The Good: LaMarcus is winded and tired, conditioning is not there yet, is still averaging 25 PPG, 8 RPG | 93 DRtg Gerald Wallace -- Need I say more? The Bad: Raymond Felton has a PER of 7.5, that's Sebastian Telfair-bad. His jumper is not falling and has trouble finishing at the rim. The backup PG situation compounds his horrendous start. He is in a contract year so I expect him to pick up his play bigtime. Jamal Crawford: 33% FG <---Crawful If it weren't for LMA and Wallace beasting I think we'd easily be 0-2. :MARIS61:
I really think the shortened training camp and preseason has hurt the shooting. Especially for fatboy and the man.
Small sample size alert. You forgot to mention that Craig Smith is a "Runaway MVP Candidate" with a PER = 30.2! BNM
I'm not worried about Felton's FG%, because it will get to his career average by season's end. I completely forgot just how terrible he is at the line. Almost Dudly bad! And that won't change. His career FT% is in the 60%. YIKES!
Bleh- why does Portland always have issues at PG. I just don't get it...It's like one position we never upgrade or improve upon. Felton may be better than Andre, but still...
Indeed ... now I don't necessarily expect Crawford or Felton to put up all-star caliber numbers in another month, but I do fully expect them to regress to their personal means in another 5-10 games or so; which is a fair bit better than what we've seen so far. Likewise, I don't know that GW's output is all that sustainable and he'll probably fall back to the pack some too. Give it time people.
I don't know man... I don't really see too much talent to be had at PG... I think the New NBA, puts even more value on the PG than bigs these days. All the good ones are scooped up.
And even then, we would have a +4-6 points in the last 2 games if he shot at that rate. I'm actually really curious about this stat too. Last season, we shoot 40%, we get blown out, probably can't break the 90 point mark, and I doubt even 1 player has 18+. This season, we shoot 40% and we scored over 100 twice, with two players above 20 and one close with 17.
Felton may start to show chemistry with Wallace, which they had in Charlotte, like the Sergio-Rudy passes. That will improve stats for both.
I'm not as concerned about Felton's poor shooting as I am about some of his dumb-ass decisions with the ball.
If I had to pick a whipping boy after 2 games it would be Wes. I don't know his PER, but his tendex (an old precursor to PER) is even worse than Felton's.
After just two games I don't think I'd call anything a "statistic" ... right now we have some "numbers." Give ... the ... season ... some ... time.
I have a good feeling about Felton despite his low %. A lot of his shots have rattled in and out. I think he can score from anywhere on the court, not limited as our previous PGs were. I also like his aggressiveness in leading the break. The biggest stinker has been Wesley Matthews. He's looked really awkward.
I think everyone is forgetting the slow start Wesley had last season. His 3FG% improved EVERY month of the resular season: Code: October .286 November .317 December .405 January .417 February .434 March .451 April .464 It's been TWO games. Give him some time. He was even worse after two games last year than this. After last year's slow start, he ended up shooting 0.407 3FG% and was 7th in the entire league on 3FG made. BNM
