luther

There is something called middle ground, people, and people miss it on Marko Jaric.

Jaric is a good basketball player. He's not a great one, and never will be. He's not even a pure point guard. But he's not garbage, either. But what he is, is one of the VERY few players on the Timberwolves who moves without the ball. Who cuts. Who sees cutters. Who really--REALLY--competes hard. He's a good passer, even while he's not racking up assists.

(And that's where the person who was talking about Marbury on a different thread was dead wrong, btw. High assist totals do not equal good passers. There's the whole now cliched but true fact of the pass that leads to the assist, which is every bit as important. And it's why guys like Derrick McKey are considered brilliant passers from the F position in their careers despite getting 2-4 a game, while Marbury gets 8 for his career and is a BS point guard with no clue how to play.)

Jaric is generally an intelligent player who plays decent defense on wing players and who keeps the game moving in the right direction when he's confident. And that's the big thing with Marko: every time he's benched, every time he seems unsure of his role, he goes into the toilet. It's hard to explain, in that he's the song of a great player and coach, a former Euroleague champion, a former World Championships champion, a former Olympic medalist, etc. But it's true: the less certain his role, the worse he is.

The beauty of it is, when you play him with the starters, he's a better player, and he more deserves his role. And the fact is, he's a guy who, while on the court, is unselfish and does generally defer to the stars. Put him in with reserves and watch him shoot more and be less effective. It happens every time. Happened with the Clippers. Has happened in his time here.