call me crazy but i like what i've seen out of andrea these past few games. he's taking flack for looking ridiculous on a lot of his drives to the basket but, seriously- and i've believed this the entire time- that's the only way he'll ever learn what works and what doesn't. at least he's trying and these are battle scars i'm willing to share with him. in fact, i even enjoyed the 'embarrassing' play against rashard lewis. that's how you learn. no fear, no ego.
he has no experience playing 'this' style of basketball against bodies this big, strong, athletic and raw. he still has to learn an "nba dribble drive" for andrea bargnani, an "nba finish around the hoop" for andrea bargnani, etc. it's not there yet but you gotta start somewhere, right? tony parker and paul pierce weren't born with the innate gift to finish around the hoop amongst the trees. at some point they learned. andrea's finally displaying the courage to learn and to get better.
he could do what he was doing before and never improve. it's always easier to shoot the jump shot. the fact that he's clearly (finally) trying things
outside of his comfort zone is a relief for me. i literally don't care if he goes 0/20 by taking it to the hoop every time and either getting blocked or throwing up a prayer over his left shoulder with his eyes closed while tears roll down his cheeks. you improve only by learning to do things that lie outside of your comfort area. it sucks that he's on a learning curve and the rest of the team isn't but you don't cry over spilt milk. you wait for him. and i'm willing to wait if he continues doing what he's been doing.
waiting for him to even
try was the painful part. what we've seen of late marks progress. hallelujah.
peace