SB Nation - D.J. Augustin

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

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

More photos » by Michael Conroy - AP

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.

Big 12 All Decade Team

Evan Pfaff — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:15:09 -0000

More photos » by Orlin Wagner - AP

With almost a full year yet to play, Kansas center Cole Aldrich muscled his way onto the Big12Hoops.com First Team All Big 12 Decade Team (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

Browse more photos »

In the first full calendar decade of the Big 12 conference, one thing was apparent: there were two schools that produced a good majority of the talent. And while the best individual players may not have come from Kansas or Texas, a look at the Big12Hoops.com All Decade team reveals that a majority were either Jayhawks or Longhorns.

Don't see your favorite? The Honorable Mention list is after The Jump

First Team All Big 12

PG – Jamaal Tinsley, Iowa St
SG – Tony Allen, Oklahoma St
SF – Kevin Durant, Texas
PF – Blake Griffin, Oklahoma
C – Cole Aldrich, Kansas

Second Team All Big 12

PG – Kirk Hinrich, Kansas
SG – Acie Law, Texas A&M
SF – Michael Beasely, Kansas St
PF – Marcus Fizer, Iowa St
C – Chris Mihm, Texas

Third Team All Big 12

PG – TJ Ford, Texas
SG – Andre Emmett, Texas Tech
SF – PJ Tucker, Texas
PF – Drew Gooden, Kansas
C – Nick Collison, Kansas

[UPDATE: Lots of good suggestions and opinions in the comments section. Lemme give a little insight into how I compiled this list.

I started with a list of Big 12 Players of the Year. My rationale was that if someone was good enough to be the best in the league, even for one year, he warranted entry into this exclusive club. 9 of the 10 Big 12 Players of the Year made the top three teams. The only one who didn’t was Wayne Simien, and that is because he played a PF position that, if you look at the past decade, was just STACKED. Blake Griffin, Marcus Fizer, Drew Gooden. Really you could put Simien in there, but who gets bumped off?

As for PG, Tinsley over TJ Ford and Kirk Hinirich has also garnered a lot of attention. Tinsley’s place as the 2000-01 POY got him on the first team. But you really cant go wrong with any of them.

Lastly, there is this question on what to do with Durant and Beasley. Each only played one year, but they dominated the league (and the country). Durant was a Naismith winner as the best player in the country and Beasley was a finalist for the award. Both were league POYs. Because they didn’t play a full 4 years, they didn’t accumulate career stats that some others players did, but my list was based on selecting the best players, during their time in the Big 12, at each position.]

All Big 12 - Honorable Mention

Baylor Bears
LaceDarius Dunn
Lawrence Roberts

Colorado Buffaloes
Reggie Roby
David Harrison

Iowa St Cyclones
Craig Brackins

Kansas Jayhawks
Wayne Simien
Aaron Miles

Kansas St. Wildcats
Cartier Martin

Missouri Tigers
DeMarre Carroll
Clarence Gilbert
Arthur Johnson
Kareem Rush

Nebraska Cornhuskers
Aleks Maric

Oklahoma Sooners
Taj Gray
Hollis Price

Oklahoma St Cowboys
Byron Eaton
Joey Graham

Texas Longhorns
DJ Augustine
LaMarcus Aldridge

Texas Tech Red Raiders
Jarrius Jackson

Texas A&M Aggies
Bernard King

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.

Best Bobcats Trade Possible Contest

David Arnott — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:57:48 -0000

More photos » by Bob Levey - AP

Browse more photos »

Seeing as the members of Rufus on Fire all know better than the Bobcats front office (yes, I count myself in that group), here's your challenge. Use the RealGM Trade Checker to come up with a Bobcats trade that the other team(s) involved would accept and that advances at least one tangible goal for Charlotte. Post the teams, players, and link to the Trade Checker in a comment.

Here's my attempt.

CHARLOTTE gets: Tracy McGrady

HOUSTON gets: Raymond Felton, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Leon Powe, Alexis Ajinca

CLEVELAND gets: Stephen Jackson, Nazr Mohammed

The big obstacle is getting Houston to go along with this. They probably don't need another guard like Felton, but Z and Powe are probably very attractive for a run at the postseason (Z's poor numbers this season notwithstanding), especially since all these contracts are really flexible and just for this season. Cleveland gets the scoring swingman they've wanted to pair with LeBron James, and they replace Z with Mohammed.

For the Bobcats, they get a real, honest-to-goodness superstar. Maybe he's too hurt to play, and Houston's doing the right thing by collecting the insurance (probably the biggest obstacle to the trade), but we dump contracts and give playing time to D.J. Augustin, all in one fell swoop. We get first crack at re-signing him, and if we don't want to make that leap, he can walk after this season. I'd pull the trigger.

YOU CAN WIN A PRIZE

The best trade proposal and explanation, in my sole judgment, will win a promotional copy of The Art of a Beautiful Game, by SI's Chris Ballard, which I received for free from the publisher. I'll announce the winner on Wednesday. Have at.

Nets End Losing Streak, Beat Bobcats 97-91; Larry Brown Should Be Embarrassed With His Performance

David Arnott — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:54:07 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

Browse more photos »

The Nets had to win, eventually. It's only embarrassing to the Bobcats if they act like New Jersey doesn't belong in the league, which they most certainly do. Losing 97-91 on the road to them is the same as losing to any other team this time of year. All they can do is keep their focus and keep working.

By and large, the guys on the floor did an admirable job. Brook Lopez had a huge game, with 31 points and 14 rebounds. That's a little damning of Tyson Chandler, but Lopez is a rising star, and he's going to have those kinds of nights. The same goes for Courtney Lee and his 27 points. There's a reason they thought highly enough of him that they demanded he come over from the Magic for Vince Carter.

However, the infuriating theme emerging again this year -- one that everyone warned us would happen with Larry Brown -- is the inexcusable mishandling of rookies and other young players. D.J. Augustin, Gerald Henderson, Derrick Brown, and Alexis Ajinca have all had their careers adversely affected by their usage this year. Augustin's encouraging rookie season could have been a springboard to a starting job, but instead he was undermined by the retention of Raymond Felton and subsequent signing of Flip Murray. Gerald Henderson just hasn't played, buried on the bench even though when he has played he's been reasonably solid and could absolutely be the backup to Stephen Jackson. Derrick Brown has proven in his limited playing time that he deserves a shot to win a rotation spot, and with no backup power forward in sight, that would seem to be a perfect situation for him, but instead, Vladimir Radmanovic(!) got those minutes, and now Coach Brown is going through all kinds of mental gymnastics to justify reasons to not play him, like putting Tyson Chandler at the four. Ajinca is a separate case. He shouldn't have been expected to contribute last year, and yet he languished on the bench. He should have been in the D-League most of last year and this year, playing 30 minutes every night and taking his lumps, but instead, he's been jerked around. What progress he's made has no expression.

And tonight, none of those players played. The bench and free throw shooting lost this game, and none of those players played. The Nets, one of the five worst teams in the league, beat the Bobcats, and Larry Brown saw fit to play STEPHEN GRAHAM more than 13 minutes and refused to play any of his younger players, even after it was clear his preferred formula wasn't going to put the Cats over the top. I've tried to express reasonable disagreement over the course of the season, but this performance from Larry Brown doesn't deserve reasonable treatment anymore. It was disgusting. The players shouldn't be embarrassed, but Brown should be.

Highlights and lowlights after the jump:

BAD

-- What does Graham have to do to prove he doesn't belong in an NBA rotation? I'm sure he's a perfectly good guy; the broadcasters seem to like him, and you can't be a jerk and stick around as a scrub for long, and he's stuck around for four years. But you know what? He played more than 13 minutes, was 0-2 from the field, had 1 rebound, 0 assists, 1 turnover, and 2 fouls. And he's done this his whole career. It's not his fault he's being put out there, but he's emblematic of Larry Brown's myopia.

-- Nazr Mohammed has been excellent all year, and this game is probably just a bump in the road, but it's still disappointing to see him crash so abruptly. 0 points in 11 minutes.

-- 18-30 from the charity stripe is bad. Maybe the Jeff Capel School of Free Throw Shooting should be discredited.

GOOD

-- Gerald Wallace is still a beast. 13 points on 5-8 shooting, and 20 rebounds. I keep coming back to the mid-late career Dennis Rodman comparison, only if Rodman ran the floor and finished like Drexler.

-- Tyson Chandler seems healthy. The defense doesn't seem to be at the elite level, but I suspect a lot of that has to do with being comfortable with teammates, and the Cats' roster hasn't exactly been together forever. Still, 13 points and 12 rebounds is the kind of performance we need from our center.

-- Good Raymond Felton is still with us. He was a facilitator for most of the game and scored efficiently -- at one point I think he was 6-7 from the field. He's still not the creator I'd like him to be at point, and he probably never will be, but for this game, he got results, scoring 28 points on 11-14 shooting and only turning it over 2 times.

-- Congratulations to the Nets for getting that monkey off their backs. They don't deserve it, and neither do their fans. Now they can move on and concentrate on the important things, like developing their young players and gelling as a team.

Bobcats Fans Don't Have A Consensus of Trust

David Arnott — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:17:05 -0000

More photos » by Chuck Burton - AP

Browse more photos »

Ultimately, I think what we all want from the Bobcats is a consensus of trust. I want to be able to look at whatever my team does and think to myself: "Absolutely... Makes all kinds of sense... That's perfect..." like New England Patriots fans did with Bill Belichick circa 2003, or, more appropriately, like Seattle Mariners fans are doing right now. I'm pretty certain this is what fan contentment looks like, even when the team isn't yet a championship contender:

What am I supposed to write about when they’re doing exactly what we suggest, targeting players we’ve already advocated for because they make a lot of sense? I mean, yeah, the team is getting better, but I’m running out of material. I don’t know how many different ways to write "woohoo! good move!"

And then Larry Brown goes and tells Rick Bonnell something like this:

Brown says no more than three guards should play regularly, but there are all sorts of conflicting goals to service: He is trying to develop the rookies, he's trying to help D.J. Augustin get back his confidence, and he'd rather Stephen Graham not disappear through no fault of his own.

[snip]

Short of some trade that would swap a guard for a viable 4-man, this is going to be improvisational.

"Maybe we need to re-explore playing Tyson (Chandler) there," Brown said.

The potential to play Chandler as a center and a power forward was one of the incentives for the offseason trade of Emeka Okafor. But that hasn't happened much, with Chandler still not all the way back from ankle surgery.

"We've got to get him to a point where he's comfortable and confident, and he's not playing that way right now," Brown said. "The more he plays, the more confidence he gets and then maybe we can play him more" at multiple positions.

1 -- I'd like to know what, exactly, Brown is doing to "develop the rookies", because he's certainly not giving them NBA minutes. Gerald Henderson is averaging 9.3 minutes per game, and he's played fewer total minutes than all but SEVEN first round picks this year, and five of those guys haven't even played in the NBA at all, for various reasons (Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio, Victor Claver, B.J. Mullens, Christian Eyenga). The two others? Jordan Hill has been a disaster in New York and James Johnson was beaten out for playing time by second round rookie Taj Gibson in Chicago.

2 -- Stephen Graham absolutely should be the odd man out, and that this is an open question speaks volumes about what Larry Brown values. What does Graham do that a combination of Henderson and D. Brown at guard and forward can't do? Even if you think Graham is better right now than those two, is he so much better than either of them that the benefits of giving the rookies minutes are outweighed by Graham's awesomeness? Seems to me that explicitly demoting Graham gives minutes to the rookies. Two problems solved.

3 -- We're really going to revisit Tyson Chandler at power forward? Really? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I understand the desire to give Nazr Mohammed more minutes based on his inspired run this season, even though I think Chandler's the better bet moving forward to be a more productive total player, but playing Chandler at power forward, given what we know about him and the rest of this team, should simply be a non-starter. There's no way he can guard the quickest PFs like Josh Smith, and the only reason we should even consider playing him alongside Nazr is if we're facing a twin tower lineup like Sheed-Garnett or Shaq-Z. If we can't make a trade for someone like Sean Williams, who's been marginalized on his current team, then we should stay in our holding pattern and give minutes to D. Brown in the power forward slot, or (deep breath) give Alexis Ajinca chances to sink or swim. Either way, I don't think playing Chandler at the four advances any objectives, whether that's giving playing time to younger guys or winning now, or trying to juggle those two objectives.

All I want is to hear the Bobcats are mulling a move, or have made a move, and know before I even look at the details, that it's probably a good idea and not just some desperate ploy, or shuffling of deck chairs in the vague hope something changes for the better.

The Iverson Thing Won't Go Away

David Arnott — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:59:47 -0000

More photos » by Jesse D. Garrabrant - NBAE/Getty Images

Browse more photos »

Hi. My name is David. I'm a Bobcats fan. And I really don't want my team to sign Allen Iverson, thinking they're making a run at the playoffs with him on board. Don't get me wrong, I think there's considerable appeal to pulling him off the trash heap, and the Cats are, potentially, an excellent fit for him, but that doesn't mean he's the best fit for us.

Here's the upside, best-case scenario: Iverson comes on board. With a glut of guards, Charlotte trades Raymond Felton in late December for whatever they can get. AI is the unquestioned starter at the nominal point guard spot, and often brings the ball up the floor, but Stephen Jackson, Flip Murray, and Boris Diaw also share creator/facilitator responsibilities, and D.J. Augustin plays a more true PG spot off the bench. It's a position-less paradigm... and amazingly, it works.

With true scorers in the back court at all times, Diaw and Wallace providing just enough post presence to keep teams honest, Wallace and Tyson Chandler cleaning up boards, and all five guys providing ball-hawking defense, that's the kind of team that can make noise in the playoffs without a true superstar. The defense stays elite, but Iverson's offensive potential, as much as his individual production, opens up the floor for everyone else and pushes the Cats' offensive production firmly into the middle of the league.

Play an unconventional style, play a tight rotation, and don't skip any beats when the reserves play. There's your formula.

Of course, that's the best-case scenario. The worst-case scenario? Iverson and Jackson get openly frustrated that the team isn't better than it is and that they have to share minutes with guys like Felton and Augustin, let alone Gerald Henderson. That, in turn, poisons the well and starts some infighting that spills out onto the floor. AI and Jackson start gunning. Flip starts gunning. Felton reverts to Bad Felton and starts gunning. The individuals on the team aren't good enough to create successful offense by shooting and shooting alone. They start losing interest in defense when the team stumbles, choosing, instead, to try to create more offense. Thirty wins looks out of reach. Iverson threatens to retire again, and the Cats make up an injury in order to bench him and give minutes to Augustin.

The most likely scenario should they sign Iverson is something in between those two extremes. He probably won't be as helpful to the team as Good Felton, but he wouldn't be as detrimental as Bad Felton. It would be intriguing to see how the team balanced offensive responsibilities without a true point guard in the first unit, but that doesn't mean it would be more productive. Remember, Iverson's never been the most efficient offensive player, and this is the twilight of his career.

Ultimately, I'm guessing it would be a lateral move, but the team would instantly become the most fascinating in the league, given that they'd be starting four onetime castoffs/reclamations in Wallace, Jackson, Diaw, and Iverson. But if it's a lateral move, there's no point to it, and it only serves to marginalize younger players who should be getting NBA minutes.

===

Also, Alexis Ajinca was sent to the D-League. Free Freedom Fries?

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 Lose to Bucks 95-88; Highlights and Lowlights

David Arnott — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:09:50 -0000

More photos » by Jeffrey Phelps - AP

Browse more photos »

The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Charlotte Bobcats 95-88, powered by a huge first quarter from Brandon Jennings and solid production from Hakim Warrick and Ersan Ilyasova.

We'll have more in the morning, but here are some highlights and lowlights:

BAD

-- Free throws are fast becoming the Cats' most important flaw. Tonight, they had a big advantage in getting to the line, but only shot 26-43 from the charity stripe. That's 61%, folks.

-- Three point shooting is still terrible. Yes, even if they're bad at it, they have to take threes, because otherwise the opposing defense can simply collapse into the lane, but the Cats are so bad at it they must consider severely reducing their three point attempts. 2-13 tonight.

-- The offense did not improve with an increased tempo and pace. (I'm guessing about that. It felt like the pace had increased, but I haven't confirmed.) Fewer possessions in a game provides greater variance in outcomes because each possession means more to the game; it's a reasonable strategy for poor teams to grind the game to a halt. However, increasing the offense's pace and tempo can create a greater advantage if it leads to easier baskets. The Cats seemed to increase the pace a notch, but it's not leading to easier baskets. It seems they're simply taking shots earlier in the shot clock.

-- I suppose it's hardly a bad thing that they couldn't contain Jennings, because few teams have contained him, but I'm still disappointed the Cats' defense has seemed to drop off from the excellent D of the first few games. In addition, Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin were almost comically bad, a combined 1-7 from the field, and Felton had 2 assists. Was that Jennings's defense? Or was it more our guys' ineptitude? I'm not sure.

-- Boris Diaw is probably hurting. He didn't have his normal offensive game, and Warrick and Ilyasova were constantly pounding the Cats inside and outside, respectively. Perhaps it was just the matchups, but I'm concerned over whether or not Diaw's trying to play through a back injury that is hurting his game too much.

-- Gerald Henderson only got a few seconds in the game. What was the point?

GOOD

-- At times, the increased pace worked, and it seemed to benefit Gerald Wallace's offense most. He ended up with 22 points to go with his now-expected 10 rebounds.

-- Stephen Jackson played to the higher end of his abilities, scoring 22 and only turning it over twice.

-- Derrick Brown! 16 minutes for the rook is about 14 more minutes than I could have hoped for him. Awesome.

-- Mad props to the Milwaukee game day crew. I don't know if it was a malfunction or not, but sometime in the second half, I think all in-house sound effects stopped. The PA guy was still going, but there was no music, no chimes, no thumping beat during possessions. Just the sweet sound of a few thousand people cheering along the ebb and flow of a basketball game.

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!"