Game 7

[PantherWake]

Good season HOrnets fans

[themikestrick]

So if it's gonna take a max contract to re-sign Batum, it will end up being $25.3 Million a year.  Batum was great during the regular season and it sucks that he is injured now but is he worth $25.3 Million a year?

[Proudiddy]

And I've been pulling for Cody since day one, but i'm done with that experiment too.  He's not worth the handful of highlight dunks he has per season when the rest of the time he is throwing up shots like he's never touched a basketball in his life and is scared of contact.  Time to move on or drastically reduce his role.

And hopefully Frank finds a niche, meaning we can move him out to his natural stretch big role once we fill in the right pieces.  I'm almost certain 85% of his PT came at the 3 this year, and that is a recipe for disaster.  To his credit, unlike Cody, he at least digs in and gives 100% effort at all times, but peojecting out, as we sit here now, it's not looking good unless that change to full-time big is made.

[Proudiddy]

1 minute ago, themikestrick said:

So if it's gonna take a max contract to re-sign Batum, it will end up being $25.3 Million a year.  Batum was great during the regular season and it sucked that he is injured now but is he worth $25.3 Million a year?

Not neccessarily, but from everything I've read, in respect to the rising cap and the relative cap floor, if we don't pay him that, several teams will.

[Chaos]

One of the biggest insults a team can hear is that it lacked hustle or energy.  There is simply no excuse for that.  And I don't even want to hear about lack of experience or team youth, bullshit.  You're in the NBA and in game 7 of a playoff series, you had won three straight against these same guys.  If the talent level was a gross mismatch, I can live with that.  But these teams had the same regular season record, split their reg season series, and went all the way to game 7.  They are evenly matched, but the team that wanted it more and brought more physicality won the series.

And I can't accept a team that quits before the ball is even tipped and plays like scared giant pussies jogging up and down the court, like they're afraid of contact.  Fug them all, I hope they feel like poo for months over this and can't sleep and have diarrhea for two weeks, and get their cars stolen.  Seriously, fug those lazy pricks right in their goddam ears.  Eat poo losers!!

[carpanfan96]

4 minutes ago, Proudiddy said:

That's the part that bothers me most, Red.  I KNOW this team was good enough to win a playoff series, and they showed it for about 3.75 games of this series...  but, they have a history of this wildly bipolar inconsistency.  They have been either one extreme or the other and that has to change. 

And i'm with you, i can't pinpoint what exactly is the cause, but I think someone like Whiteside and/or if we could find a way to swing a deal for a healthy Joakim Noah this offseason, that would instantly propel us into second round contention.  Also, if MKG can stay healthy, that will make a huge difference.

I love MKG but he breaks the system unless he's the four offensively and gets a 35% 3pt shot. 

 

Clifford's system he's trying to run needs four parts. 

 

A shifty, quick defensive pg that can drive the basket and pull the defense.

A d and 3 SG, 

A Sf who is versatile and plays good D, solid rebounder and passer. 

A stretch 4 who can hit three's down in the corner.

A center that can operate on the block, high rate rebounder and is a defensive presence in the middle. 

 

Kemba, lee, Batum...  check, check and check

Zeller was supposed to be that stretch 4, same with Frank. Williams can do it but is up there in age. 

 

No one at all at center

 

Where does MKG fit that system??? 

[themikestrick]

1 minute ago, Proudiddy said:

Not neccessarily, but from everything I've read, in respect to the rising cap and the relative cap floor, if we don't pay him that, several teams will.

That's what I'm worried about, since Charlotte is a small market team we will have to end up giving a max contract to a player that probably shouldn't get a max contract just to be able to keep them.  On the other hand, if we go after Dwight Howard, his max contract will be $29.5 Million a year.

[themikestrick]

Whiteside's max contract will only be $21.1 Million a year.

[OldNorthPowell]

Well I went fishing instead of watching the game. I know the way the NBA works. Small market teams get a nice trip to round one and big markets advance. No matter who we sign we will never get past round 1 and even if we do never round 2. Always pandering to big markets and always beating up on small market players. This is the reason the NFL and even MLS soccer is funner to watch. Any team can win it any year. Even the Panthers have at least BEEN TO THE SUPER BOWL. I am done with the NBA for a long time and probably forever. I will stick to college bball and my Tar Heels because NBA is nothing more than WWE on a court.

[Proudiddy]

3 minutes ago, carpanfan96 said:

I love MKG but he breaks the system unless he's the four offensively and gets a 35% 3pt shot. 

 

Clifford's system he's trying to run needs four parts. 

 

A shifty, quick defensive pg that can drive the basket and pull the defense.

A d and 3 SG, 

A Sf who is versatile and plays good D, solid rebounder and passer. 

A stretch 4 who can hit three's down in the corner.

A center that can operate on the block, high rate rebounder and is a defensive presence in the middle. 

 

Kemba, lee, Batum...  check, check and check

Zeller was supposed to be that stretch 4, same with Frank. Williams can do it but is up there in age. 

 

No one at all at center

 

Where does MKG fit that system??? 

I see what you're saying cpf, but imo, what ended our season was defense, not offense.  I feel like MKG has improved his shot enough to be a threat.  Hell, in one of those games he came back for this season, he hit 2 or 3 threes in one game, and confidently.  Pair that with his defense, and he's fine.  We'll still need the ability to create and drive outside of Kemba and MKG can do that.  The problem is he can't be trusted to stay healthy.

In my opinion, regardless the offensive system, of you have a Whiteside or Noah in the middle and MKG on the wing, we win that series 3-1.  The difference for us was defensive stops, which often lead to easy offense where the 4 out, 1 in isn't even needed.  In the games we lost, especially today, the defense was non-existent.  Both people sandbagging on picks, no hedging, no bumping, no physicality...  we literally bent over and handed Miami the lube. 

With a defensive presence in the middle and MKG on the outside, that poo doesn't happen.

[cbarrier90]

Meh. Figured that would happen. Great season, exceeded alot of expectations, but a very interesting offseason.

Cho and company need to do a LOT of soul searching for who needs to stay and who needs to go on the roster. Cautious optimism for the future but optimism nonetheless.

[TheRed]

26 minutes ago, Proudiddy said:

That's the part that bothers me most, Red.  I KNOW this team was good enough to win a playoff series, and they showed it for about 3.75 games of this series...  but, they have a history of this wildly bipolar inconsistency.  They have been either one extreme or the other and that has to change. 

And i'm with you, i can't pinpoint what exactly is the cause, but I think someone like Whiteside and/or if we could find a way to swing a deal for a healthy Joakim Noah this offseason, that would instantly propel us into second round contention.  Also, if MKG can stay healthy, that will make a huge difference.

I don't know either.

Might need a major culture change like what happened after 2010 when Cam Newton was drafted. Mediocrity is almost acceptable.

[cbarrier90]

8 minutes ago, TheRed said:

I don't know either.

Might need a major culture change like what happened after 2010 when Cam Newton was drafted. Mediocrity is almost acceptable.

If this season was your definition of mediocrity I question how your fanhood survived 2004-2015.

[TheRed]

2 minutes ago, cbarrier90 said:

If this season was your definition of mediocrity I question how your fanhood survived 2004-2015.

I mean yeah I was speaking as a whole, not just this game or one season. Guess I should have made that more clear but I felt like it was. Ohwell.

Regardless, we keep thinking we are one player away to a degree, but it may not be that simple.