Not a bad effort from Thomas, who has turned it around over the last handful of games after an uninspired start to the season. Whether his improved performance is no more than a bi-product of his desire to prove his worth to other GM’s around the League, it’s a positive result for the Bobcats, regardless.
Limited playing time for Diop after getting the nod as the starting C. He performed relatively well while on the floor, but couldn’t log enough minutes to make a significant contribution.
Single-game plus/minus numbers usually aren’t that useful, but when a player posts a -30 it certainly says something about their performance. Henderson was undoubtedly hampered by injury, as he was taken the locker room at one point. Give him respect for logging 31 minutes, but they were an unproductive 31 minutes.
Kemba finished a little stronger than he started shooting the ball, but his night still featured a handful of forced field goal attempts. He continues to rebound at an impressive rate for a guard of his size, a testament to his effort despite his struggles from the field.
Matt Carroll, SG28 MIN | 4-7 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 11 PTS | -3
Another good shooting night for Carroll in front of his friends and family back home in Philadelphia. He did get beat off the dribble by Andres Nocioni, however, which more than likely had those same friends and family turning their Carroll jerseys inside-out.
A nice effort by Brown, though as Spencer pointed out on Twitter during the game (@QCSportsCrave), if anyone still thinks he can hang with legitimate NBA 3′s they’re crazy. He’s simply not agile/quick enough to stick with smaller wing players, which he’s forced to do when on the floor as part of a bigger Bobcats lineup. Looking across to the opposing team’s bench, if Brown could become a poor man’s Thaddeus Young I think the team would be elated.
Three Things We Saw
Attrition getting the best of the Bobcats. No matter how much effort a group of players give out on the floor, there’s ultimately a ceiling on their productivity based on the collective talent base. That talent base is simply not strong right now. 40-50 minutes were logged by players that more than likely shouldn’t see time in an NBA game.
Limited minutes once more for Bismack Biyombo. #freeBismack, #freeBismack already!
A Bobcats Blueprint? The Sixers have done what the Bobcats are in the progress of attempting to do – rebuild from scratch with a core of young players. Outside of Brand and Iguodala (who is only 27), all of the core rotation players are 25 and under. They’ve made vast improvements since last year, and currently lead the League in Efficiency Differential (according to hoopdata.com) despite lacking a true superstar. Whether or not Walker, Biyombo, or whomever the Bobcats select in the upcoming draft ever morph into a top player in the League, management would be well served to mimic the blueprint laid out by Philadelphia.
1- Over/Under – Kemba Walker shot attempts at 18.5 (13, 17, and then 19 in his last 3 games).
Spencer Percy: Under. Henderson is expected to play tonight and Coach Silas acknowledged after the Washington game the other night that the offense would be adjusted so Kemba wasn’t taking so many (bad) shots.
Jenn: Under. Coach Silas has been vocal about his disapproval of Walker’s haphazard shooting. Silas will need to find ways to get the ball into the hands of big men Thomas and Diaw.
Brett: Under – I probably set this too high, since Kemba has exceeded 18.5 only twice this season – but the progression over the last 3 games is worrisome, as the Bobcats need Kemba to take better shots and find them for his teammates as well.
2- Over/Under – Tyrus Thomas blocks at 2.5. After blocking 9 last time out, Tyrus is averaging 2.3 blocks per game this season.
Spencer Percy: Over. Philly attacks the rim and has the third most efficient offense in the league (105.1) right now, so he should have numerous opportunities to make an impact around the rim. I all honesty though, I just want to watch one game where Thomas doesn’t turn the ball over and plays under control.
Jenn: Over. Coming off of his best game of the season, Thomas will need to use this momentum to stop shots in the lane. Despite his efforts on Wednesday, the Wizards scored 60 of their 92 points in the paint.
Brett: Under – Elton Brand is more of a jump shooter these days, and has long arms of his own, so I think Tyrus only gets 2 tonight, coming on help defense.
3- With the Bobcats current string of discouraging losses, let’s ask a different question – is tonight a moral victory, with the Bobcats competing throughout?
Spencer Percy: Absolutely. If this team shows good energy and just makes the 76ers put forth a little bit of effort on their way to a win then I’ll be satisfied.
Jenn: As much as I would like to say yes, the Bobcats are facing even more perils on the road to recovery. In the absence of several veteran players, it will be tough for the squad to rally tonight.
Brett: While these last 2 losses were very discouraging, and somewhat apathetic, it’s tough to tell how the Bobcats will come out tonight. It was just 2 weeks ago when they went from getting handled by the Pistons one night to taking care of the Warriors the next. I’ll give a tentative yes, we’ll see the Bobcats hustle and compete tonight, but come up short.
Good lord is Charlotte’s NBA franchise in the midst of a horrible losing streak!
Bobcats beat writer Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer said earlier via twitter, “A particularly telling number from Bobcats’ two losses by a combined 50 points: They have given up 104 points in the lane. That’s soft.”
That got me thinking; What else have the Bobcats been doing terribly wrong over the past few games?
For one, during Charlotte’s six game losing streak, the team’s been out-rebounded by 50. What once was the team’s strength has been thrown into the Bobcat’s bag of seemingly endless weaknesses.
Because of their recent rebounding deficiency, the ‘Cats have lost out on possessions. To get around that, all the team has to do is shoot well… Which they haven’t.
In its last six games Charlotte shot an average of 42.3 percent from the field and 24.2 percent from behind the Arc.
But that’s ok. I mean, if they get to the line enough, the Bobcats would just have to shoot a solid free-throw percentage to stay in the game… I think you see where I’m going with this.
Over their last six games the ‘Cats have missed 38 shots from the charity stripe.
This team really isn’t doing much of anything well.
On an individual level, though, Gerald Henderson is picking things up. He’s averaging career highs in every important statistical category, and has scored 20 or more points in three of his last six games. The Bobcats picked up his 2012-2013 option Wednesday, and will be able to make him a restricted free agent when his contract is up.
Also, Tyrus Thomas finally had a good game Wednesday night against the Wizards.
Boris Diaw, however, has been nothing short of atrocious this season, Byron Mullens has regressed lately and with injuries to Corey Magette and D.J. Augustin, an already thin roster is being dragged through the mud in a shortened, grueling NBA season.
To make a long story short, the Bobcats are not a very good basketball team.
Tyrus Thomas, PF33 MIN | 5-9 FG | 3-4 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 13 PTS | -9Very impressive second half from Tyrus. He was active and full of energy all night, but half of that could be because he had green light the entire game due to injuries. Good effort here, would love to see more of same in near future.
Derrick Brown, F29 MIN | 3-7 FG | 4-6 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 10 PTS | -15Attacked the rim aggressively in first half, but disappeared in the second.
Byron Mullens, C18 MIN | 1-6 FG | 3-4 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 5 PTS | -15Tired of watching him. Will hopefully have some video analysis done by next week exemplifying why he shouldn’t see even close to starter minutes in this league. X-rays on hand were negative.
Matt Carroll, SG35 MIN | 7-10 FG | 3-3 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 17 PTS | -17He rose from the dead tonight after starting the season 1-15 from the field, but the simple fact about Carroll is that he turns the basketball over and is a defensive liability.
Kemba Walker, PG38 MIN | 4-19 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 4 AST | 8 PTS | -17I really hate that Kemba is being forced to learn and mature this way in the league. He’s not getting better by forcing fadeaway jumper after fadeaway jumper. A 6-foot rookie guard should never be forced to be the go-to guy for offense. It’s just unbelievable that an NBA roster can get this bad.
Boris Diaw, PF21 MIN | 2-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 4 PTS | -12End of the season can’t come soon enough for more reasons than one- if you follow me.
Bismack Biyombo, C24 MIN | 0-2 FG | 1-2 FT | 7 REB | 0 AST | 1 PTS | 0Forced everything on offensive end tonight, which was disappointing, but defensively he had the same ole’ impact.
Four Things We Saw
The worst NBA team I’ve ever had to watch. I know this team is plagued with injuries, but even when players start getting healthy- will anyone even care to try at that point?
The Bobcats allowed 60 points in the paint and were out-rebounded by 13 tonight. That’s a combination of zero effort, refusing to box out, and just flat out being a lot worse than your opponent.
#1 overall pick odds seem to be all but cemented in the Bobcats favor. Rivers, Drummond, Sullinger? Let the discussion begin.
Not sure how much longer Silas can or will want to endure this. It’s a rebuilding process and don’t believe he planned to be here for it all anyways. His time may be coming sooner than people think.
1- Flip Saunders was recently let go in D.C. Is Paul Silas headed towards the same fate in Charlotte (and should he be)?
Spencer Percy: I don’t necessarily think that he should be because of the severity of troublesome issues within this roster, but I sense him losing his patience and at Silas’ age does he really want to be the coach of this team much longer? If anything, I see Silas stepping down.
Bryan Wendland: No and no. Silas isn’t the reason the Bobcats are bad this year, and I think management knows that. Charlotte’s roster is full of young, inexperienced players and underachieving veterans. Silas should be given enough time to rebuild this team.
Mathew Lewis: No and no. Flip Saunders was let go because his team was borderline insubordinate and severely under-performing based on their talent level. Whether the Bobcats should have a few more wins or not, let’s be honest – this is a team with limited talent, even when compared to a squad such as the Wizards. Silas should not see the door.
2- Pick a Bobcat and outline what you want to see from them in tonight’s game.
Spencer Percy: Byron Mullens. Something that resembles him being somewhat cognitively involved on the defensive end. Mullens is one of the worst post defenders I have maybe ever watched and has no clue on pick-and-roll situations.
Bryan Wendland: Bismack Biyombo. I want to see him play, for one. What I really want to see is improvement on offense and a cut in the number of times he jumps on pump-fakes. It’ll be hard for him to work on either of those things, though, if Silas doesn’t put him on the court.
Mathew Lewis: Byron Mullens. I want to see more aggressiveness out of Mullens tonight. In 49 combined minutes over the past two contests he’s recorded only 8 points (4-13 shooting) and 8 boards. Two of those 13 attempts have come at the rim, a stark contrast to earlier in the season when he was routinely seeing 5-7 shots at the basket. Unsurprisingly, Mullens found much more success in these games. Increased aggression on the offensive boards, while banging down low with more frequency versus constantly floating outside the paint will go a long way towards increasing his offensive production.
3- Who wins the battle for who could care less?
Spencer Percy: (Picking the game) Wizards. Bobcats are banged up at numerous positions and are simply a mess at both ends of the floor. CHA has two ways to score the ball- Kemba tossing up a fade away jumper at the end of shot clock or Henderson off the curl.
Bryan Wendland: One of them has to win tonight, right? It’ll be fun to watch Kemba and John Wall go at it and I think whichever point guard plays better will win the game for their team. Kemba showed signs of breaking out last night in the first half, only to fall apart in the second. I think he puts it all together against the Wizards and Charlotte gets the W.
Mathew Lewis: (Picking the battle) The Bobcats – meaning, they’ll come out on the losing end. I expect to see a little bit more out of the Wizards tonight for new coach Randy Wittman, despite the fact that many in basketball circles question the promotion of him to the head spot. A new voice in the huddle can often go a long way, especially after it becomes apparent the old voice is simply being tuned out.
The Charlotte Bobcats have exercised their option on shooting guard Gerald Henderson. He’ll remain with the team through the 2012-2013 season, after which the Bobcats have the ability to make him a restricted free agent. The extension is worth three million dollars.
Henderson is averaging 15.4 points, one steal, almost two assists and 4.6 rebounds per game. Those numbers are almost double his career averages and the third-year player has come into his own of late; Over the past six games he’s averaged just under 20 points per.
Charlotte picked Henderson out of Duke University with the 12th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Although his defensive numbers aren’t great, Henderson has the athletic ability to become a solid wing defender.
At the very least, the deal means Charlotte fans will be able to see him continue to develop, and at the most it means he figures to be in the long term plans of this young Bobcats team.
All I know is it means I’ll be able to see him do a whole lot of this for at least one more year.
The first tweet I saw about this was from @BobcatsBballPR, B.J. Evan.
Spencer Percy tweeted the money details, and you can follow him at @QCsportscrave.
Since I watch every single Bobcats game on NBA league pass, many times I am forced to suffer through listening to the opposing teams broadcast and every night there are a new set of announcers proclaiming how raw Biyombo is- basically finding it comical and to their delight. Hearing this night-after-night (at least when Bobcats are on the road) has inspired me to give the Queen City supporters a little ray of hope and show some of the positive impacts that Biyombo is making on the floor so far- with some negatives sprinkled in as well, because yes, his game is raw to this point.
On another note- Biyombo’s playing time has been very inconsistent and a mystery at best. Biyombo should have seen much more playing time than he has so far this season for a depleted front court with no depth. For whatever reason, Silas hasn’t been an advocate of getting the rookie a significant amount of playing time and experience early on.
Nonetheless, allow us to look at some of the things that Biyombo is struggling at, improving on, and already ahead of the curve with.
The clip below shows an example of Biyombo’s worst of bad habits- leaving his feet on just about every shot fake. Even against smaller guards when he gets matched up on in switches. The rookie needs to learn that his 7’7 wingspan will bother any shot away from the basket enough- the only place he really needs to implement the shot blocking strength is around the rim.
In this clip Biyombo does a good job of getting back defensively in transition, but fails to recognize/communicate with Higgins (also Higgins fault) to make sure that he doesn’t get caught out on perimeter against a smaller and quicker guard. Result- Biyombo easily gets beat off dribble and gives up layup.
Nobody refutes the fact that Biyombo’s offensive skill set is extremely raw, but so far this season he has a decent FG% at 53.5%. He’s slowly becoming better at collecting himself when he possesses the ball in the paint and making a scoring move with his length and the clips below are a testament to that. The hook shot is his go-to and rightfully so. With his ridiculous wingspan not many players in the league will be able to get a hand up to bother his shot, especially if it ever develops into any type of consistent threat.
Biyombo’s strength is shot blocking and protecting the rim. The following clips are what you would consider his best highlights thus far in his career- Biyombo definitely hangs his hat on his ability to block shots. That being said, refer back to what was pointed out earlier about Biyombo leaving his feet in an attempt to block every shot 15+ feet from the basket- He’s got to learn when it’s appropriate for him to leave his feet and when it’s not. Nevertheless, the following clips are certainly the correct play and provide for quite the ‘ooo-ing and ahh-ing’.
The clip below is a perfect example of how long Biyombo’s arms really are- He’s easily beat off dribble, but comes from behind after seemingly being burned to the rim and swats the ball off the backboard and almost into the basket. Bottom line, a great job to recover and make defensive play on ball.
Tyrus Thomas, PF31 MIN | 1-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS | -16By the fourth quarter it was evident that Thomas’s heart was no longer in the game. Beyond going 1-9, Thomas was not a leader on the court. The 4th quarter demise of the Bobcats was not a matter of ability, but an issue of attitude.
Derrick Brown, F33 MIN | 6-13 FG | 3-3 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 15 PTS | -25In the face of recent injuries, Brown has seen significantly more playing time. Approaching career highs for points and steals tonight, Brown will need to continue to prove his value if he wants to see more playing time upon the return of Maggette and White.
Byron Mullens, C28 MIN | 3-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 6 PTS | -17Playing 28 minutes and only scoring 6 points, Mullens deserves a C- for his performance tonight. Points in the paint were a critical void for the Bobcats; the team was outscored here 46 to 20. Mullens needs to use his height to earn some quick points in the key.
Gerald Henderson, G27 MIN | 6-14 FG | 3-4 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 15 PTS | -12Despite being in only his third season, Henderson has positioned himself as a veteran on the court. In his 6th straight game with 15 plus points, Henderson has become a staple in the Bobcats starting lineup.
Kemba Walker, PG36 MIN | 7-17 FG | 6-6 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 22 PTS | -23Kemba made some costly mistakes, particularly in the first half. However, these errors are largely offset by the fact that he was the Bobcats leading scorer. Walker surprised many with his performance tonight and showed why he warranted a top 10 pick in the draft.
Boris Diaw, PF24 MIN | 1-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS | -15The Bobcats bench, led by Diaw, made little impact on the game tonight. If the Bobcats want to see wins in the future, they will need to get more value out of the 6th man.
Four Things We Saw
The injury-laden Bobcats roster is taking a toll on its remaining players. While Walker and Henderson have continued to step up their game, others have seemingly crumbled under the pressure.
The lack of depth in the Bobcats bench was critical to this loss. While players outside the starting five for the Knicks scored a combined 51 points, the Bobcats bench scored 16.
Carmelo Anthony was held to a career low of 1 point. Despite this, Stoudemire and Chandler led the Knicks to a decisive win over the Bobcats.
For now, the Bobcats need to brush this loss under the rug if they want to pull out a W against the Wizards tomorrow.
1- Melo got 32 on 31 possessions used in the first matchup with Charlotte and then was held to 22 points on 29 possessions in the 2nd. Do Henderson, Thomas, and Brown continue to slow Carmelo Anthony or does he get on track tonight?
Spencer Percy: If Melo sticks to his new game plan of taking less shots and setting more up for his teammates then the Bobcats may be better off keying in on Amare and Chandler, but for some reason I get a feeling that Melo is still going to use around 30 possessions and likely come out of his slump starting tonight.
Bryan Wendland: Like the rest of his team, Melo hasn’t played well lately. If ever there were a game for him to get back on track it would be against the Bobcats and their horrible defense. Melo does Melo tonight.
Mathew Lewis: No. Melo has been rather inefficient lately, shooting just 33% on 105 attempts over his last four games. I say that continues tonight. Another thing to keep an eye on is if he is affected by the comments he made after the loss Saturday, as he admitted that possibly he’s shooting too much and that Amare should see more touches.
2- Kemba Walker gets his first start as the unquestioned point guard for the Bobcats – how does he respond?
Spencer Percy: Unfortunately, I think it’s going to be a struggle. He’ll be matched up against the best rookie defender in the NBA this season, Iman Shumpert, who will make life tough, and Kemba will also have to adapt to creating for teammates as the true PG on the floor.
Bryan Wendland: The Knicks are far improved on defense this year, but not so much that they’ll be able to keep a guy like Walker out of the paint all night. Iman Shumpert is a defensive pest at point for the Knicks, so Walker will have to play smart to get things done. Still, I think he plays well tonight, and puts up 16 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds.
Mathew Lewis: Rather well, I believe. NY’s weakest position on the floor is PG, and although they have improved this season defensively I expect Kemba to get into the lane early and often. His success will ultimately be determined by what he does with the ball when he gets there.
3- Somebody ends their losing streak, with the Knicks at 6 straight L’s and the Bobcats at 4. Who gets the W and who is the star of the game?
Spencer Percy: Knicks. Amare goes off on the Bobcats thin front line for 30 PTS & 15 REB. With Augustin now out, the Bobcats offensive struggles will only get worse. Reggie Williams and Corey Maggette can’t get healthy quick enough.
Bryan Wendland: Call me biased, but the ‘Bockers really, really, really, really, really need to back into the W column. Melo and Amare Stoudemire went so far as to have a head to head meeting to figure out what’s going wrong, it’s boo-bird mating season at The Garden and D’Antoni’s backside is melting as we speak. Melo puts da team on his back Greg-Jennings-style and the Knicks win.
Mathew Lewis: Bobcats. The Knicks are not a particularly big team so they are a relatively good matchup for Charlotte. Given the funk New York currently finds itself in, I think home court (and a presumably enthusiastic crowd) enables the Bobcats to earn their 4th win of the season.
This is one of the plays from the Bobcats-Bulls game the other night that bugged me. Early in the game, Kemba Walker was being aggressive defensively, getting up on his man and pressuring the ball. Now look at these pictures from the second half:
Byron Mullens is helping on Richard Hamilton as he comes around a screen from Carlos Boozer, with D.J. Augustin chasing behind Rip.
Notice how much space Kemba is giving C.J. Watson – 6 feet or so, maybe? And hands down at his sides.
This next picture shows the result:
With no one making life difficult for him, Watson is able to thread a bounce pass by the recovering Mullens, with no other Bobcat even waving at the ball as it goes by. Gerald Henderson was guilty of being a spectator as well as Kemba, though Kemba still bears the brunt of the blame for his passive “defense” on this possession.
Boozer converts the pass into a layup and a foul on Mullens – so, Byron is the Bobcat who looks bad in the boxscore, but in this instance he was actually playing decent team defense and his teammates let him down.
Recent Comments