<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Posted on Wed, Jun. 30, 2004 TODD SUMLIN, The Charlotte Observer Tamar Slay goes through his first mini-camp workout with the Bobcats, but it wasn't his first with coach Bernie Bickerstaff. Charlotte's coach trained Slay as an NBA draft candidate in 2002. Slay just wants chance to play Former Nets guard expected to stick as expansion draft pick RICK BONNELL Staff Writer FORT MILL - Charlotte Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff likes to say you don't learn basketball by osmosis. Just maybe, Tamar Slay is the exception that breaks Bernie's First Law of Hoops. Slay, a 6-foot-8 guard/forward, never started a game in two seasons with the New Jersey Nets. He averaged just less than eight minutes a game when he did play, and his statistics -- 2.5 points, 1.0 rebounds and 38 percent shooting from the field -- wouldn't turn anyone's head his way. Those numbers don't show what he did get from the past two years: the opportunity to practice daily with the likes of Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson. The Nets reached the NBA Finals two of the past three seasons. They guarded hard and ran hard, consistently out-hustling most opponents. Slay said he learned plenty, and he's now ready to apply that knowledge on an expansion team. "Once the playoffs arrive, it's a whole new level. Guys go out and play 48 minutes hard because every possession matters," Slay said Tuesday after the Bobcats' first mini-camp practice. "That's what you learn: how hard they play and how they prepare for the game." And now? "It's time for me to step up to the plate," Slay said. Forgive him the clich?d baseball analogy. Slay welcomed the Bobcats choosing him in the expansion draft last week because it gives him the chance to perform, to learn from his mistakes without constant fear of being pulled back to the bench. That likely wouldn't have happened in New Jersey, where he played behind starters Jefferson and Kerry Kittles and reserve Brian Scalabrine. Even with the Nets trimming their roster to save money, Slay would have been fighting for a chance to show off his potential. Even though the Bobcats are new, Slay has a comfort level already. Bickerstaff trained him and several other NBA draft candidates in the summer of 2002, preparing them for team workouts. Slay went to the Nets in the second round after learning a lot about the man who now might coach him in Charlotte. "I know what type of guy he is, not a yeller-screamer, but he makes sure to get his point across," said Slay, who still remembers the exhausting morning sessions Bickerstaff ran in a Washington gym. "Individual workouts, individual skills," said Slay, who played at Marshall. "A lot of running, conditioning, things like that." Bickerstaff had monitored Slay's progress in New Jersey and was elated the Nets left him unprotected. "We've always been intrigued by his size, his length, his ability to shoot the basketball," Bickerstaff said. "Down the stretch, the Nets had essentially clinched the playoffs with little chance for movement (in the seedings), so he got the chance to play a lot. I was really impressed with his weak-side defense and his reads, the cerebral part of his defensive game." Technically, Slay became an unrestricted free agent when the Bobcats selected him in the expansion draft, so the new team has no special hold on his services. But it was obvious he wants to sign here. "Once I saw my name called, I was happy," Slay said. "I knew there was a great opportunity here to make a name for myself." </div> I just posted the whole article because it's for members only so this way every one can read it.
I'm actually excited to see him play with the minutes. He'll be pretty solid. Book it. Guarding against and playing with Kidd/RJ/KMart during practice will reap benefits down the line. Besides, he has the talent anyway.
He'll be a very good player this year. No one will be on his team to take shots and I think that himself, Emeka Okafor, and Gerald Wallace will be the only players to do somewhat good on that horendous roster.
