Posts tagged RaymondFelton at FanHouse

The Bobcats, needless to say, had a curious draft. Everyone expected Brook Lopez' name to get called at nine; after all, what need does Charlotte have with D.J. Augustin if Raymond Felton is the future at point guard? (Answer: exactly.) But Charlotte reaffirmed today that Felton is going to keep starting and that Augustin was merely drafted as a backup.

"We don't think D.J. is going to come in right now and be the starting point guard," [GM Rod] Higgins said.

While Higgins dismissed talk of a Felton-to-Knicks trade, it's clear the Bobcats were in various trade discussions leading up to the draft.

Managing partner Michael Jordan confirmed Thursday that the team talked to the Toronto Raptors about a deal that could have swapped forward Gerald Wallace for point guard T.J. Ford.

Apparently, talks stalled because the Raptors wanted a draft pick included as well, which seems like a nice thing to let Wallace know (You alone, sir, are worth one T.J. Ford, but you and a draft pick? We think not.) heading into the offseason.

The buzz out of Charlotte is all about D.J. Augustin. And how could it not be? The Bobcats passed over Brook Lopez, a.k.a. the scoring big man they need to move Emeka Okafor to the four, in favor of Texas' point guard. And they did this when, in theory, they already have the point guard of the future, Raymond Felton.

But obviously, Larry Brown does not care for Felton. I am making that conclusion based on a) the drafting of Augustin, b) Brown getting on national television and saying (paraphrase) that a strong connection to your point guard is absolutely necessary for success and c) my amazing ability to connect dots.

Now, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer is saying that, with very few exceptions, anyone on the roster is fair game to be moved around.

The Bobcats were in serious discussions with the Toronto Raptors about a deal that could have swapped [Gerald] Wallace for T.J. Ford. It didn't happen, but that's the clearest indication yet how active the Bobcats are in seeing what their players might bring in trade.

I assure you Wallace isn't alone. Raymond Felton could be moved, and so could just about anyone else with perhaps the exception of Jason Richardson.

That shouldn't be surprising, and Richardson is only off limits because of his contract. What is shocking is how quickly Michael Jordan, Brown and Co have given up on Felton (all three Carolina grads) given they spent a high lottery pick on him just a few years ago.

Things haven't gone well this season for the Bobcats. The team has given up on its coach, lost its most exciting player to a serious injury, and has a New York freaking Knick doing circus dunks against them in games. So hey, since all else has failed, let's have a contest to see who can make the best fan video! Here's your winner, Mr. David Arnott.

The most amazing part of the video? That this guy has actual buddies to high-five "when Felton pops a trey." Maybe if the team improves next season, they'll actually show their faces on camera.

[via Mr. Irrelevant]

If we don't care about the scourge of the NBA, who will? The Bleaker Rankings will assess the grotesque each Tuesday.

1. The Knicks. Isiah Thomas wishes he had Memphis' roster. And Jamal Crawford wishes he had a reason to go to work more than once every two weeks. (Free David Lee!)

2. The Bobcats. In fairness to Sam Vincent's crumbling regime, it's not his fault Sean May, Adam Morrison and Raymond Felton are sitting the year out.

3. The entire Southeast division. It's really not Vincent's fault! His charges just caught the highly contagious suck bug. What they need down there on the seaboard is a box of nicotine winning patches.

4. Chris Wallace's Christmas card list. First Gregg Popovich reamed Memphis for gift wrapping Pau Gasol for the Lakers. Next? Mark Cuban, of course, followed by Gilbert Arenas. I even heard John Salmons (John Salmons!) on radio ripping the deal.

5. The Bulls. Has any Bull but Thabo Sefolosha gained anything out of this season? Ben Gordon is worse, Kirk Hinrich is worse, Luol Deng is (injured and) worse, Ben Wallace is exponentially worse, Tyrus Thomas is worse, Chris Duhon's the same (there are no negative integers in the NBA). This team has one hot month for the second-year Swiss guard and a good debut for underused rook Joakim Noah -- and that's it -- to show for the first 50 games of the season.

Other receiving votes: Kevin Garnett's inner monologue; Gil's unprogressive views toward sensationally efficient Jose Calderon; the Grizzlies.

Hopefully the amount of time that Jeff McInnis will spend on the hardwood just got ... shorter. Or, at the very least, the Bobcats will have a more explosive offensive team with the addition of Earl Boykins, who they inked today for the remainder of the season. Boykins had been unemployed throughout the 2007-08 season thus far after splitting time between the Bucks and Nuggets last year.

Boykins, who played for Denver and Milwaukee last season, is somewhat undersized at 5-foot-5 but has been a dynamic scorer. He will fill the roster spot left open when the Bobcats made a 2-for-1 deal in December, swapping Walter Herrmann and Primoz Brezec to Detroit for center Nazr Mohammed.

The move isn't a huge surprise (although Charlotte had not previously been discussed as a potential alternative for the little fella) as the Bobcats have a banged up Raymond Felton, a better-suited-for-the-two Derek Anderson and McInnis as the only options to run the point. Head coach Sam Vincent clearly has issues with Felton's abilities, otherwise he wouldn't let McInnis, whose single digit point and assist averages in 25 plus per game are just abysmal, be in charge of distribution. Boykins averaged 14 points and four and a half assists per game while playing with Milwaukee last year and should provide a nice spark plug for a team that needs one more true scorer.

A couple of days ago I showed you a clip of what looked like an intentional effort to trip the Bobcats' Raymond Felton by Steve Nash. A lively discussion ensued in the comments as to whether it was or wasn't intentional, but one expert, ESPN's Marc Stein, seems "certain" that this occurred simply by accident:

After watching the video myself, I'd say Nash kicked out with his left leg to balance himself as much as anything because his right ankle was about to give.

...

Either way, I'm quite certain it wasn't intentional because Nash A) doesn't go around kicking people even when he's playing soccer and B) he and Felton are friends. They're not only represented by the same agent -- Bill Duffy -- but Felton participated in two Nash charity events over the summer.

I respect Stein's opinion here, but his reasoning is flawed. It's fine if he believes, after viewing the clip, that Nash wasn't trying to trip Felton. But as for saying that Nash wouldn't do something like that just because the two players are friends and are represented by the same agent, that just doesn't make any sense. I mean, have you ever played in a heated game with your friends and felt the need to give a hard foul to send a message or simply stop someone from getting an easy hoop?

I definitely don't think Nash was trying to injure Felton, but after being beaten off the dribble, it's certainly not out of the question for him to think about sticking his leg out to stop him from getting an uncontested score. When you're on separate teams and competing against one another, the thought that your opponent is also your friend rarely -- if ever -- crosses your mind.

It sure looks that way to me. Now to be fair, a lot can happen between two players during the course of the game that we don't necessarily see, so it's possible that Nash could have been retaliating for something that Raymond Felton did to him earlier. If not though, it definitely seems like a dirty play on Nash's part, who probably shouldn't have even been in the game at the time. After all, the Suns were up by 33 points and it was late in the third quarter when this occurred.

[via True Hoop]
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FanHouse walks through the Valley of the Most Likely; we shall fear no topic.

The raging Bobcats of Charlotte were an unsung band of heroes from late 2006-07. While other bottom-feeders sat their stars (cleanly or no), the Cats rode Gerald Wallace's cape to the most fiery spell of the franchise's youth. In fact, the Charlotte franchise as a whole embodies the basketball spirit defined by Crash Wallace: Completely under the radar despite all the ingredients of nuclear excitement. Wallace is an insane dunker, a quick-handed pickpocket, as irrepressible a slasher as Norman Bates. Likewise, Charlotte's cupboard is filled with the sort of sundries which add up to a fun time.

Take Emeka Okafor. I could tell you he averaged 14/11/2.6 last year, but justice is deeper. You might remember his 20/9/10 game against the Knicks. (Eddy Curry does.) Or how about this four-game stretch in February: 15/21/6 against the Bulls, 16/15/5 against New Orleans, 12 and 19 across from Kevin Garnett and 16/16 versus the Sixers. That's 15 points and 18 rebounds a game for four games. If any player in the league is going to drop an epic 20/20/10 game on us this decade, it would be Emeka.

The intrigue doesn't end there. Walter Herrmann's sharp .564 effective field goal percentage on jumpers is only more awesome by the observation 93% of his jumpers were assisted. (And never mind he shot .677 with less than three seconds left on the shot clock.) Raymond Felton's top comparable at his age is Kenny Anderson! Sam Vincent's the only NBA head coach with a bronze medal from Nigeria! Silky Jason Richardson's in town! This team could either be the most slept on 40-win team ever, or the most exciting 30-win team ever. Well worth the price of League Pass. At the very least, it's a team whose box score must be checked every morning, just to find out what kind of craziness occurred.

Other Entities Likely to Entertain: The Jazz.

View all of our "Most Likely" previews.

FanHouse is posting the top five current athletes for America's top 25 cities with the following criteria: 1) Who would a Charlotte sports fan say is his/her favorite athlete? 2) Would the player's name (or face) be familiar to locals who don't follow sports?

Find your city's top five: ATL | BOS | CHA | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DC | DEN | DET | HOU | IND | LA | MIA | MIL | MIN | NO | NY | SF | PHI | PHO | PIT | SD | SEA | STL

Charlotte is a professional sports city in a college sports state. Ask the locals who their favorite teams are and "UNC" and "Duke" will fall out of more mouths than anything. Local sports are about the Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Bobcats and NASCAR ... which the Queen City is the capital.

5. Emeka Okafor: Okafor was/is the face of the young Bobcats franchise. He was their first pick ever and the best player on a team that is extremely wet behind the ears.

4. Steve Smith: One of the most exciting players in the NFL. He's fast, tough, personable and filled with character. He also held his own in those endzone celebration battles of a few years ago.
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