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February 03, 2008
Felton set to return as Bobcats' top playmaker
Raymond Felton is now back as the Bobcats’ first option at point guard. That was coach Sam Vincent’s stated conclusion, following a 117-101 loss to the Denver Nuggets. Vincent shook up his starting lineup, moving Jeff McInnis out and center Nazr Mohammed in. In fact, McInnis didn’t play at all, seemingly slipping behind Earl Boykins to third point guard. Felton and McInnis had been starting together for about a month, with McInnis doing much of the playmaking and Felton functioning more as a shooting guard. ""We’re looking to get the ball more into his hands,’’ Vincent said post-game, referring to Felton. "Let him make decisions.’’
Posted by rbonnell on February 3, 2008 at 12:08 AM | Permalink
Comments
"Sink Or Swim," starring Raymond Felton...take two!
Hopefully it goes better than take one, which happened during the first few months of the season when Felton started at PG. You know, back when we had an easy schedule, a disappointing record, and offensive production which was some of the worst in franchise history.
Posted by: Will | Feb 3, 2008 1:09:31 AM
Good decision by coach Vincent! For me, a rookie head coach being on a learning curve means making inevitable mistakes, then learning from them and moving on with a new plan - rather than repeating the same mistakes over and over endlessly. Clearly, the "small ball with McInnis as starting point guard" experiment failed, and Sam Vincent drew the right conclusion. I hope this new formula for the rest of the season will be more successful, though, the schedule is very tough. Also, I hope the management will be able to make a trade for an additional power forward.
Posted by: Sandy | Feb 3, 2008 1:45:26 AM
Oh god...here we go again. Great decision, Sam, moving away from the formula that had brought you the most success of the season. Anybody remember how we were gonna be a team that ran and played good DEFENSE to take us to the playoffs? Ha ha.
Posted by: Michael Procton | Feb 3, 2008 1:57:15 AM
This is how things need to be: Felton as the starting pg, Richardson, Wallace, Okafor, and Mohammed. Boykins should be the #2 pg. I think Boykins was signed because the team realized that McInnis was inadequate. Boykins offers a better option as a #2 pg and forced Felton & Mohammed to start because a lineup of Felton & Boykins in the backcourt is just too small.
Posted by: GJ | Feb 3, 2008 1:32:26 PM
This is a good move compared to putting Jeff McCinnis at the PG, but Raymond still sucks at PG. He tries to shoot too much juxtaposed to passing to J-Rich or GW.
Posted by: Spencer | Feb 3, 2008 5:51:26 PM
itis to bad that GW was not on the floor. I do think RF need to improve his leadership and lead this team to the playoffs. I think that all players need to put the time in and make those foul shoots and work on their defense. If the BOBCATS do not make the playoffs this year. I think they will need to regroup their roster.
Posted by: waimo | Feb 3, 2008 6:19:51 PM
Hey William Hamilton you must be some kind of relative to Brevin Knight. You have had a grudge against Felton since he first came into the league. Want to know what Felton was doing when he was the starting PG for us the first 25 or so games of the season? Try averaging 17 and 8, and was statistically the 3rd best PG in the conference behind Billups and Kidd.
Hamilton is a moron. Take two.
Posted by: Jason Warren | Feb 3, 2008 10:58:59 PM
Jason, Felton was a better point guard as the starting SG with McInnis in the lineup. I did a breakdown of the stats and our team's success a couple weeks ago, but I'll update them.
When McInnis and Felton start: 8-12 (.400, a win percentage, mind you, that would have us four spots higher in the standings and only 1.5 games out of the 8th seed)
When McInnis comes off the bench: 10-17 (.370)
Felton's shooting with McInnis in the starting lineup: 86-204 FG (.421%) 3PTA: 2.4/g
Without: 133-324 FG (.410%) 3PTA: 2.6
So he was shooting better with the offense dictating his shots rather than his own conscience (or lack thereof), and with the ball out of his hands, he's been less able to keep jacking up 3s at 28%.
APG with McInnis: 7.2
Without: 6.7
TO/g with McInnis: 2.4
Without: 2.9
A:TO with McInnis: 3.1
without: 2.3
So he's better able to find teammates for open looks with McInnis running the offense, turns the ball over less with it out of his hands, and has a better A:TO ratio as a result. Furthermore, during the time that we've used this starting line up, we've had our best period of success as a team, and Richardson and Wallace have emerged as consistent, star-quality players. How is any of this a bad thing?
Posted by: Michael Procton | Feb 4, 2008 12:58:06 AM
I did like your 8 APG number, though...hoped nobody would actually look that up, huh?
Posted by: Michael Procton | Feb 4, 2008 12:59:11 AM
Just what we need. We're small enough as it is, so let's add a 5'5" PG. McInnis delivers the ball better to the scorers. Felton is more concerned with his own stats than getting the ball to the real scorers.
This is a stupid move.
Posted by: Chris | Feb 4, 2008 1:42:21 AM
He was avergaing 17 and 8 Procton. McInnis isn't any good and he has no future with us, despite your analysis Felton is a better option for this team. He has to play to develop so we can figure out what we have in him.
Posted by: k | Feb 4, 2008 5:18:02 AM
This is a great decision by Coach Vincent. Raymond should be successful with his running style with GW and J-Rich on the wings. I like the move and this will allow the Bobcats to make a push towards the playoffs.
Posted by: solitude | Feb 4, 2008 8:15:12 AM
He should have stuck with this move since the beginning of the season, instead of messing with the line up, and move him the 2 guard. Felton's future is to run the team, if he can't do that, then he shouldn't be playing. He is not a 2 guard, nor can he play defense on any 2 guards. Sorry Felton but its the truth.
I still think jordan crony is suspect as a coach.
Posted by: Michael | Feb 4, 2008 9:27:52 AM
Felton hasn't even averaged 7 APG as the starting PG. It's people like you who cling to the hope that Felton will ever be a decent starting PG in the league over the more rational decision to back team success that bring this team down. If that was the prevailing notion, why aren't all those tickets getting sold?
Posted by: Michael Procton | Feb 4, 2008 10:31:43 AM
(1) As Procton pointed out, Felton has been playing better since McInnis moved into the starting lineup, as has the team. So, it's just more of a Bobcats' backup PG getting "better results" when he starts. If you think Felton playing sooooo well when he started in place of Knight his rookie season, and the team was soooooo much better with him out there, then I'm sure you agree that we are doing sooooo much better with Jeff McInnis as our starting PG, and the team has been doing sooooo much better. Correct? Procton pointed out the stats.
(2) I didn't have a "grudge" with Felton when he came into the league. I wanted us to pick him, because I figured Paul/D.Williams would be gone, I just hoped we could have gotten him with our second lottery pick instead. Not that it matters, since most of the guys I wanted with #5 fell to #13 anyway, but we screwed that up by drafting perpetually fat and injured Sean May.
So, no, I didn't have a "grudge" against Felton since he came into the league. I guess you could say I did develop a "grudge" once I saw how disappointing he was, and how he couldn't lead our team, and how he made worse the team I root for. Then I developed a "grudge," I guess.
Granted, he's been doing most of those things almost immediately since he came into the NBA, so it would be fair to say I have had a "grudge" for most of his career, but that's because most of his career has been disappointing and hurtful to my team.
Posted by: Will | Feb 4, 2008 10:38:54 AM
Michael P., your stats are interesting, but they aren't telling the whole story. Even when McInnis was the starting point guard, Felton played 39.6 minutes per game, and about half of these minutes he was the only point guard running the team! Also, even with McInnis on the floor, Raymond wasn't playing as a regular shooting guard: in most possessions he was actually sharing in the point guard duties with Jeff, and only in relatively few possessions he was acting like a shooting guard! No numbers can tell this side of the story, but this is what you could see happening on the floor. More than anything else, your numbers show that Raymond improved the quality of his game compared to last season (better assists to turnover ratio, better shooting percentage); his lower numbers (that you posted) came in the earlier part of the season, and he steadily improved since. I mentioned this in prior posts, and I definitely ascribe it to Raymond's maturing, which is a gradual and rather slow, but sure, process. Look, in the first game he played without McInnis getting any minutes at all (tough game, at Denver), Raymond had 9 assists and just 1 turnover! He also took more shots than he normally should, but that's what happens when one of your two best scoring options (Gerald) is out injured. Briefly, Raymond doesn't need anymore a "baby sitter" by his side on the court, not letting him have the ball for too long! He just outgrew this stage, though his development as a NBA point guard is not yet completed.
As to the impact of playing "small ball" on this team, that made the Bobcats look very often very soft in the inside defense, they've been frequently outrebounded and outscored in the paint, and it put excessive wear and tear on players who get overmatched physically in about every game. There's a high price to be paid for all of these. Gerald doesn't need to take anymore all that banging from bigger and stronger true power forwards.
So, again, I find every reason to be happy with coach Vincent's latest change of line-up. That's what I call learning from mistakes.
Posted by: Sandy | Feb 4, 2008 11:14:22 AM
So, which is it?
McInnis started and hindered Felton's growth yet again and omg he was doing so much ballhandling and omg Felton was forced to play SG barely touching the ball at all!
Or, McInnis started, but it basically didn't matter because Felton still played quite a bit at PG and did the majority of the ballhandling?
Posted by: Will | Feb 4, 2008 11:58:15 AM
RF being better then he was last year or having better statistics playing with JM is not the right way to judge his performance or the performance of the management who drafted him. The right way to judge him is to compare him to Chris Paul who was the point guard picked just before him. How far behind CP is RF? In my opinon RF is much, much farther behind CP then he was on draft day 3-4 years ago. RF has progressed at a much slower pace and it looks like it will be a long time before RF reachs all-star caliber as CP has.
Posted by: RoyFan | Feb 4, 2008 12:12:56 PM
For anyone who wants a new jersey, but thought that they were too expensive. The Bobcats currently have all jerseys 50% off in their team store on their website
Posted by: Jsersey | Feb 4, 2008 12:20:44 PM
Felton continued growing as a pro point guard because this is what he's been doing since he became a Bobcat; he's a developing player. Although some of his mistakes apparently worried Sam Vincent earlier this season, Raymond got to a point in his development where he doesn't need anymore this prop of sharing the floor with another point guard.
Sure, he didn't suddenly become flawless, but I don't see the point of comparing him with Chris Paul (unless you know of a way to get Chris Paul, or Steve Nash, or Barron Davis to Charlotte...). Just let Raymond continue his development, and prove that he can be a really good NBA point guard. I think he's not far from that - but I also don't compare him to the few select elite point guards of this leaugue.
Posted by: Sandy | Feb 4, 2008 1:27:21 PM
Continued growing? Is he like one of those trees that "grow" one inch in 1,000 years? Is that the type of growth we are talking about?
The Felton of today is not much different at all from the Felton of 2005. The same type of mistakes, the same poor shooting, the same nonexistent leadership, the same confusion when it comes to managing our team's offense, etc.
Posted by: Will | Feb 4, 2008 2:22:19 PM
"...growing as a pro point guard...", which evidently means developing in that position. Anyway, the sequel of your post, Will, shows that your main challenge isn't understanding a text, but understanding basketball. It looks like you're falling asleep anytime Felton does something good, and somehow you wake up just in time not to miss any of his mistakes. If being hateful and stubborn makes you happy, suit yourself! Good luck, pal!
Posted by: Sandy | Feb 4, 2008 3:11:27 PM
To the person who wrote about 50% off on Jerseys....note that it only applys to all Jerseys OTHER than Sean "I'm not fat...oh look...theres a CeCe's Pizzareia!" May...his Jersey is regular price becasue of the nearly 3 x's the fabric....Sam Vincent and MJ need to trade this bovine to a Slaughter House with a couple of picks and get a serious athlete to clog the middle....stretched out sitting on the bench he looks like Jabba the Hut from Star Wars...sheesh...
Posted by: Mike | Feb 4, 2008 3:28:21 PM
Starters:
PG Felton
SG Richardson
SF Wallace
PF Okafor
C Mohammed
Sixth Man:
Boykins? Caroll
Deserves Minutes:
Anderson
Hollins
Harrington
Dudley
This should be their 9 to 10 man rotation! The Bobcats should run with it, because by now Vincent should know he is going to get from everybody on the team. As for Boykins, he has been in the league and there should be an expectation there as well.
What do you guys think?
Posted by: northcliq | Feb 4, 2008 3:59:53 PM
Procton, those stats don't mean diddly. Felton is not the best PG in the league but he gives the Bobcat's the best chance at winning.
Posted by: steve | Feb 4, 2008 5:42:25 PM
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