floor. It's starting to come together and you can just feel an air of confidence around the team. It was 4 amazing games against good teams. Unlike the Knicks who look like champions one game, and in the next game they lose by 367 points.
And free cigars and advice I get from my brother whose house resembles a humidor. I don't drink much anymore. Always preferred the KGB (back in the day) to drinking. But still, would never turn down a cold beer.
1/14/2008 7:53 PM
