That sucks. He's one of the few guys on the team that actually makes others better (the others being Biedrins, Turiaf).
They say Jax plays defense with his hands, but I think the main issue is the warriors as a team aren't setting the tone defensively. When guys don't play defense as a team, the less motivation it is for hard-working defenders to continue to work hard, especially when they got other responsibilities on the offensive end. If there is a guy that ain't playing D, get rid of him. We're better served (like earlier in this season) when we were playing D. The same thing happened with small ball the year we played with a lineup of Baron, Jrich, Sjax, Harrington, Biedrins. We played adequate enough D where maybe Harrington or Jrich was the sore thumb on D, but they could convert plays from behind the arc or going to the rim. Don't forget X-factors like Barnes who was amazing on some games. He really made the difference that season.
The difference with 2007 is that the W's actually hustled after loose balls and tried to play D, even if that meant going for tipped balls instead of staying in front. Guys like Barnes/JRich tried to get tough rebounds, even when they were outmanned. There's no such effort these days. SJax got like 1 rebound the other night, which is one of Red Auerbach's greatest quotes: (Talking about Joe Barry Carroll getting 1 rebound) "That's one more rebound than a dead man." Classic.
How can you explain Jackson's dramatic dropoffs in shooting percentage this year? His 2-point % is close to last year's (not good), but his 3-point % (28%) is down almost 8 points, and his freethrow % (77%) is down 5 points. That's a lot. He's not taking smart 3s, but then he took a lot of bad 3s last year too so I can't explain it. And 5 points at the freethrow line is a lot for someone who has been so steady there through his career. He's shot under 80% only once in the last 5 previous years.
People shoot better percentage when they get the ball in rhythm by a point guard who knows where they like it and controls the pace of the game. The Warriors really don't have that player this year.
Karma telling him that he's shooting too much. I'm actually for these guys saving their knees for awhile. Time to sit Mags and Jax for awhile. I wouldn't even mind sitting Buike for awhile. I like the young guys' desire. It kills me that they resigned Jax this year though. The trade deadline would've been a great chance to move him and Mags together with a young guy and free up some cap space yet still have a competitive exciting product on the court. Oh well... we can't go back in time.
That's a good quote. You think we're starting to miss Barnes and Jrich and Baron and Pietrus? Those guys were active. And certainly Ellis was. Maybe not so much Baron or Pietrus, I mean they were energetic, but not in the way I like... like the Jrich/Barnes/Biedrins hustle/scrappy kind of way.
Interesting you brought up Buike. He's like a clone of Maggette in a way. Another power guard that doesn't really shoot it well from outside, likes to go inside, can rebound, doesn't pass much, is pretty darn athletic, and has lapses on defense despite being capable defenders. The difference was we could have just signed Buike and avoided the Mags signing altogether. I still kind of like the idea of having bench depth and I tend to believe that if Nelson would just hold off his fire power by not playing all his scorers at once, spread the minutes out in his rotation, play guys at natural positions, the team would be a lot better. Azu is too small for forward, Mags is not a power forward. I just work myself up everytime I think about the last 9 or so games and the idiotic strategy.
It sure doesn't appear as his hand is too much of a concern for him. He is shooting 1-13 in tonight's game, 2-14 in the last game, and 7-23 in the game before that including 1-8 from 3 point territory in that game. Obviously something is not right with his shot though - probably his hand. I wished he would adjust though.
