Last ten games stats. CJ's not shooting too terribly, but his scoring is way down, his assists are pathetic (about 1:1 with TOs) and his +/- is second worst on the team behind Moe. WTF?
I think his shooting is fine, it's his playmaking who is horrible. He can not pass or not want to pass, he is overdribbling and has to many turnovers. CJ is a negative fit and unfortenatly a ballhog like Carmelo Anthony. I hope he get's tradet at the Deadline and the roster get's more balanced
He could be hurt, he could be sulking, or it could be that with a lack of a balanced roster he's easier to contain. One way or the other, something has to be done. Be it a trade involving him, a trade that helps his place in the offense or an announcement of an injury or something else. This team is fundamentally shit right now (and it's not due to injuries as they are claiming).
I said it in the game thread last night. I think he wants out. Not to say he's sandbagging on purpose, but his body language and effort aren't great and all he seems to do is call his own number when he's out there. Maybe playing for his stats and not for wins? I wouldn't be shocked if he thinks he should be "The Man" on his own team. Who knows, maybe he's right?
The way he's playing on offense is the antithesis of Stotts' system. The isolation shit he does is more like Nate McMillan's Roy offense. If this is by design, then Stotts should have been fired weeks ago. At the very least, shame on the coaches for not holding him accountable if he has gone off the reservation.
CJ...Carmelo...China...C's are barely passing grades, pun intended. I love me some CJ, but I said like a month ago that something appears to be wrong in the locker room, and I suspect CJ is the odd man out with how buddy buddy Dame and Nurk have become. That line of thought didn't gain much traction, but like most things here, I have to live in the land of "I told you so's".
I hope that's not the case, but it wouldn't surprise me. He wants to go out and prove himself as the man maybe? Thing is, he can't really create for himself and others the way Damian can (and thats even compared to Damians tunnel vision at times). I hope that's not the case but I don't know if I care anymore. The season is teetering on the abyss and it getting close to just playing Vonleh and Collins more and getting excited about their growth and not much else.
Trying to do too much I think. Works as a natural foil to Dame when he's playing SG. But asking him to do the same role when Lillard is off has screwed up his ball handling and overcommited him to defensive assignments. Needs to get back to the pure shooting role he excelled at.
The tide has turned now for the vast majority of fans. You look at trading him, but you hold out patiently for that "right" deal.
I'll bring it out again about CJ....he's not suited to be a starting 2 guard...he's a perfect 6 man...only BGD and I agree about this...we need bench scoring and to get other guys into double digit scoring on the starting unit....you can hide one guard on defense but not two of them. CJ would thrive in the role Mo Williams had with us...bench sparkplug who could build a lead against second string units....he lights up everytime he talks about the east coast where his girl is from....he wants to be a Knick...book it....that's why he worked out in New York all summer..his girl lives there...any east coast destination would probably make him happy and he'll make an allstar team in the east...here, he's realizing what Crabbe realized....he's a shadow next to Dame
Part of me wonders if maybe the reason the team has struggled so much (and CJ being meh this year) is because he's asked to be traded but they've kept it quiet (since Olshey seems to be really good at that kind of shit). It is just another theory on what might explain some of the teams struggles this year (outside of lack of talent). They're being professional about it, yet it's obviously effecting their overall game play.
I still think the best team to trade CJ is the 76ers. They need shooting from backcourt and they have assets/picks.
Can't rule that out but frankly IMO we just aren't that good, the roster is both unbalanced and not very talented
