Preseason New Jersey @ Charlotte 10/15

[spectre]

Keetch, thanks for the thoughts from someone who actually got to see the game. Hopefully Sam will work with Gerald on his attitude.

Alex...tough for the rest of us to follow that. Thanks.

I broke down some numbers from the game and they're up on my site now - http://www.queencityhoops.com/GameRecap101507.php. If people get tired of me linking say so, but hopefully everyone (or a majority at least?)finds these of value. Just from looking at the numbers after 4 preseason games (2 with J-Rich and 2 without (and are we really going to call him J-Rich? Anyone come up with something better yet?)), it looks like his presence is going to help the offense, as expected.

Brett I love your stuff; in fact your site got at least 10 hits from me on Sunday hoping you'd post the breakdown for the Miami game.

Keetch...good stuff man!

We could tell in chat that we were getting killed on the offensive boards. Mek should know how to block out, so I'm thinking that was Twiggy mainly? Did Davidson do any better? I liked how he stuck to his man, but I totally forgot to look for that facet of the game Saturday night.

Regardless, we'll get better with that I'm sure.

I'm thinking Davidson is going to quickly become a fan favorite.

[chabber]

Spec I was at the game for the first half. My sister and I took my nephew who is just turning 1 and figured this would be a good trial run since no one would be there. Btw I'd be shocked if the actual attendance was over 1,500. However you had to print the tickets for the game as most season ticket holders haven't received theirs yet and there probably aren't very many walk ups.

Anyway, Keetch is right we weren't boxing out. It was mainly Twiggy but Davidson didn't do any better in his first half minutes either(defense or rebounding wise). That's my problem with Hollins, through summer league and pre-season he just doesn't seem to be in the right positions to provide what we want him to. Either way the overall defense in the first half was horrid. They crowded the paint and didn't recover to shooters on the outside. Hardly saw anyone fronting the post except Crash. Btw he is visably bigger but I'd say he might have lost some quickness. At times he looked like he was lumbering around instead of being the sleek cheetah we know he is. Could have also been him hurting some because he fell hard once pretty early in the game and it seemed to linger with him a bit.

Overall I have to say that I was disappointed in what I saw. Felton looked lost most of the time. He couldn't get into the lane like he should be able to and didn't run the pick and roll well with anyone. He hardly created any opportunities for himself or anyone else. In fact most of our guys looked like they were thinking too much while on offense. If you watched New Jersey everyone was calm and moved with purpose although that could easily just be the difference in them playing together so long and us having a new coach.

Also just to add we weren't running very much in the first half. NJ was shooting well so there were fewer opportunities for us but I just didn't see us trying to push the tempo. The Nets did a good job getting back on transition D and shutting any attempt at a fast break down.

[spectre]

Maybe reaching here, but as you know I was at the Saturday game and the offense was clicking almost right out of the gate. In that game Felton looked great running the offense. In this past game we struggled like everything shooting wise (at one point falling below 20%)...so maybe that's why Felts looked "lost"? I'm hoping JRich takes care of a lot of that.

He's still got a ways to go, esp. since he's taking on leadership duties and learning the new scheme. No doubt he's going to be bashed all thru the beginning of the season, but it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't take him (and the rest of the team for that matter) 20 games or so to get it all together.

From what I've seen I really like Mokeski on our bench, and have no doubt that Twiggy is at least being servicable because of him. Give him time and hopefully he'll get that blocking out thing going.

[chabber]

It was more of the same thing we see when he has a bad game. He forces his drives into a crowd of people and either misses a layup or turns the ball over. On the pick and roll he just wasn't making decisions fast enough. Should he drive? Pull up for a jumper. Give the ball up etc...the way it was being ran it was just meaningless ball movement and a waste of the shot clock...which in turn led to forced shots or drives and evidently a 20% FG% early.

I'm hoping he'll come around and the rest of the team will too. Felton seems to play in streaks. When his confidence is up he makes you love his potential. When it's not he looks like he doesn't know what to do with the ball and then forces things. That's what I was hoping to see less of this year. Him getting to the point where he plays more consistent. It's just one pre-season game but it just so happened to be the only live one I've seen so far.

[Keetch]

Spectre: I'm not sure anybody was boxing out last night during the first quarter; it was pretty bad. I was very surprised to see Emeka had 11 rebounds though, so he must have been doing more than I thought. No need to worry about Okafor of course, but yeah, everyone else needs to get to work. Maybe Mokeski needs to look this over....

But still except for OK50, who is ripped strong with mass; the others are all wings (Wallace, Hermann, JRich) or greyhounds (Hollins, Davidson). Not a group with great rebounding potential. Still Hollins and Davidson are big enough that with a little coaching, shouldn't get so badly beaten. Especially Hollins who has so little in the way of offensive skills, but great potential defensely. Davidson I can understand, he's looking more like he should keep working on his offense for the time being; as he has so much potential with it.

edit: saw I contradicted myself on Hollins :P sorry, no reason Ryan can't be a good rebounder. Davidson too, but for now I'd focus more on offense with Mario and let the defense work its way in.

[ziggy]

+1 Alex.
You can never ever have too many cheerleader pictures in my opinion

[Buildit]

Hey I was at the game monday, anyone know what happened to Okafor, he walked over by me and screamed "F***" and then spat out a bunch of blood after getting elbowed in the mouth, I thought he lost a tooth but I wasnt sure... anyone know his status? I hope hes alright... Also in reguards to talking about Gerald being in a funk and a bad mood, I agree. When I talked to him before the game he was short and wanted to get away, not exactly the friendliest at that time. Davidson wow! If we can get that kind of production from him Ill be thrilled. I like his game. Also Hollins is the man, Ive been saying this since we drafted him last year, any 7 footer who highjumps 6 10 is good in my book, plus he is really nice and a hard worker. I am looking forward to this season and getting to see Jason get into it too. Gerald gets killed every game, it was almost painful to watch

[Muttley]

He cut/busted his lip, and needed stitches... according to the radio. He'll be fine.

[Keetch]

Hiya Matt; its encouraging to read someone's take on the game, who is seeing the same thing I am out there. Confirms I'm not imagining things or reading too much into what I'm watching go down.

If you think I'm off anywhere's don't be afraid to chime in!