Dudley to replace Brezec in starting lineup

Coach Sam Vincent was patient, more patient than Primoz Brezec’s performance justified.

Monday the patience wore out when Vincent confirmed at morning shootaround he is replacing Brezec in the Bobcats’ starting lineup with Jared Dudley.

Brezec, the 7-1 center the Bobcats found in the expansion draft, has been bad this season. He knows it and doesn’t make excuses, so he couldn’t have been surprised by this move.

Brezec has failed to score in four of the past six games, and his strength is offense, not defense. He was doing little, so he was playing little. He had started every game this season, but that was as cameo a starting role as it gets in the NBA.

Vincent stuck with it as long as he did, I surmise, because he doesn’t want to use Emeka Okafor primarily as a center. When Okafor gets in foul trouble – and that’s more likely at center – it drastically reduces this team’s chance of winning.

Of course when you’re on a five-game losing streak, your chances of winning are already slim. So with Ryan Hollins hurting with a sore shoulder and Othella Harrington ineffective because of a knee injury, Vincent subs a 6-foot-7 small forward for a 7-1 center.

It’s worth trying. Gerald Wallace has to play power forward again. He gives up a lot of weight and takes a pounding, but he’s proven to be effective there. Dudley is an intense defender and a remarkably mature rookie.

You can say that’s about him staying in college all four years, and that’s probably a factor, but it’s more than that; Dudley is basketball wise.

I saw it in that one preseason game he played, after injuring his foot in the preseason. Recognizing he’d be the fifth offensive option in almost any group for now, he focused all his energy on getting possessions, either with rebounds or grabbing in loose balls.

Coaches love guys who do that. It keeps players of limited athletic ability – and that includes Dudley – in the league a long time.