4B
SPORTS/The Charlotte Post
Thursday, October 30, 1997
Hornets retooled for run at championship
More depth, skill
throughout roster
Continued from 1B
because they bring a physical
presence to the floor, they’re both
athletic and they’re playing great
defense so it’s not many adjust
ments you need to make,” he
said.
“It’s an easy welcoming because
they’re coming in and doing a
good job. I knew they were great
players but they’re just really
coming in being unselfish and
putting it on the line for us.”
'The offense should also be bet
ter this year. Phills has averaged
10.5 points a game in six NBA
seasons, all spent with defensive-
minded Cleveland. Wesley aver
aged 16.8 points a game last sea
son with the Boston Celtics and
10.5 points for his four-year
career. The Hornets can show
several different looks on offense,
creating headaches all over the
court.
“When you look at this team,
this team is very deep, a lot of dif
ferent versatility, people can play
different positions at any given
time,” Phills said.
“It was evident (during presea
son), with me playing the small
forward, Glen (Rice) playing
some of the (shooting guard) spot,
so a lot of different guys play a lot
of different positions at any
time.”
Leading the offensive charge
again is Rice, the NBA’s third-
leading scorer and All-Star game
MVP last season. He averaged
26.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0
assists last year but vows to do
even more to be a complete play
er.
“At times we’re pretty out
standing on the offensive end,”
he said. “The ball was moved
around really good and everyone
seemed to be in sync with one
Changes
in JCSU
lineup
Continued from 1B
“We just weren’t tackling,”
Davis said. “We had several third
down and long (situations) and
we had them stopped in the back-
field (but! guys are just not tack
ling. That’s something you just
can’t get out there emd do. The
only time our offense was getting
the ball was on kickoffs.”
Even then the Bulls didn’t do
much, gaining only 12 yards in
the first half and 109 for the
game. Tailback Lee Scott was
held to 51 yards on 14 carries and
quarterback Desmond Brown
was lO-for-28 and 110 yards. In '
essence. Smith looked like a team
playing out the string.
“They really just sat down on
us... point-blank,” Davis said.
“We’re not a very good football
team at this point in time, and
we’re going to have to make some
changes, go with some folk who
want to play football.”
Smith’s defensive front, one of
the smallest in the CIAA, is vul
nerable to the run, with six run
ners going over the 100-yard bar
rier in eight games. 'The sec
ondary hasn’t been much better,
especially sophomore cornerback
Joey May, who was torched for a
couple of touchdovms by Winston-
Salem.
“There’s going to be some
changes made personnel-wise,”
he said. “We’re going to go with
some yormg folk in our last two
games and see what we’ve got
and find some folk to bring in the
program that we need.”
It can’t hurt.
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another and that’s the point that
we want to get to.”
Divac, who is in the last year of
his contract, starts at center
despite a strong challenge in the
preseason by Matt Geiger. Divac
averaged 12.6 points, 3.7 assists
and 9.0 rebounds a game. As good
as last year was, he doesn’t want
to see Charlotte resting on its
laurels.
“We have a lot of good players
and good talent on this team,
even better than last year,” he
said. “Last year was a very suc
cessful season but we have to
step up and be even better this
year.”
A quick start would serve the
Hornets well but it won’t be easy.
Ten of Charlotte’s first 14 games
are against teams that made the
playoffs last year.
“You have to make a statement
in the early season,” Divac said.
“What you want to do is have the
same kind of game plans for this
season - run up and down the
floor, rebound, play tough
defense.”
Champs from Charlotte
PHOTO/MILTON GAINES
John White, Tom Beatty, Milton Gaines, Ray Rorie, Eugene
Young and Jan White display the winner’s trophy from their vic-
tory.over a team of Bermudan golfers in their match earlier this
month in Atlanta. See story on page 5B
Charlotte finished 4-4 in the
preseason, but Mason sees a lot of
areas the Hornets can improve.
“We’ve stfll got to start domi
nating the boards,” he said.
“We’ve got enough size, we have
enough athletes, we’ve got a great
rebounding guard. We’ve got to
keep the defense consistent for 48
minutes, then I can tell you later
on if we’re further ahead than we
anticipated.”
The Hornets hope they’re ready
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