Iverson in CLT? Yes, please
Posted by Brett on 08/27/2009
Concerns - defense and chemistry
Pros - scoring, ticket sales, relevance
Iverson is not an elite defender - but he matches up with the Bobcats in that he works to create turnovers, something the Bobcats were pretty good at last year (5th in the league in forced turnover rate, 14.3% of opponent possessions). A good chunk of those turnovers came off steals by Gerald Wallace and Raymond Felton, as they averaged 1.8 and 1.6 steals per 40 minutes respectively. The other primary guards, Raja Bell and D.J. Augustin, lagged significantly behind, with both posting a mark of 0.9 steals per 40. Why does it work? Well, the Bobcats had a solid shot blocker behind them in Emeka Okafor (and Gana Diop behind him for part of the season) and that will not change next year - Tyson Chandler will be a solid deterrent at the rim, as athletic 7-footers can be on occassion, while Gana Diop will still be here and the tantalizing reach of Alexis Ajinca and his 7-7 wingspan might make an appearance or two. Oh, and Gerald Wallace is known to make the occasional highlight block and Boris sneaks in for every now and then. The Bobcats had the 7th highest block rate (blocks per opponent field goal attempt) in the league once Diaw joined and that makes a good match with a gambling perimeter.
For the season, the Bobcats posted a defensive efficiency of 105.2. When playing with a small backcourt of Raymond and D.J., the Bobcats posted a defensive efficiency of..105.3. It gets better though: Once the Bobcats made the trade for Diaw, giving them a legitimate power forward and a more traditional lineup for defensive purposes, the Bobcats defensive efficiency improved to 105.0. However, small ball lineups with Ray and D.J. held opponents to 104.8 points per 100 possessions from that point on. So, the Bobcats have the personnel to defend and well with small guards. Yes, part of that is the players themselves and the effort they devote to defense - but it does not hurt to have 3 better than average defenders behind them in Gerald Wallace, Boris Diaw, and then-Emeka Okafor/going forward-Tyson Chandler. From the sheer number of minutes D.J. and Raymond spent on the court together last season (1300+) and the Bobcats success during it (net efficiency of +2.2), I do not think it is hard to imagine the Bobcats approximating that defensive success while swapping in Iverson for one of those two 6-footers.
Even if the Bobcats do concede a bit defensively, they stand to make it up at the other end. As posted previously, Iverson, even during a down season for him, would have been the Bobcats 5th best option in terms of points per shots last season - and behind only one guard, D.J. Augustin. Considering the Bobcats shortcomings at that end of the court (27th in the league at an offensive efficiency of 104.1), Iverson's potential impact as a scorer has to be at least contemplated as a possible remediation of any defensive shortcoming. Consider this - swap Iverson's points per shot numbers in for all the attempts Raja and Raymond took last year and the Bobcats offensive efficiency (with them on the court) goes from 105.4 to 106.9. It is rudimentary, I know - a crude calculation of his impact, and I did not account for the increase of turnovers inherent, but I also did not account for the fact that Iverson would be using more possessions - more possessions where he would be scoring more efficiently than the Bobcats guards had previously.
Iverson's contributions would not be limited to the court - he would make the Bobcats relevant, if not good. Already, just the rumors of his possible arrival in Charlotte has more being written about the Bobcats than normal. That interest would not be limited to the computer screen and newspaper sports section - it would be reflected in increased ticket sales for the Bobcats (home and road) as well as in apparel - while Gerald Wallace has become a more well-known player around the league, he still does not sell many jerseys outside of the Queen City - Iverson would. Eyes (and cameras) would be on the Bobcats throughout the season to see if Iverson could redeem his reputation after the hit it took last season, while also looking to see if the Bobcats were improved enough to join the playoffs for the first time through his addition.
Last thought: What do the Bobcats stand to lose? With or without Iverson, they are not title contenders: The Bobcats are borderline playoff contenders if things go their way. Is that so valuable to not take a chance at something a bit more? They would be committing to Iverson for a season or two - if year one goes poorly, he becomes an expiring contract. If year one goes well..then we'd all be seeing Bobcat jerseys with Iverson on them in late April as CLT hosts a playoff game again.
Quick Rebuttal to James: My support for this is based off the possibly naive assumption that signing Iverson pushes the Bobcats to trade Raja Bell, not Raymond Felton. The Bobcats would have a small backcourt, but Gerald Henderson would be available for 10 or 15 minutes a night, to give them a little size. That makes the minutes even tougher to divide up, as the trio of Ray, D.J. and Iverson would only have 80 to 85 among them, but someone has to be the backup. I guess it may come down to the Bobcats deciding if Iverson would really accept such a role.
Click here for James' Vote Against Iverson in CLT
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| Disclosure Says: | |
Signing Iverson would possibly result in DJ Augustin being traded. We can't trade our experienced durable starting point guard (Felton) and we can't trade our only relatively tall defensive stopper (Raja). As promising as DJ is, he is inexperienced and was injured part of last year.
The Bobcats still want to move salary, so they may package the Nazr contract with DJ in a multi-player trade. |
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| Fri Aug 28, 2009 6:20 pm |
| marcus Says: | |
why not bring in a.i. you have no scorer. hes gonna give you at least 20 a night trade augustin hes not a penetrater all he can do is shoot keep raymond strong and is the closest thing to eric snow you got |
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| Tue Sep 01, 2009 5:52 am |
| marcus Says: | |
why not bring in a.i. you have no scorer. hes gonna give you at least 20 a night trade augustin hes not a penetrater all he can do is shoot keep raymond strong and is the closest thing to eric snow you got |
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| Tue Sep 01, 2009 5:52 am |
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