Warriors vs. Raptors @ Toronto (Dec. 16, 2005 4:00 PM) FSN

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting philsmith75:</div><div class="quote_post">How can the guy hit the key jumper against the Sonics in OT with 35 sec. left to make it 107-107 and then go for 1 pt against the worst team in the league?</div>

It's called inconsistency, and Mike is full of it. 1 pt in 24 mins is down right ridiculous for a guy thats going to get basically 9 mil a year... He needs to average at LEAST 15 pts until I become somewhat happy with his contract. Good to see Zarko scoring again, unfortunately he doesn't play defense much. He needs to improve his weakside defense.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AnimeFANatic:</div><div class="quote_post">It's called inconsistency, and Mike is full of it. 1 pt in 24 mins is down right ridiculous for a guy thats going to get basically 9 mil a year... He needs to average at LEAST 15 pts until I become somewhat happy with his contract. Good to see Zarko scoring again, unfortunately he doesn't play defense much. He needs to improve his weakside defense.</div>

Mike is pretty consistent, actually. He's in midseason form to play only well in short spurts with long gaps in between.

Maybe it's a injury problem he's dealing with since I remember he was hurting one game. But then I think damn, he's such a softie all the time it could be anything. Sometimes it's hard to tell if he's just acting to get the call or if he's really in pain or if he really is a 6'9-6'10 marshmellow of a basketball player. I love Dunleavy's fundamentals and swift moves with the ball (when he decides to do something with it), but his game is just hard to watch like Foyle's sometimes. Foyle's style of play bleeds ungainliness and lack of knowledge of the game. Dunleavy's style of play bleeds weakness and passivity to an extreme degree that you just want to kick his ass for being such an offensive and defensive wuss. 5 missed shots in a row? Okay, fine. Find some way to create offense and make some impact, don't fade away! Dunleavy is paid big bucks to be a special player and he acts like a typical role player. No fire, no competitive attitude whatsoever, no real presence on this team. Although his defense has improved, the guy is a ragdoll. I've seen Dan Langhi get pushed shorter distances off hip checks.

Maybe Dunleavy is the NBA version of Stephen Hawkings. Great mind for the game, but no body to bang with the big boys once he left college. Maybe Dunleavy isn't being used right and he feels no choice in this new Warriors offense to shoot nothing but 3's to start off the game, but I personally think he's better served if he tries to manufacture some Calbert Cheaney midrange offense or drives like Rick Barry to start the game. Once he gains that first shot he can be pretty confident and explosive (in terms of Dunleavy). It could be the same thing like Zarko's confidence problem is when he is making mistakes or missing shots.

Besides shooting, what else can Dunleavy give to the team to draw defenders so he can open up his passing game? He's not as aggressive as Pietrus or Brian Cardinal and he's probably not as athletic as John Goodman. Still, Dunleavy has a great mind and is fun to watch when he's passing to other people moving off the ball. There was one great no-look pass he made to somebody (I forget, maybe Murphy or Jrich?) right under the hoop, but that was his only assist of the night. He basically sleptwalk and faded away as he normally does. He can't step up like either Murphy who is not fast or Jason Richardson who is not that good at handling the ball. Let's hope it's Dunleavy's possible injury because there needs to be some explanation why Mullin was in a hurry to sign Dunleavy this early when he's not even near Jrich or Troy Murphy was before their contract extensions.

 

If you made 1 adjustment to Dunleavy's game and it sounds silly, it would really flip a switch. I think he simply needs to follow his shots instead of running back after every one. It sounds strange, but it'll force him to be squared up and not fade. Dunleavy loves to shoot that wing and corner three and he's leaning towards the backcourt. Watch games from the end of last season and you'll see that he made a strong effort to square up before shooting. I've noticed that when he is squared up (usually catch and shoot) you can feel that it's going in, and it usually does. Plus, following your shot would get him 1 or 2 more boards and get him in the mantality to attack the hoop like he was doing against Phoenix.

 

Cohanhater, I notice in games he's more effective if he shoots in closer to the bucket to start out. If he's 1 of 2 or 2 of 2 to start the first quarter, he usually comes alive with longer range shots. If he's 0 for 2, he'll probably sink back hoping he doesn't disrupt the flow offense or hurt the team.

Any time he takes long shots to start the game he usually misses right off the bat. We're not talking in or out, we're talking off back iron or off front iron. It's like it's not a comfortable shot for him or it takes a while to get in rhythm. That's why I was hoping the Warriors save up that money to sign a big guy and use a defensive, long ball marksman at small forward to fill in the 3 spot. James Jones, Jumaine Jones, Bruce Bowen, etc. Heck, even Matt Harpring, who doesn't shoot 3-pointers, would be an upgrade because of defense and toughness. It'd be like a supercharged Calbert Cheaney and Cheaney used to be pretty solid in his prime.

Defensively, I don't know if Dunleavy's better than Jrich, but one has to think what the heck is Dunleavy good for on this team? Murphy has the rebounding, consistency, toughness and the solid elbow jumper. Jason Richardson has the all around scoring talent and scoring presence. Baron Davis has the courtvision, one-on-one skill and playmaking instincts. Foyle blocks shots and hustles. Dunleavy seems to be the odd guy out to me. Even if he has a good game, his overall impact in many of the games doesn't seem to be memorable even though he's had some big 4th quarters this season. I dunno. He just leaves me feeling like he's more of a fit on a team like Utah or the Bucks. There are probably 12 guys on the team more aggressive and play tougher than Dunleavy if they were given starter's minutes and they could probably deliver big as well. Pietrus has nailed a few buzzer beaters in his minutes and has been pretty explosive from the corner 3, but I guess the problem is he's not very smart at decision making on the floor. Sigh, I guess one thing in common with our bench guys like Cardinal, Boykins, Pietrus is they all were very energetic and brought impact in terms of getting to the line and sinking the shots that matter most (like when we're losing or we're having some kind of offensive struggle). Now if Dunleavy can repeat his 4th quarter big performances and start finding a go-to move like Philsmith suggested he find, Dunleavy wouldn't so marginal compared to career bench guys. We can't see just jumpers from Dun, that's so one-dimensional. We need to see some drives, some fadeaway shots, work the triple threat like Murphy does. We need to see more of the technical skills in which Dun succeeds at like scoring with his left, using his steps off the dribble to attack the basket, and just being a crafty, confident player.

 

You'll get no arguments out of me