Raymond Felton's poor FG%

[110oldeast]

Rondo also plays with FLOOR SPREADING lineup such as the one with Pierce, Allen, and House on the floor. That is when he is at his best as it allows him to get into the lane against one defender with minimal help. That is my point about the last second play situations being Felton initiating the offense with 2 legit shooters on the wing, Boris as a pick and pop option and ONE of Gerald and Mek as the dish/offensive rebound option. If folks watch games around the leauge, you will see this type of thing on the regular. Why the Bobcats are slow to grasp this concept, I don't get.

In the current NBA where illegal defense is only called when you have a foot in the lane, you have to players on the floor who will physically stretch the defense in order to clear the lane. Playing Wallace and Mek on the floor in these last shot situations is counterproductive for this reason. Their defenders can help off them without repurcussion. Furthermore, there instincts are to get near the basket anyway only clogging the lane further. The reason the Celtics got the looks they got at the end of the game against us is b/c they had MULTIPLE players who could make you pay if you helped off on the driver (which we obliged them and did multiple times). The Bobcats had.....Raja?

And 3-4 shots out of 13 is a significant amount of shots and will affect total percentage. Again it doesn't mean he would be a 50% shooter, but it does keep the number around 40 as opposed to low to mid forties. I won't argue on the "hero" thing, b/c that is a board constant. But here's a break down of the 4th quarter of the game last night. If Felton's name were plugged in where Diaw's name is in this sequence, he would get crucified for it.

Felton goes out with the lead at 85-73 with 7:37 left after playing the entire 2nd half up until this point.

After he goes out, Boston goes on a 10-4 run over the next 3:36 including 4 unanswered.

Felton returns with 4:11 in the game.

Felton has his 2nd TO (couldn't see on TV) w/ 4:00 left.

Diaw gets his shot blocked.

Felton ends the run with a pullup to make the score 91-83 with 3:12 to go.

Big Baby dunks off a Rondo dish to make it 91-85.

Diaw turns the ball over. No Celtics score.

Bells banks the shot with 2:03 to make it 93-85.

Pierce hits jumper with 1:44 (93-87).

Diaw turns the ball over again.

Rondo hits layup to make it 93-89 with 1:17 to go.

Diaw misses a 3.

House makes jumper to make it 93-91 with 54 seconds to go.

Felton misses jumpshot.

Rondo gets bogus blocking foul call on Raja and makes 2 FTs.

Diaw misses runner.

Rondo misses layup and allows game to go to OT.


Did Diaw try to "go hero" in the 4th? Nope. Did he make some critical errors that helped lead us into some empty possessions? Yep. I'm not going to criticize him for missing the shots he did, as it happens. But if his name were Raymond Felton and had performed as he did in the 4th going 0-4 with 2 TOs, he would not hear the end of it for "losing us the game."

As the resident Felton hater, I'll try to keep my bashing to a minimum.....

Felton has never shot the ball at a high %. He has a horrible form, takes bad shots, and goes hero way to often. I read a couple posts stating that his last second shots are what brings down his %. Very untrue, He shoots those out maybe 3 -4 times a game, But that doesn't account for all the missed three's or pull up jumpers that clang off the back rim. It's easy to say we give him the ball in the last seconds because he can get create himself a shot. But thats the same as sayin give Shaq the ball in the last seconds since they know he'll get fouled...He's still not the one you want shooting the freethrow. Felton brings alot of good things to this team and I've almost changed my opinion about him. But He's this teams Rajon Rondo, Atleast Rondo keeps his shot attempts to a minimum.

[spectre]

Does it show how long the ball was in his hands before there was down to 5 seconds? Eg: Was there still 8, 9 or 10 secs on the clock when he got it? Maybe longer?

Also, how many times with the 20 shots he took did he take them with more than 10 seconds left on the clock?

And really, 5 seconds is a heck of a long time in a basketball game. Hell, Raja got a VERY good look at that final 3 with less that two seconds left on the shot clock.


He had been pretty good at the start of the calendar year, but the brain farts are creeping back in.

You might be right though - he might just be very, very tired. That would explain some of them.

Of course it doesn't, nor was I implying that Felton was "perfect" and his FG% is everyone eles' fault. No doubt he can sometimes be blamed for being in the position of taking the last shot but that doesn't matter; we're talking purely about %.

I disagree about 5 seconds being a long time...24 seconds isn't a long time. If no one is moving in the offense and it falls upon you to "make something happen" then 5 seconds is nothing. If he passes to someone else (or if the ball is passed to him, which happens a lot) and the clock is under 5 seconds then you have to shoot NOW.

Raja was spotted up waiting for the pass and his defender was floating between him and doubling.

*Edited to add that Boston's agressiveness at the end didn't help either; lots of players were making mistakes because of that too.

[Mr Guy]

I read a couple posts stating that his last second shots are what brings down his %. Very untrue, He shoots those out maybe 3 -4 times a game, But that doesn't account for all the missed three's or pull up jumpers that clang off the back rim.

I'm not sure you get to state he takes 3 to 4 of those clock limited shots a game and still say they don't affect his percentage. The most shots he's taken in a game is 21 in the loss to Orlando in February. The second most is in the double overtime loss to Boston with 20. MOST games he's taking 9 to 13 shots a game. If he's taking just 2 or 3 buzzer beaters a game, that's 20 to 30 percent of his shots being forced and heavily guarded at the end of a shot clock, both when the defense is forcing poor shot selection and when he's deliberately burning time to eat the clock.

The real question is whether he now has the people to pass to for that to be an option. On the season, he's averaging 13 shots to 7 assists. Chris Paul, who is both a more reliable scorer and arguably has more reliable people to pass to, is averaging 15 shots to 11 assists.

Felton's numbers are extremely consistent no matter what crap job the coaching staff is done or how terrible the guys around him are playing. Despite swapping major minute players that prefer set shots for starters that create their own shots, Bell and Diaw, Felton has remained extremely consistent with his assist numbers.

So would it be nice if Felton shot a little better? Of course. But it'd also be nice if he didn't HAVE to take some of the shots he's been forced to take, and his numbers would be much different. I find it a lot easier to be grumpy about his 2.5 A/T ratio, and would prefer that be up closer to 3 or 4.

[Ghost Kat]

Did Diaw try to "go hero" in the 4th? Nope. Did he make some critical errors that helped lead us into some empty possessions? Yep. I'm not going to criticize him for missing the shots he did, as it happens. But if his name were Raymond Felton and had performed as he did in the 4th going 0-4 with 2 TOs, he would not hear the end of it for "losing us the game."

My boy 110oldeast, I was wondering if you've try to call out my comments again. I was actually looking forward to it.....I missed the Boston game so I can't comment on what Felton did in the 4th or what Diaw did. But Diaw does have a better shooting % then Felton and they shoot just about the same amount of shots in and outside of the lane. But, thats not what this thread is about. It's about Felton and his piss poor shooting which me & you have been talking bout since the summer if my memory serves me correctly. Felton point blank has a horrible jumpshot. Reguardless of all the good things he does for this team shoting is not one of them. Taking those 3-4 last second shots hurt his % because...HE CANT SHOOT... so of course a rushed Felton is even worse of a shooter. Can't blame his % on last second shots. We all watch the games, Not all his shots are last second, So whats your excuse for clanging the rest off his shots of the back rim? We can all agree Raja can shoot, DJ sure as hell has a pretty jumper, Diaw has a nice touch, Gerald has gotten better but atleast he knows what his skill set is. You don't see Wallace cross someone then take a step back jumper all off balance. But Felton does all the time. Like I said reguardless of the good things he does, He takes bad shots and has a horrible form which doesn't help either.

Edited: I forgot about my Rondo comment...Rondo has a horrible jumper too, But he atleast knows that. He doesn't shoot the ball , He just runs the offense. Now lucky him he has three allstars to play with. I was just comparing the type of player not the team he plays for. To me they are exactly the same type of player. It just so happens Rondo has the team mates he has so he doesn't have to shoot the ball. But neither does Felton at this point.

[Ghost Kat]

The real question is whether he now has the people to pass to for that to be an option. On the season, he's averaging 13 shots to 7 assists. Chris Paul, who is both a more reliable scorer and arguably has more reliable people to pass to, is averaging 15 shots to 11 assists.

Felton's numbers are extremely consistent no matter what crap job the coaching staff is done or how terrible the guys around him are playing. Despite swapping major minute players that prefer set shots for starters that create their own shots, Bell and Diaw, Felton has remained extremely consistent with his assist numbers.
.

I'm not sure I understand your arguement here....We are talking bout shooting %. No one here is talking about if Felton is a good passing PG or not.

[110oldeast]

Are we talking percentages or whose shots are pretty? B/c Raja has had his share of poor shooting nights including the Boston game. His shooting percentage tends to be more of a barometer for our succes than Felton's, especially b/c on the offensive end, that is what he brings to the table. Either he's making his jumpers or he's not. And I'm sorry, but there is no logic behind the idea that 2 to 4 shots out of 12-13 are irrelevant. And if he is truly clanging all his shots out, excluding the last second shots, his percentage would be about 25-30% as opposed to 40%.

Contrary to your belief, it's not about calling out "your" comments. It's about making relevant points. My only point was that talking about raw percentage numbers and discrediting this idea that taking buzzer beaters doesn't affect one's percentage. If you read my post entirely, you would see the points I made about what he could do individually to improve is consistency.

Finally, my point was not about comparing Diaw and Felton anymore than to say that Boris had a really tough 4th quarter, but it wasn't him "going hero." This is a bogus board phenomenon that is played out. I was also saying if Felton had done that, he would be hearing the bulk of the criticism. He didn't and he still is hearing a good portion of it.

And you correctly characterized Rondo's situation, as we are in agreeance over that.

My boy 110oldeast, I was wondering if you've try to call out my comments again. I was actually looking forward to it.....I missed the Boston game so I can't comment on what Felton did in the 4th or what Diaw did. But Diaw does have a better shooting % then Felton and they shoot just about the same amount of shots in and outside of the lane. But, thats not what this thread is about. It's about Felton and his piss poor shooting which me & you have been talking bout since the summer if my memory serves me correctly. Felton point blank has a horrible jumpshot. Reguardless of all the good things he does for this team shoting is not one of them. Taking those 3-4 last second shots hurt his % because...HE CANT SHOOT... so of course a rushed Felton is even worse of a shooter. Can't blame his % on last second shots. We all watch the games, Not all his shots are last second, So whats your excuse for clanging the rest off his shots of the back rim? We can all agree Raja can shoot, DJ sure as hell has a pretty jumper, Diaw has a nice touch, Gerald has gotten better but atleast he knows what his skill set is. You don't see Wallace cross someone then take a step back jumper all off balance. But Felton does all the time. Like I said reguardless of the good things he does, He takes bad shots and has a horrible form which doesn't help either.

Edited: I forgot about my Rondo comment...Rondo has a horrible jumper too, But he atleast knows that. He doesn't shoot the ball , He just runs the offense. Now lucky him he has three allstars to play with. I was just comparing the type of player not the team he plays for. To me they are exactly the same type of player. It just so happens Rondo has the team mates he has so he doesn't have to shoot the ball. But neither does Felton at this point.

[dnbman]

If you take away one shot attempt per game that is last second heave, Felton's percentage jumps almost 35 points.

Other players, of course, would also see a bump in there percentages if you did this, tempering Felton's increase in comparison to other players.

However, there's no denying that Felton takes a LOT of desperation heaves with time or the shot clock winding down.

BTW... if Felton shoots 44% or more, are we having this conversation?

[ziggy]

BTW... if Felton shoots 44% or more, are we having this conversation?

If he shoots 44%+ then I can live with that, and we aren't having this conversation.

[Ghost Kat]

This is a bogus board phenomenon that is played out.

.

Only in your mind

[spectre]

Bobcats guard Raymond Felton:

(On his shooting tonight)
"It felt good. I’ve kind of beat myself up the last five or six games because I haven’t been shooting the way I’ve wanted to, so I’ve been coming down here late at night, around 11:00, getting some shots up and working on my jumper. It felt good."

Say what you want...the guy has drive.