RR and defense:
I have come to really love RR as a player (started last season) BUT I need to say, his defense has been TERRIBLE most of the time!
Yes, gambling w/ his "poke away from behind D" works a few times a game but you have to only imagine (or see) the times it doesn't work! I would rather he NOT get the steals from that "Ole D" and have him stay in front of his man more... b/c I believe, while getting those poke-aways are great, it's more damaging to the team b/c you aren't going to even get half of the balls you poke for! I don't mind him doing it once in a while (b/c he is one of the best at it), but you can't do that every other time on defense (AT LEAST)! What I'm saying is, sure 5 steals look great but what about the 20 times your man got by you EASILY and burned you with a bucket of his own or an assist (or makes our bigs suck to them and they are the start of a chain of passes that cause our bigs/players not to be able to keep up with the ball and get back to their men)!
It's not that RR can't stay with his man most of the game, he plays great D when he chooses to (against the likes of Carmelo, Wade, and LeBron even). I just think he is trying to conserve energy for the offensive end and b/c Doc plays him TOO DANG LONG!
RR on Offense:
Doc is dumb for designing a system where RR can hold the ball almost the entire shot clock (most of that time he's near the half-court just pounding the ball).
RR has shot the ball much better this season and most of the time he shoots it when they leave him and that's a great thing.
We have a bunch of guys who can get down the court with RR but as with his defense, he looks to try to conserve energy, he doesn't do much running up the court for fast-breaks, lately he just prefers to mainly WALK it up (I put some blame on our fast guys who don't run out enough, but I have noticed when they do, RR doesn't reward them enough, he usually just stops to get into half-court sets).
RR has also been very wild with the ball lately. He is too good to be playing with the ball like he's on the playground, this is the NBA not Streetball!
Paul Pierce on Offense:
Well I need to start this by saying the past few games (I think around the time Doc called them soft and when the players said they called a few people out), he has actually been better at not doing what I'm about to say is wrong with his offense.
Careless with the ball, ball hog, shot happy, Kobe-like player! He was literally coming down and not passing but taking the dumbest shots ever! I mean he had games where he would keep shooting even though he would miss like 4 times down the court (in a row), instead of passing to other guys who were shooting it very well (JET, KG, and Green). One game I caught myself thinking that PP was a little intimidated and jealous of Green because Green would start making all his shots a few times in a row and all of a sudden PP would literally stop sending the ball his way, he would come up and shoot as if to say "I'm still the man" even if he would miss multiple times in a row.
What happened to the PP who had our offense clicking last season when RR went down? This season (not as much of late) I would cringe when PP wasn't spot up shooting... he would dribble into traffic and be picked pocketed every time or he would lose control of the ball/flop and get no call.
PP on defense:
Worse than RR, I don't know if it's b/c of age or not caring. He can't keep up with his man and he gives space to them as if they were RR on offense (previous seasons). I can't/won't count the times PP has caught my eye b/c his man is shooting while he is trying his best (or not) to leap to challenge them well after he should! Hand down man down is all I'm getting from PP this season... well, he does get his hand up but what does it matter if 1)they have already shot 2) he's too far back his hand in the air doesn't bother them... guy just looks like a bird all game, most of the time he is either savvy enough not to land on the players or he isn't close enough to land on them anyway LOL. PP has been looking Sully-like on defense, too slow to recover!
Courtney Lee on Defense:
Is what he has been best at and he's been the best on the perimeter so I'm not getting into that.
CLee on Offense:
Non-factor most of our games (he has some good quarters shooting it)!
When he is out there without RR though, that's a different story... he becomes the guy who I thought we would see when we got him. He becomes aggressive and he controls the offense pretty well. It's almost like he turns into another person (sure sometimes him and RR click but he is better so far when he has the opportunity to be the ball handler or Barbosa-like, "get it and get yours").
JET on offense:
He has been shooting great (has been a little hit and miss of late and first 2 games of the season, one quarter he's on and the next few he can't hit the ocean)... thing is for most of his time out there he ISN'T SHOOTING, Doc has made him Ray. 0.0
What made Doc turn a very versatile player on offense into a spot up shooter, I couldn't tell you but it's STUPID! I remember hating Ray for bogging down the offense turns out it's Doc's stupid decoy/give it to RR offensive schemes! I would apologize to Ray but he's an enemy so I don't care now! Jet, unlike Ray, usually leaves his man in the dust running around those screens, he's pretty much always wide open where Ray would get a breath of space. Yet for some reason he gets open and passes it (well lately he has been shooting more often). How you can have a shooter like JET not taking ONE shot for quarters at a time is beyond me... must be Doc's genius, that I as a laymen, can't comprehend. 0.0
Jet on Defense:
He has actually had very good defensive games here and there BUT we knew he couldn't/didn't defend well before we got him so I'm not wasting my time on that!
Bass on offense:
He's been okay I guess. He shoots it okay most of the time but he needs to know that that is what he is, a shooter, b/c all that driving/stopping passing awkwardly is not working for him. He needs to remember last season when he never thought about it he just shot it. He has been trying to do too much instead of doing what got him that fat contract. He is too hesitant a lot this season and it's b/c he's trying to show "someone" he is more than a spot up shooter offensively, which leads him to think too much and it looks a mess at times.
Bass on Defense:
Is better than people give him credit for. Yes, every now and then he looks lost out there but I have seen quite a few games where he has been solid (surely he's been our 3rd or 4th best defender a lot of the time). I also think he defends much better when his offense is clicking (funny, it seems like he goes harder for rebounds during that time too). He is like Green in that way, they get a fire in their bellies when they hit a couple shots.
Jeff Green on Offense:
One game he amazes and the next I want to ughhhhhh....
He has had a good stretch of games (not tonight).
If this man had half of KG's fire he could truly be great b/c he has the physical tools. You will see Green totally abuse a defender 3 times in a row on offense and then he will disappear the rest of the game... he will stop demanding the ball and stand there looking lost, either that or he just drives a couple feet and passes it away (soft as a cupcake as soon as someone steps to him). What's with all those dumb shots he takes instead of keep going in and slamming it down people's throats like he is capable of? He will go with a head of steam and instead of keep trucking through when a defender steps up (like LeBroid), he stops leans in and tosses up the shot... I'm looking like "you do know you were 3 steps from the basket right?". He does that and either gets blocked or the shot gets up there but doesn't fall most of time. Sometimes he'll go a couple possessions and look unstoppable but again, he doesn't have KG's fire to sustain the attack-mode for long periods of time. Even during Jeff's best games he will become invisible for long stretches while having little burst of greatness.
Jeff Green on Defense:
Like I said with Bass, when his shots fall, he defends better.
I have seen some sad defense by Green and it almost hurts my feelings b/c I can't understand why he is so terrible most of the time. He will stand around looking lost (like on offense) and he is easily pushed around! I wouldn't want to be the person who expects Green to rotate to cover my man while I help off... he is a terrible help defender most of the time. I would cuss him if I was KG or Wilcox! People wonder why he doesn't get more minutes... it's b/c his defense is GARBAGE a lot of the time! Doc knows as well as we do that Green can't defend the 4, so I'll excuse SOME of Green's D! At times Green can't defend a chair and we are going to put him on LeBroid? Hahahahahahahahaha, I'd rather Bass take that on (he actually has had good stretches against him shockingly)!!
Sully on Defense:
He has gotten much better over this short time. I think he will be a very good man-defender. Help defense and P&R? Thank Doc for mostly keeping KG and Wilcox with him after stupidly putting him out there with Bass at the beginning of the season! It must be tough being smart enough to know where to be but not being able to get there physically. With rebounds the ball doesn't think, so if you know by bounce where the ball is going to go, you can already be already be there to get it when it comes off... but on defense, the person with the ball can think/adjust and move faster than Sully can, so it's hard for him to stay with the person or recover to someone unless they are as slow as he is.
Sully on Offense:
When they actually use him on offense he is pretty good. I wish he would shoot it more often b/c he is open quite a bit and he's a good shooter. Sometimes I want to shake him and say, "SHOOT IT MAN!!!" I guess he doesn't want to ruffle feathers. Oh well.
Sully Rebounding:
He just knows where to be when the ball goes up or comes down. It's like a shooter, when he shoots he knows if the ball is close/going in or off. Like a pool player, you know if a ball is hit a certain way it will go to a certain spot or hit other balls into a certain direction/spot. I'm sure it's some scientific terms but I don't know them!
Wilcox on Defense:
Like Bass he has been better than ppl credit him for. I think he gets blamed for bad guard defense... I guess it's fault for over helping but he isn't as good as KG is and can't recover as well. He has had really good defensive efforts out there which has gotten KG a lot of rest. I think he will be better later in the season when he rounds into shape (he had surgery much later than Green... he's not too far removed from not being able to tie his shoes).
Wilcox of Offense:
LOL. Run the floor, P&R, catch a lob, and dunk it! Simple and effective. I expect nothing more or less.
Collins on Defense and Offense:
Pulls splinters from his butt after every game.
Barbosa on Offense:
Give it to him and move out of his way and be ready for the occasional pass for a spot-up shot.
Barbosa on Defense:
Better than I thought he would be but b/c he can't run the offense he isn't getting much floor time. He sticks to his man well.
I really don't expect much at all from Barbz on either ends b/c he barely can get on the court. Looks like Doc doesn't trust him much.
I'll save my opinion of AB after he's had time to play some this season.
Other 2 guys aren't with the big boys so it's w/e. I do watch all the games though.
I could be forgetting some things/someone and I'm sure I make no sense at times but I'm too tired to read through before I post... ;P. Hopefully others will give their opinions and tell me what they agree/disagree with.
Thanks for reading... or not.