I have a feeling Jamario's gonna be a waste of space this year

This is just a hunch from my opinion of him at the end of last season, training camp reports, and what I've seen from him during the preseason. You might say that's too small of a sample size, and you might be right, but this gut feeling is strong.

The guy was a feel good story last year. But, once I got past the overwhelming odds he overcame to make an NBA roster, I started to be more realistic about him. Jamario was a marginal NBA player with a ton of natural athleticism. The frustrating thing about him was that he probably made the least use of his natural ability out of any player I'd seen in the league. He had the ability to be the slashing threat this team desperately needed, but he was content floating around the perimeter and shooting 32% beyond the arc. I thought it was a total farce that he participated in the dunk contest, considering that almost all of his highlight reel dunks from last season happened in the first month. He just stopped after that. On defense, he had great length and recovery ability, but he didn't switch well and got beat off the dribble too often.

But despite all that, I was encouraged about his potential. He was 27 years old, but was essentially a rookie in terms of being accustomed to the NBA game. I felt that a year of experience and a summer of training/developing would surely address his weaknesses, most of which were mental.

It just looks like he hasn't put in the work though. Grange and Smith both noted how unimpressive he looked during training camp. In preseason competition, his failure to address his deficiencies has really been exposed as teams have built a pretty solid scouting report on him. He's been a complete non-factor on offense. Most of the time, we might as well be playing 4-on-5. Defensively, he's regressed. I thought that posterization by Nene in tonight's preseason game summed up his development over the summer.

The scary thing is that he's locked into the starting SF spot almost by default. Colangelo shortened our rotation to accomodate Sam Mitchell and it required him to trust certain incumbent players to improve over the summer. Bargnani did. Humphries did. Jamario just hasn't. And I think it could really F up our season.

 

I concur man. The reason he was effective last year was that teams were not properly prepared for him. Once his deficiencies on the perimeter got exposed and the cutting lanes got eliminated, Moon became just a corner shooter. Also, playing with Ford who pushed the ball a lot helped him get out on the open court. With Calderon, who doesn't force the fast break when it's not there, Moon just won't be able to do much. He can't shoot, can't create with the ball and were it not for the lack of quality wing defenders on the team, he wouldn't even have gotten a chance to begin with. His steals and blocks tapered off towards the end of the year, and this year he'll be nothing more than a defensive specialist, at most. On a good team, he won't even be considered a top defender, but our situation makes him one.

That said, I don't know if Kapono starting at SF is the answer neither, as I think he's more effective in a Dell Curry role coming off the bench and hitting a couple quick shots in a row. We better hope Joey Graham has a breakout season.

 

it's looking more and more like Jamario could be moved to the bench in favour of joey, whose defense has been solid and has been making decisive, agressive moves with the ball. he also looks like the guy who put in the offseason work on his game.

but make no mistake, starting or subbing, Moon is still one of the most important pieces of this team. he didn't surprise teams last year, they knew Jamario's game and gave him jumpers all season - he made quite a few of them - but more importantly he rebounded and blocked shots at an elite level. the guy hasn't lost his athleticism over the summer, he's likely just being cautious because the games don't mean crap. jamario will make an impact defensively.

i really like jamario rebounding for Andrea and Kapono/parker off the bench, and upping our shotblocking despite one of CB/JO coming out. i find it hard to believe the Moon won't get at least 24 mpg. he might not be the slasher that we want so badly but he's still going to provide the length and athleticism that made him so productive last season.

Graham/Moon might seem like the worst SF rotation in the league but i think many will be pleasantly surprised. we need all the rebounding and athleticism we can get after all.

 

Don't you wish he could take his athleticism and natural gifts and be a slasher and defender like Gerald Wallace, Josh Smith, Trevor Ariza (Laker fan bias, but Trevor is a smaller scale version of what Gerald and Josh do minus the blocks)?

Jamario has the talent and ability to do so....so why doesn't he?

 

well, again, last season's numbers and defensive stats are extremely impressive for anyone, let alone an undrafted rookie. it's not like the guy hasn't produced. he has, and then some.

why didn't he slash? why didn't anyone in our system slash? this year we should see more high post action with Bosh and more baseline screens to find guys under the hoop - like the dishes to Joey this preseason. Jamario should be a recipient.

again, don't read much into the preseason for a guy like Jamario. he's in a contract year, he'll be fine - making an impact - as long as he doesn't get hurt. which is why he's probably been taking it easy when the games don't matter.

the only question here is whether he works better as a starter or coming off the bench with this team.

 

I've never been a huge fan of Moon and would hate nothing more then to see the Raps sign him to some over inflated deal.

But in all honesty, Sky's right, it's preseason. however, it's preseason for JO as well who has generally been busting his hump.

 

Well as the biggest Jamario Moon fan on this board, I'll go out and defend him.

We all know he has the athleticism to do whatever. I just think, that it is pre-season and like sky has said, he is an important piece to our team. I mean, we haven't had a good SF in a long, long time and Moon does exactly what is needed for this team. A lot of times he can't slash because either Bosh or someone was on his side and he can't just jump over his own teammate all the time.

With Kapono just being purely a 3 point shower, he's way more of a liability on defense. With Joey, it's obvious. He's inconsistent and can be extremely frustrating. With Sam Mitchell not having any offensive creativity, Joey is basically stuck out there alone to figure out what he needs to do, and do it well, all the time. He is supposed to be a better player than Moon, but I haven't seen it, and I don't think I ever will.

Andrea is weird. Chutney will stick up for him till the cows come home. I just don't think putting him at SF is a good idea. It's been discussed and defensively, he can't keep up with guys like LeBron, Pierce, Lewis, Wallace, Deng, etc... He is best at C/PF, even though his rebounding is horrible for his height.

Right now, Moon is our guy. He does a lot of things well, while he does some things that we hate. He takes to many 3's, he makes some bad choices at times, but overall, he is our guy. What he lacks in offensive IQ, he makes up in athleticism, defense and the ability to make big plays.

 

wow u people are giving up on him quick, you have solid points but what your missing is that its his contract year, he CAN easily use his potential, remember what happend to AB? we didnt give up on AB so why should we give up on Moon, when we all know if money is on the line people do alot of things to get it. I still have faith in him.

Remember the triple over time with the Blazers?

 

Fair enough.

More time is needed but he's a hustle player and if the hustle isn't there ...

 

The scouting report on him probably reads this:

Great Athleticism
Bad jumper
Less than 30% 3 point shooter
Major hustle player
Defensive presence on the weak side
Average 1 on 1 defender

He can be a very good player, if he just takes it to the rim and plays to his strengths instead of forcing his shots. Like shape said, a shot doctor is a good idea, but I rather have him drive and get his 1 on 1 defense to a higher level.

 

This was a blatant tactic that almost all our opposition used to the end of last year. It might sound like I'm being overly harsh and premature with Jamario and that's probably true to some extent. But I get frustrated when I see that much talent and ability being completely wasted because of some sort of mental block. I can't understand why he doesn't slash more often. The rest of the team simply doesn't have the ability, but he definitely does. His dribble isn't great, but its good enough if he makes a quick move after getting the ball. He's also be more effective if he moved with purpose without the ball instead of just drifting around the 3 pt. line, but I'm hesitant to blame him for that since it seems to be more a fault of the coaching strategy.

Shake you bring up my constant defense of Bargnani. Coming into this offseason both were in similar situations, in that they had a tonne of talent but needed to put in major work to overcome opposing defensive strategies. Andrea seems to have put it in, adding enough muscle to plant himself in the post and working on his mid-range jumper. Jamario looks exactly the same, if not worse. We'll see how they play in the first few games (as most of you said, it is just preseason), but I'm not overly optimistic.

 

well he didn't help JO on the boards like he needed to in game one of the season but he hit half his shots (1 for 1 from 3), and got 2 steals and a block. we all know Jamario can rebound and that's what he's in the starting lineup for, primarily.

wasn't the strongest start to the season but he made an impact and wasn't outplayed by his matchup - thad young.

and we saw what happens when Jamario isn't judicial in his drives - the defense steps in and draws the charge and jamario gets undercut, falling dangerously to the ground.

jamario's jumper is more important than taking guys off the dribble. to attack the rim Jamario should be getting lead there with an assist.

 

Great night for him tonight. Solid shooting and decent D.

 

His jumper was falling today, nice.

 

4 for 5 from the field, 2 for 2 from the line and hit his only three.

not bad at all.

three TO's though.

 

Made key stops. This team is developing very well.

 

Yeah, the Raps held GS to under 100 through 48 minutes.

 

100% from 3

 

63 from three, 70 from the line and 58 from the field.

Buuut, three rebounds in three games? He's got more turnovers (five) then rebounds so far ...