Thoughts on Last Night's Game

[Edrow]

Okay guys n gals,

First and foremost, I will stop predicting J-Rich to have a good game, because It's pretty apparent that I'm jinxing him.

Second, I have one word for Primoz: Steroids. We have got to turn that man into a monster, pure and simple. Give him steroids and let him grow a beard, I don't care. Anything to turn him into a monster.

Third, I think Ray will be our guy. Next year we need to concentrate on finding a solid big man who can actually play. The formula would be complete if we had a monster.

Fourth, we are still .500, and It's super early in the season. Friday's game is a must
win in my eyes.

Fifth, and finally, you can say what you want about our attendance at The Cable Box, but it can't be any worse than at the Wachovia Center last night. WOW, it looked like a minor league hockey team came to town. They should have just tarped the entire upper deck, what a joke!

Let's Go Cats!

-Edrow

[ohara831]

A man has to know his limitations. Same with a team. What do we have in Charlotte? Here is what I see:
A very good power forward in Okafor. The rock of the team. We need to keep him a Bobcat.
Crash is a solid small forward who is lethal when he slashes to the rim and he plays solid Defense. However, he is limited from outside of 15 ft as he does not have a good jumper.
J-Rich is a wonderful spot up 3 pt shooter and a great flyer on the fast break. He is not good in a set half court offense UNLESS we have a PG who can penetrate, draw in the Defense, and then dish out to a wide open J-Rich for an uncontested 3. That is where he is most lethal and we saw that in the first 2 games.
WE have NO Center - period. I would love to get Hibbard from Georgetown, but we would have to be a bottom 5 team to even have a shot at him. Likely have to address that via FA or trade.
We have a good PG in Ray. The question I have is "Do we have a great PG in Ray?" That is what we must see this season. This is his year. He showed great stuff the first 2 games, scoring and getting big assist numbers. He was not so good vs the Suns before the injury. But, everyone is entitled to a bad game now and then.
For me, Ray is the key to this team being an elite team vs just a good team. One that can vie for a Playoff spot, but whom we know will likely lose in the 1st round and who will surely lose in the 2nd, compared to an elite team who can seriously vie for the Eastern Conf Title.
What is is that every great team has? Is it a great Big man? No. The Shaq's, Duncans, are the exceptions. Those are teams that beome Dynasties. Every great team, however, does have a GREAT PG. That guy who somehow finds a way to score 20+ on you, and get 12-15 assists before you realize how he just tore thru your Defense like a hot knife thru butter. Nash is the epitome of this - 2x MVP. Look at the Spurs, Hornets, Jazz, and Mavs. Why did Cavs fail in Finals? Answer: A "Boobie" is not going to lead them to the promised land, no matter the fact that they have a King. They have no great PG.

Bottom line for me is "I love Ray and hope he elevates to that level of greatness." This is his year to do it. If he elevates his game, we can be a GREAT team once we land a big Center to help Okafor. If he cannot raise his game though, then I accept the fact that we cannot be a great team with him leading us. We can be a good team, but not great. I am a real Bobcat fanatic, and cannot stomach the thought of our ownership being content with just being a good team. I want owners and management who will do everything possible to make this team one of the elite. I believe MJ feels this way as you saw that in him as an athlete. i don't know about Bob Johnson, and that part scares me. If he looks at this as an income maker, he will never allow MJ to make the moves to move us from good to elite. Perhaps someone like a George Steinbrenner or a Mark Cuban will show up and offer enough $ to Johnson to sell. Perhaps that person then says "MJ, my partner, go buy what we need to win a Title." Maybe I am mis reading Bob Johnson, but my gut tells me I am correct.

[Grandmama]

Last night our O was completely stagnant, no one was moving or cutting except for Hammer and Duds. We are not a jumpshooting team, and with Ray out we are not going to be able to run the break, which is where we can be our most productive and dangerous.

Just my thought on Ray, in the Phoenix game right before he got injured, he was going into that, "fuck this if no one else is going to do anything then I will do it by myself" mode that he gets into every once in a while (see Cleveland his rookie year). He had scored or got fouled on 3 straight or 3/4 possesions. Then as he was beating Nash to the hole again (not that big of an accomplishment, but we had not strung 4 possesions together the whole game) he got the trip.

True he needs to cut down on some of the silly forced passes, but I still think Ray is going to be allright and can easily be a top 10-5 pg in this league.

(Full disclosure i went to chapel hill more or less for 7 years so i might not be the most objective person).

[bizzlecatz]

It was an AWFUL mess, other than Hammer and Dude the team played with no Heart, and I don't think there were anything Coach V could do to help the situation. The second unit outplayed the starters again, but on the bright side we are sitting at 500, and the Wizards, Heat and Bulls are 0-5 and I have league pass to watch us win the division. Although the games has been on TV here in Virginia Beach. Go Figure! I can't win.

[davcbow]

Hang in there guys things are bound to get better, if not then we are just playing to get to next season which I think with the right player moves we could be pretty darn good.....

[ReesieNCPantherCatfan1]

Last night was atrocious. I am also a UNC fan, but I don't think mcinnis can get it done as our back up PG. He just didn't seem to be a good facilitator to his teammates, and we just became a jump shooting team (poorly I might add). I hate to agree with Bonnell, but I am wandering if we should have kept BK.

[CaptainCrunch]

yeah I wasn't a very big Brevin Knight fan myself but it does look like we need him now. McInnis just can't get it down at the PG position. Hopefully we can make a trade or someone will emerge as a solid backup PG or starter if Felton goes down again but lets hope not.

[DaFlameking]

we need a pg that could call the plays and pass it to guy open to get the easy bucket. i havent seen that this season at all from mcinnis or anderson and hardly from felton.

reverend brevin knight. teach these kids how to play the assist game again. please

[WarioVsMooChicken]

CARROL AT PG!!! :P

[timang]

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