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December 31, 2007
Vincent downplays record
Interesting back-and-forth today with coach Sam Vincent in the pregame media availability. I asked him what he thought of his team’s record (10-18 at that moment), relative to the schedule (the easiest third of the season).
Vincent’s reply: "There’s been so much put on wins and losses, and it’s not very fair.’’
Wasn’t it Vincent who made reaching the playoffs an expectation this season?
"The talk about the playoffs came before we lost about 40 points of production,’’ he said later in the interview.
I gather he meant losing Sean May and Adam Morrison for the season. I doubt May and Morrison would have combined to average 40 points a game this season.
Vincent also mentioned the team lost its starting point guard from last season. That player – Brevin Knight – left the team against his will when Bobcats management chose to buy out the remaining season on his contract. Knight so wanted to remain a Bobcat, he was willing to stay here for less money under a new deal. Instead, he’s now a Los Angeles Clipper.
Posted by Observer Sports on December 31, 2007 at 08:09 PM | Permalink
Comments
Shocking...I wonder if he pulled the menstruation excuse when he was coaching the African women.
Posted by: Michael Procton | Dec 31, 2007 9:07:10 PM
Damn the excuses Sam...lost your starting PG?? What have we gotten ourselves into?
Posted by: Confused | Jan 1, 2008 12:40:45 AM
Let's trade the black cats to new orleans for the Hornets. It is a shame we lost them in the first place. We will never amount to anything with these bobbiecats.
Posted by: jason | Jan 1, 2008 12:41:07 AM
I think that Vincent is close to hitting the mark when he referred to the losses of Morrison and May for the season. I don't think that they would have accounted for 40 points a game. (Probably closer to something like 25-30 a game)
Yes, I fully expected the Bobcats to contend for a playoff berth this year before those losses, but now I think that it's more of a matter of trying to win with what you have, rather than what you don't have. I think for Vincent to use that excuse of not having two of his best players this year shows his inexperience as a coach. A veteran coach would say, "Hey, this is what we have, and we're going to win as many games as we can with this crew." There should be no excuses.
Posted by: caleb | Jan 1, 2008 9:03:30 AM
Is anyone else amused that all the celebrity watching is over at Bobcats games?
You used to count on a few of the Uptown Banking Chamber crowd showing up...you know the Tim Newmans, Mark Richardson et al. Now, not even Mac Everett, who talked Bob Johnson out of a cool $1 million for the new westside YMCA shows. Looks like everybody who wanted BJ/Bobcat donations early on have now run for the hinterlands.
But, even the owners rarely show up. Anyone seen Skipper Beck lately at the end of the bench? Maybe he has problems he's trying to get "hushed" up. Michael never shows unless he's sequestered in some box surrounded by Green Berets with AK-47s. And, Bob ("Cat") Johnson, himself, has been mysteriously absent recently.
And, remember that big Bobcat effort to get NASCAR drivers, Panthers, etc. courtside? That's apparently out the window, as well. Only Carl Sheer, Bill Diehl and the old Hornets/Wendys "brick guy" are left to be three of the biggest Bobcat fans.
Take all of the Uptown/Eastover/Southpark/Ballanytyne Cancer Ball crowd out of the mix and you are left with (1) the really hardcore basketball fans who need a constant fix; (2) out-of-towners for whom an NBA game is a novelty and who love the high schoolish drum line at the end of the game and the inflatable Rufus (ad nauseum) and (3) the transit center crowd who wander in on a $2 ticket they've scalped outside.
The addicted hardcore fans are pulling their hair out over the terrible play and coaching we're often putting on the floor. But, regardless, we go and pay for the $8 beers.
Have we reached the point far beyond the "see and be seen" phase where almost everybody else - including the owners - are embarrassed to be associated with the Bobcats?
Posted by: Ismael Roland | Jan 1, 2008 9:05:33 AM
No, but I did hit that point with the Panthers about 5 games into the season.
As for the blog itself, gee, maybe Vincent isn't as stupid as I thought. From his comments about Felton being a combo guard playing PG, to his comments about missing Knight, he's at least showing some signs of intelligence.
Posted by: Will | Jan 1, 2008 10:02:33 AM
My bad, it was 2 games.
After the Texas game.
Posted by: Will | Jan 1, 2008 10:52:33 AM
Well, well...it never takes long for the "closet" thinkers to show their true "colors". I guess some people don't know about PC because their Stanford-Binet is a 0. I guess you can't blame the Hurricanes losses on injuries either, huh.
At least we know Vincent left this country unlike some "country" local named Micheal.
Jason needs to accept the fact that Hornets were the worse owner led franchise for years. Also you need to join pessimist anonymous.
#1) The Bobcats play hard and Rome wasn't build in a day.
#2) There are owners worse than the Bobcats,
i.e. Lakers (safe pick is the Hornets)
#3) Who drafted one of the best players in NBA history & traded him away on draft day, hmmm. Lets not forget Morning either.
#4) I guess you would prefer us having FA's past their prime leeching our salary cap and hoping the draft will replace them - (oops that's the panthers)
It's the Holidays - be thankful the NBA allowed Charlotte to have a team back. I guess Shinn didn't taste to bad with all his problems, huh.
Posted by: CEREBRUM | Jan 1, 2008 12:20:46 PM
One of the big problems is this Bobcats team does not play hard. They don't get back on defense and don't put forth the effort necessary to win NBA games.
Last year's team gave it their all - they didn't win very often, but you could see they were trying and you could see the progress.
This year, the team looks lost, confused, indifferent. We gave Sam a chance, but it's just not going to happen. Time to move on and bring in someone that can get this team focused and prepared for the NBA game.
Posted by: firesamvincent | Jan 1, 2008 12:29:56 PM
Vincent’s reply: "There’s been so much put on wins and losses, and it’s not very fair.’’
Sounds like a losing coach. He already said he doesn't care about the development of our players, so how are we supposed to measure this team?
Posted by: firesamvincent | Jan 1, 2008 12:32:35 PM
Cerebrum,
You make a lot of sense. We had a number of years of bad owners with the Hornets that turned off the Charlotte sports fans. Maybe we are fickle and like to complain. As long as the team plays hard and looks fairly well-coached, I think most people can accept it. It just doesn't seem to be happening, yesterday's game notwithstanding. It does seem that many leaders in the community are turning their back on the team.
Posted by: Ricky Post | Jan 1, 2008 1:07:36 PM
George Shinn opened homeless shelters, gave food to the hungry, put shoes on people who needed them. So what he made a few mistakes.
What has our newest owner done for the folks of charlotte?
He is just here for a free ride and a tax write off.
Hopefully he will get the message soon and either sell or leave.
Posted by: jason | Jan 1, 2008 2:06:09 PM
Nice of you to open up your arms to Shinn, after idiots like you ran him off.
Johnson has done plenty around here in the community, including at least two of the things you mentioned, and hell, maybe all three. I don't care enough about it to go look it up, because I'm not the one doubting that it's happened.
You're welcome to go educate your ignorant self, though.
Posted by: Will | Jan 1, 2008 2:23:47 PM
Will, I think you are the one that needs to educated your ignorant self. I quote "I don't care enough about it to go look it up." That sounds like an ignorant and lazy comment to me. Keep on believing what you want.
Posted by: jason | Jan 1, 2008 5:22:51 PM
Sam Vincent should know that NBA fans want wins, not excuses. Granted, you're not gonna win every game; but fans want to see their team playing hard, and playing well, always.
The Bobcats beat Indiana thanks to playing hard (at least part of the game, but, that was the decisive part of it!), and thanks to stellar playing by Gerald Wallace and Jason Richardson. My main point, however, is that Sam Vincent's new fondness for small ball doesn't make the best out of this team's roster, and, I don't believe that playing small line-ups is gonna bring a lot of wins in this tough league.
In his two games as starting point guard, McInnis played 32.5, then 37.5 minutes, and had 3, then 4, assists, to go with a total of 7 points! I really have nothing against Jeff, but this shows that using him as a starter is wasting a lot of precious play time. In these two games, Felton was mostly used as a shooting guard, and still had 6 assists each game (below his average). This "combo guard" can make some things happen, in terms of distributing the ball, even when his primary responsibility is not playmaking... On the other hand, the extra minutes wasted on McInnis as a starter mean less, a lot less, minutes for Nazr Mohammed.
Nazr got just 18 minutes against Indiana, in which he had 6 points and 7 rebounds. Other embarrassing results of going small against the Pacers: the 'Cats have been outrebounded
58 to 50, outscored in the paint 30 to 24, and shot merely 42% from the field - while Nazr Mohammed gave the team 58% scoring from the field since the trade!
As I said, my point is not at all to be nitpicking over a game that the 'Cats won, of which I'm really happy. My point is that Sam Vincent isn't making the best use of his roster, and that by going small he puts the team at a disadvantage unnecessarily. Sam Vincent, you're not on the right path, and I just wish you changed this!
Posted by: Sandy12 | Jan 1, 2008 5:27:26 PM
• The Bobcats have a losing record.
• Many of the losses have been blowouts.
• Good coaches don't allow frequent blowouts.
• Good coaches don't make weak excuses.
• Good coaches ARE concerned with winning.
• Winning teams have good coaches.
• The Bobcats do NOT have a good coach.
Posted by: Win Now | Jan 1, 2008 11:12:24 PM
Now, now...you all are ignoring all the good Vincent did with the African women...he won a game in a qualifying tournament with them, and he was the best assistant in Dallas last year when it came to racking up the balls after practice.
Posted by: Michael Procton | Jan 1, 2008 11:23:43 PM
It certainly wasn't ignorant.
It might have been lazy, but I've spent years telling idiots like yourself stuff I already know, and stuff that you wouldn't believe even if I told you because it doesn't jive with what you want to believe.
So, rather than waste my time for something that would be pointless, I choose not to. If you really cared about the community service like you claim, you would want to educate yourself on the subject and see what the team and its owners have done for the community over the past few years.
If you don't -- which I know you don't, you're just talking about of your ass like usual -- what's the point in me wasting my time to prove a jackass like you wrong?
Posted by: Will | Jan 1, 2008 11:51:37 PM
He's saying the emphasis on their record isnt fair b/c we are not playing with our full team. That's not downplaying the record, its a fact. You guys don't think Adam and Sean would help our team win more games. I don't know about 40ppg, but an extra 30ppg would really be nice.
We still are a young franchise. Didnt we win the most games for a third year franchise last year. We are making improvements, but it's not going to be overnight. We didnt win our 11th game until we were 34 games into the season last year. We are 5 games better at this point compared to last year. That's an improvement and we could atleast be at 12 wings b/c we should have won the Celtics game.
I hope Felton is studying tapes of Steve Nash and Jason Kidd b/c he's the reason we are in this position. If Felton shoots atleast 45% from the field, we will have atleast 4-5 more wins.
Posted by: Bobcats Fan | Jan 2, 2008 3:39:00 AM
Hi Fat Buddy,
I blogged my lights out and said don't take Morrison. See Rudy Gay for explanation. We sunk a heavy draft pick in a rotation player. Can't you trade for 2 man off the bench?
May needs to toughen up and stop chowing down. The difference between Kobe and Vince is passion. So he need to buckle down before he becomes trade bait.
The organization needs to just focus on winning. See Detroit Pistons for a blue print. You just need guys who can play.
Posted by: Charlie White | Jan 2, 2008 11:47:58 AM
Will, just admit it you can't find anything that Robert Johnson has done for anyone other than himself.
Posted by: jason | Jan 2, 2008 8:08:01 PM
You are right with your observations Procton.
I understand that the reason Bob and Mike hired Vincent from the African Women's team was because MJ and BJ had several of their illegitimate daughters playing on that team.
It all makes sense now.
HA HA HA HA HA GO CHARLOTTE HORNETS
Posted by: George Shinn | Jan 2, 2008 8:11:14 PM
I just watched the 01-02-08 game against Chicago and JEEZ what an awful coaching job I witnessed. Sam is a great guy I'm sure, but MJ get a coach in here who knows what he's doing. I'll bet the team would play better without any coach. If you were gonna hire a rookie coach, Dell Curry would have been ideal, although we know he wouldn't have taken the job. Heck, I have never seen such indecision in a head coach. Bernie would have had 5-6 more wins from these guys. Okafor has been rendered to average, and he is not. Please do something.
Posted by: Dan | Jan 2, 2008 9:47:27 PM
Yet another TERRIBLE coaching job tonight by Vincent. How do you turn a 10-point halftime lead to a game that wasn't competitive by the 8:00 mark of the 4th quarter?
Posted by: Michael Procton | Jan 2, 2008 10:54:03 PM
I'm feeling so flaming gay today. Anyone up for a game of tennis?
Posted by: Michael Aaron Procton | Jan 6, 2008 10:28:21 AM
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