I think CJ has been more under control than ever. He doesn't take the dumbest shots like he used to. Also, him and Dame grew a lot from last 2 years losses. Especially last year's. They can't just take those wild shots like they did. They can't outscore everyone by themselves and taking turn being "young, immature and wild". They are trusting others more. They have been challenged to become better leaders and they are responding. Can tell even from their interviews. I love this version of CJ and Dame. I really hope they can continue to grow and take that next step this season.
I really don't want to bash CJ here in this thread, so please don't take this as me doing so. However, every single defensive metric shows CJ is really bad at defense. He does try hard, I'll give him that. I also agree that chasing him around on offense does wear out opposing players. PG has been guarding him a lot this series and that is contributing to his struggles. Yes, CJ has forced PG into a couple of tough shots in this series but please don't mistake a couple of possessions for someone being good at defense. There is a reason why our defense has been really good against OKC and that is because like I said in my previous post the Thunder don't have the personnel to exploit him. CJ's been great this series. If he continues to shoot +50% from 3 then the Blazers are going to be very difficult to knock out of the playoffs. The people who want CJ traded also wish that CJ would improve his efficiency and his passing. In addition to defense I like to monitor three stats in particular with CJ which are TS%, Points Per Shot, and AST%. So far in this series his TS% is 58.7% (up from 55.3% in the regular season) which would be even better if he wasn't shooting just 43.1% on 2 point attempts. His Points Per Shot is 1.28 (up from 1.18 in the regular season). His AST% is a phenomenal 21.7% (way up from his poor regular season of just 13.8%, which was by far his lowest in the 4 years post Aldridge). If this is who CJ is, sign me up for him being a lifelong Blazer!
I understand what you are saying. I just don't put the metrics as the be-all, end-all. There are so many variables that go into playing basketball as part of a team. I think it's even harder to measure than the metrics used in baseball and football. The Rockets tried to build a team on computer printouts. They were good. But they weren't perfect.
I don't like using stats as an end all either (especially defensive stats), but you can't just call someone a good defender because you saw him get a key block in a game and just ignore every stat showing he is terrible at defense either. I also don't get how the Rockets using analytics to build a team has anything to do with the defense of one specific player.
I didn't do that, though. I said I think he's a much better defender than he gets credit for on the board and analytically, and I pointed out much more than one reason why I believe that.
I don't think anyone is saying he's a good defender. However, it does get confusing when people rag on and on about CJ's defense, but then rave about what a great defender Curry is...
Can I ask why you hate Curry so much? LOL! It seems like you just decided you weren't going to like him at the beginning of the year. Personally, I think CJ and Curry are pretty similar on defense. Curry has also come up with some timely defensive plays (big steals, taking charges) so if we're going to give CJ credit for that we also need to give Curry credit for that. With either one though we're in trouble if they have to log most of their minutes guarding a bigger wing who can create.
This sums up my perspective perfectly. Some (such as myself) were dissatisfied with the way CJ's "skills" translated into contributions to wins. In this series, he seems to have altered his play for the better. That doesn't negate prior criticism--in fact it validates it. Were CJ to play consistently the way he's played this series, I think it's fair to say that his detractors would be far fewer.
Mainly as a counter-balance to the crazy people who think he could replace CJ. I saw him as essentially a Napier replacement, and that's exactly what he is. I wasn't a big fan of Bazz, not a big fan of Curry. Curry's shooting is better for the Stottsfense though. I totally agree. But from reading posts in here it seems like people think Curry is a vastly superior defender than CJ. And that's just ridiculous. Last season it was all about how CJ was a black-hole but people loved Bazz...despite the fact Bazz would routinely chuck a 3 early in the clock without even looking to make a pass. Basically, the things people hate CJ for, they'll totally ignore when his back-up is also guilty of the same thing.
Exactly! My hope is that seeing the team be successful for a few weeks while he was sitting taught him a little bit about how to help the team win more when he got back. The playoffs are such a small sample size though so it's hard to tell if that's the case or not.
I think you're reading way too much into the opinion of a few posters. I think most people recognize that all three (CJ, Curry, and Napier) are shoot first players. I will say that Curry played really well when CJ was out though. That doesn't mean he's the answer long term as a CJ replacement but the team didn't miss a beat without CJ (granted there were a lot of bad opponents mixed in there).
TNT Kenny was all about saying taking that shot was a bad decision that he was lucky to make. I was not sure on that statement. CJ can make that shot. He was open and i don't mind him taking it.
He's actually spot on as I have seen the posters he is referring to and their dogging on CJ all season long. Is he passing more or are guys hitting shots more? Probably a combination of both.
That's a shot he can make in his sleep and it appeared he was setting up to either get the shot away or get fouled and getting 3 free throws.
yep...as a past CJ detractor I think those views are spot-on CJ had weak game 1 in this series but he's been great in the last 3 games. He's been the sidekick that Dame needs. I think every Blazer fan dreads the top of the 2nd and 4th quarters when Dame gets his rests. Far too often the offense has stalled in those periods and given momentum to the opponent. But last night in the 4th quarter, CJ was primary in Portland maintaining the lead they had built. and a big positive factor is for the most part, he's avoided his black-hole tendencies, He had some 1-on-5-dribble-heavy action in the first half last night that was frustrating but he didn't do that in the 2nd half also, he's averaging 4.5 assists in this series compared to 3.0 in the regular season. That's a big improvement
I don't recall that blue9 made the claim that "majority of people" feel that way. As I recall he merely mentioned that some posters feel that way which is what I was agreeing with. If I missed it, can you point it out then?
I'm talking about what happens in general in forums like this. A vocal minority really doesn't like CJ. Most people though can recognize both his strengths and flaws. After the game last night there were a couple of posts saying stuff like "I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who still believed in CJ" and stuff like that. It's just a manipulation of the criticism.
