Bag of Thoughts from bP

[bLACKpANTHER]

I started this in reply to the Boston game but figured it needed it own thread. You can reply with your random thoughts aswell......

 

- IMHO, we are still trying to get our lottery pick. tanking games doesn't mean players playing bad- it means choosing rotations that will not win the game. you cannot ask a player to miss a shot on purpose, but you can play lineups that obviously have a weakness on defense or scoring. i think we know that losing to Boston of all teams illustrates this. not only do we take a loss, but we give a win to another lottery team = improving our chances in the draft

 

- i think we need to trade Sessions before the deadline. teams will see his scoring #'s and make a trade not knowing it is just going to the hole and throwing up a hail mary hoping to get fouled and then making a living at the FT line. Pargo or another PG that mainly distributes coming off the bench will help our team chemistry.

maybe package Session + Portland's 1st round pick for a better/higher 1st rounder

 

- Ben Gordon's contract will be eaten up by us- the money coming off the books is way more valuable than what he could net us in a trade, IMO. seeing him riding the bench whith the obvious problems at SG and the crappy shooting just proves this more IMO

 

- Biz's lack of minutes lately is concerning to me. is he hurt or what? is his value in Clifford's eyes going down?

 

- SG has to be the #1 area to upgrade. Trading Hendo before the deadline might not be out of the question. His contract is good for what we get out of him, especially if you contrast it with say Mayo's contract

$6 mil = Hendo- 14pts/5reb/2.5ast

$8 mil = Mayo- 15ps/3.5reb/2.5ast

even though he gives us migraines sometimes- teams will be willing to trade an asset for that type of production/cost

 

- i don't think Taylor is everything we though he could be. I'd like to give him the start for like a month and make that judgement afterwards- just to see.. would be very interesting to see

 

- McRoberts leading the team in assists is concerning. are we running the triangle? i thought Kemba would average at least +2 ast more a game since Big Al was signed. maybe they haven't gelled completely yet

 

- Zeller needs some special sauce seasoning and another year in the oven to settle down- he looks like Tyler Hansbrough sloppy, goofy, two left shoes type of game. he's def not written off but i will give him a year to get comfortable.

i said in another thread- his production in the Summer league gives him extra time in my book

 

- the brightest spot in the whole roster IMO is Jeff Adrien. Guy gives it ALL when he is out there. Blocks, rebounds and scores some. Great bench player that I didn't think would amount to much when we signed him. his PER is second on the team at 18.58 behind Jefferson's 19.77

[carpanfan96]

Probably get another first this draft for gordan by swapping for another bad contract....

Also don't think sessions will command anything in a trade. Big al isn't going to mar a pg assist numbers go up, he holds the ball a while to set up his post moves.

[chknwing]

they are not tanking this season.  They have the possibility of having 3 first round picks in this years draft.  They have no reason to tank.  Jordan wants to sell this place out when the name officially becomes the hornets next season, he will have better success if the team doesn't suck ass and is winning games.  They would not have brought in a whole new coaching staff, most of which have championship experience, to tank the season.  The bobcats are a .500 team and that's what they are playing like.  Not sure how you can call a ~.500 record tanking.

[carpanfan96]

they are not tanking this season.  They have the possibility of having 3 first round picks in this years draft.  They have no reason to tank.  Jordan wants to sell this place out when the name officially becomes the hornets next season, he will have better success if the team doesn't suck ass and is winning games.  They would not have brought in a whole new coaching staff, most of which have championship experience, to tank the season.  The bobcats are a .500 team and that's what they are playing like.  Not sure how you can call a ~.500 record tanking.

 

 

They have every reason in the world to tank, if they end the season at or above .500 they likely will lose a pick to Chicago and right now Detroit is keeping it's pick. The Portland pick is looking like a late 20's pick at best. 

 

If the cats/hornets ever want to be more then a 7-8th seed and a first round exit, then they need to tank.... If they want the possibility of landing a superstar and a brighter future - then they need to Tank.

 

If always being an 8th seed and 0-4 in the playoffs is the type of team that your looking for in Basketball, then go for it. 

 

If the above doesn't sound interesting or exciting to you then the team needs to tank. 

 

So tank = 2 first round picks with one in the top 9 and another late first rounder from Portland. "Add in the possibility of getting the Detroit pick which would be in the 9-12 range."

 

Not Tank = Give up a top 15 pick to the Bulls for Thomas, with the only things to improve the team being a late first pick from Portland and the possibility of getting Detroit's pick. 

 

This in one of the deepest NBA drafts in recent history, for a team that has really no superstar level players or potential superstar level players. Heck, the Cats need improvements at basically every position. 

 

They need to get into the top 3 and land a prime time player, if not then they my as well go ahead and blow this team up like they did the Wallace/Jackson team because it's ceiling is an 8th seed. Nothing worth while at all.... 

[Jakob]

I thought Dunlap was the worst coach in history at distributing minutes. Clifford is clearly worse. Cody Zeller's play is so bad I can't stand to watch him. I feel like we gave up on the Biz project just when he started playing like a decent Center. Josh McRoberts needs to play as many minutes as his body will allow him. If McRoberts will put up a triple double this season if he plays enough. McRoberts is a rare PF. He can knock down the three and he can rack up assists like nobodies business. 

 

Sadly, we could probably go 10 games under .500 and still get a decent playoff seed. The east is tanking. 

[Vagrant]

Virtually everybody on this team is below replacement level by NBA standards. Henderson is getting numbers here that he wouldn't touch on another team because most teams wouldn't let him shoot as much as he does in our sets. Same for Kemba. Bad team scorers. MKG is on an upswing and Jefferson is a legit player. Zeller is too early to tell and he's only a month younger than Biyombo so both of those guys have time. Jeff Taylor is a player we fell in love with because we were comparing a guy who played a few years in college and came out older than most prospects and looked more polished earlier. But guys with low upside that hit it quicker are limited in what they can give you. He's a deep bench player.

 

By the time this team is ready to compete, we'll have upgraded on everybody except MKG and Jefferson. If we don't ever upgrade on those guys, we won't compete. Kemba could be a valuable change of pace PG for a good team, but never the primary option. He just doesn't see the floor well enough and takes too many bad shots. This team has drafted and drafted for the PG position but never hit on a guy who can control the pace of games. Felton was as close as we came. Augustin never developed like he was supposed to. Kemba is just next in line. The jury is still out on if Zeller and Biyombo can be NBA starters, but Biyombo almost certainly will have a long career as a defensive specialist. Zeller has a lot of tools, but we need to see more of him putting those together.

[chknwing]

This in one of the deepest NBA drafts in recent history, for a team that has really no superstar level players or potential superstar level players. Heck, the Cats need improvements at basically every position. 

 

They need to get into the top 3 and land a prime time player, if not then they my as well go ahead and blow this team up like they did the Wallace/Jackson team because it's ceiling is an 8th seed. Nothing worth while at all.... 

 

If its one of the deepest drafts in NBA history, why do they need to get into the top 3?

[carpanfan96]

If its one of the deepest drafts in NBA history, why do they need to get into the top 3?

Superstar player in Randle, Parker or Wiggins..... Maybe add Smart to that list as well but one of those guys.