utah vs charlotte

Post #1 » by **fatlever** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:11 am

in the second least shocking news of the day, just behind delhomme throwing an interception for a td, the bobcats lost another preseason game. we are now 1-13 in preseason under lb. awesome.

dj went nuts. 29 points. wow. welcome back young fella.
raja bell, 2-for-8. ridiculous. maybe we should have traded him when we had the chance.
ups with 15.
jinx barely played.

DeeJay · Post #2 » by **DeeJay** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:33 am

D.J had a great game, 29 points, 5 3's. Our starters didn't do all that much, Felton and Bell don't seem to be scoring a lot in all of these preseason games but i guess there getting way less minutes.

Impressed with Derrick Brown's game with 15 in only limited minutes. Good game from him.

aceunc111 · Post #3 » by **aceunc111** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:52 am

how about 35-39 from the FT line!! I know we didn't win tonight, but FT shooting like that is bound to help us during the season..hope they keep up 90% all season long!! (wishful thinking). FT shooting/missing FT's is my biggest basketball pet peeve...there's a REASON they're called FREE throws. I can live with 90%!!

Post #4 » by **BigSlam** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:49 pm

aceunc111 wrote:how about 35-39 from the FT line!! I know we didn't win tonight, but FT shooting like that is bound to help us during the season..hope they keep up 90% all season long!! (wishful thinking). FT shooting/missing FT's is my biggest basketball pet peeve...there's a REASON they're called FREE throws. I can live with 90%!!

I think this is a really valid point. With the way the replacements are calling the games and sending guys to the line, it's never been as important as it is right now to make sure you hit your FT's.

DJ is obviously a God at the line. Crash has done an amazing job to get his % up.

Now we really need Boris to push it up to the 80% mark and ALL of our centres to really improve from the stripe too.

It could be the difference between winning and losing games this season.

Bassman · Post #5 » by **Bassman** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:52 pm

Hopefully all the Raja Bell lovers on this board didn't influence the front office (meaning they didn't make a serious attempt to trade him). Unfortunately his stock is going so low, his better value will be near the trade deadline as an expiring contract vet who could help provide some depth for a serious playoff team.

Really...I know it's "JUST" preseason, but we can clearly see storm clouds on the horizon of our season. Our age old problems of rebounding and interior defense rear their heads again. Getting Chandler in there may help some, but we're still weak at the 4 with Diaw playing there (relative to interior defense and boarding).

I would seriously find a way to get Stephen Jackson and a PF from the Warriors. A shame Wright's shoulder is a mess.

Post #6 » by **Paydro70** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:44 pm

Bass is right that our preseason record is reason for concern. I'm used to the NFL, where it does mean almost nothing, but that's not the case in the NBA. Look at this: http://www.82games.com/preseason.htm

We'd be pretty darn unusual if we go 1-7 and make the playoffs.

spectre_ · Post #7 » by **spectre_** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:26 pm

Paydro70 wrote:Bass is right that our preseason record is reason for concern. I'm used to the NFL, where it does mean almost nothing, but that's not the case in the NBA. Look at this: http://www.82games.com/preseason.htm

We'd be pretty darn unusual if we go 1-7 and make the playoffs.

I think they matter IF you're playing the preseason with the lineup you'd be playing with during the regular season...which doesn't apply to us.

Until the last 2 games we've ran 3 starters and 2 backups (who should still get good PT in the reg. season) and for the most part have hung with all the other teams' starters except maybe Atlanta. In those last 2 Boris did play, but of course he's going to need some adjustment time.

Even last night we probably could have had a chance to win vs. Utah at the end, but LB pulled Felton for Jefferson with around 2 minutes left and down 6...not to mention sitting the hot hand (DJ) well before that. W/L probably isn't as important to him as determining who stays between Jefferson & Anderson (if either).

I actually see our preseaon as "half full". There were plenty we could have been run outta the gym...but instead we were for the most part competitive. In some, our "starters" even came out ahead of theirs.

Battery · Post #8 » by **Battery** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:14 pm

I'm not that concerned, after all we just played Cleveland twice, New Orleans, Atlanta, Lakers and Utah. Those are some of the best teams in the NBA, plus we were missing some keys players AND we haven't played a single game at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Post #9 » by **Paydro70** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:24 pm

I am not overly worried about our preseason, just agreeing with Bass that it can't be totally written off. There is a strong correlation between preseason record and season record, almost as strong as between previous season record and season record. If we go 1-7 it should be at least a little bit of a red flag.

Battery · Post #10 » by **Battery** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:37 pm

Paydro70 wrote:I am not overly worried about our preseason, just agreeing with Bass that it can't be totally written off. There is a strong correlation between preseason record and season record, almost as strong as between previous season record and season record. If we go 1-7 it should be at least a little bit of a red flag.

I'm not disagreeing with you, however, look at the teams we played and also factor in we have yet to play an official home game. Key players were also missing and players who won't see a lot of playing time during the regular season are getting to play a lot as LB figures out the rest of the roster.

And there should be NO WAY Diop plays a single a minute for us during the regular season, that boy is HORRIBLE!!! Should not even be in the NBA!

It is very clear that we need to add a PF who can also give us some time at center. And Murray better be good because the way Raja is going right now, it looks like he will get a chance to play.

Where can we find a good backup PF/C ?? Thats the question heading into this season.

Post #11 » by **floppymoose** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:58 pm

Bassman wrote:I would seriously find a way to get Stephen Jackson and a PF from the Warriors. A shame Wright's shoulder is a mess.

Trying to get a PF from the Warriors is like trying to get water from the desert. You're better off looking elsewhere.

Warriors have exactly one healthy PF, and he is the "great hope", so he's not exactly a realistic trade target. As you point out, Wright is out for the season. I suppose you could count Turiaf as a PF, but he really plays as an undersized C who runs around and tries to block everything. And I'm guess Mikki Moore is not what you had in mind.

As for SJax, he can be had for very little. But I don't see him as a culture fit with LB, the Bobcats, Charlotte, and possibly earth.

Bassman · Post #12 » by **Bassman** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:25 pm

floppymoose wrote:
Bassman wrote:I would seriously find a way to get Stephen Jackson and a PF from the Warriors. A shame Wright's shoulder is a mess.

Trying to get a PF from the Warriors is like trying to get water the desert. You're better off looking elsewhere.

Warriors have exactly one healthy PF, and he is the "great hope", so he's not exactly a realistic trade target. As you point out, Wright is out for the season. I suppose you could count Turiaf as a PF, but he really plays as an undersized C who runs around and tries to block everything. And I'm guess Mikki Moore is not what you had in mind.

As for SJax, he can be had for very little. But I don't see him as a culture fit with LB, the Bobcats, Charlotte, and possibly earth.

Absolutely true about the PF relative to the Warriors. I'm probably delusional about Jackson anyway....I really like Azubueke much better. I just see two critical areas of our team weak and weaker (SG and post defense/rebounding) and it's bugging me. Spectre, I appreciate your outlook (half full) but nobody in this league just flips the switch from preseason to regular season form unless they are a monster squad of talent and experience. I see another bad start out of the gate, with even bigger doubts about our SG spot than I was before (and I WAS a proponent of trading Bell).

spectre_ · Post #13 » by **spectre_** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:27 am

Of course they aren't going to just flip a switch. All I'm saying is that this team playing in the preseason isn't our full squad...yet they've hung with their opponents for the most part regardless of that. Therefore...the preseason does not relate to our regular season except in a good way (competitive going 3 vs 5).

And it's amazing that Raja has totally forgotten how to shoot isn't it? Most likely he'll never be able to hit anything again and he should probably just retire.

Benjamin Linus · Post #14 » by **Benjamin Linus** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 3:43 pm

Bassman wrote:I just see two critical areas of our team weak and weaker (SG and post defense/rebounding) and it's bugging me.

So why do you think our post defense/rebounding is one of our weakest areas? We had the 7th best defense and the 12th best rebounding team last season. I mean, not that I don't think we could stand some improvement in either area but don't you think we have bigger issues, particularly on offense, like turning the ball over, hitting free throws, or just simply putting the ball in the hole?

spectre_ · Post #15 » by **spectre_** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:02 pm

Just looking thru some pics and thought this one was really cool. DJ driving for a layup.

Post #16 » by **BigSlam** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:52 pm

Wish our guys boxed out like Boozer is doing.

spectre_ · Post #17 » by **spectre_** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:23 pm

^ Boris does somewhat. I specifically remembered seeing him blocking out in the LAL game.

People that complain about his low rebounding numbers (not you o'course) don't seem to realize that. That's why pairing him with Crash...who doesn't know what blocking out means but is a great rebounder...seems to work pretty well.

Post #18 » by **floppymoose** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:25 pm

Down near the bottom of the player stats pages at 82games.com, they have team rebounding % numbers for on/off court for that player. I use that to evaluate rebounding, rather than raw rebound totals. As you point out, sometimes a player is helping the team rebound even though he doesn't get the board himself.

Cliff Robinson used to be the king of this. The guy would get 4 boards a game from the PF spot, and everyone would say his rebounding sucked. But the team rebounded better when he played. If you watched him he would just seal off the other team's best rebounder and let one of our guards run in and grab the ball.

W_HAMILTON · Post #19 » by **W_HAMILTON** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:06 am

I became a believer in the preseason/regular season correlation stuff in recent years. It may not be applicable in our situation due to our injuries, but I think you can use it to predict some of the best teams, as well as some of the bottom-feeder teams which have a chance at making a jump to the next level.

Post #20 » by **BigSlam** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:33 am

W_HAMILTON wrote:I became a believer in the preseason/regular season correlation stuff in recent years. It may not be applicable in our situation due to our injuries, but I think you can use it to predict some of the best teams, as well as some of the bottom-feeder teams which have a chance at making a jump to the next level.

Where are you placing us W_Hamilton - or does missing Diaw and Chandler for so long make it hard to tell?