JRich: Time to Start Worrying Yet?

I know he's coming off the injury, but he hasn't cracked 40% FG% in any one game since he came back. 38% FG% for the year, and perhaps even more distressingly only 59% FT%. The FG% OK, he's still getting his hops back slowly, but he really doesn't look like he's in enough pain to account for that lousy FT%. If things are still the same a week or two from now I'm going to seriously start to worry about his future. As long as they can compensate for his problems with wins, I'm OK with the in-game rehab, but if it starts costing games, the Warriors cannot afford that. Not if they're serious about trying to make the playoffs anyway. These games count the same as the ones at the end.

 

side note: anyone notice Baron is shooting 44.2%?

 

At this point it appears J Rich has little confidence in his knee,is being careful,and that's taking the slashing drives,the inside moves,the quick first step away. He should not be out chucking 3's,however,he has to find his touch at 15-20 ft before trying 3's. I'm guessing there's a lot of behind the scenes rehab still happening,plus Nellie has not had a J Rich,100% effective,to blend into the plans. J Rich-Lite is relatively limited. The universe,and basketball,will not come to a smokin' end in the next month. This is NOT the year we are aimed at-it's a milestone. We need progress toward being a contender,and making the playoffs,getting over 500,is a way to measure progress. In 1 1/2 yrs we will have either done some salary dump deal---or we will pay some Lux Tax for a year. I doubt the Lux Tax is a big deal to the Warriors. Money is money,but the point is still to win sometimes,to at least get competitive a few times per decade. That is why I doubt that J Rich or Murphy gets traded now-when their market value is low.

 

Another 1-6 effort from 3 against the Sixers. Its not about his health, his run shows his lack of understanding. If you're trying to get your legs back, you need to be passing more, not shooting more. You work your way back slowly, trying to fit in. You find your legs and rhythm in practice, not in a game.

 

Baron then plays the all-star game and tweaks his hammy trying to go for a baseline reverse lay-in and then tumbles on the floor, injuring a disc in his back. He is out for one and a half months. That would be in true Warriors fashion wouldn't it?

 

<div class="quote_poster">philsmith75 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Another 1-6 effort from 3 against the Sixers. Its not about his health, his run shows his lack of understanding. If you're trying to get your legs back, you need to be passing more, not shooting more. You work your way back slowly, trying to fit in. You find your legs and rhythm in practice, not in a game.</div>

Jrich is probably trying too hard again rather than letting the game come to him. I think that's always been his problem as a guy that isn't the best playmaker or best creator with the ball or has the best quickness at 6'6 (with really thick shoes). He's like Shawn Marion with the ball or Caron Butler when it comes to decision-making or shooting guard instincts with the ball in hand. Without scoring, Jrich's role on the team is diminished IMO. Plus, we pretty much know Jrich can be unqualified for the shooting guard position at times.

Does he really pass it well? Does he really shoot the set shot with good accuracy off the dribble or off the screen from at least 20 feet? Does he handle the ball particulary well in place of the point guard or on isolation mismatches? Can he act as a midrange marksman in place of our point guards who lack those shooting games? I don't think he does any of these things insanely well except for maybe a 20 foot set shot off the catch. So I just think Jrich is trying to do what he does best, which is to score, lest he be traded. Even at small forward, he loses a lot of his physical mismatch ability like strength and his quickness is no good if he can't make use of his ballhandling/passing skill.

This team had Calbert Cheaney for a while to mentor Jrich on midrange marksmanship. I'm surprised Jrich doesn't try to go for midrange shots. It's not a whole lot of contact to pull up and hit it. It's a short range shot compared to the rest of his shot selection and therefore he should make it. Instead the times I do watch the Warriors it's a Pietrus like shot selection for everyone. 3-point shot or all he way in. Nothing in between.

That's always annoyed me since every team who has gone deep in the playoffs has had a guard or two play the midrange game extremely well. I have seen Baron take a few more midrangers, but then he gets lazy again or tries to fade away because he called his own play against a double team. He often does it without another player giving him the ball back for the shot, but I guess maybe he's afraid a guy like Foyle or somebody will screw up what Baron wanted him to do on the play. It's hard when the chemistry or team roles aren't there in place. I respect Baron for trying really hard to win, though. He's been the glue and the barometer thus far.

 

Yep, midrange game is what's lacking. In fact, Dunleavy's improvement has come from more midrange jumpers going down and more aggressive drives. I just wish Pietrus would learn.

 

<div class="quote_poster">philsmith75 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yep, midrange game is what's lacking. In fact, Dunleavy's improvement has come from more midrange jumpers going down and more aggressive drives. I just wish Pietrus would learn.</div>

Well, I'm glad somebody is doing it because the three ball is killing us when they aren't falling. Also, last post I rambled and went off on a tangent again going from Jrich to Baron. Sorry about that! I guess the idea behind it was that Jrich and Baron have some similar shot selections IMO, but I don't blame Baron for taking the shots he does at times because at least he can pass it, handle it, and create his own shot a whole lot better. The defense either freezes up or they collapse all over Baron than they do with Jrich.

I think that was what I was trying to say because I can't fault one guard for doing similar things like shot selection. There's exceptions though like you pointed out earlier. It also depends on what the coach is allowing or telling these guys to do.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Run BJM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not worried, JR needs to get his legs back to full strength and it may take a pretty long time. For now we just have to wait for him to regain all of his athleticism and wait until he can get into a rhythm.



Yep, hes improved all of his shooting %'s and hes doing a little bit of everything. Hes havnig an amazing season and especially lately hes been particularly good. In the last 10 games hes been averaging 24 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 9.8 apg, 1.9 spg, on 45.3% FG, 40.4% 3 pt (!), 72.3 % FTs. He should definitely be an all-star so hopefully the coaches vote him in as a backup.</div>

Yup. I'm not worried about JRich either, but am surprised that he got his FT %age up to 72.3%. That's not a typo is it? Usually, the only complaint I have is his sucky FT %age and lack of D.

 

Considering that only Richardson and Biedrins are shooting poor % in this year than last year, I am not worried. Once he gets healthy and get used to the system, he will improve significantly. However, I do not know how long this injury will linger. It would be nice if he can become Richardson we used to know in second half. But, sometimes, this injury hamper the player throughout the season like what happened to Davis last year. Monta and Pietrus are filling Richardson's void nicely, but it would be nice if we can get 100% Richardson back asap...

 

A bit off topic but I wonder if player shoot percentages will dip when they go back to the old ball.

 

-well-brand new worry with a broken hand. The good news is he can run a lot and have his legs back when the hand heals.

This could be an illustration of a problem you get if you go too small,too much and your guys are against bigger-stronger players.

I used to drive a 57 Pontiac. One day a guy came zoomin' in a 914 Porsche-slammed it right into the side of my Pontiac,drivers side....I hardly felt much jolt,it didn't even knock over the grocery bags on the back seat-left a small 8" ding on the side.....the Porsche? The whole front was buckled up,the bumper was stuffed against the front wheels. The guy was gonna give me his insurance stuff-I said don't bother,it hardly scuffed the old Pontiac. He looked at the non damage to the side of my car-at his wreck,and had to be glad it wasn't me T-bone-ing him.

The Warriors are a bit like the 914,small and moving fast and crashing into something big and solid. Guess what breaks.

 

I don't think the injuries are really a problem of playing small ball, of having other players beating up on them too much.

Like the Jrich injury, he got kicked in the hand by Pietrus. Murphy's injury is his foot and he has had a history of foot problems, maybe due to the weight gain. Ike, sprained his ankle going for a rebound.

Also Roberson landed on his big toe and broke it. No one was even guarding him.

Monta's shoulder injury is one that could be attributed to playing small ball. But at the same time he is one of their best players. He has to play. The injury was due to a somewhat dirty play by posey.

Baron's ribs is another that could be attributed to small ball.

Pietrus' broken nose is probably the closest in terms of being an affect of small ball, but at the same time other factors are involved. One he was double teaming and got hit. It was not like he was guarding him and got injured. Or if he was trying to rebound over him and got injured.

 

<div class="quote_poster">philsmith75 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yep, midrange game is what's lacking. In fact, Dunleavy's improvement has come from more midrange jumpers going down and more aggressive drives. I just wish Pietrus would learn.</div>

Pietrus has stayed mainly with his sweet spot,the baseline 3-which is probably near 50%. He's taken fewer 3's from elsewhere,and that's upped his overall 3 %. He picked up a couple whistles early starting a drive a bit hasty,and probably is worried the refs are gonna be trigger happy on that call.
I found it noteworthy we really broke even later once we'd un-glued ike-Murphy-Foyle from the bench. By then the longball chuckers had given a 30 pt gap.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Gohn Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't think the injuries are really a problem of playing small ball, of having other players beating up on them too much.
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The Suns seem to be doing well health wise...

I think the Basketball gods are doing whatever they can to prevent the Warriors from going to the playoffs. I mean we get the second winningest coach, Baron is playing like an all-star, our youngsters are contributing... this would seem our best chance in years... but this season we get the injury bug?

 

Very true about Dun,the more he's a scorer-passer in the midrange,the more positive impact he has. However-I don't want him in more than 10 min in a stretch,cause teams will find matchups he can't D.

 

Yea, its not just small ball. Shaq got a knee injury, Yao got a knee injury, they aren't small players.

Good point about the Suns seem to be relatively healthy and being a small ball team. Rockets being a slower team have Tmac injured sometimes, Yao other times, Bonzi (not sure if they are real injuries), Bobby Sura,

 

<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The Suns seem to be doing well health wise...

I think the Basketball gods are doing whatever they can to prevent the Warriors from going to the playoffs. I mean we get the second winningest coach, Baron is playing like an all-star, our youngsters are contributing... this would seem our best chance in years... but this season we get the injury bug?</div>

The gods have chosen to temper us in the fires of adversity, to force Nellie to think out of even his own box,to force even scrubs to step up

We will sneak quietly,humbly into the playoffs...with a record that keeps us in a decent draft slot,though our recovered troops will then be fresher,stronger,with that gung ho you see in those who survive a terrible battle.