lucky777s

TJ is a quality starting PG, but he is not a star player. He may never be a star. That's not a criticism, its just fact.

His biggest problem to me is that when things get tough during a game his first instinct is to try and take over and do too much. He forgets his teammates and thinks he is a big time scorer, which he definitely is not.

Some people criticize him too sharply on this board, and some people praise him too highly. He is not the reason we win and he is not the reason we lose 99% of the time. He does need to improve though for us to become a better team.

Frankly, he needs to learn from watching Calderon. When Jose goes for a layup it is usually a traditional layup attempt and not the wild throw TJ tries too often. And Jose makes the simple, less risky pass more often that keeps the ball moving and trusts his teammates to make the next pass. TJ tries to make very difficult and flashy passes that our guys can't even catch most times. That bullet pass off the dribble is responsible for how many turnovers this year? Its too hard to catch over that short a distance, especially when it is not terribly accurate and requires a reaction to reach for it.

Basically he needs to be more fundamentally sound and make lower risk decisions.

jibe

lucky777s says- Basically he needs to be more fundamentally sound and make lower risk decisions.

when can we expect to see this happening with tj because he has a big long term contract?

he was great at the begining of the season an he was great in the pickn roll. he pulled up nicely an took his fast jump shot and it dropped a lot but now he stinks.

after he came back from his leg injury he played hot an cold and he is more cold than hot.

whenever the raps lose it can be traced to tjs lousy play an he looks like a street baller not a nba starting pg. he is not as good as rafer or mike at this point in the season.

he should be getting stronger an not playing wildly as the other players just stand an watch him dribbling too much.

we see smitch and dmartin talking to tj a lot on the sidelines or timeouts trying to get his head together. tj does not think like a pg an thats so obvious now.

jibe

From SlamSports:

Head coach Sam Mitchell saw it as a single incident, not a continuing trend.

"Other than T.J. (Ford), someone has to penetrate the zone," he said. "Normally, a zone doesn't bother us. I normally don't mind when teams do that against us because when we move the basketball we shoot pretty well. The ball just wasn't moving today."

T.J. Ford agreed the Raps were not themselves.

"There was just no life, no energy and that sums up the whole (game) for us," he said. "We have to have some type of energy. Chris (Bosh) came out with a good spark in the first quarter, but other than that it was just no life."
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okay tj was trying to split the ny zone by driving into it but he got stripped too many times. meanwhile the other raps stood outside and watched the turnovers. even bargs tried to drive to the basket but he got stripped a couple of times too.

why did smitch want the raps to break down the ny zone by driving into it? we are a great outside shooting team an we coulda done that. but of course we would not get any rebounds cause we dont have great rebounders.

jose can break down a zone driving to the basket but tj is too small an weak to do it unless he pulls up for a jump shot which will be stopped by a zone.

maybe it was a coaching decision to send tj into the zone an it didnt work. so what is the raps response to a zone defence???????

lucky777s

The main purpose of a zone is to keep the offense out of the lane and force them to take long jumpers which are statistically lower percentage shots and result in less FTA's as well.

The way to beat a zone is to penetrate it. For instance, every full court press is a zone and you beat the press by getting the ball into the middle of the floor and quickly advancing the ball. In a set offense situation you penetrate the ball into the zone and force the D to collapse and make decisions. You can do this via the dribble or by passing the ball into a high post position around the foul line area. A big man at the foul line can shoot, drive,or make a pass to a cutter inside or to an outside shooter. That kind of penetration forces mistakes by the D and opens things up.

If all you do is pass the ball around the outside and shoot long J's then you are giving the D exactly what they want. And with Toronto not shooting the ball well NY picked a great time to throw the zone at them.

As for TJ his contract isn't that bad with 3 more years @ 8mill per remaining. Any starting PG would cost you full MLE to sign which is about 6 mill to start. He was starting to play at a slower speed and working better with his teammates but is going to fall back into old habits once in a while. No guarantee that ever changes but I think we have seen some small improvements so far this year. He is a work in progress.

jibe

But smitch said:

"Normally, a zone doesn't bother us. I normally don't mind when teams do that against us because when we move the basketball we shoot pretty well. The ball just wasn't moving today."
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when dmartin was playing point the ball moved around quickly an they were only behind by 7 points. then tJ went in an the raps collapsed and thats a fact.

tj tried to penetrate the seams of the zone but he was easily stripped an the other raps just stood there an watched. was this a coaching mistake?

I read elsewhere that if the raps wanted a good rebounder they would have to give up one of the PGs an i hope its tj.

Who-C

Juan Dixon has to be the worst Alley Oop passer. hes tried like 5 and they were all the worst passes ive ever seen lol

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