RealGM

We often talk about DJA needing team mates who can keep up with him on the break, but are those players in the league? Not just on the Bobcats roster, but in the NBA?

If you could hand pick a SG, SF, PF and C to play with DJA and maximize his speed/handles, who would they be?

Then, considering you would have to hand pick them, could it be that DJA is TOO fast? Maybe he needs to dial it back a little to align more with his team mates 5th and 6th gears rather than breaking in his own 8th gear? It's good to see him in 8th gear when it's a one on one break, but in transition offense maybe he needs to dial it back so others can keep up with him?

Thoughts?

PG: Augustin
SG: Monta Ellis
SF: Andre Iguodala
PF: Lamarcus Aldridge
C: Dwight Howard

Run Leandro Barbosa, TJ Ford, and Tyrus Thomas from the bench.

Glad we don't have that lineup because I could never watch another game. I'd have a heart attack from the excitement.

Oh yea, your other question:

IF DJA can improve on shaking people, he won't need to wait on everyone else to catch up. He needs to learn that move Hendo used on Matthews last night.

Hmmm, i don't know if i would ask him to slow it down a little, that's like asking Jack to not shoot as much. Good luck with that. If you have speed, use it. If i'm coach i'm demanding the players to RUN RUN and RUN...with DJ.

Players on our roster that can keep up with DJA:

Hendo
Tyrus

Handpicked:

Wade, Bron, Griffin, Dwight

Jaruff wrote:PG: Augustin
SG: Monta Ellis
SF: Andre Iguodala
PF: Lamarcus Aldridge
C: Dwight Howard

Run Leandro Barbosa, TJ Ford, and Tyrus Thomas from the bench.

Glad we don't have that lineup because I could never watch another game. I'd have a heart attack from the excitement.

Oh yea, your other question:

IF DJA can improve on shaking people, he won't need to wait on everyone else to catch up. He needs to learn that move Hendo used on Matthews last night.

surprised you didn't say
DJ Augustin
Allen Iverson
Larry Hughes
Darius MIles
Derrick Coleman

Chicago tried to get Tyrus Thomas running alongside Rose. When he felt like doing it, he could rack up a solid 8 points just through transition hoops. The problem is he rarely felt like it. If Thomas finally learns this in Charlotte, he and Augustin on the break could be interesting.

I'd like to see someone keep up with Charlie Sheen and his speed!

heres what i think...

you have to build your team and offense around the players who are going to control the game for you, usually either your point guard or your scoring wing, whichever is the primary decision maker. compliment the strengths of this player with the design of the offense and the type of players on the floor with him.

the bobcats have yet to really decide which player to cater the offense towards or we are still in a transition period. dj and jax seemed to have about equal control over the offense - dj as the primary ball handler, 2nd best scorer and jax as the alpha scorer.

here's the problme, jax and dj dont really play a similar style. dj wants to run and push the tempo and get to the rim in transition. jax wants to slow the game down to a crawl and use up 20 seconds on the shot clock, play in halfcourt and iso.

what we see as a result many times is two styles of play that seems to fluctuate during the game. dj will have spurts when he controls the tempo pushing the break and getting players to run with him. jax will have spurts when he controls the tempo and slows things down and isos. jax doesnt seem to have much desire to play transition basketball. and dj struggles in a slow down halfcourt set, which is why we sometimes see livingston playing better than dj when the game gets into a halfcourt slugfest.

at somepoint in the near future silas, higgins and mj have to decide if the want to allow dj to really control this team 100%. to do that i suspect jax will have to be moved. as long as jax is here he will be the alpha and he will look to slow the game down to suit his style at the detriment of what dj does best.

is dj good enough to allow him to control the offense completely? thats a big question and one i dont think we know the answer to yet.

While DJ is a good scorer because he can shoot, he's not someone the opposing team needs to really game plan for. So I'd say just continue to see what we get out of these guys and take a better player at any position if it presents itself as an option to us. DJ does seem to be improving. It's not just about being fast, we had that with the last PG. I did see DJ make some nice hesitation moves to create separation and get an open look in the Blazers game.

Basically, fast is good but the fastest player doesn't mean the best player. It's kind of like what Oakland did in the NFL when they drafted Heywood Bey about 1 round too early and then he didn't do jack in the NFL. He's the fastest guy in the draft but what good is it if he can't run the right routes, get separation, or catch the ball?

DJ is and I think always will be a decent scoring PG and outstanding shooter. Great backup PG for instant offense off the bench on a contending team.

And no, I don't think he's playing too fast. His speed is an advantage so he ought to use it. More of the hesitation stuff to get open though will do wonders.