Yardbarker: Sean May

Heels in the NBA (10/11/08)

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:57:24 -0500

With the NBA beginning, and last year wanting to do this, but alas not having the time, this time I am going to dedicate myself into following all the ex Tar Heels as they play in the National Basketball Association.

NBA Punchlnes: Rasheed Wallace Might Have Trouble Following One Michael Curry's New Rules

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:16:23 -0500

Sean May has missed 188 games in his three NBA seasons. (The State)

Spencer Hawes, judging by the first preseason game, has some work to do. (SacBee)

The Heat and Nets will play exhibition games starting in Paris today. (Miami Herald)

Rasheed Wallace might have some problems following one of the 16 rules implemented by new coach Michael Curry. (Detroit Free Press)

Carmelo claims we will see "a different me" this season. (Denver Post)

Time for the Bulls to take the training wheels off of Derrick Rose. (Sun Times)

Brendan Haywood will have surgery to repair torn ligaments in his wrist. (Baltimore Sun)

It's only preseason but these former Orange have looked good thus far. (Post Standard)

A trio of coaches together for a day in the gym

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 09:29:24 -0500

As I went to my daily stop for Tar Heel news, Tar Heel Times, I found this small tid bit, that while it might not be totally about UNC, it shows what being a Tar Heel means. The article begins like this...

Larry Brown Wastes No Time

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:34:38 -0500

Larry Brown has already started to take digs at the Bobcats roster and the guys who gave it to him, Michael Jordan and Rod Higgins. "I'm concerned about who's going to be our third point guard. I'm concerned if we have a small forward that can guard," Brown said. "I'm concerned if we can find a power forward that can play..." "When I got the job I told Michael and (GM) Rod (Higgins) that we needed three point guards that could bring the ball up against the press, one of them with size. We needed two small forwards that could defend. And we needed five big guys and try to make them as athletic as possible," Brown said. So how does this roster mesh with what he wanted? "I don't know if it does," Brown said. "We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out." Yes, its true, Larry Brown has already thrown his bosses under a bus and training camps are barely starting.

Homecoming For Another Undersized Former NCAA Star?

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:13:41 -0500

A Daily Babble Production The last couple of weeks has featured quite a motif of discussing former college stars here at Babble Central. We mused about Sean May's comeback potential in Charlotte (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=3910 Itemid=260) a while back and reminisced about Gerry McNamara (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=3931 Itemid=260) last week. Perhaps one more couldn't hurt. May's year was 2005. McNamara won a championship in 2003, starred in the NCAA tourney in 2004 and killed it in the Big East tournament in 2006. Backwards we move: Our former college star du jour's finest hour came in 2002. Indeed, Juan Dixon may be returning to the D.C. area (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2008/09/juan_dixon_update_and_other_no.html) to take a shot at making the Wizards' roster. It's a nice story though tough to see this one working out. Read More.. (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=3950 Itemid=260)All of Steve's daily posts can be found in the CelticsBlog: NBA blog. Check him out!

Sean May is ready for the NBA season

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:51:37 -0500

For those of you that like to know about the ex Heels in the NBA, here is a small tidbit about Sean May.

Return of a Former NCAA Hero On Tap

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:15:29 -0500

A Daily Babble Production It has been a summer of change in Charlotte. There is a new coach in town in legendary nomad Larry Brown. There is a new lottery pick and backup-for-now point guard in Texas' D.J. Augustin. First-rounder Alexis Ajinca joins the fold as well. And there are two slightly older lottery picks coming back to the lineup after considerable time off with injuries, too. One is a guy who filled it up in college but was a huge bust in his rookie season, Gonzaga's Adam Morrison. The 2006 draft's third pick's major marketable skill heading into his first season was supposed to be his shooting, and he put up a miserable 45.0 percent true shooting mark as rookie to go with his expected lack of contributions defensively or on the glass. He is still just 24 years old, and with a new coach, perhaps he will become a more well-rounded player. But the expectations here aren't high. The other lottery returnee is none other than former NCAA tourney Most Outstanding Player winner Sean May. What he can do is anyone's guess. Read More.. (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=3910 Itemid=260)All of Steve's daily posts...

Rumors and Free Agent Updates - Players Coming Back Edition

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:25:35 -0500

Luke Walton Walton underwent surgery in July to remove bone spurs and scar tissue from his right ankle. He is hoping to get medical clearance today to begin workouts and hopes to be 100% by mid October. Of course, I expect Kobe to make an announcement that he will make an announcement that he still plans to play in pain and not get surgery. He can't let someone else get the headlines. Speaking of the Lakers, they signed guard Brandon Heath, who played last season in France, averaging 12 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 25 games. He played with the Clippers summer league team in Las Vegas and averaged 5.6 points in five games. He probably won't make the team, but will get a chance to show the team why he should in training camp. Last October, the Bobcats' Sean May had micro-fracture surgery to correct a chronic bone bruise that caused him to miss much of his first 3 seasons. May looks to be in great shape and is ready to get on with the rest of his career, hopefully injury free. He has gotten his weight down between between 265 and 270 pounds. He's playing pickup ball every day at the Charlotte Bobcats training facility, and says he's pain-free from the right knee injury that cost him most of his first three pro seasons. Another Bobcat who has missed a lot of time due to injuries is Adam Morrison. Morrison missed last season with a torn ACL in his left knee. He is now playing without a brace or pain. As Celtics fans know from their experience with Tony Allen's recovery from an ACL tear, one of the biggest challenges is restoring confidence in the knee on a day to day basis in making the moves he will need to be effective on the court. The Celtics have 4 players on their team now who have overcome serious knee injuries and come back: Leon Powe (3 surgeries), Bill Walker (3 surgeries), Tony Allen (2 surgeries), and Darius Miles (career ending injury). The Bobcats have always had a young and athletic team and they appear ready to have a strong season this year if May and Morrison are both healthy. The Bobcats' athleticism has always given the Celtics problems and for some reason they have had the Celtics' number. Like the Wolves and Nets, the Bobcats are getting an early start on the season. With three weeks to go until training camp, all but four players under contract were working out and playing in the team's practice facility. They have a new coach and have some great young players and may surprise a lot of teams, not just the Celtics, this season. There was speculation that Patrick Ewing, Jr would wear his dad's #33 for the Knicks. But now we learn that Ewing Jr. will wear No. 6 when he plays for the Knicks rather than his famous father's 33. Patrick Sr's #33 was retired but had given permission for his son to wear 33 as he did at Georgetown. But, wisely, Jr is going to forge his own path with his own number in the pros and #33 will always belong to his dad. Deron Washington. the third of the Pistons' three second-round picks, impressed the Pistons' management in Las Vegas with his athleticism and tenacity. He opened more eyes in August when he was working out with the other young Pistons at the practice facility. But, Washington won't be playing with the Pistons this season. He signed a contract to play with Hapoel Holon of the Israeli Premier League and continue to develop his game in Europe. Another of the Pistons' second round picks, Trent Plaisted, signed in July with Angelico Biella of the Italian league. The Celtics had considered letting their second round pick, Bill Walker, play in Europe this season but were so impressed by his workouts in Boston this summer that they decided to keep him with the team. With the furor over Monta Ellis' accident fading now that he has told his team the truth about how he was injured, the Warriors are back to the business of getting ready for training camp. They signed three undrafted free agents, guard DeMarcus Nelson of Duke, swingman Dion Dowell of Houston, and forward Rob Kurz of Notre Dame. This gives the Warriors 18 players under contract, 3 over the league maximum to start the season. Shaquille O'Neal has slowed down considerably from his peak as a player, and now he has announced his plans for retirement. He intends to play out the remaining 2 years of his contract with the Suns and then call it quits. His plans after basketball include include going into law enforcement. He has already served as a deputy both in Miami and Phoenix in his off time and he would like to enter some form of law enforcement full time after his career is over. Sam Cassell has also announced his plans and they took many Celtics fans by surprise. He stated in the Baltimore Sun that he plans to play one more year and will sign a contract next week and then become an assistant coach for the Celtics after the 2008-09 season. The Celtics declined comment on the subject but the team already has 15 players under contract, all of which seem to have a future with the club. Unless Danny has a 2 for 1 trade in the works or maybe Darius Miles isn't really in the plans, or possibly Scal and his remaining 2 years will be cut, but I just don't see Sam fitting on this team right now. Brandon Roy is looking good after having surgery a month ago. Reports are that you can't even tell that he had surgery. He is shooting jumpers and making some very light cuts, seemingly pain-free. His shot looks to be improved this season. I like the way the Celtics ended up last season and Ratliff's contract was crucial in bringing KG to Boston, but there will always be the thought of what if the Celtics had taken Brandon Roy with that pick instead of making the trade. What if they had continued to build with youth. We'll never know for sure, but I think it could have worked just not as quickly.

Team Preview #23: Charlotte Bobcats

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:32:17 -0500

A few reasons why I don't like Raymond Felton… LAST SEASON The Bobcats went 32-50 under 1st year coach Sam Vincent. Their 4-year franchise record now stands at 109-219 (.332) and they've yet to make the Playoffs. Adam Morrison & Sean May both missed the entire season and Gerald Wallace missed 20 games, but even if they had stayed healthy, I don't think they would have been a .500 team. On a positive note, Jason Richardson led the league in 3-pointers made. OFFSEASON MOVES Key Additions: Larry Brown, DJ Augustin, Alexis Ajinca, Shannon Brown Key Losses: Sam Vincent, Jeff McInnis, Earl Boykins, Derek Anderson Changes start at the top, where Vincent was fired to bring in Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown. Altho his last stint with the Knicks didn't go so well, Brown is a proven winner (1239-907 career record) who enjoys taking on new challenges. Excluding his one season with New York, he's taken every franchise that he's coached (8 of them) into the Playoffs. Charlotte also decided to get younger, as they let veteran PG's McInnis & Boykins go and replaced them with 20-year old D.J. Augustin, the #9 pick in the '08 draft. In his sophomore season at Texas, Augustin scored 19.2 points and dished out 5.8 assists to just 2.8 turnovers. With the 20th pick in the '08 draft, the Bobcats gambled on Alexis Ajinca, a 7-footer from France with a 7-9 wingspan and a sweet shooting touch. However, Ajinca is quite raw and it will be awhile before he contributes. At shooting guard, they also replaced the 34-year old vet Anderson with the unproven 22-year old Shannon Brown. ROTATION / PLAYING TIME Raymond Felton averaged 37.7 minutes per game last season. It was usually at point guard, but he also played the "2? when McInnis was in the game. Now that the 6-4 McInnis has been replaced by the 5-10 Augustin, Felton will play almost strictly PG and see 34-36 minutes of action. I'm projecting the rookie to back him up and get 12-14 mpg to start the season, and possibly more later on. Jason Richardson averaged 38.4 mpg last season at both swingman spots, and he should get the same amount of playing time in '08-09. Matt Carroll played 25.1 mpg last season, but his minutes will likely be around 18 if both Wallace and Morrison are healthy. Carroll has a leg up Morrison due to his health & experience, so don't expect more than 12 mpg from the former college star. Shannon Brown will get to show off his hops in garbage time once again. The absence of Sean May last season forced Gerald Wallace to play a lot of power forward, and the Bobcats were actually a much better team with him at the 4. In '08-09, you can expect him to spend considerable time at each position and get 38+ minutes once again. But which forward will start alongside him? If you ask me, I'd go with Jared Dudley (14 starts, 19.0 mpg). The former Screaming Eagle had a very solid rookie campaign, and like Wallace, can play both forward spots. However, if Larry Brown goes big, he may turn to Nazr Mohammed (29 starts, 23.3 mpg). And then there's Sean May, who missed all of last season but started 8 games and played 23.9 mpg in '06-07. I'm going to project 22-24 minutes for Dudley, 20-22 minutes for Nazr, and garbage time for May until he gets into shape. At center, Emeka Okafor should get around 34 minutes of PT, while Nazr & Ryan Hollins back him up. DON'T SLEEP ON: Gerald Wallace You all know about Gerald Wallace. When healthy, he's an elite defender, one of the league's top high-flyers, and a serious stat-stuffer. Unfortunately, he's missed 69 games over the past 4 years and has never played more than 72 games in a season. As a result, his nickname is "Crash" and fantasy owners know that he can't be counted on for 82 games. He's a high-risk, high-reward pick, but if you're feeling risky, here are some reasons to draft him. For starters, he turned 26 in July, so he's just entering the prime of his career. He also has a new coach in Larry Brown. In a recent interview, his old coach (Vincent) stated that, "if he accepts the role, and understands that that role can make the team a whole lot better, he's going to become even better." While a 1st year coach couldn't always convince Wallace to accept his role, perhaps a Hall of Fame coach will fare a little better. And if "accepting his role" means taking fewer threes, I'm sure fantasy owners would support that. G-Wallace did make a career-high 1.1 treys per game last season, but he shot just 32.1% from beyond the arc, which made his FG% plummet to 44.9% after shooting over 50% FG in each of the two seasons prior. You should also consider his .9 blocks per game in '07-08, which was his lowest average in 4 years. He may not ever match the 2.1 blocks that he averaged in '05-06, but somewhere in between would be nice. Bottom Line: Many people will shy away from Wallace on draft day because of his injury history, but if you're willing to take a risk, you could be handsomely rewarded (like Baron Davis owners were last season). BE CAREFUL OF: Raymond Felton I'm not a big fan of Raymond Felton. At first glance, his 14.4 points, 7.4 assists, and 1.2 steals from last season look nice, but when you consider that he needed 37.6 minutes per game to put up those numbers, you realize just how unproductive he is. By comparison, if you take T.J. Ford's stats from last season and convert them to 37.6 minutes, he would have averaged 19.4 points, 9.8 assists, and 1.7 steals. Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating supports this, as Ford put up a sweet 20.3 PER last season, compared to a sub-par 13.8 for Felton. Who would YOU rather have running your team? Now consider that Charlotte just drafted a 5-foot-10 point guard in D.J. Augustin. Clearly, they're not convinced that Felton is their PG of the future (or even present). You should also factor in the returns of Sean May and Adam Morrison, because more healthy & able bodies means fewer minutes for Raymond. And when your per-minute stats are as bad as Felton's are, every second counts. Bottom Line: If you use a Top 80 pick on him, you're going to regret it! ROUND BY ROUND TARGETS (Where you should draft these guys in an 8-cat Roto league with 12 teams and 14 man rosters) Click on the link to find out!

Charlotte Bobcats fun with Facebook

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:52:39 -0500

Some pretty funny facebook groups created by Bobcats fans

May & Williams working hard, in the classrooms

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:15:55 -0500

After all the bad blood I have made from the Brandon Jennings debacle, here comes a story from ex Tar Heels that proves my point about getting an education. Sean May and Marvin Williams, both players from North Carolina's last championship team, are working towards their degrees at UNC.

12 Non-Rookies to Watch in Summer League (Eastern Conference edition)

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:18:24 -0500

Rookies tend to get most of the hoopla during Summer League action, but the reality is that very few of them will make an immediate fantasy impact. So here are a few non-rookies to look out for. Not all of them are worth drafting, but all have the potential to put up nice numbers if they continue to improve and the opportunity presents itself. Some non-rookies who looked great in Summer League 2007 and carried that momentum into the regular season include: Louis Williams, Francisco Garcia, Kelenna Azubuike, and Jason Maxiell (all had solid fantasy value at some point last season).

12 Non-Rookies to Watch in Summer League (Eastern Conference edition)

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:18:04 -0500

NBA Impact: UNC Tar Heels

Fri, 09 May 2008 12:57:08 -0500

This article from hoopsworld.com takes a look at how the NBA has been impacted by UNC. It talks about Jordan, Worthy, Sheed, Jamison, Felton ..... the past, present & future greats out of Carolina. Worth a read, even if you are a Duke fan.

Star knee injuries haven't hobbled teams

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:28:38 -0500

At the beginning of the NBA season, several players went down for dreaded microfracture surgery, but which teams were hurt as a result? In looking at three franchises, the answer may surprise you.