SB Nation - Ronald Murray

Bobcats Lose to Pacers 101-98; TJ Ford Runs a Clinic

David Arnott — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:58:07 -0000

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One night after a stirring comeback win, the Bobcats fell to the Pacers, 101-98. Granted, it was the second half of a back to back, and on the road, too, but Indiana was without Danny Granger, making this game tougher to accept.

The Pacers simply had better ball movement, better passes, more open looks... it was a clinic for much of the game, led by Professor T.J. Ford. The Cats kept it close with a few key advantages and made a tight game of it in the fourth, staying in the game until the final possession, but, ultimately, it just wasn't enough to overcome the other holes they'd dug.

Highlights and lowlights after the jump.

BAD

-- Did Boris Diaw hit rock bottom last night? No, he did not. Tonight? Not quite. But the Knicks game may have been a precursor to tonight's stinker. While he was 3-3 from the field with 8 points, he had 0 rebounds and only 1 assist, all in 36 minutes. On the final inbounds play, with 1.4 seconds remaining in the game, he received the inbounds pass from Flip (why wasn't Gerald inbounding?) and then, instead of shooting the three for the tie, passed it on to Augustin, who had no chance to get his shot off before buzzer. Furthermore, Troy Murphy -- a guy I love, by the way -- absolutely torched Boris and whoever else was guarding him. Murphy ended up with 26 points and 15 rebounds, including 5-7 from three.

-- Stephen Graham: 15 minutes. Gerald Henderson? Derrick Brown? They combined for 0. Lovely.

-- It's interesting that Larry Brown is okay with letting Ronald Murray be himself. As quoted in the Observer, Brown's perfectly fine if Murray shoots his way out of slumps. Flip's probably earned that right with his play over the years, but what strikes me about it is the base notion that it's no use trying to force Flip to change dramatically, that LB is a better coach if he deploys his player based on his established strengths and weaknesses instead of expending energy trying to change him and putting him in positions where he'll be expected to be someone he isn't. I appreciate coaches who do that, because they're acknowledging that they are not all-powerful and can't work miracles.

So why the double standard with D.J. Augustin? He was a certain player in college. He was a certain player in his rookie year. He's not a pure creator and he's not a rugged defender, but he can handle the ball and facilitate the offense and shoot the lights out! Sure, it'd be nice to try to imbue him with some of those qualities, but Damon Stoudemire made a long career for himself as a point guard without being exceptional at any of that. Same for Eddie House, if you want the role player example. Why tear D.J. down from that kind of player to try to rebuild him into something else? He'd probably be better off in a triangle or D'Antoni or Donnieball offense, but just because our offense is best run by an all-around creator doesn't mean he can't be a productive player in said system.

-- The defense couldn't stop T.J. Ford, or anyone really, from creating good shots. The Pacers made 35 field goals, and 29 were assisted, 13 by Ford. They were 48% from the field overall and 12-24 from three. Ouch. I'm probably thin-slicing, but I think I'm developing a fear of smaller, relatively faster, point guards after seeing Will Bynum and now Ford vivisect our defense.

-- Will someone please inform basketball officials that when Tyler Hansbrough splays his arms and curls his legs as he goes up for a layup under the basket, it's probably not a foul, but just something he does to get foul calls. I don't mind if he does it for emphasis, like when Gerald thinks he's being shoved around and he snaps his head back on screens, but every time? Really? That's the secret to getting to the line so much?

GOOD

-- Gerald Wallace scored 29 points and had 12 rebounds. There just isn't much more to say about him... except that he's slowly moving from underground aesthetic hero to underground dark horse All Star candidate.

-- Tyson Chandler had the kind of game we hoped he'd bring at least twice a week. 13 points and 13 rebounds, while getting to the line for 9 free throws. For purposes of both this entry and the Boris entry, I'm conveniently ignoring that Indiana's big man defense is, reputation-wise, atrocious.

-- The Cats were 30-40 from the line, which gave them a huge advantage over the Pacers, who were only 19-26.

Bobcats Lose to Mavericks in OT, 98-97

David Arnott — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:33:00 -0000

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When the Bobcats acquired Stephen Jackson, pretty much everyone guessed he would raise the team's ceiling. I think it's fair to say he raises their ceiling on a game to game basis, even if it's still an open question whether or not he'll add many more wins over the course of the season. In losing to the Mavericks 98-97, the Cats still showed they can play with anyone when Jackson is on.

By that, I mean that I sense there's more variance in the Bobcats' possible results with Jax in the lineup than there was before, but being able to beat better teams with his occasional excellent games will get washed out by his occasional inefficient stinkbombs.

They didn't shut anyone down. They contained the Mavs' stars about as well as they have other teams' stars. However, this time around, the Cats' offense kicked into gear instead of stalling out, led by -- who else? -- Gerald Wallace and S-Jax. Where, at the start of the season, we figured the formula would be to shut down the other team's offense and hope our offense was adequate, now the formula is to shut down the other team's offense, trust that our offense is adequate, and hope that they put up a better than average game.

Highlights and lowlights after the jump.

BAD

-- Team bench production. First, it's okay that Ronald Murray got a DNP-CD, though not ideal. He probably doesn't deserve it, seeing as he's pretty much the same guy he's always been, but -- all together now -- Stephen Graham stinks. Again, he seems like exactly the kind of guy you want at the end of your bench, but he has no business playing 16 minutes in an NBA game unless there's some serious garbage time. Murray sat. Gerald Henderson sat. Derrick Brown played 3 1/2 minutes. I'm at a loss. I want answers. What, exactly, concretely, does Graham do that makes him deserving of those minutes?

-- Boris, seriously. Something's wrong, isn't it? 8 points, 4 rebounds, 0 assists, and 6 turnovers. Maybe it's not a bad thing that you're producing at this level, and this is just who you are. Maybe I should have been much more grateful for the exemplary team player you were last season, when you were probably playing over your head a bit. He did play the best defense possible on Dirk Nowitzki at the end of OT. Maybe Hakeem Olajuwon blocks that shot. Maybe.

GOOD

-- Stephen Jackson shot 11-25 from the field, good for 28 points. In addition, he did an admirable defensive job on Jason Kidd. He may not look as "athletic" as Gerald or many other swingmen in the NBA, but he's got the footwork and tenacity to bother the best scorers in the league, big and small. Larry Brown should take more advantage of Crash 'n Jax's defensive flexibility.

-- Gerald Wallace scored 23 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. He wasn't quite as effective on the boards in the fourth quarter and OT as he usually is, but that total contribution is still awesome. Um, Larry? Are you sure you want to be running your best player for 50 minutes in a single game?

-- Tyson Chandler stayed out of foul trouble and we saw some good results, including 11 points and a few clutch rebounds late in the game Unfortunately, he didn't rebound nearly as much as he should the rest of the time, but we're taking baby steps here, people.

-- At what point can we feel confident that Raymond Felton Gets It? I've mentioned that he should be taking fewer shots, because that indicates he's doing Point Guard things instead of following the misguided notion that he's a Go-To Scorer. However, even though he took the second most shots of any Bobcat in this game (8-16, second most behind Jackson), that seemed a function of going through Plans A, B, C, and D before resorting to that Plan E, and I'm okay with that. This was certainly Good Felton, doing Point Guard things. It's a textbook case of eschewing the things that show up in the standard box score and facilitating the offense instead because it makes the team better. He wasn't much good at those box score things, anyway, so now that he's only taking the best scoring opportunities, his rate stats are all looking much better.

Gameday Preview Charlotte Bobcats vs. Denver Nuggets

David Arnott — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:31:22 -0000

Pump Up Music: Jonathon Coulton -- "I Feel Fantastic"

The Big Picture: The Denver Nuggets are a borderline juggernaut. Carmelo Anthony has always been a scorer, but after his Olympic experience in Beijing, he's picked up his rebounding a notch and suddenly started showing some defensive desire in crunch time, turning it up to 11 when he's feeling it. They still lack a prototypical inside scorer, but that's okay because Nene can score some, everyone (including Kenyon Martin) has accepted that Martin won't be an offensive threat the way he was when he was younger and Jason Kidd was running the show, freeing him to do what he does well without expectation of more, kind of like late-career Horace Grant, only paid way more, and with Chris Andersen in the fold, every front court player they'll send out there has the capacity to be a plus defender.

The good news for the Bobcats is that Denver is on the back half of a back to back, in the middle of a four-game road trip, having defeated the AI/AI2 Sixers last night in Philadelphia. 'Melo struggled mightily against AI2, but Chauncey Billups torched the Sixers' back court to the tune of 31 points on 8-15 from the floor. Billups played 41 minutes, but he was the only one who played more than 34 minutes, so they're going to be reasonably well rested for tonight's game at the Cable Box.

Key to Victory: I swear this isn't because the guy went to UNC and I'm baiting the Tar Heel zealots, but I think Ty Lawson is going to play a big role tonight. Will Bynum has torched the Bobcats' point guards, and Lawson reminds me a lot of him. I suspect George Karl and company are going to test Raymond Felton and Ronald Murray a lot with their super-fast point guard since neither of the guys the Cats have been playing at the position are noted for their foot speed, and that could explain, in part, why Billups played so many minutes last night. Of course, it could also be that everyone just decided he was feeling it and they didn't worry about tonight.

They match up with us. We match up with them. Except for the whole "only D.J. Augustin can keep up with Lawson, so will D.J. play after two straight DNP-CDs?" thing.

Detail That Might Interest .08% of You: Kenyon Martin has a tattoo of a lipstick kiss on his neck. That kiss is from his long time girlfriend Trina, a hip hop singer with a reasonably successful career.

Gameday Preview vs Cleveland Cavaliers

David Arnott — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:48:32 -0000

Pump Up Music: Motorhead -- "Ace of Spades"

The Big Picture: The Bobcats are coming off two impressive wins and the Cavaliers are coming off three straight victories. I'm still on board the Cavs Will Win It All Bandwagon, even though the Shaquille O'Neal experiment isn't going as swimmingly as they'd hoped, but that's primarily because I wouldn't bet against LeBron James in any scenario, at this point.

At this stage of his career, Shaq should be a depth player in Cleveland. What I mean by that is that while he's perfectly capable of starting and producing for a lot of teams in the league (for instance, Boston would swap out Perkins for him instantly, cost aside), on this particular team, he should only get big minutes when the matchup determines it or Zydrunas Ilgauskas is unable to split minutes with him. They haven't missed a beat without Shaq the past few games, and he's questionable for tonight's game, so we'll see if the Cavs play it safe with the Older Aristotle and sit him out again.

As for the rest of the team, I've mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating: The Cavs have the personnel to play any style successfully. They've got shooters, runners, and bangers. They don't play any single style better than anyone else, but they can hang with any kind of game that's dictated to them. The thing is, I'm convinced that if they embraced an up-tempo game, they'd be playing to their strengths.

Specifically, I'd play LeBron at the nominal power forward position along with Mo, Delonte, Parker, and a center,or if they want more size, Moon at small forward with Parker moved to guard. Basically, I get why they didn't want to trade Z for Stephen Jackson, but from a purely basketball point of view, I'd be slobbering over the chance to play S-Jax at the three with LBJ at the four, and I think Cleveland missed an opportunity to upgrade significantly when we snatched Cap'n Jack before they could.

Key Matchup: I'm not too concerned with any of the individual matchups in this game. We know Crash and S-Jax are going to have their hands full with LeBron, and there really isn't anything they can do about it. A Shaq/Z combo scares me a lot more than a Z/Sideshow Bob combo because Varejao doesn't provide the kind of offensive variation from Z that Shaq does. Similarly, Boris Diaw is reasonably equipped to deal with J.J.Hickson or Varejao.

If I had to pick one to worry about, I'd choose the point guard battle. Mo Williams is a much more comfortable point guard to watch than any of the guys we throw out there at the position. First, it should be noted that Raymond Felton has had his minutes cut over the past few games in favor of more minutes for Ronald Murray. Felton is probably the best defensive PG we have, but I'm not sure that Murray's defensive deficiencies outweigh the offensive potential he brings. The hell of it is that Murray can't be trusted to actually be productive on any given night. Such is the gift and the curse of the gunner. It would be nice to have confidence in Felton's offense, but his entire career has eroded that confidence. It would be nice to think about turning to D.J. Augustin, but D.J.'s regressed so dramatically this season that I'm not entirely sure that sticking him out there is necessarily the best course of action any more.

Detail That Might Interest .08% of You: Gerald Wallace and Jamario Moon were on opposite sides of a fierce high school hoops rivalry in rural Alabama.

Bobcats Rock the Raptors 116-81

David Arnott — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:43:34 -0000

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Gerald Wallace submitted a signature performance tonight, leading the Bobcats to a 116-81 win. Crash scored 31 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and his counterpart on the Raptors, Hedo Turkoglu, only scored 5 points, had 2 assists, and 0 rebounds in more than 22 minutes.

Ultimately, the Cats didn't really have an answer for Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani, but they slowed them down enough that when they also totally shut down the Raps' backcourt, Toronto had no chance. It's a hell of an accomplishment to dominate the top-scoring team in the league, even if they are on the back of a back to back. So much went right for the Bobcats that it had to have rekindled the dying embers of hope in even the coldest of Charlotte fans.

Highlights and lowlights after the jump:

BAD

-- Flip, my man. Stop being streaky. 0-4 shooting, 2 assists, 0 rebounds,and 0 free throw attempts in 17 minutes is pretty bad, especially for the guy who's supposed to be instant offense off the bench.

-- Guys, you're still taking too many threes. 5-18 is unacceptable. At this point, you should only be taking threes to remind the opponents that you might do it at any time.

GOOD

-- The notion of Gerald Wallace as an All Star reserve is still a long shot, but it's no longer a ludicrous proposition. Tonight, he rebounded like he has all year, but this time around, he put the ball in the basket like the occasionally electric offensive player we've dreamed he'd always be.

-- Tyson Chandler played the kind of game that justifies his fans' faith in him. 9 rebounds and 6 blocks in 22 and 1/2 minutes.

-- I'm still not sold on Nazr as a starting-caliber center (and probably can't be sold on it this year), but dude's been beyond solid off the bench and continued in this game, with 11 points and 9 boards in only 18 minutes.

-- Derrick Brown! Gerald Henderson!!! Both played more than 20 minutes, and easily held their own. Henderson, specifically, put up 15 points on 9 shots, and grabbed 4 rebounds. Here's to continuing this trend of playing the young guys.

Blazers Beat Bobcats 80-74; Sometimes, You Just Lose

David Arnott — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:02:15 -0000

Even when the Bobcats play the game they're trying to play, it doesn't always work out. Such is life for NBA teams painfully short on talent. They slowed down the pace, stayed roughly even in rebounds, put Greg Oden in foul trouble, and still lost, 80-74.

There are plenty of things I'd change about the way the team is coached -- kick up the tempo a notch, make a concerted effort to eschew all but only the most open threes, play Gerald Henderson more, to name a few -- but the system isn't flawed so much as the players running it simply haven't been executing. This offense has worked for fifty years, at all levels of the game. When the team shoots 37% from the field, something's going horribly wrong.

Highlights and lowlights after the jump.

BAD

-- 37% shooting from the field. That includes a surprisingly competent 6-19 shooting from three, though. That means Oden and Joel Przybilla anchored a robust interior defense, because the Cats, even with their lack of post offense, should still do better than 24-63 (38%) on twos.

-- Tyson Chandler, I like your rebounding, and I keep reading great things about how you're a defensive leader as much as a producer, but dude, seriously, you've got to enroll in Hakeem Olajuwon's classes, or something. It's not a good thing when Nazr Mohammed is legitimately your offense-defense platoon partner. 4 points in 25 minutes is awful.

-- D.J. Augustin: still slumping. It's good that he got more than 19 minutes, but 3 points on 1-5 shooting, 0 free throws, and 0 assists doesn't cut it.

-- We knew the deal with Flip Murray. 1-8 shooting nights are part of the package.

-- Gerald Henderson with the DNP-CD again.

GOOD

-- Applause for Boris Diaw, who won his matchup with LaMarcus Aldridge. Diaw scored 21 points on 18 shots in his 41 minutes and was the primary force holding Aldridge to 11 points on 4-11 shooting and only 7 rebounds.

-- Good to have you back, VladRad. I know it sucks that we're asking you to play power forward a lot this year, but think of playing it the way Boris does. You can still take threes and do your thing on the perimeter.

-- Derrick Brown got real playing time! More than 7 minutes!

-- Stephen Graham got a DNP-CD. His presence on the roster serves no purpose. I get that he's probably a great guy and he works hard in practice, but that's the kind of guy you want on the Spurs or Cavs or any other real contender. With us, he's just taking up a roster slot that could be used more productively. Please release him and start cycling through D-Leaguers with ten-day contracts until one really sticks. It shouldn't be hard to find a young swingman who belongs in the NBA. The D-League is littered with such projects. Hey, I found one in thirty seconds!

WHAT?

-- The Trail Blazers won despite tallying only 8 assists.

-- Juwan Howard? 12 minutes? Really?

-- I watched the last two rounds of Pacquiao's dismantling of Cotto while sitting next to Greg Oden. I generally leave celebrities alone when I run into them in public, but I couldn't resist asking him if he'd done well in the game. He looked perturbed and mumbled, "I did all right." That's it. That's the story.

-- Oh, and after the fight, the crowd at Fox and Hound started chanting "Mayweather! Mayweather! Mayweather!"

Bobcats Handle Hawks 103-83

David Arnott — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:10:37 -0000

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Around 5pm, I stretched out for a nap and dreamed the Bobcats pulled away from the Hawks in the second quarter and never really got threatened again on their way to a 103-83 win.

I even dreamed the details, like the Cats' dominance on the boards and a wide spread of minutes across the roster on the first day of a back to back. Imagine my surprise as the game played out ~~just like~~ mostly like my dream. Highlights and lowlights after the jump:

BAD

-- It looks like Vladimir Radmanovic still hasn't gotten into the groove of things. We knew when we got him that dude's streaky, but this is bordering on absurd.

-- Stephen Graham got more than 13 minutes. Gerald Henderson got fewer than 4. I refuse to believe that even in Henderson's "raw" rookie state, he can't be as productive as Graham right now, and that's before considering the benefits of letting him work on his game for next season and beyond.

GOOD

-- Enjoy it while it lasts. Gerald Wallace is putting up Pistons-era Dennis Rodman numbers, from the small forward position. 11 points and 18 rebounds for Crash.

-- Raja Bell couldn't miss tonight, shooting 5-6 from three and ending up with 24 points.. That's good, but there's no way we can expect anything close to that kind of production from him going forward.

-- Same for Tyson Chandler, who was 5-5 from the field, with 10 rebounds. Unlike Bell, thought, I'm pretty sure Chandler has the capacity to repeat that over the course of the season.

-- Ronald Murray stepped in and was the Flip of old. The man took 12 shots in just under 18 minutes, including 5 three point attempts, making three. He is who he is, and changing his habits now is probably a losing proposition, so the most important thing is to see him actually on the floor.

-- Rebounding advantage for the Bobcats: 56-35.

-- Perhaps it was because the Hawks were coming back home off a west coast swing, but the Cats' defense still stifled them. Atlanta shot under 40% for the game and only 2-16 from three.

Celtics Crush Bobcats 92-59

David Arnott — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:11:51 -0000

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The Celtics absolutely smoked the Bobcats in the season opener at Boston's TD Garden. The final score was 92-59, which doesn't really do the beatdown justice. There were flickers of life throughout the first half, but in the third quarter, the Celtics manhandled the Cats, outscoring them 25-10 and pulling away for good.

Parsing the box score, there isn't much to be happy about; the game brought to life every fear the pessimists had for Charlotte before the season. They had near-zero offensive presence on the inside, which had a cascade effect. Gerald Wallace and others couldn't slash because defenders could help more readily, and the shooters, already a mediocre bunch (even more so without Raja Bell or Ronald Murray), couldn't shoot because there was no worry about anyone trying to score from inside ten feet.

Highlights (maybe) and Lowlights after the jump:

GOOD

-- Wallace had 10 points and 12 rebounds, by default the best performance of the night. Emphasis on "by default".

-- Nazr Mohammed very nearly earned that honor with 5 points and 8(!) rebounds in only 18 minutes. Seriously, he's probably the team's biggest inside threat on offense. That hurt to type.

-- Derrick Brown certainly looks like he belongs. Obviously, this is small sample size theater, but so be it.

-- It's fair to say Alexis Ajinca has two intriguing NBA skills: backdoor alley-oops and a nearly unblockable eighteen foot fadeaway jumper. Even his most ardent haters have to admit that his greatest shortcoming last season was his complete lack of basketball IQ even close to an NBA level.

-- The Cats outrebounded the Celtics, ~~44-41~~ 46-44.

BAD

-- 59 points.

-- Tyson Chandler: 0 points, 6 rebounds, 3 turnovers, 21 minutes. Ouch.

-- D.J. Augustin, Raymond Felton, and Stephen Graham combined: 5-27 from the field.

-- 59 points. If this is any indication, let's hope for a lot of 83-78 victories.

Raja Bell Out for Up to Four Months; Bring On Gerald Henderson!

David Arnott — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:52:00 -0000

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Say Raja Bell really is out four months. That's not the worst thing in the world. I'm guessing a majority of the reputable stat-crunchers out there would say it won't have much of an impact on the Bobcats' results this season, simply because there's only a remote chance the Bobcats are a force this year.

However, the potentially good news is that we could get a better look at Gerald Henderson sooner rather than later. I've long been on record with the position that for where Charlotte is in their success cycle, if a rookie isn't totally embarrassing on the floor, he needs to play right away so we can get a fuller idea of his capabilities.

Let's read the tea leaves and see if that'll happen.

First, it's established that Larry Brown has an unhealthy predilection for rookie suppression. Even if a young player isn't quite as good as a veteran player, there are ample reasons to play the youngster over the vet in certain contexts. For instance, on a team with zero championship aspirations and another young piece of the core in the back court, it might be prudent to get those guys playing together as often as possible so that they are symbiotic when the team does make a charge through the playoffs. Brown will play rookies big minutes, but only, it seems, when there's no real choice to be made. That bodes ill for Henderson, since Ronald Murray is around, shin issues notwithstanding.

However -- and this is something a lot of coaches do, not just Brown -- it's possible Henderson will start games in Bell's absence so as not to disrupt the "roles" everyone else has been assigned. This is a real long shot, especially since it's the start of the season and "roles" haven't really been established, but bear with me. Say Brown has determined that D.J. Augustin is the PG off the bench and Flip is the first SG off the bench. Well, he might simply keep those guys in those "roles" and start Henderson at the SG spot. The start, itself, isn't really important, as much as the minutes Henderson might get, and with Murray's ability to play both guard spots and Brown's willingness to play Raymond Felton alongside Augustin last year, Henderson might still see only a few minutes per game, even if he gets to be put in the spotlight and high five everyone during pregame introductions.

If Murray's out for an extended period, that will force Brown's hand, since he can't play Augustin and Felton together the entire game, and Vladimir Radmanovic isn't a real SG.

The key, for at least this fan, is admitting that this season isn't about winning a championship; it's about building toward winning a championship, and the team should do what's best for that goal.

What Now For Gerald Henderson? Raja Bell? What Style Will the Bobcats Play?

David Arnott — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:40:11 -0000

Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer is on the same page I am when thinking about what Larry Brown must have seen in Flip Murray, but I'll go even further than Bonnell. I think Brown is so rookie-phobic that he's willing to block Gerald Henderson and jettison Dontell Jefferson just to get a guy on the floor who's been in the league a while. I mean, Murray's no slouch. We know we're not getting an All Star, but we also know he's no scrub (and a scrub is a guy who can't get no love from me).

What I'm getting at is that It's a real possibility Gerald Henderson will only get 500 minutes this year.

Say the PG rotation is 55% Felton, 35% Augustin, 10% Murray.

The SG rotation could be 65% Bell, 10% Felton, 10% Murray, 10% Henderson, and 5% Radmanovic.

If Raja Bell goes down for an extended period of time, do you really think Brown's going to hand over starting minutes to Henderson if Murray and Felton are on hand? The frustrating part of it for me, personally, is that I think Brown is building a roster with potential to be one of the most exciting teams in the league, if not a playoff contender.

With the hand we've been dealt right now, the only thing missing from a clean-cut roster is a backup PF. However, if they go for another shakeup, trading Bell, for instance, there's an opportunity to be a specially exciting squad. I don't see a trade that makes sense for both teams, but let's say they trade Bell's expiring contract for someone with upside plus a guy with a poor, but workable, contract. Maybe Milwaukee and Scott Skiles don't want to wait on Joe Alexander anymore, and they'd be happy to give up Charlie Bell's contract in the process.

I'm not saying this is The Thing To Do, but that Raja Bell is the one major piece of the puzzle who is a traditional grind it out Brown type of player. If Brown and the Bobcats want to blow our minds, they could make that trade, or something like it, and roll out a three-point-bombing, alley-ooping, floor-running, lineup of Augustin/Felton, Murray, Wallace, Diaw, and Chandler, with Radmanovic, Alexander, Henderson, and Diop playing supporting roles, and cameos from Derrick Brown and Charlie Bell. Instead of playing one of the slowest paces in the league and scoring 71 points per game, that would be a pretty flashy roster with at least four guys who can jump out of the gym.

Sorry for the flight of fancy. I'm just not convinced that the marginal improvements the Bobcats keep making in the short term are worth the delay on finding out whether our young guys are any good or not.