IMO, this team needs some more snarl and/or tenacity. Know-what-i-mean? We've got a great cast of guys who embody the term, character. But, in watching last night's game, it solidified in my mind that they're.......well.......soft. Not to mention, it appears that the ONLY guy willing and able to take it to the rack with verve is Bayless. Freakin' BAYLESS!! I'm not intending to call out LaMarcus, but I saw him pass up at least three potential take-it-to-the-cup-with-force drives for simple jumpers. Made me sick to my stomach! Anyway, is this team going to take it to the next step without having/acquiring this quality? OK, I'm not saying that we have to go back to the knucklehead area. I'd just like to see more fire and toughness. Heh, again, Gerald Wallace comes to mind.
LaMarcus was the lone bright spot in yesterday's game, so I'm not going to pile on him. He actually mixed it up a bit inside and got some nice putbacks. Should he average more than 6.9 rebounds? Probably. There's not excuse for him not be in Pau Gasol (9.2) territory at least. I'm still a proponent of adding a tough SF like Gerald Wallace, Josh Howard or Corey Maggette to this roster. Right now this team is pretty easy to defend and could use a tough, experienced scorer at the wing.
I hear ya. I wonder if Martell will bring a little of this....along with some added chutzpah, upon his return?
Sorry, but the only time in his life Webster showed any chutzpah, was when he declared for the draft.
I'm not that optimistic about Martell improving since he busted up his foot. He needed an explosive first step added to his arsenal to really open things up (and really how many players do that 4 years in?). He'll most likely stay a spot-up 3-point shooter from here on out IMHO.
Hey, IIRC, Martell was showing some of this at the end of last season. He's one of our better defenders and had begun to take the ball to the hole a little more. I mean, I'm not saying that he's the answer, as much as I'm asking if he might provide some help in this area. Certainly, some added defensive presence around the perimeter.
I've always thought LaMarcus way too soft but he will probably toughen up as he learns what it takes to be a champion. I hate when I see him back away from rebounds. I think the game was Roys to lose and he did. He kept demanding the ball from Bayless and then missing his shot or free throws. It looked like he was more interested in getting to his average in points than winning. Right now Joel, Jerreyd and Roy are the ones that display toughness and Roy needs to work alot harder on defense. Oden , Batum and Rudy look like they will get there once they learn to play in the league. I still think they can take it to the next step with their current roster. They have to stop mailing in games and then learn to play a full game. That's only going to be learned with experience. Who wouldn't want Gerald Wallace?
It's a young team. We've gotten tougher as the season has gone along and I think we'll continue to learn how tough teams have to be to win. We're fine.
And it's not like fans talking about the reasons for failure or success can be conflated with the team making excuses -- I've never heard the players use their youth as an excuse explicitly.
Nice job on starting this thread. Sorry you made the drive to see such a pathetic game with the exception of Bayless. You are so right on about the toughness of this team. I made a very vulgar post in the game thread last night based on my total disgust of this continuing problem. To me, Joel and Bayless are the only tough players we have. I go all the way back to the Cleveland game in Portland last year where LaBron just drove right into the paint for the game winning lay-in and the Oregonian had the perfect picture in the paper the next day. It showed LaMarcus and Travis plus someone else holding back and giving the game away. I do hope you got to meet up with some of the other fans and have a good time except for the game. It would be great to hear some stories. Once again, nice post!
Which is why I'm glad Bayless is getting some burn now; his ability to drive the lane, absorb contact and get to the line should hopefully take some of the pressure off of Roy having to beat himself up so much.
Yeah, but Bayless seems to defer to Brandon. He looks up to him, so I'm worried he'll stand around too much. Blake will take shots when he's open. Bayless seems to give it to Roy and watch.
Frankly would we even be worried about it if Brandon had shot 8-10 from the line last night? But I should add, that I don't think it's entirely a bad thing that Jerryd looks to defer to Brandon. I think that will change as time goes on and also as a team leader I think it's incumbent upon Brandon to encourage Jerryd to go and get his when appropriate. In short I agree that in the short run it could be a problem, but long term I think they'll work it out.
