The AP reports: Acie Law’s basket with 4.5 seconds left lifted the Atlanta Hawks to an 88-87 preseason win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday night. Law started at point guard in place of Mike Bibby, who was out with a strained right oblique muscle. The second-year player scored 12 points. Joe Johnson paced the Hawks (3-1) with 17 points, Josh Smith added 16 and Al Horford grabbed nine rebounds. Atlanta also got contributions from its two major offseason acquisitions; Maurice Evans had 12 points and Flip Murray 11… Jason Richardson, the only Charlotte player in double figures until the closing minutes, scored 19 points to lead the Bobcats. D.J. Augustin, the Bobcats’ first-round pick at No. 9 overall, had 11 points, six assists and three rebounds in 25 minutes. Raymond Felton doled out 11 assists.
Category: Charlotte Hornets Blog
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Okafor no.1 at getting stuffed
The Charlotte Observer (Rick Bonnell) reports: Friday morning I asked Charlotte Bobcats center Emeka Okafor why so many of his shots were blocked last season. The question mystified him. “You think I get my shot blocked a lot?” he replied. Why, yes, I told him, about once a game. Then I passed along a statistic published on espn.com: That 12 percent of Okafor’s shots were rejected last season, the highest such percentage in the NBA. It never occurred to him how susceptible he was to shot blockers, and apparently no one from the previous coaching staff raised the issue with him last season. “It’s a fluke,” Okafor said with a shrug. “That’s all I can say about it.”
Oct 10: Grizzlies 91, Bobcats 79
The AP reports: Rudy Gay scored 17 points, and Hakim Warrick added 14 points and eight rebounds Friday night as Memphis won its first preseason game with a 92-79 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. Reserve Quinton Ross added 13 points for Memphis (1-2), while rookie O.J. Mayo finished with 12 points on 5-of-17 shooting. Mike Conley added 10 points… Jason Richardson led the Bobcats with 14 points, while Gerald Wallace finished with 13. Andre Brown had 12 points and nine rebounds for Charlotte (0-2).
Oct 8: Magic 118, Bobcats 80
The AP reports: Orlando jumped to a 31-point first quarter lead Monday night en route to a 118-80 victory over the Bobcats… Dwight Howard scored 20 points to lead the Magic. Rashard Lewis had 17 points to lead three other Orlando players in double figures. Orlando’s lead grew to as much as 44 in the fourth quarter… Gerald Wallace led Charlotte with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Jason Richardson added 15 points… Sean May, who didn’t wear a knee brace or protective sleeve, played 18 minutes and finished with seven points and two rebounds.
Rockets match Bobcats offer and keep Carl Landry
The AP reports: The Rockets matched the Bobcats’ three-year, $9 million offer sheet for restricted free-agent Carl Landry on Thursday, keeping the forward in Houston. The Rockets took less than 24 hours to make the move, leaving Charlotte still searching for frontcourt depth before the start of training camp next week. “We obviously thought it was a good opportunity to get the guy,” Bobcats general manager Rod Higgins said. “But it’s part of the business.”
InsideHoops.com editor says: This was expected. Landry is a decent player and signing him for $3 million per season is a reasonable deal.
Bobcats sign Carl Landry to offer sheet
Charlotte Bobcats General Manager Rod Higgins announced today that the team has extended an offer sheet to restricted free agent Carl Landry. Per team policy, terms were not disclosed.
In accordance with the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, Landry’s current team, the Houston Rockets, will have seven days to decide whether to match the offer.
Word is, the deal is for around 3 seasons and $3 million per season. If that’s true, the Rockets are likely to match the offer.
“Landry is an emerging NBA talent, as evidenced by his play over the final 42 regular-season games and into the Rockets first-round playoff appearance,” Higgins said. “His ability to play both the power forward and center position will complement our post play.”
In his rookie season with Houston, Landry (6-9, 248 pounds) averaged 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in 42 games. He also shot .616 (135-219) from the field and was named All-Rookie Second Team. He scored a career-high 22 points at Indiana on Feb. 1 and tied his career high with 11 rebounds at New Orleans on Feb. 22. Landry also recorded his first career double-double, scoring 15 points and pulling down 11 rebounds against Minnesota on Jan. 11. He appeared in six playoff games with the Rockets last season and averaged 5.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in 17.7 minutes.
Originally drafted by Seattle in the second round (31st overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft, Houston obtained his draft rights in exchange for a future second-round selection and cash considerations on June 28, 2007.
Landry finished his collegiate career at Purdue after playing his first two seasons at Vincennes University. In 64 career games for the Boilermakers, he averaged 18.4 points and 7.1 rebounds. As a senior he was named First-Team All-Big Ten by the league’s coaches.
Quick East thoughts
The season is approaching, folks. Training camps open in around one week (I’m in Prague right now, haven’t looked at a calendar in a while. Tuesday I’m off to hang out in Berlin for a week, then about 8 days in Amsterdam. I’ll be back in New York City right around the start of preseason.)
In the east, the Celtics remain the best of the conference, though I wonder if Ray Allen will drop off a bit this season. They also need to improve their bench.
The Pistons bring back last year’s team, with Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups a year older.
The Magic still need to improve their backcourt.
The Cavaliers add scoring punch with the addition of point guard Mo Williams, but it’s still the LeBron James show with a supporting cast that will have to work very hard to carry their weight.
The Wizards must once again play without Gilbert Arenas for a while, though even with him they’re a lower-level playoff team.
The Raptors have to hope Jermaine O’Neal regains former All-Star form; it’ll be tough.
The 76ers added a star by signing power forward Elton Brand, and that should definitely raise them in conference standings.
The Hawks aren’t locks to return to the playoffs, but it’s good they kept Josh Smith.
The Bucks improved on paper, adding a pass-first point guard in Luke Ridnour, but more importantly, a legit good forward in SF Richard Jefferson.
The Knicks have the same talented yet flawed roster, but a new coach. Can Mike D’Antoni work miracles?
The Nets are rebuilding and aside from Vince Carter and young Devin Harris, everyone on the team who matters is young and in development.
The Bulls have the same team as the last few seasons, though Ben Gordon remains unsigned. Will they play like the good Bulls from two years ago, or the disappointing ones from last season? Flip a coin, because they’re capable of going either way.
The Bobcats have nice swingmen in Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace, plus Emeka Okafor, but everyone else is young and in development.
The Heat could make a leap in the standings now that Dwyane Wade is healthy, plus Shawn Marion needs a new contract, and Michael Beasley doesn’t like losing. The supporting cast is still extremely weak, though.
The Pacers always do a bit better than expected. The bad news is, almost nothing is ever expected. Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavey and TJ Ford are very nice players, though. They may surprise a little, but not a lot.
I’ll share quick West thoughts tomorrow. Right now I’m off to hike up to the Prague castle. I’ll be right here in about an hour.
–Jeff
Fan Poll Results: 8 East playoff teams
InsideHoops.com ran a poll for the last week asking fans to pick the eight Eastern conference teams they feel will make the playoffs in 2008-09.
The voting for the first four teams was pretty close, with the Celtics (592 votes), Cavaliers (588), Pistons (582) and Magic (578) taking the home-court seeds.
The Raptors (504) came in 5th, though from our experience Toronto fans, being very enthusiastic, tend to bump their team up slightly higher than tends to be expected. Though, if new Raptor Jermaine O’Neal can stay healthy and play anything like his old former All-Star self, this is a very reasonable prediction.
One vote later, coming in 6th, was the 76ers (503), who played better than expected last season and now add star power forward Elton Brand, who is returning from injury, to their mix.
The Wizards (459) came in 7th. They welcome a healthy Gilbert Arenas back.
And now, a dropoff.
Fans feel that last year’s #8 seed, the Hawks, won’t do as well in 2008-09. Rather than pick them to return to the playoffs, fans went with the Heat (294 votes). This is reasonable. Miami welcomes a healthy Dwayne Wade back, alongside Shawn Marion, who needs a contract, and superkid rookie Michael Beasley. The supporting cast is still weak, but slightly improved from last year.
The Bulls (195) finished 9th, just outside the playoff seedings. The Hawks (180) were 10th.
Here are the complete final results:
1) Celtics 592 votes
2) Cavs 588 votes
3) Pistons 582 votes
4) Magic 578 votes
5) Raptors 504 votes
6) Sixers 503 votes
7) Wizards 459 votes
8) Heat 294 votes
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9) Bulls 195 votes
10) Hawks 180 votes
11) Bucks 83 votes
12) Nets 68 votes
13) Knicks 53 votes
14) Pacers 53 votes
15) Bobcats 43 votes
Web viewing of NBA games may soon exist
The Oklahoman (Mel Bracht) reports: Say you’re working late and can’t make it to the Ford Center to watch Oklahoma City’s new NBA team play its game that night. Instead, you log on to your computer and watch streaming video of the team’s game broadcast. Sound far-fetched? Not if the NBA has its way. The league is aggresively promoting three new Internet elements — video streaming in home markets, interactive TV and video-on-demand — for the upcoming season. Ed Desser, a media consultant for Oklahoma City’s team, said many details have yet to be worked out, and didn’t expect the team to offer the Internet elements anytime soon.
Bobcats trade Kyle Weaver to Oklahoma City
The Oklahoma City NBA franchise acquired guard Kyle Weaver in a trade with the Charlotte Bobcats, it was announced today by the team’s General Manager Sam Presti. Weaver was selected 38th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Bobcats. In exchange for Weaver, Oklahoma City sent New Jersey’s 2009 2nd round pick to Charlotte. Oklahoma City held New Jersey’s second round pick following a July 2006 trade which sent Mikki Moore to the Nets.
“We’re pleased to add Kyle Weaver to our organization,” Presti said. “He is a young player with a defensive mentality and team-first approach to the game. We are excited to add these qualities to our team in Oklahoma City.”
Weaver was named Second Team All-Pac 10 as a senior at Washington State University. He was also named to the conference All-Defensive team and earned All-Pac 10 honors as a junior. He is the first player in Pac-10 history to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 175 steals and 75 blocked shots in a career. He finished his collegiate career ranked second in assists in Washington State history with 465, third in steals with 188, seventh in blocked shots with 93 and 17th in scoring with 1,162 points. He also participated with USA Basketball in the 2007 Pan American Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In four years at Washington State University, Weaver led the Cougars to a 75-50 overall record. In his junior and senior seasons, the Cougars went 52-17 overall including two trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars went to the Sweet Sixteen in his senior season in last year’s tournament where Weaver averaged 13.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists in three tournament games.