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**speedythief** · 02-25-2006, 10:00 PM

I thought we were giving Eric Williams playing time to showcase him, but he played again this afternoon. Joey's playing time has been all over the place recently.

I thought he gave us really good minutes today. Maybe that will help him get back to the twenty or so minutes he's been averaging on the season.

Does anyone have a theory on why Joey might be sitting so much?

BTW, his shooting percentages continue to climb. He's nearly at 50% for the season. Talk about a guy that never takes a bad shot--Joey Graham is one of those guys.

Team Mao · 02-25-2006, 11:31 PM

This is a huge mystery to me too. I just don't get the impression that Joey is the type of guy to dog it in practice or have a terrible locker-room attitude.

Every time I see the guy in the game, he seems to be fairly solid. He makes a few mistakes here and there but he's a rookie, so it's understandable. His numbers could be a lot better if there were a few plays run for him to post up. It seems he can beat up on almost anyone in the post, the play against Vince where he called him out before taking his and-one was one of top Raptor highlights this year (if it was anyone else it wouldn;t even show up on my radar).

What is even more disturbing for me is that Eric Williams is still on the active list and ahead of JG after all of his BS, but that's another thread so I'll leave it alone here.

Just a thought, maybe Joey made some sort of gay joke in the locker room and Sam got miffed and took it too personally.

aizn · 02-26-2006, 06:08 AM

excellent question that i think only mitchell can address. mayb eric williams was working harder than graham? it's like saying how woods is getting more playing time than sow. perhaps hes seeing that woods is actually useful defensively in close games and sow is good for energy off the bench. i think wen we were up by 20 against dallas and they made their run, we shouldve put sow in to get more energy on our team. i still dont see how bonner fits in the scheme of things...

**bigbabyjesus** · 02-26-2006, 08:02 PM

I really wish I knew. He's really on a short leash when he's in the game as well. Seems like he isn't Mitchells favourite, thats for sure.

JuniorNoboa · 02-26-2006, 08:13 PM

He's a rook and he's played a decent amount of minutes this year, so I'm not concerned if he sits back a few games.

My initial thought is that Joey seems to make alot of young mistakes, and needs to learn the NBA game. The best way to learn the NBA game is to sit back and watch the ENTIRE Game, and not play 15-20 minutes where you are worrying about what you ahve done or will do on the court. Watching the occasional game is a great way to learn, as you will not have the distractions that arise from being involved in that game.

junkyarddawgg · 02-26-2006, 09:14 PM

Well I've heard Chuck mention a few times in his broadcasts that Sam wants Joey to play with more energy. Dunno what that means, but I'm guessint that Sam thinks that Joey isnt running around enough like with the energy and hustle of a headless chicken (or a Bonner)... But I dunno, I've never been under the impression that JG wasn't giving enough effort.

onecooljew · 02-27-2006, 12:31 AM

Well it must have been hard at the start of the season to have to face the opposing teams BEST player each night. Probably wore him down a bit.
Hes still shooting around the 50% clip which is impressive in itself.
He will get more time next year for sure with Eric gone.

no_free_baskets · 02-27-2006, 12:34 PM

this is on par with what mitchell's has done with all his rookies here...a lot of times last yr, bonner was at the very least the 2nd or 3rd most effective player on the raps, yet mitchell had an extremely quick hook on him...we've pretty much seen the same treatment with the rooks this yr...to be specific about graham quick hook, i think a lot of it has to do with how lost he looks on defense...when hes man up against a guy, hes fine, but ive seen multiple, multiple times where his teammates are screaming at him that hes in the wrong spot on the floor defensively, as well as seeing graham let his guy leak out where he expects help defense to be there, when in actuality, there is none...mitchell seems to have zero tolerance for these kind of mistakes.....

i wish he had a little more leeway with the rooks, in terms of these kinds of mistake, as we're rebuilding here and the best way for them to learn is to play through their mistake.....hopefully, we wont have to put up with mitchell much longer......

JuniorNoboa · 02-27-2006, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by no_free_baskets

i wish he had a little more leeway with the rooks, in terms of these kinds of mistake, as we're rebuilding here and the best way for them to learn is to play through their mistake.....hopefully, we wont have to put up with mitchell much longer......

Sorry, but many people fail to understand that watching the game is often a better way to learn. Playing through mistakes is not always the best way to learn.

Yes, you need to give some minutes. And Graham has gotten enough.... some players develop through playing... others develop through watching... we have exhausted the option of Graham learning on the court... it's time for him to learn with his *** pinned on the bench, so he can concentrate on the way the game is played.

no_free_baskets · 02-27-2006, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JuniorNoboa

Sorry, but many people fail to understand that watching the game is often a better way to learn. Playing through mistakes is not always the best way to learn.

Yes, you need to give some minutes. And Graham has gotten enough.... some players develop through playing... others develop through watching... we have exhausted the option of Graham learning on the court... it's time for him to learn with his *** pinned on the bench, so he can concentrate on the way the game is played.

i have to disagree...imo, experiencing something 1st hand, in any avenue of life, is much more of a learning experience, then simply learning through watching....

for e.g if you make a mistake on the court, you are much more likely to remember and not make the same mistake twice, as:

a) pride factor, as you dont want to get embarrassed like that again on the court

b) you'll probably get chewed out by our coach/teammates and its unlikely that you'll want that to happen again...

in contrast what happen when you are just watching on the sidelines? you might see one of your teammates make a mistake on the court... so what, thou? the big difference between actually being on the court and making the mistake yourself, and watching someone else making them, is you are held Accountable...when someone is held accountable for something, they're much more likely to learn from it, then if they are not...thats simple human nature....

having graham sit on the bench and learn from there is a waste of time for me...whats the difference between watching game tape and doing that?? imo, there is none...

trick · 02-27-2006, 02:47 PM

Have to agree with JN. The staff took the "start him right away and take it from there" approach with Graham and it did little to no good. In fact, it literally burned him out in December.

I think the coaching staff is now going with the "take one step back to go two steps forward" approach where they will slowly bring him off the bench in spots where he's likely to succeed.

What's really disappointing in all of this was that Graham was projected to be one of the more NBA-ready players coming out of the draft and it seems that the NBA game is currently too fast for him.

**bigbabyjesus** · 02-27-2006, 04:54 PM

When he was getting minutes earlier on in the season, he was playing well, and his minutes were still limited.

He deserves more than he got before, not less.

**madman** · 02-28-2006, 06:15 AM

so we traded away Rose to make room for Eric Williams to play? C'mon Sam, put the rook in there. Also where has Pape been the last couple of games?

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