When I left for work, CJ was shooting 11% from the field....looks like he redeemed himself in the second half
I'ts funny how everyone seems to say CJ is "struggling" but when you compare his stats for the first 3 games vs last they are very, very close. His shooting percentages are very close and his 3 pt shooting in limited shots is better, he's scoring 1 more pt per game. His rebounding is up nicely but assists are down and TO's barely up (hard to believe that one!). I agree in "looking" at CJ he appears to be "struggling" but his stats say he's pretty much the same guy, interesting
He is shooting well, it's just in big spurts right now. A very cold streak followed by a scorching hot stretch. What is hurting him is defenses are figuring out he just doesn't pass. It's very early but as of now, 4 players on the team are tied or ahead of him in assists and all of those players play much fewer minutes. He is missing wide open teammates all over the place. If he would get them involved and help them be a threat, he wouldn't have quite as much pressure on him. For as much as he runs the Point, he is very poor so far with setting teammates up or getting them the ball when there is not a defender anywhere near them.
If you remember two years ago(before the roster turnover) the report out on CJ is that he over-dribbled. Last year rarely could you say that about him. This year he seems to be over-dribbling again. I have faith he'll figure it out.
It's not that he is struggling so much as to his style of play. He is at times COMPLETELY ignoring wide-open teammates as he does his best impression of Damon Stoudamire. The Blazers need more contributions from other players but that doesn't happen when Dame/CJ are averaging less than 8 assists a games while shooting at every turn. Sure they can score but to take the next step, they need to get other teammates more involved and thereby increase their confidence to produce.
I'm including preseason. 10/3 against Utah - 35.7% from the field, 25% from three. 10/7 against Phoenix - 31.6% from the field, 50% from three. 10/11 against Lakers - 15.4% from the field, 33.3% from three. 10/13 against the Clippers - 47% from the field, 40% from three. 10/16 against the Nuggets - 50% from the field, 66.7% from three. 10/19 against the Jazz - 35.7% from the field, 20% from three. 10/21 against the Warriors - 38.9% from the field, 33.3% from three. 10/25 against the Jazz - 50% from the field, 100% from three. 10/27 against the Clippers - 41.7% from the field, 100% from three (one shot). 10/29 against the Nuggets - 40% from the field, 33.3% from three. First of all, if you get to include preseason in your arguments against Evan Turner, I get to include preseason in my point about CJ. He has been having one hot game, followed by not so great shooting games. His shooting during the preseason was pretty abysmal. He has definitely improved on that, but CJ shot 44.8% from the field last year and 41.7% from three. So compared to those numbers, I think he is struggling a little bit.
