Summer School: Raymond Felton

[BigSlam]

We can create a thread for each player to discuss the things you would like to see the player work on over the summer and bring to the team next season. This isn't about their contract status or a bashing thread or love fest thread or a trade thread or a player comparison thread. Just a thread of improvement ideas.

Felts: Loved the very much improved set shooting this season. Loved the addition of the tear drop floater in the lane.

There two things I would really like to see Felts work on. The first one is his court vision. I'd love to see him work on being more creative and precise with his passing. Finding the open man a lot more.

The second one is his handle. I think he needs to tighten it up. A lot.

Tape of guys to study: Deron Williams (for the vision/passing) and Tony Parker (handles).

What would you guys say?

[fatlever]

i really dont know what to say, other than easy jokes.

how do you improve vision, court awareness and passing? those seem to be things that you either have or you dont.

ray could work on gaining some of his quickness back, maybe losing a few lbs, w/out sacrificing any strength.

keep working on mid-range game, floaters, runners etc...

work on some post-up game. he is strong enough to do some damage down low against certain players. lots of aging pgs took to post-ups later in their careers.

[DY_nasty]

Yeah... How do you tell a guy to stop being himself? lol

I'd like him to work on his outside shooting of course, but I'd really like to see him work on some finishing too.

[Stun704]

*lose some weight to become more explosive
*pattern game after Chauncey billups
*work on defensive footwork on defense so people can't get by him
*be willing to take a paycut

[Rich4114]

I'd like to see Felton become better at getting to the FT line, become less predictable (like Deron), and become a better shooter on the move. When I say predictable, I mean the defense should have no idea if he's going to pull up, go for the floater, or take it to the rim. Once you get them on their heels, especially if they bring someone to come cheat it would open up easier shots for the rest of the team.

He did improve quite a bit this season, especially on his set shooting. He also had some really nice clutch shots for us, and that fade away floater against the Wiz comes to mind. Put nice Arc on it and kept the defense guessing on what he was going to do. Why can't he do that during a game more. If he became more of an offensive threat, I guarantee it would make Wallace and Jackson more dangerous.

Defensively, I think he needs to work the screen tighter and get to the spot he expects the PG setting the pick to go. Force guys to go the way you want them to go. Other than that, I think he's great defensively. It'd be nice to get .5 more SPG I guess.

[Dexmor]

He is what he is.

[BigSlam]

Yeah... How do you tell a guy to stop being himself? lol

Create awareness by showing him examples of what he is doing and how it is detrimental to his own game and the greater good of the team.

If you had the chance to sit Felts down and have him study other players tapes with the intention of Felts improving his game, who would they be and why?

[Rich4114]

Yeah... How do you tell a guy to stop being himself? lol

Create awareness by showing him examples of what he is doing and how it is detrimental to his own game and the greater good of the team.

If you had the chance to sit Felts down and have him study other players tapes with the intention of Felts improving his game, who would they be and why?

Chauncey Billups. I'd say they have similar builds, similar PG skills but Chauncey has really learned to shoot the ball well, always hit FT's, and be creative in finishing at the rim.

[Walt Cronkite]

This was the best season of his career and his usage is at an all time low. He has got to work on his turnover problem. I don't think he's ever going to become the shooter Billups is, look at their FT shooting differential. Billups gets a lot more ft attempts than Felton does and he rarely misses from the line. Ray focused on making the shot instead of getting contact, which is great, it lead to an all time high fg%, but also a career low in fta. Not sure if we can have him getting to the line and making baskets, but when he does get to the stripe he's gotta knock them down at a better rate than 76%.

[ball teacher]

Chauncey Billups. I'd say they have similar builds, similar PG skills but Chauncey has really learned to shoot the ball well, always hit FT's, and be creative in finishing at the rim.[/quote]


Chauncey is about 6'3 or 6'4, strong build, a scorer with very good range and he's a clutch shooter when you need a big shot. Ray is 6'0 maybe 6'1, big bodied but not as strong, not a great scorer like Chauncey and remember Chauncey at the University of Colorado was a scoring machine, I think even one of the top scorers in all of college. Their games or bodies don't really match to me. Ray is a solid point guard, their isn't one thing he really does great. He isn't the best playmaker but he's ok, he's clearly better than D.J though. Ray needs to break down the opposing teams better and set up others to score better as most of you all already said. The big thing I see of Ray that I just don't like, is when the opposing team's player scores (his man or not) Ray looks at his teamates and he does the shoulder slump thing like he's frustrated! That is bad for the team and it makes him look like a whiner. He has to talk positively and keep his head up if he gets scored on instead of playing the blame game with teamates. So, work on that court vision, change his demeanor on the court, keep shooting those jumpers and he could lose about 5-10 pounds probably too. I still say the point guard position was the weak link for this team, If this team can upgrade I'd do so ASAP.

[Felton for Pres]

I'd like to see him work on the pick and roll, both offensively and defensively. I'm sure he'll spend days in the gym staying and shape and taking jumpers (I'd like him to be automatic from 15th, this team needs that) but I'd also like him to watch tape after tape of pick and rolls.

I don't think he does a great job of finding the guy rolling (see Chandler, Tyson). To me, offensively, this was one of the biggest issues the team had this year. I'd love to see a stat that shows how many times the ball actually ended up the screeners hands. I could be wrong but I'd guess its 3 to 1 that it stayed with the guy driving or got popped out.

I also think he gets trapped on the pick defensively. Obviously this requires great defensive team communication but it seems to me that he could do a better job recognizing the play developing.

[Rich4114]

I also left one thing out. I think he needs to play mad. He seems like a guy who is generally too nice, but has passion and needs to play with more fire/anger. This is something you'll never get out of a guy like Okafor, but you at least have seen flashes out of Felton.

One thing I'll say about Chris Paul is the guy plays angry. If you piss him off, you're going to get punched in the junk - literally. I'd like to see Felton jab a few nuts here and there next year and just go hard....

[Walt Cronkite]

It is not the shots you take or make, but rather whether or not you had the gumption to punch someone's nuts that will undeniably define a career.

The line has been drawn, Raymond.

[Rich4114]

It is not the shots you take or make, but rather whether or not you had the gumption to punch someone's nuts that will undeniably define a career.

The line has been drawn, Raymond.

LOL