It's not the stats I'm worried about.
Well, you (and everyone else, not just singling you out here) should be worried about them. And there's a key data set you and others may be overlooking.
Here are our assist and turnover numbers for the past 7 games.
@CHO ---> (W).......17 assists, 06 turnovers............Felder 2 assists, 0 turnovers
NOP ------> (W)......16 assists, 11 turnovers............Felder 2 assists, 0 turnovers
CHI -------> (
L).......
13 assists, 15 turnovers........Felder 1 assists, 0 turnovers
@BRK ----> (W)......19 assists, 12 turnovers............Felder 0 assists, 0 turnovers
@PHX ----> (W)......
15 assists, 20 turnovers............Felder 0 assists, 0 turnvoers
@UTA ----> (
L).......
15 assists, 16 turnovers........Felder 1 assists, 0 turnovers
@ POR ---> (
L).......
14 assists, 15 turnovers........Felder 3 assists, 0 turnovers
In case people missed the memo, we're having turnover and low assist issues right now. It's probably the core issue for the team at the moment.
Not only is Felder not turning the ball over, he's doing a solid job of setting guys up. I'm going back and looking over the video now of the past 7 games in my spare time. Let's take the Hornets game for instance. Felder had 2 assists, but he also had 6 unconverted assist opportunities. Where he passed the ball to a guy and that guy missed the shot.
If you listened to LeBron and Lue the last few postgames, they've been lamenting missed shots. As in, you can't get assists if guys don't hit shots.
In only the Hornets game, Felder had 8 would-be assists and 0 turnovers. That's
exactly the kind of "experiment" we need more of right now, since we're not moving the ball well.
As soon as we can get an experienced backup point guard, we should get one. For sure. But Gilbert isn't in the mood to spend a lot of cash at the moment, it seems, and so this is where we're at.
But let's not blame someone who isn't the core problem.
We're 4-3 in our last 7 games. Our cumulative plus/minus in those games is -04.
Felder's cumulative plus/minus in the last 7 games is +13.
Let's be real here. Felder has a long way to go to be able to be a baseline rotation player in the NBA, but he's hardly the issue at the moment. Particularly on offense.
And he's improving. That's the key. He has improved already and hopefully will continue to do so in the second half of the season.
I hate losing. Really hate it. Every loss gnaws at me. Still, we're going to have some losses. I wish Gilbert would trade for a point guard tomorrow, but it's unlikely to happen and so my guess is we'll be stuck with platooning Felder/McRae as the 10th Man in the rotation at point guard until we finally acquire that backup point guard at some point.