Biggest Disappointment In Game 1

[Bassman]

As bad as the first game was at times, I really thought about which player's performance is generating my greatest level of depression/frustration.

My finalists are Felton, DJ and Wallace.

Why Wallace? It's not that he didn't play well at times or was horribly unproductive. I just don't see Crash meshing into the flow of this offense well. He looks like he's trying, but just seems out of position or unable to execute the precision needed to get it done well. I do think he will get better with time but I'm not sure he can live up to his salary/previous output.

Why DJ? He was lost so often I wanted to send a cop to find his Mommy. I know he's a rookie and he has some skills, but the bright lights got to him more than most. He fell into old college habits from his first burn, made bad passes, stupid fouls, got used on picks and generally stunk. I know he'll get better but compared to my PG target from the draft (Chalmers), their opening nights could not have been more different.

Why Felton? That's pretty obvious. This guy is in a new system, but he's got no excuses for playing so poorly. Felts has had plenty of time to show he's a real leader and player at the 1. I admire his heart, and he's a decent leader, but leadership happens on the court by your performance. It's why Wallace was the leader of this team 2 years ago, and why J-rich ultimately became the leader of this team by late last year (performance). Felts is respected as a captain, but his poor play pulls this team down too often.

MY DEPRESSION IS: FELTON

He has to perform in LB's system for us to be any good, and his first game was miserable. If we were to trade him today I wouldn't be sad.

[fluffernutter]

Fortunately or not, we are stuck with Felton for the year. I think that's completely clear. DJ was ineffective on offense, and casually abused on defense. Cleavland didn't even have to try to target DJ. Mo or whoever it was simply drove past him or ran around a simple screen and easily lost him. DJ was a massive defensive liability; that is the greatest difference between Felton and DJ right now. Felton is an above-average defender. DJ the rookie in his first game: not so much. They both are putrid on O.

If we traded Felton and DJ was running the point full time... oh boy. That would be a major adventure. If he didn't improve rapidly we could struggle to win 20.

I don't know what is going on with GWall or Carroll either. Both of them are out of synch for sure. MC was missing open shots. He has not hit a shot all preseason. (feels like it).

May was a disaster.

Looks like we have to plumb the depths before swimming up to the light. So be it.

Let's see if our offense starts to click a little next game.

There is some hope. Ammo has gone from hopeless to serviceable. JRich is still JRich. It's everyone else that is blowing.

PS I love watching Dudley play defense. He really pisses off the opponents. He's solid.

[fatlever]

its felton by a mile for me. he was AWFUL last night. i'll give DJ a bit of a pass since it was his first game and all. that being said, DJs defense was bad, really bad, and he struggled to on the dribble to get to where he wanted to go.

[truthbtold21]

Im gonna have to say.our guard play which applied no pressure to their guards at all which led to 42pts,9ast,and 8rbs.Also sean may 2pts,and 3rbs watching him play right now sickens my stomach,and let me not forget the second unit and when we played dj and ray together horrible,but ammo and carroll just looked terrible out there togehter,you have two scorer's who dont play anything resembling defense.I will give ammo a pass cause he actually scored.

[Paydro70]

Gotta be Ray, looked the same as last year or worse. But I completely agree with fluffer, DJ is even worse because of his defense. Right now I wouldn't play him more than 12-15 mpg until he gets an idea of what to do.

Wallace is at least still playing hard... I don't see him failing to fit in any more than Prince...

[SteveMorrison15]

our shots weren't going down.

J-Rich looks unlike himself

Wallace is quiet.

Okafor gets doubled too quick

May's a step behind

Carroll is missing

[misterglover]

The biggest disappointment for me is the lack of hustle....I never realized until the last 2 years what exactly Bernie B. brought to this team...even though we were an expansion team it seemed like we were in alot of games we probably shouldnt have been, we had fight, spunk a kinda we can play with anybody attitude, we just didnt have the experience or a go to guy back then to close out...I would love to see those Bernie teams with JRich on them...this team just looks stuck in the mud, no flow, no excitement to the games at all, no energy...and I dont think all that can be blamed on Vincent & LBrown's new system....the players just dont seem to have the fight in them anymore, someone needs to light a fire under their asses....

[therebirth]

Without a doubt it is Felton. He is turning into a bust.

Remember when Ric Burker said some players were already complaining about Brown's system. Could that player be crash. Crash and kobe have the same agent who is very close to ric and gives him all kinds of inside information

[Rich4114]

I know it's only one game (well I guess 9) but we look pathetic. Our PG's look horrendous and Ray bricked every single thing last night except for the one 3 pointer. When he goes in for a layup, how can he never finish? He misses way too many shots he should make. His game is penetration into the paint, when he can't make that happen he forces stuff and looks lost Defensively he was alright (had a nice block on West) but Cleveland was overcoming the picks so he couldn't cut to the paint. Game over for Felton at that point. He should give Chauncey a call and ask him how to get some foul calls in LB's system at least.

DJ was supposed to be a good option if Felton were to suck, but he looks even worse. I guess we shouldn't be surprised because of how tough LB's system is on PG's. I hope one or both of these guys figure it out soon so we can begin looking competitive.