New Bill Simmons Article...

[jond4414]

The new Bill Simmons Article speaks very highly of Raymond Felton and I couldnt agree more with him. Simmons says it perfectly and Felton needs to be resigned or this team will regress next year. Heres the link. Look at #51. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ons/090415

[fatlever]

422. Alexis Ajinca
Keep an eye on this one: Ajinca has a chance to become the first top-20 foreign NBA pick to get cut from his national team within three years. For God's sake, even Fred Weis started for the 2000 French Olympic team.

ouch

[amcoolio]

Everyone on this board would have a cow if they learned that Felton was considered the 51st best player in the league (well, most everyone). I agree that Felton still has room to improve, and becomes a dangerous player if/when he nails down the 3-ball. I'd hate to see Charlotte let him go for nothing.

[Walt Cronkite]

Gee, I really wish Felton would hit that switch that allowed him to shoot like Chauncey Billups (who got better at shooting the 3 as his career progressed, instead of worse...)

I agree that he's a hard worker that could improve, but I love how people proclaim "All he has to do is start knocking down that 23 footer and he's a real gamer!" like it's so easy...

[fatlever]

51. Raymond Felton
The guy I'd pursue this summer if I ran an NBA team. Ten weeks of trade rumors bounced off him and he never held a grudge. He has lottery pick pedigree (fifth overall in 2005), and if we've learned anything over the years, it's that many blue-chip point guards take awhile to "ferment" (for lack of a better word). He's one of the five or six best people in the league by all accounts. I've never seen a Bobcats game where he didn't play as hard as he could. The arc of his first four years looks exactly like Chauncey Billups, and like Chauncey, his game will open up once he starts making 3s. Just a lot to like. Someone will steal him this summer just like Detroit stole Billups in 2002. You watch.

[chrbal]

How bad do you have to be to have a team bench you for a season starting 3 seasons before your contract runs out?

I honestly thought that Tinsley would have been waived by now. Are they going to do this again next season? Best part, Pacer fans think that Tinsley for Nazr Mohammed makes a ton of sense for both teams. Now I don't think Nazr is any good, but to trade him for a guy that will be a "healthy scratch" for 82 games this season...that would be just stupid.

When he does this article at the end of every regular season it really is one of my favorite articles.

[Felton for Pres]

No love for Boris?

34. Boris Diaw
Reborn as an all-around player with Charlotte (since New Year's: 16-6-5, 49 percent FG, 40 percent 3FG), giving us 2009's best example of the Devin Harris/Avery Johnson Corollary: If you have a choice between making a major trade or firing a coach who clearly isn't working out, always fire the coach first. OK? OK.

(Here's how dumb coaches are: Just this season, we witnessed coaches playing Kevin Durant at shooting guard, slowing down Steve Nash, playing slow-it-up with the Sixers, bringing Rip Hamilton off the bench, burying Anthony Randolph on a lottery team, playing Darius Songaila over JaVale McGee on a lottery team, ignoring the stat that's about to impress you when we get to the Nowitzki paragraph, and doing everything that Mike Dunleavy did. There's a reason 85 percent of these guys get canned within three years.)

And yes, I loved seeing Felton at 51, even though I don't agree.

[Dexmor]

You guys call me an idiot but I have made posts that later experts write the same point I did.
This is true and if we don't sign him he is gonna go on the list of mistakes that already has an impressive

Lopez pass
Lex pick
Ammo pick
May pick

[chrbal]

Which big man drafted after Alexis has really blown you away enough to call that a mistake after one season?

[Dexmor]

If we needed a big man how about Lopez. You say or some say we drafted the best player available at 9 which is why we choose DJ but if that is true and we were drafting the best player why draft Alexa?
Your excuses for them are b.s. Admit they screwed up already. Teams make mistakes but if your gonna talk about it be real and not bias. Don't stick up for a DJ Alexa combo when there was a ton of different combos we could have had that fit needs and more talent.

[Felton for Pres]

I think its too early to decide on whether or not we made the right choices. However, early returns suggest a Lopez/Chalmers combo would have been a better way to go. Let's let it play out another year before any formal draft bashing begins.

[Rich4114]

I always wondered if DJ would've fallen to the 20th pick. What other teams were looking for PG's in between our pick and #20? I guess Portland might've picked him instead of what's his face. Indy picked up Ford so I don't think they would've went PG when they needed SG. I dunno, just an interesting thought if we somehow could've ended up with Lopez AND DJ

As for this Simmons article, the only place Felton gets bashed is on these boards (or the observer posts which is probably the same people, lol). He's the one guy on this team I trust with the ball in his hands under pressure. Whenever Radman or Wallace or even Boris would run up the court full speed ahead I would get a little nervous. Felton's definitely got some issues, but it's mainly shooting if you ask me. Maybe he gets careless sometimes, but if he becomes a more consistent shooter and gets up to the 45-46% FG% and has a better 3pt FG% then he is in damn good shape.

[BigSlam]

I always wondered if DJ would've fallen to the 20th pick. What other teams were looking for PG's in between our pick and #20? I guess Portland might've picked him instead of what's his face. Indy picked up Ford so I don't think they would've went PG when they needed SG. I dunno, just an interesting thought if we somehow could've ended up with Lopez AND DJ

Even with Ford Indy drafted Bayless and flipped him to the Blazers (who were itching for DJ).

I doubt DJ would have been there at 11, let alone 20 - but man, a Lopez/DJ draft would have been a heck of a draft (as would a DJ and Randolph draft have been - which is what I was hoping for once we picked DJ!!)

[Rich4114]

I was never really pissed we took DJ over Lopez at the time. I would've picked Lopez, but I figured DJ would be productive. I was always pissed about the Lex deal and I'll be shocked if he ends up being worth something one day.

[thruthefire]

I'm lovin' it!

[BigSlam]

Is this referring to him being a nice guy?

He's one of the five or six best people in the league by all accounts

Also:

I've never seen a Bobcats game where he didn't play as hard as he could

Ten weeks of trade rumors bounced off him and he never held a grudge

Seriously, he is the poster boy for the type of player you want on your team if everything was based on character. Loves the city, loves his team mates, gym rat, keeps his nose clean, hard worker, iron man.

[chrbal]

They drafted DJ because they wanted a PG and I don't think anyone really thought Chalmers was going to be available with the later pick.

If we needed a big man how about Lopez. You say or some say we drafted the best player available at 9 which is why we choose DJ but if that is true and we were drafting the best player why draft Alexa?
Your excuses for them are b.s. Admit they screwed up already. Teams make mistakes but if your gonna talk about it be real and not bias. Don't stick up for a DJ Alexa combo when there was a ton of different combos we could have had that fit needs and more talent.

I wanted this team to take Brook at 9, but DJ isn't a bad consolation prize. Alexis, to me, isn't a great pickup...but hes still a project. All things considered I was hoping the Bobcats would've taken Ryan Anderson (an offensively skilled PF who actually cares, crazy right?) or Joey Dorsey (i'm honest, i'm not perfect). Kosta Koufos and Darrel Arthur were other options. I figured Darrel Arthur was more likely because I thought this team would go after a more polished player to help them up front.

I was shocked to see this team pass on Chris Douglas-Roberts for Kyle Weaver.

[ccbballin]

Simmons seems to think some team is going to snatch Felton up but probably only Memphis is going to have money to sign him. Detroit doesn't really need him with their young guards in place and I'm not sure who else would have the cash to sign him this year.

As for Memphis, does he really want to go there considering they are in worse condition than the Bobcats. They are on the way up but if he wants in the playoffs, he's better off staying for a lesser price.

Felton's value has been discussed much on this board and I hope the Bobcats don't over value him just to not mess with the current progress. Every team Billups left eventually wound up in the Finals except the Nuggets.

Besides how many games has Simmons seen of the Bobcats? He's at almost every Clipper game. What about all those poor decisions Felton made in close games?

[Paydro70]

It's particularly interesting since Felton only played 24 minutes against the Clippers and scored 9... though I guess he did have 7 assists.

My guess is he does have league pass though, and what he said about Ray was also true last year, so he's probably seen him before.

Honestly nothing about Ray is different from last year... perhaps his defense is slightly better, and he's rebounding better, but he's getting fewer assists, more turnovers, and is shooting worse. I really don't want to overpay for him because he might become Chauncey Billups one day. Billups was also a better shooter than Ray from day 1 from 3 and the line, and by his fourth season he was shooting over .375.

[W_HAMILTON]

When did Bill Simmons become not a dumbass?

Sounds like this is just more proof he doesn't know what the &)$*!)( he is talking about. He should go back to talking about how we should be contracted instead of overrating players he knows he's never seen.