1. Finally…A WIN! It was the “Six Feet and Under” show tonight at the TWC Arena with both DJ Augustin and Raymond Felton starting together in a small backcourt and shooting the lights out as they combined for 48 points on 16-22 shooting. AP Recap is here. Box score is here.
2. I’m not sure what got into Raymond Felton tonight. The dude made shots coming off of screens and falling away on threes; hell, he even had a couple of successful drives to the basket. Ray didn’t forget his PG duties either in dishing out five assists and coming up with some clutch rebounds. Great night for Raymond Felton. I think his trade value just went up.
3. Augustin continues to impress. The kid has incredible confidence from the three point line and is showing increased improvement finishing in the lane. He’s got a great handle and his teammates are looking to him for leadership already at this early stage of his career. 25pts and 11 assists while playing against Andre Miller and Louis Williams is nothing to laugh about on your 13th game as a pro. Great work by DJ and I’m starting to think that a Raymond Felton trade will be in the works between now and the Feb deadline. Coach Brown obviously prefers DJ running the show and once JRICH comes back, he’ll need to either sit Raymond and go small with Gerald Wallace and Richardson playing the forward spots, or he’ll go big by either sitting or trading Raymond to another team. I’m guessing that a trade makes more sense, especially if they can get a low post scorer in the deal. Felton and May for Eddie Curry???
4. Adam Morrison played well tonight with 10pts off of the bench in 23 minutes. He hit a big three late in the 4th quarter to push the lead temporarily to ten and he also came up with a few key rebounds in his limited time off of the bench. The NBA TV crew calling the game nationally really liked what they saw out of AMMO, citing his awareness of the game’s details. So did I.
5. The Alexis Ajinca Coming Out Party is on HOLD. There was a series of ugly Freedom Fries moments to start the 3rd quarter when the rook air-balled a shot, made a beyond-awkward pivot move/travel on Elton Brand, and then threw a no-look pass to the goal post. Fortunately, Coach Brown showed some class by leaving the kid in the game and not subbing him out until he did something positive, which he did a few minutes later by swishing a wide open fifteen footer. Ajinca would probably benefit heavily by doing a six month stint in the D-League but as other Baseline posters have noted, the team is just too paper thin up front to lose any size right now.
6. To further along what Rick Bonnell noted today in his blog, I too am a fan of Wizards interim coach Ed Tapscott. My bro and I ran into Mr. Tapscott at Charlotte Douglas one afternoon as we were both checking onto a flight and I approached him and congratulated him on his job of putting together a quality franchise. He was amiable and appreciative of the words. Compare this to the time that I was checking out in line at the Dilworth Harris Teeter behind Bobcats Owner Bob Johnson. It was right before a game and I was decked out in authentic Bobcats gear (a rare sight in CLT these days) and I passed by the guy three different times and then finally a fourth time at the register. The bagger and cashier both recognized him and politely asked him how he was doing. BJ uttered something under his breath and jetted off to the exit and into the chauffered Mercedes waiting for him at the entrance. Way to connect with the community Bob. Like the Wizards, you should’ve Fired Jordan and Promoted Tapscott. He really connected with the community.
7. Speaking of Bob Johnson, I watched the game tonight in D.C. with my Father-In-Law. Even though he’s a big sports fan, I had to spend most of the first quarter trying to explain to him who the Bobcats were and what exactly they did. He knew Okafor and had a inkling of who Adam Morrison was but it wasn’t until I mentioned the ownership did he get interested. “Bob Johnson is the owner???!!! The guy from Black Entertainment Television? That guy’s friends with Marion Barry!!! Oh, you’ll never win anything with that guy as the owner. He’s terrible. Nobody likes him around here. That’s terrible.” I told him that I had my beef with the guy’s antics over there years but I was confident that the Bobcats front office could put together a roster that would compete for the playoffs eventually. “Who is the GM?,” he asked. “Michael Jordan.” Lets just say that he didn’t exactly have a Come To Jesus moment after that.
Enjoy the win everybody.
-ASChin
NOTES FROM THE ARENA
• It was nice to be part of the small cult of 9 or 10 thousand at the cable box last night.
• The Bobcats ARE starting to play as a team. They did some things well last season, but never had structure as a unit. There are several offensive schemes and plays that are finally coming together after their early struggles.
• Larry Brown let Ajinca make some bad mistakes, but didn't pull him until he did something good. That was a move that a college coach would do early in the season. Not too many NBA coaches would have done that for a young guy's development. The "crowd" had turned on Ajinca after he threw the ball into the 3rd row and committed a lane violation. The rest of the team worked to settle him down and reassure him. That showed a lot of class amongst his teammates and the fans made plenty of noise for the frenchman when he hit his open jumper.
• Adam Morrisson can play basketball. He doesn't look at all like a player, but he knows what's going on all over the court. There were several moments when he could be seen breathing heavily, so he may still be getting into game shape after his rehab this summer. He executed a great pass to Wallace after drawing his defender to the perimeter. That's the kind of move that you see from the better teams in the league. He also set up Okafor with two inside shots in the second half. It's good to see Adam knock down shots for himself, but he becomes so much more valuable when he's both a scoring and passing threat .
• The Bobcats need Jason Richardson back, soon. While Raymond had a terrific showing offensively, the Cats can't depend on him to hit all those shots every game. Felton was (wisely) much more conservative with his choices to drive into the paint. Often in past games, he had found himself heaving shots and attempting to draw fouls that weren't called. If the Bobcats could have J Rich fill the role of a driving threat, then things open up for the rest of the team. Richardson can hit the outside shot if he's open or he can pass it to an open Felton / Augustin when he does draw the defense inside. Gerald Wallace and Emeka Okafor would be the beneficiaries of the extra defensive attention dedicated to the guards.
Or maybe Adam Morrison was breathing heavy because he smokes too many cigarettes.
I don't know if he smokes or not – but if he does, he should endorse a brand in China.
The NBA is huge in China, and so are cigarettes. I think Morrison could make a great spokesman for the right campaign.
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Additional Note About Last Night's Game :
Shannon Brown is playing like he is supposed to be in the NBA. It's great to see him make use of his opportunity while J Rich is out.
Sensational post, I like your writing style! I’ve added http://baselinebuzz.com/blog/ to my feed reader, and will be reading your posts from now on. Just a quick question – did you design your header image yourself, or have it done professionally? If you had it done by a professional, who was it?