Blogs

Anthony Maggio

Hooked on a Felton

June 29, 2007 6:24pm CDT

Between the NBA draft and the flurry of trades and few free agent signings since, it has been quite the whirlwind around the league the last week. Although judging by the television ratings for the NBA Finals, perhaps a few of you haven't noticed. But that's OK, it is summertime, so you are forgiven.

One of the biggest trades on draft day involved the Charlotte Bobcats, who sent No. 8 overall pick Brandan Wright to the Golden State Warriors for Jason Richardson, Richardson's huge contract, and second-round pick Jermareo Davidson. The trade was important for both sides, as the Warriors cleared out a crowded backcourt and a big salary while also adding a much-needed interior presence and the Bobcats added the veteran scorer that part-owner Michael Jordan coveted. While the move certainly has fantasy implications, so did another, much less heralded move Charlotte made last week.

The Bobcats quietly released guard Brevin Knight, handing the keys to the litter box over to Raymond Felton.

Felton is more of a combo guard than a point guard – as his career 2.6 turnovers per game average might suggest – but he is the man Charlotte pegged for the job when they drafted him fifth overall in 2005. This move intrigued me personally because of a keeper league I am in that I have talked about previously in this space. Sparing you the details, I had already decided to keep Tyson Chandler along with Kevin Garnett for next season, kicking Felton back into the draft pool. That decision remains the same following the jettison of Knight, but I wanted to take a closer look at what this means for Ray.

The problem with Knight was two-fold for the Bobcats. He was injury-prone, and this year he was going to be expensive. The contract buyout saved the franchise $2.5 million, while also giving the training staff a chance to use a few of its vacation days next season. But fortunately for fantasy owners, the rickety Knight gave us a glimpse at what Felton might do this season.

Knight missed 37 games last year, with Felton playing in 35 of those contests. Of the remaining 45 games Knight played, Felton was on the court for 43. Here is a look at his numbers in those games.

Felton with Knight
MINPTSASTREBSTL
35.013.45.93.41.6

Felton without Knight
MINPTSASTREBSTL
37.914.78.33.51.4

As you can see, Felton was a slightly better scorer and much better distributor with his extra three minutes per game while Knight was sidelined. But as I mentioned previously, turnovers continue to be an issue. Felton averaged 3.0 turnovers per contest last season, up from 2.3 per game in his rookie year. When he was assigned to run the point, Felton was even worse.

In the 35 games Felton played with Knight sidelined, he coughed up the rock 3.5 times per game. He averaged only 2.5 turnovers per game with his backcourt sidekick healthy. New coach Sam Vincent was point guard in his day and previously worked under Avery Johnson in Dallas, and I'm betting that if Felton doesn't take care of the ball, Vincent will sit him down and find someone who will.

The good news is that Richardson will dominate the ball while on the court – which will be most of the time if he's healthy – and should keep Felton from continuing to be a turnover machine. Charlotte currently has no backup options at the point anyway, but likely won't enter training camp without another on the roster. The free agent crop isn't anything to write home about, with Keith McLeod, Jacque Vaughn, and Mike Wilks the best backup options. With Felton at the controls, I don't see the Bobcats spending big money to land Mo Williams or Gary Payton wanting anything to do with Charlotte. In short, Felton will get a majority of the minutes this season and be more productive in year number three now that Knight is gone.

Felton has the talent to put up the numbers he averaged without Knight over the course of a full season when he is healthy—which would favorably compare him to guys like T.J. Ford and Andre Miller and possibly make him a top-10 fantasy point guard. Hopefully he spent enough time working on his ballhandling, though, for Vincent to give him the chance.

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