jibe

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Basketball...81903-sun.html

i think that calderon works the pick an roll much better than tj ford. tj is only 165 lbs an 5' 10" while jose is 6' 3" an 210 lbs which makes him stronger. what do you think ?

Crossword

Nice find. Horrible spin.

shookem

The team usually safe guards against this by having a man in the post and someone waiting the corners.

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Mr_B

How come you're so anti Tj or mention him in almost every single one of your posts?

cv3bandwagon

Did TJ steal your girl or somethin?

SickGame

Ha-ter.

I don't think I've ever seen you make a post that doesn't criticize Ford. I mean, you've only made 89, however your last 5 posts at the very least has criticzed T.J.
You're worse than Sloth with being over-fixated with one thing and unable to see any other explanation, opinion etc...

Needless to say, you annoy me.

Nice find, too bad you had to make a retarded point right after it.

__________________
Before Mr. Taylor taught the world to play, before fiber glass, before parquet, before the word "Doctor" was spelled with a "J", and ballrooms were ballcourts where the renaissance played, before the hype and before the dunk, after the rhythm but before the funk, before the money and before the fame, before new school and old school, before school had a name. It was only a ball, and the soul of the game.

jibe

i thot that tj played great at the begining of the season until his ankle injury an when he came back he became tenative. i think the team play changed an tj came back to a different team. he is a run an gun guard an the raps stopped there run an gun strategy an became a half court euroball team with good ball distribution. jose an derrick were good at it.

now tj is forced to run plays an he looks weak an is easily stopped in the pick an roll. his passes to the corners or around the arc are soft an late an not that good. opposing teams can see that an will put the pressure on tj.

lets watch what happens in the last 4 games an the playoff first round. lets hope that tj can come through an plays some good games. i really hope his jump shot is on for the playoffs cause the raps will need that from tj.

SickGame

First of all, you keep saying Euroball like its this doctrine that is a completely different entity from what North Americans play. However, you're wrong. It's just called ball rotation and swinging around the perimeter. Why are the Raptors so good at it? Because we have bigs such as Bargnani, previously Garbojasa that would bring opposing powerforwards or centers out to the perimeter. The team is also happy to make that extra pass, a philosophy that usually escapes most players because they used to be stars in highschool or college and are used to taking alot of shots. However, we have pass first point guards (for some reason, you seem to forget that T.J. is averaging 8 assists a game and shoots the same amount as all other point guards yet you label him as a shoot first point guard essentially), players from Europe where passing is more essential (that doesn't label it as Euroball) and players that are wiser, older and have become used to not being primary options (Parker, Garbo, Mo, Graham).

In the list I just provided, none of these players are quick to shoot the ball because for most of their careers, they have been relegated to a supporting cast. The players that do shoot alot/trigger happy includes 'superstar' type players such as Bosh and Bargnani, and in a lesser sense, a former college superstar who considers himself as an offensive weapon/spark (which he is) in Dixon.

You talk about T.J.'s pass being off center and such. I've watched every Raptor game (except for 3) this season and I know for a fact that what you're referring to is from the past 2 games. This includes a couple of bad passes behind Dixon and Mo in the corners, and one where he lobbed it too high to Parker. You're only taking into account that past 3 games. If you have watched every game, you'll come to wonder how T.J. is able to penetrate so easily and quickly into the lane and then jump and somehow find a man with a crisp pass. In fact, there are many times where his passes have been so quick and crisp (though on the mark) to Rasho that the guy never catches it.
Yes, there are time where his passes goto the wrong place or are abit off center, but that's because he plays quick and when he passes, he goes on what he expects his team to be. The fact is that T.J.'s superiority over Calderon is his ability to break down defences quickly and pass it off quickly. Calderon, who can do the same though much less effectively and...devestatingly (i think it's a good word when comparing first steps), will never make the extremely quick pass out. Instead he's patient and rolls around and makes the easy pass.

Both ways work. But Calderon isn't Nash with his patience. What is he? He's a pointguard that relies on patience and fundamentals. Now, we've seen this work. However, can it work for all 48 minutes? I doubt it. Teams would have an easy time clamping down because there simply isn't enough variety. The chaos that T.J. creates is what gives the team alot of the open looks it gets because he forces teams to switch, collapse, cheat, help out, causing them to lose their man and lose their sense of where they're supposed to go on the rotation.

Both systems work effectively because it feeds off each other. They're so different in their styles that the opposing defence has to now take another 5 minutes to get used to style of play after having spent so much time figuring out Ford (or Calderon) etc...

Stats? People talk about stats with Calderon? They're inflated. You know why?
a) Plays against backups for the most part.
b) The team is already in a zone, shooting wise, having warmed up while T.J. was feeing them the ball.

Yes, there are times where Calderon provides the spark. But once again, it's because of the change of play he brings to the table. But it isn't for our team that's the spark. The spark comes from changing the dynamic of the opposing defense. This gives better looks, different rotations, reactions to screens etc...

Unfortunately, you've got this inane idea that Calderon is heads and shoulders better than Ford.
But you're wrong. You fail to take into account every aspect and factor that determines such a claim.

When talking about heroics? I understand what people complain about. But do people not remember that last year, the team was whining and complaining that Bosh was not clutch and the team didn't have a player that would will the team to the win. Because that's how you do it. You always (and it's been proven throughout NBA history) that you need that one spark, that one player that will put it all on his shoulders and say: "Ok, it's my turn to shine and take over".
Bosh does it sometimes. I agree. But we have seen him falter a few times himself, including this season. Ford has had both success and failure, but that's how it is. Unless you're Jordan, you're not going to make your team win at the end.
The fact that T.J. is willing to do it, with relative success at that, is a good thing. We need confident, dominant players. It isn't like he's Mike James, jacking up 15-16 shots a game while ignoring Bosh. T.J. set up his teamates throughout the game. Once the final minutes come up and no one on the team outside of Bosh(who is facing double teams and might be tired at the end of the game) doesn't put their hand up to take that big shot (Bargnani has a few times), Ford is up for it.

These are good things.

Is it always the right move?
No. But that falls on Sam Mitchell just as much as Ford. It isn't like Ford is being this cavalier and ignoring his orders and doing whatever he wants. No no. He's offerend the option of taking the best shot he can get. We blamed him for the Miami loss? Those were two good shots that barely missed. I'm okay with that. He's only 24. Feels pretty good to have a point guard at 24 that's averaging 8 assists a game while being confident in his shot to win games for his team, wanting to win games for his team and having won games for his team.

Take in other factors, not just the bare result.

__________________
Before Mr. Taylor taught the world to play, before fiber glass, before parquet, before the word "Doctor" was spelled with a "J", and ballrooms were ballcourts where the renaissance played, before the hype and before the dunk, after the rhythm but before the funk, before the money and before the fame, before new school and old school, before school had a name. It was only a ball, and the soul of the game.

SickGame

People will probably skim over the post and jump at a fact without reading the rest that follows it, but read it all before you argue my points. There's some gold in it. If you're going to focus on just one paragraph, don't bother.

__________________
Before Mr. Taylor taught the world to play, before fiber glass, before parquet, before the word "Doctor" was spelled with a "J", and ballrooms were ballcourts where the renaissance played, before the hype and before the dunk, after the rhythm but before the funk, before the money and before the fame, before new school and old school, before school had a name. It was only a ball, and the soul of the game.

jibe

thanx for your good analysis SickGame but you know that quantity stats do not always make for quality team play. i understand where you are coming from but lets watch how tj performs during "winning time" in the next 4 games an playoffs.

i dont get raps tv for the next two games but if you do see those games pls watch tj carefully an tell us about the quality of his team play as pg. whatever shooting stats he gets is just a bonus cause if he doesnt improve the other players raps will struggle. try to analyze tj critically an not through rose colored glasses like so many do.

SickGame

I'll try, I can't seem to shake off the glasses I borrowed of you.

__________________
Before Mr. Taylor taught the world to play, before fiber glass, before parquet, before the word "Doctor" was spelled with a "J", and ballrooms were ballcourts where the renaissance played, before the hype and before the dunk, after the rhythm but before the funk, before the money and before the fame, before new school and old school, before school had a name. It was only a ball, and the soul of the game.

jibe

thanx .. an pls understand that our opposition will exploit our weaknesses an tj has weaknesses that are showing up on broken pick an roll plays. watch what happens on the high pick an roll between bosh and tj cause that is where the weakness shows.

another thing i noticed is that smitch and dmartin are always explaining things to tj after he is unable to execute properly an it shows.

cv3bandwagon

^You know a lot of things you notice are because of your fixation on the idea that TJ is some sort of evil basketball player. You only noticed Smith talking to TJ after a play because that's what you WANTED to see. Did you notice that smitch talks to EVERY layer that comes off befor te hit the bench? No. You need to open your eyes and notice that TJ dose a lot of good things out there on the court, and there is a reason we have won so many games with him as our starting point guard.

SickGame

Really? My, your powers of perception must be incredible to be able to hear what Sam Mitchell and Martin are telling Ford through a TV.

__________________
Before Mr. Taylor taught the world to play, before fiber glass, before parquet, before the word "Doctor" was spelled with a "J", and ballrooms were ballcourts where the renaissance played, before the hype and before the dunk, after the rhythm but before the funk, before the money and before the fame, before new school and old school, before school had a name. It was only a ball, and the soul of the game.