Who should take the final shot?

[W_HAMILTON]

THIS SEASON: Okafor has gotten 10 or more shots in 3 of 16 games.

That's sad, and inexcusable.

[BigSlam]

If he's offensively limited, what the hell do you call someone that shoots 2-15? That's bs.

You seem hell bent on making this an "Okafor Vs Felton" thing, like you did in the game thread making it a "Wallace Vs Felton" thing.

I'm not looking at it that way though. I'm looking at it as Okafor the individual and as an individual, he's weak offensively. The points he gets are rearely from well executed moves. Rather, they are from offensive put backs (something he is very good at) or junk points. That's not a bad thing, it's what he is, but what he is not is an offensive, go to post move Mr Reliable type. Heck, if anything he should buy Felton a steak for jacking up so many shots! Felton misses so often that it puts the ball right in Okafor's comfort zone of pulling down offensive boards and scoring!!

On that - Walt, of the games Emeka had scoring shots that you listed, I wonder how many offensive boards he pulled down?

Finally, I'll tell you what I think is bs.

You are getting paid $72 million dollars and you want to use the excuse of "I'm not ready when the ball comes to me?". You are playing a game that only involves you for around 30-35 mins TOTAL and you want to tell me you can't concentrate for that span of time and always expect, no matter what, that the ball might come to you? What the hell are you doing out there for 35 mins? Looking at the faces in the stands? Wondering how the book you are half way through is going to end? You should ALWAYS be ready. It's your freaking job to be ready. You are getting paid a boat load of money to be ready.

That is maybe the worst excuse/biggest cop out I have ever heard.

[W_HAMILTON]

I bring Felton up because he's the one that consistently gets a ton of shots, even though he is subpar offensively. If we can justify giving him 15 shots, why can't we give Okafor more shots? As I said, if you give Okafor 15 shots, odds are he will hit more than just two of them.

And that's another reason I bring him up. You can't say Okafor is "offensively limited" and therefore should have his shots restricted, when the same can be said for Felton. If we based the amount of shots someone takes on how efficiently they score, that would be one thing. But we obviously don't, or Felton shooting 2-15 wouldn't be allowed either.

[Walt Cronkite]

On that - Walt, of the games Emeka had scoring shots that you listed, I wonder how many offensive boards he pulled down?

Finally, I'll tell you what I think is bs.

You are getting paid $72 million dollars and you want to use the excuse of "I'm not ready when the ball comes to me?". You are playing a game that only involves you for around 30-35 mins TOTAL and you want to tell me you can't concentrate for that span of time and always expect, no matter what, that the ball might come to you? What the hell are you doing out there for 35 mins? Looking at the faces in the stands? Wondering how the book you are half way through is going to end? You should ALWAYS be ready. It's your freaking job to be ready. You are getting paid a boat load of money to be ready.

That is maybe the worst excuse/biggest cop out I have ever heard.

I'm going to start on that list, but I wanted to get a response out first so someone could chime in.

Re:worst excuse/biggest cop out ever--I know, it sounds totally lame. I play hoops for free, but I think I would still screw up some catches if I was ballin and a ball gets dropped into my lap when I'm trying to get position to grab a board, or set a screen for someone, or make a cut or am in unfamiliar location. I'm not trying to makes excuses for Okafor, he drops a lot of passes that he seemingly shouldn't and when he does grab them he's been so freakin soft with the rock this year it hardly matters. I didn't watch Bobcat year one games because they weren't on television, so I can't argue against Hamilton's allegation that in each subsequent season he's dropped the ball more and more because he expects to receive it less and less. It is the season that he committed the fewest TOs, though I kinda feel like a statistician would be just as likely to rack up a bad pass to a pg as the guy that fumbled it.

All I'm saying is I would've totally disregarded the idea that he drops passes because he isn't ready for the ball 3 months ago, but having been playing hoops a lot lately, it actually made some sense. If my established role (either team relegated or personal) has become "I have teammates that need to take a lot of shots, I can more easily make the team better by trying to convert those misses than by demanding the ball on a block", then it is going to throw you off when the ball comes your way but you're fighting for rebounding position instead of a high % shot area. I'm going to be specifically watching fumbles in the next game and try to determine if they seem to come from set plays or broken/in transition ones. If Okafor is dropping the ball from set plays, then it's totally indefensible--he should be expecting the rock. Otherwise, I'm really not so sure.

[Walt Cronkite]

[quote="Walt Cronkite"]So we believe Okafor has regressed from just a year ago? Last year, he scored 20 or more against:
Chris Kaman--25 points 9-18 7 orebs
Ben Wallace--21 points on 10-13 3 orebs
Tim Duncan- 21 points on 10-14 6 orebs
Ben Wallace again-21 points on 10-13 2 orebs
Beans and the GSW-20 points on 9-14 6 orebs
Kenyon Martin (but no Camby)- 20 points on 8-167 orebs
Horford-20 points on 6-115 orebs
Dikembe-23 points on 10-134 orebs
Przybilla tha Killa-21 points on 9-111 oreb
Ilgauskas-25 points on 9-14 2 orebs
Jefferson-20 points on 8-11 1 oreb

This does not include a 25 point performance against Jeff Foster and the Pacers (10-14)7 orebs, a Brendan HAywood-less Wizards team where he got 20 (9-13)5 orebs, 24 points against the Knicks (11-19)5 orebs and 24 (11-14)0 orebs against a 76er team resting for the playoffs.

22 games 15+ points:
Mil-17 points, 7 orebs, 7-11 fg
Mia-16 points, 3 orebs, 7-13 fg
Bos-15 points, 2 orebs, 6-13 fg
Cle-19 points, 2 orebs, 6-13 fg
Orl-15 points, 5 orebs, 7-14 fg
NYK-17 points, 2 orebs, 6-10 fg
Mil-17 points, 3 orebs, 8-15 fg
NJN-17 points, 2 orebs, 8-9 fg
DET-19 points, 6 orebs, 8-11 fg
DEN-19 points, 4 orebs, 7-12 fg
DAL-19 points, 3 orebs, 9-16 fg
PHI-17 points, 9 orebs, 8-12 fg
PHO-18 points, 2 orebs, 7-15 fg
WAS-17 points, 5 orebs, 8-11 fg
NYK- 18 points, 3 orebs, 5-15 fg
Min-19 points, 3 orebs, 7-9 fg
GSW-16 points, 4 orebs, 3-13 fg
ATL- 16 points, 2 orebs, 6-13 fg
SEA- 19 points, 2 orebs, 8-12 fg
Tor- 18 points,3 orebs, 9-14 fg
Tor-15 points, 1 oreb, 5-6 fg
Bos-17 points, 1 oreb, 8-13 fg

THIS SEASON: Okafor has gotten 10 or more shots in 3 of 16 games. In those games he's produced 16 points (against the Knicks 7-11 5 orebs), 16 points (against the Bucks and Bogut, a good defender. He went 7-13 9 orebs), and 16 points against the Raptors (7-10) [b]6 orebs[b/]

[W_HAMILTON]

So, in only 7 of the 22 games did Okafor grab more than his season average in offensive rebounds.

And...

In the games which he averaged more than his season average in offensive rebounds, he shot 57%.
In the remaining games, he shot either 56% or 57%, depending on how you want to round it up.

So, I guess that one can be thrown out the window as well.

It's silly the lengths some people will go to try and beat the guy down and justify him being completely ignored in our offense.

[fluffernutter]

I'm bored to death of the Okafor/Felton discussions. I think they are both playing well enough that we can essentially disregard them as major problems for the team. The problem lies elsewhere... SG, PF, GWall being inconsistent, slowly gelling offense, bench play, etc.

One thing that struck me though.

Is it really true that the Bobcats have NEVER had a game-winning shot?

That's incredible if so. But off hand... I can't think of any!

I can remember Felton draining a 3 vs. Cleavland to tie... and hitting some other shots to tie (or foul shots)... but never a winner. Nor Jrich. Nor MC. Hmmm. Jrich vs. Celtics, didn't he hit a go-ahead 2? Maybe not, perhaps we were leading last year when that happened... Hmmm...

Nobody? Ever? Really? It might be true.

Wow, we really don't have a good clutch guy. I mean, we really really don't.

[e4Nf6]

Ham's point about Mek's shots/turnovers is interesting....

From a strategic standpoint your behavior as a player is different while following a driving player to the hoop if you expect him to pass or to shoot...

If you expect him to pass, you try to make space, i.e. move away from your defender...

If you expect him to shoot, you try to pin your guy in so you can get the rebound, i.e move toward your defender...

If you are boxing your guy out trying to get a rebound it makes it more difficult to receive a pass. because your defender is right there next to you.

[DaBassSource]

I'm sorry I think this Mek thing is crap... Mek is soft that is it plain and simple. Not only does he not expect passes when he should...when he gets the ball he goes up soft allowing himself to get blocked or pushed into a bad shot...if you give him 15 chances for shots....he would make 5, get fouled 3,TO 2, get blocked 2,miss 3...and this is all from with-in 5 feet of the basket. what would that look like on the stat sheet given that he shoots about 50% FT...and he's on my Fantasy Team.....while I'm not looking at the stat sheet that sounds about like I see him play most games...but I guess that only shows up as 5/10 so I would guess he need about 20+ touches to get his 15 shots...

and please don't point out Rays flaws I know them all...they have been stated 1000 times...

If Mek just played with an attitude maybe I would not even notice the rest...he just seems soft out there ....

[fatlever]

first... ammo feeds the post more than any player on the team, per minute. okafor should really buy ammo a steak dinner.

second... i found it interesting the comments that henry williams made the other night about mek and its the same thing i've always been saying... after mek made an aggressive post up he got the ball and scored. i dont remember the exact quote but HW basically said, mek doesnt get enough shots but a lot of that has to do with the fact that he does not aggressively pursue the ball when posting. if you aggressively ask for the ball, you know what, a lot of times it ends up in your hands.

its true, i'll sit at games and watch mek the entire time on offense and he is ridiculously passive when trying to get post position on the block. there are a lot of times the ball swings to his side (in an obvious post up for him) and he gets pushed 15 feet from the basket, out of position, so the ball reverses to the other side.

conversely i've seen random players like joe alexander and richard hamilton looking likepro wrestlers out there fighting for a spot on a post up. i dont think i can ever recall a time where okafor got into a little tussle with a defender when trying to fight for position. he simply doesnt do it aggressively enough for a player his size.

all that being said, i still would like to see okafor get more shots and felton get less shots. we dont look into the post enough and that goes for everyone, not just okafor. post up jrich, post up wallace, post up ammo as well.

ill say this... i always end up playing pg with my hack buddies, many of them with hands similar to okafor.... STONE. you know what, after they drop a few passes, they get cut off. i'm just sayin' a missed shot is better than a turnover. there aint no offensive rebound chance when the ball rolls out of bounds.

go okafor!!!!! no seriously.

i expect a big night from mekwarrior.

[BigSlam]

We are trying to put a square peg into a round hole.

Fact is EO50 is not an offensive post player. We might as well tell Hollins to hang out on the 3pt line, have him hoist shots from out there and turn him into a jump shooter.

It would end in similar results.

[Rich4114]

I heard the same thing Fats heard about HW saying Okafor's not agressive enough. Now that you mention it, that's actually the best explanation I've heard yet as to why he doesn't get a lot of shots. Not only does he not demand or ask for the ball, he's not even expecting it. He takes some bad shots (took a horrendous one tonight) but maybe someone needs to light a fire under his ass. Dunk on every attempt, and demand the ball. Maybe then he'll get more shots and become a bit of a weapon for us.