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MEMPHIS, Tenn. If you see some gray-haired, bespectacled guy erasing the 3-point line at Time Warner Cable Arena, it's not a vandal.
It's the coach.
“We love jump shots, this team. And we're in love with that 3-point line early,'' coach Larry Brown said, after his Charlotte Bobcats dropped a 92-79 exhibition to the Memphis Grizzlies.
“But for now, we've got to get great shots. We've got to take shots to get fouled.
“We've got to teach these jump shooters to dribble-drive and get it to the rim.''
If you're sick of reading that, then imagine how sick Brown is of repeating it. Almost from the start of training camp, he's raised concern about this team's addiction to long jumpers.
That's particularly so for the starting unit. Gerald Wallace attacked the rim Friday, shooting 6-of-12 from the field. But the other four starters – Sean May, Emeka Okafor, Jason Richardson and Raymond Felton – were a combined 7-of-25 from the field.
Just as they did in a 38-point loss in Orlando on Wednesday, those starters got off to a brutal first quarter Friday. Richardson shot 1-of-6, Felton committed two quick turnovers and May again struggled to guard or rebound.
“They haven't played as a unit at all,'' Brown said of his five starters. “Not the way they're capable of playing.''
Felton, who is 0-for-7 from the field the first two exhibitions, didn't start the second half, although Brown said that wasn't a demotion.
Felton had played 16 minutes in the first half, and Brown wanted to see how rookie D.J. Augustin would blend into with the starters.
Augustin played better than Felton, (3-of-7 from the field, four assists, three turnovers), but not by much. If anything, the most positive result might have been the play of power forward Andre Brown.
A free agent without a guaranteed contract, Brown had nine rebounds in 23 minutes and added 12 points.
“Scoring, that's always fun, but that's not why I'm on the floor,'' Brown said.
“My first thing is playing defense and rebounding. Everything else comes after that.''
That's an approach the coach would love his other big men to adopt ASAP.
“All of them think to impress us, they have to score the ball,'' Larry Brown said.
“But we need guys like Sean and Andre, Ryan (Hollins) and Jemareo (Davidson) to forget about that part and do all the other things.''
