Improvement

Olajuwon34 · Post #1 » by **Olajuwon34** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:55 pm

Really psyched about this season as we unquestionably have more talent then we did at the beginning of last year and playing Larry Brown basketball all year we can probably be over 500 and in the east thats playoff territory!

Not the best offseason as I'm a huge Okafor fan but we definitely had a good draft and I loved the Flip Murry signing too as from what I saw of him last year with the Hawks he is a solid bench scorer which gives us 3 guys off the bench that can score at a good rate.

Anyways heres to a great season!

Post #2 » by **Paydro70** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:09 am

Why do we have more talent than last year? I suppose some might disagree but Okafor was better than Chandler... are you saying Flip Murray is the key? Plus we lost Howard, not that I think he's awesome.

The only real argument for improvement is the cumulative effect of an extra year under Larry Brown. We'll see, I suppose... experts can be wrong.

chrbal · Post #3 » by **chrbal** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:05 am

I think the team will be better, mostly because of the Larry Brown factor. But I don't think this team got insanely better. If that makes any sense. They needed frontcourt help and they let two leave. Mind you one was washed up and the other one was Juwan, but still.

Bassman · Post #4 » by **Bassman** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:44 am

At best we held serve. The extra experience under LB is a plus, but the Chandler trade is an unknown value. Also we have no reserve PF. Murray probably helps, and if we get better production from Nazr (any positive production is better than last year) that's good. But, those little extras aren't enough to raise the bar very far.

Sorry, I know I sound like a glass half empty guy, but I am also a realist relative to basketball. The NBA is not a league that thrives on promise and hope. It doesn't take long for teams to adjust to strengths and weaknesses. It is a very sophisticated game, and talent matters. Team play is certainly important, but the collective skills rise to the top. Star players also make a huge impact. Our team has no true star caliber player. Our guys are mostly role players talent wise. We will likely be a bit better this year, and I'm hoping we're a lot better. But the NBA doesn't reward hope.

Olajuwon34 · Post #5 » by **Olajuwon34** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:37 am

I'll just compare rosters at the beginning of the season for both years.
2008 2009
C Emeka Okafor - Tyson Chandler
PF Jared Dudley - Boris Diaw
SF Gerald Wallace
SG Jason Richardson - Raja Bell
PG Raymond Felton

Bench:
Adam Morrison - Vladimir Radmanovic
Dj Augustin -
Matt Carroll - Gerald Henderson
Shannon Brown - Flip Murray
Sean May - Derrick Brown
Ryan Hollins - DeSagana DIop
Nazr Mohammed
Alexis Ajinca
Andre Brown - Dontell Jefferson

I definitely see Improvement in the depth on that roster I mean maybe Jrich and Okafor are better players but pretty much everyone else is better on the new team save maybe Mohammed who is getting up there we just have actual depth.
This isn't even taking into account the improvement just based on the LB effect and the players buying into it from the start of the season I dont think we'll start out 7-18 this season!

DeeJay · Post #6 » by **DeeJay** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:59 am

Yeah some parts of the offseason for Bobcats i have liked but others im not sure about. I mean i liked Okafor and didn't really want him to leave, but then again Chandler could be good aswell. I guess i just don't know how good he will be for us.

I liked the signing of Flip Murray, seems like a good scorer off the bench who can help us a fair bit. Really like Gerald Henderson, seems like a solid scorer who is also good at defense. The Derrick Brown, don't know that much about him but hopefully he'll see some court time. Interested to see how this season goes for us

CatNation · Post #7 » by **CatNation** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:49 pm

I was really down in our offseason until we signed Flip. I think we are at least as good talent wise as last year, with more depth. None of our moves really bothered me, its been more our lack of activity. I still like a healthy Chandler over Okafor. The fact that Raja already dissed Mek once is making me hope Chandler brings better chemistry.

Battery · Post #8 » by **Battery** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:01 pm

CatNation wrote:I was really down in our offseason until we signed Flip. I think we are at least as good talent wise as last year, with more depth. None of our moves really bothered me, its been more our lack of activity. I still like a healthy Chandler over Okafor. The fact that Raja already dissed Mek once is making me hope Chandler brings better chemistry.

Lack of activity? We have FOUR new players heading into this season with 2 roster spots still open, so that could be 6 plus there is a possibility Raja could get moved. Also, we had a lot of activity last season, those players are still relatively new.

Come on Kittens, this is the second time in the past few days where you didn't think before you posted. At some point we need to have stability.

Bizz · Post #9 » by **Bizz** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 11:35 pm

I personally liked our offseason. The draft was solid although unspectacular, but I think that both players have some promise to be really good. I have especially high expectations for Derrick Brown he has simmilar mesurements as Earl Clark and simmilar stats yet he was a second rounderand Clark was a lottery pick. I think Bobcats are due to find a solid player in a second round. I think he should be our backup PF by the end of the year. But both Derrick and Gerald seem like a LB type of players that are willing to listen and will play the roles he gives them.

Second thing this offseason was the Okafor trade. Many of you are against it, but I think that in the longrun it will be better for us. Bobcats drafted Okafor to be their star player, but he never become that and the whole team was still waiting for him to become that. Sure he has better offense than Chandler, but that doesn't mean our team offense got worse. Okafor tried many times playing 1-1 but he just wasn't that good at it. He was just to mechanical and lacked a jumpshot. With Chandler we at least know his limitations and we will not force him to be our go to scorer like we did with Okafor. If Paul can throw all those lobs so can Raymond. If you don't belive me check some Gerald Wallace mix and take a look who is passing those ally-ops to Wallace. Diaw is also a great passer who will make Chandler look better than he really is on offense.

As for defense most of us agree that Chandler is a better defender. He is Bigger, longer and more Agile. He is a few pounds lighter but Diop can help with those kind of Cs and to be honest Okafor always strugled against real Cs like Dwight, Shaq, Ming. So I think with the addition of Chandler makes us better on defense. We had a prettey good defensive team last year if we are better this year that would mean we have one of the best defenses in the league which should be enough for the playoffs no matter of our offense.

The only problem with Chandler is his health but I hope he will be alright. But with reports that Diop and Muhammed both trained hard this summer we have some insurance behind him. I expect Chandler to average 10 10 and 2blks in 30min and proove evry espn expert wrong.

The last move of the ofseason was singing Flip Murray. He is not just a good singing he is the best FA singing in the history of the club. Who else did the Bobcats ever sing that was any good? Brevin Knight? Jason Hart? Half of Steve Smith or Juwan Howard? I could be forgetting sombody, but if you don't count Landry and Varejao, Flip si the best FA to ever join the club. He is a poor mans Iverson except younger and givse us what we really need some offense. Sure it cuts some minutes from Henderson, but I think Larry will give less minutes to Bell during the season to save him for playoff push and hopfully playoffs.

So I think that this years team is the best in Bobcats history and should make the playoffs.

DeeJay · Post #10 » by **DeeJay** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 11:40 pm

Yeah bizz you make some good points. Flip should really help our offense which is something we need. Yeah hopefully instead of cutting minutes from Henderson, hopefully lb gives Bell more rest and see what Henderson can do.

Post #11 » by **fatlever** » Thu Oct 1, 2009 12:45 am

Battery wrote:

Come on Kittens, this is the second time in the past few days where you didn't think before you posted. At some point we need to have stability.

battery, you can still make your points without taking these subtle jabs at other posters. i seen you do this numerous times this summer. there is no need. thanks.

Battery · Post #12 » by **Battery** » Thu Oct 1, 2009 5:09 am

fatlever wrote:
battery, you can still make your points without taking these subtle jabs at other posters. i seen you do this numerous times this summer. there is no need. thanks.

Hey sometimes thats my style and I just took a not so subtle jab at Paydro and thruthefire in the other thread. People take shots at me all the time, It's all good.

Guess we have to dumb down the board a little bit.

Wait I think I know whats going on here...I've been right about pretty much everything concerning this team so far and some people can't handle it. (probably whining to you about me) It's a shame I won't be around to rub their faces in it when the Bobcats are competing for the 6th spot in the Eastern conference this season.

Anyway, it was fun while it lasted.

Oh and to Paydro, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings after I cleaned your clock the past month. I noticed your postings have been a bit thin of late.

Post #13 » by **fatlever** » Thu Oct 1, 2009 3:59 pm

nope, nobody complained to me about it. just my personal observations.

i'm not trying to "dumb down the board" or take the fun away from things. i think many of us know each other well enough to be able to make jokes at each other and gloat about predictions from time to time. you guys know that slam and i are very laid back about most things. i just want to make sure that the jokes/taunting/jabs are done in good spirit and not in a mean, spiteful tone.

this applies to everyone, not just battery.

thanks for understanding.

thruthefire · Post #14 » by **thruthefire** » Thu Oct 1, 2009 4:27 pm

LOL! What have you been right about, Battery? That the Bobcats wouldn't sign Iverson? Yay! News flash, the odds were in your favor.

As for the original topic, we've improved very little. This team still won't break the .500 mark, though, barring something else happening -- other teams we're competing with having major injuries, someone on our team having a breakout season (DJ, Raymond), a trade that brings in an upgrade in talent, etc.

I'm excited about this season, but until I see Chandler perform at Okafor's level, I won't be ILBIT optimistic!

freakon0mics · Post #15 » by **freakon0mics** » Thu Oct 1, 2009 6:47 pm

I wouldn't' be surprised to see LB go 9-10 man deep in games this season. Our depth is actually more deep than it has ever been. Granted, we don't have star players on our team but that should mean more divided minutes for our bench, if anything. I look to see Augustin become one of the leading candidates for sixth men of the year.

CatNation · Post #16 » by **CatNation** » Thu Oct 1, 2009 7:04 pm

Battery wrote:
fatlever wrote:
battery, you can still make your points without taking these subtle jabs at other posters. i seen you do this numerous times this summer. there is no need. thanks.

Hey sometimes thats my style and I just took a not so subtle jab at Paydro and thruthefire in the other thread. People take shots at me all the time, It's all good.

Guess we have to dumb down the board a little bit.

Wait I think I know whats going on here...I've been right about pretty much everything concerning this team so far and some people can't handle it. (probably whining to you about me) It's a shame I won't be around to rub their faces in it when the Bobcats are competing for the 6th spot in the Eastern conference this season.

Anyway, it was fun while it lasted.

Oh and to Paydro, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings after I cleaned your clock the past month. I noticed your postings have been a bit thin of late.

You're a cool guy.

Post #17 » by **fatlever** » Thu Oct 1, 2009 7:26 pm

ok, lets get this back on topic. thanks.

Post #18 » by **Paydro70** » Thu Oct 1, 2009 7:44 pm

From the first posts I made in the Iverson thread, I maintained we wouldn't sign him, only that I wanted to. Of course, I thought that was because it would be New York instead of Memphis, but I'm not sure what I've been wrong about otherwise... since nothing has actually happened.

I haven't been posting because there's been nothing to talk about. This board's been pretty dead since the Iverson rumors, it's only now picking up with training camp.

DeeJay · Post #19 » by **DeeJay** » Fri Oct 2, 2009 6:07 am

chowyoonphat wrote:I wouldn't' be surprised to see LB go 9-10 man deep in games this season. Our depth is actually more deep than it has ever been. Granted, we don't have star players on our team but that should mean more divided minutes for our bench, if anything. I look to see Augustin become one of the leading candidates for sixth men of the year.

Yeah that would be awesome. It would be great if he was one of the best players on the team. It would be good to see him consistently play well for us and become a really valuable player.

CatNation · Post #20 » by **CatNation** » Fri Oct 2, 2009 2:35 pm

I'd like to see DJ get 6th man of the year too, but do you guys really see the minutes there? We actually have a really good backup SG now, so I doubt we see Felton there anyone which means DJ should be getting only backup PG minutes. Last year he avged 26.5 mpg but I don't see how he could get much more than 20 this season. I don't see splitting your PG time 50/50 as being a positive thing, you need to be steady at that position for a good 36 minutes if you want consistency on the court.