Richardson on the Move

Phoenix Suns GM Steve Kerr has made another splash by trading for Charlotte Bobcats guard Jason Richardson. The Suns also received Jared Dudley and a second-round draft pick and in return the Bobcats received Boris Diaw, Raja Bell, and Sean Singletary.

This deal makes you scratch your head on many levels.  First let’s start off with the Suns.  So the word on the street is that Kerr felt like his team needed some more firepower and gave up their best defender to do so.  I can understand that but the Suns were still averaging 101.7 ppg, good for sixth in the league.  The problem is they still played no defense as they also gave up 101.7 ppg.  Richardson is not much of a defender either so their defensive woes will continue to persist.  The truth of the matter is, the Suns are just a flawed team and Terry Porter is not a very good coach.  I didn’t like the hire to begin with and I’m being proven correctly right now.  Kerr never should have traded for Shaq and Mike D’Antoni should still be the coach.  He got the most out of his guys and you can tell how bitter the players are under Porter as they’ve been talking negatively about the team all season long.  I do feel bad to a certain extent for Porter because D’Antoni’s system is a tough act to follow.  No matter what you do, the players won’t have as much fun in your system and the only way they’ll be happy is if you have more success.  The Suns are barely a .500 team and I don’t think J-Rich will make them much better.  Without Diaw, they are incredibly thin up front and with Shaq not even playing 30 minutes per game, the Suns are going to get killed up front, even with Amare. I expect Steve Nash, Shaq, and Stoudemire to all leave in 2010, Grant Hill will retire, and owner Robert Sarver will be left with a bunch of unhappy players, led by J-Rich and Leandro Barbosa. The question is how long will Sarver stay with both Kerr and Porter because it’s clear they aren’t getting the job done.

As for the Bobcats, I liked the trade until on Inside the NBA, Kenny Smith made me realize that DJ Augustin will probably be starting at point guard, forcing Raymond Felton to move to shooting guard yet again (and even if Augustin continues to come off the bench, he’ll still be playing the majority of minutes at the point).  Now I have to first admit that I am biased because Felton is one of my favorite Tar Heels of all time.  With that said, Felton is NOT a shooting guard and I think his 40% career FG% clearly shows this.  And at 6’0, there’s no way he can guard the bigger two-guards on a daily basis.  He is a point guard and I thought Larry Brown was going to use him as such.  The Bobcats have enjoyed most of their success with Felton at point guard and it seems crazy to me they’d move him yet again.  But I will say the success of DJ Augustin is a bit surprising and he has definitely earned a starting gig with his play.  If he keeps this up, he’ll be a future star in the league and he’s gotta get big minutes to get to that point.  The Bobcats have made it clear that Augustin is their point guard of the future so in my eyes, they have to trade Felton (who has been on the trading block for quite some time) and get something in return.  They’ll only have Singletary as a backup (though I like his game as well), but if they keep Felton and start both him and DJ, they’ll have the smallest backcourt in the league (but also the quickest) by far and they’ll get killed defensively.  I’ll be keeping an eye on how things are going in Charlotte but I hope my man Felton gets the opportunity to showcase his skills elsewhere.

Everybody loves Raymond…okay maybe only me.

Charlotte Bobcats Preview

CHARLOTTE BOBCATS (32-50)

The expansion Bobcats improved every year since joining the NBA…until last year.  That was a huge setback for a young team that showed making the playoffs now was a priority by trading away the draft rights to Brandan Wright for Jason Richardson last year.  This year’s big move was bringing in head coach Larry Brown after Michael Jordan’s Sam Vincent experiment failed last year.  With Brown at the helm, the Bobcats seem primed to make the playoffs.

Unfortunately, Michael Jordan can’t suit up for the Bobcats.

Face of the Franchise: Michael Jordan. The Bobcats don’t have one, single player you can look at and say he is the best player on the team or he is the team leader and Larry Brown’s selection of three captains (Raymond Felton, Gerald Wallace and Richardson) illustrates that.  And really, is there a bigger figure in basketball than His Airness, even if he’s not playing?  Unfortunately for Charlotte though, Jordan has been terrible in his front office role.  (And it pains me to say that as MJ is one of my childhood heroes).  His selection of Adam Morrison in the 2006 NBA Draft was terrible.  Anyone could’ve guessed that Morrison would be a complete flop in the pros.  But more on that later.  All in all, the Bobcats need a player to step up and become that go-to guy the team can lean on on a daily basis so that their best player won’t be their owner.

Send Him Away: Adam Morrison. As I said earlier, anyone could’ve guessed Morrison would be terrible in the NBA.  He is unathletic, can’t create his own shot and can’t play defense.  I can’t think of a single player he would be able to guard.  He is a one-dimensional offensive player who has a decent shot and that’s it.  For someone who was such a prolific scorer in college and known as a sharpshooter, you gotta shoot a little better than 37.6% from the field.  And now he’s coming off ACL surgery.  So he’ll be even more unathletic now and get burned by opposing 2′s and 3′s on a nightly basis.  Please Mike, just give this guy away to someone.

Impact Newcomer: Larry Brown. Definitely gotta be the new head coach.  The Bobcats made no significant acquisitions other than their draft picks DJ Augustin and Alexis Ajinca and free agent signee Shannon Brown. The new coach will be counted on to get the most out of this talented team, get them to play together, and fix their defensive deficiencies.  Though he did a terrible job with the Knicks, I am sure he’ll do a better job with this group and he will continue his track record of improving bad teams.  The last few years of being away from the game was definitely good for him and he’ll be back refreshed and ready to take on this new challenge.

X-Factor: Sean May. Let me start off by saying I am a huge North Carolina Tar Heels fan and I have a personal bias towards everything UNC.  So with that said, I think May is extremely talented, at least on the offensive end.  He is a skilled post player with soft hands, with the ability to hit that outside jumper and is an above-average passer.  He is also one of the better rebounders in the league when he’s on the floor.  Though not very good on the defensive end, his biggest problem has always been his conditioning and more recently, his health.  He has missed 188 games three years into his career, including all of last season because of microfracture surgery.  With Charlotte’s front-line extremely thin, May will need to stay healthy in order to give them a chance to succeed.  If he gets hurt, the Bobcats’ playoff hopes will go down with him.

The key to the Bobcats’ engine.

Forecast: Playoffs – 7th seed. I have pretty big expectations for this team.  I think they have a ton of talent and now they have a coach that can get the most out of them.  He won’t make the same mistake as both his predecessors by shuttling Raymond Felton between the point and shooting guard.  Felton has all the attributes necessary to be as good as fellow draftmates Chris Paul and Deron Williams and he will improve greatly under Brown.  J-Rich will be their go-to scorer and Wallace their jack-of-all trades lockdown defender.  Emeka Okafor definitely needs to improve on his consistency and if he does, he can be the beast down low.  Their bench is iffy at best and will be a huge question mark.  In the end, however, I think Brown will come through and lead the Bobcats to their first playoffs ever.