Marcus needs to step it up. With Kidd gone, there's no excuse for his poor play He's practically handing the starting job over to Devin Harris. Sure he's been in the doghouse for a long time, but here's his chance to prove that he is worth playing.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (The Joker @ Mar 3 2008, 03:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Marcus needs to step it up. With Kidd gone, there's no excuse for his poor play He's practically handing the starting job over to Devin Harris. Sure he's been in the doghouse for a long time, but here's his chance to prove that he is worth playing.</div> Honestly his passing has been really solid and his defense has been better than advertised, he just needs to start hitting his shots at a better % and he'll be all right. His form is good, he just needs confidence, I think he'll get there given time.
Thanks RJ...thanks. But as other posters have said, who's gonna tell you to step it up? I can't stand RJ's below par ball handling skills and his knack for not passing the ball. Frank needed to sit him down last night and tell him to stop shooting.
what is rj talking about? last night he couldn't even go after the ball hard after being tipped away by manu and leisurely went after it manu went all the way from behind him to snatch it...rj is full of crap! marcus responded with a better game btw...
Maybe people should stop ripping RJ and thank him for kicking Marcus in the butt a little and reminding him he's still needed even though he was going to be coming off the bench again. Over the past 7 years RJ has had great stretches and bad stretches, but mostly he's been pretty solid. Marcus has had a handful of good games in his 1.5 years. Just thought I would provide a little perspective in the middle of a witch hunt. The funny thing is that people complain when no one on the team is calling anyone out in public/press. When it happens they take offense to the message and turn it back on the messenger. Make up your minds... do you want public disclosure and tough love or do you want to continue questioning peoples hearts and not knowing what goes on behind the closed gym doors?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 02:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Maybe people should stop ripping RJ and thank him for kicking Marcus in the butt a little and reminding him he's still needed even though he was going to be coming off the bench again. Over the past 7 years RJ has had great stretches and bad stretches, but mostly he's been pretty solid. Marcus has had a handful of good games in his 1.5 years. Just thought I would provide a little perspective in the middle of a witch hunt. The funny thing is that people complain when no one on the team is calling anyone out in public/press. When it happens they take offense to the message and turn it back on the messenger. Make up your minds... do you want public disclosure and tough love or do you want to continue questioning peoples hearts and not knowing what goes on behind the closed gym doors?</div> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 01:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW @ Mar 5 2008, 01:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>If we're back to taking RJ's daily or weekly temperature, he's morbidly cold. Except for the Milwaukee game, where he was merely competent, he's sucked badly in the last 4. God help Vince if he ever looked as completely lazy and casual as RJ did when Ginobli beat him to the backcourt for a ball (that Jefferson had mishandled) and proceeded to sail in for an uncontested layup. The calls of "bum" and "dog" on the forums would have known no end. I don't think RJ is a bum, but I'm definitely disappointed that he's talking in the press about Marcus Williams not "fading away" while making plays like that one and the similarly idiotic, lazy play against Chicago where he was gathering himself for a fancy open court dunk and took so much time that he had his shot blocked from behind. If he ever had pretense about being a "leader" . . .</div> I agree, he's totally out of it. Think the Kidd thing stung him hard. </div> But you do agree that he has stunk it up the last couple of games at least.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (razel231 @ Mar 5 2008, 03:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 02:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Maybe people should stop ripping RJ and thank him for kicking Marcus in the butt a little and reminding him he's still needed even though he was going to be coming off the bench again. Over the past 7 years RJ has had great stretches and bad stretches, but mostly he's been pretty solid. Marcus has had a handful of good games in his 1.5 years. Just thought I would provide a little perspective in the middle of a witch hunt. The funny thing is that people complain when no one on the team is calling anyone out in public/press. When it happens they take offense to the message and turn it back on the messenger. Make up your minds... do you want public disclosure and tough love or do you want to continue questioning peoples hearts and not knowing what goes on behind the closed gym doors?</div> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 01:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW @ Mar 5 2008, 01:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>If we're back to taking RJ's daily or weekly temperature, he's morbidly cold. Except for the Milwaukee game, where he was merely competent, he's sucked badly in the last 4. God help Vince if he ever looked as completely lazy and casual as RJ did when Ginobli beat him to the backcourt for a ball (that Jefferson had mishandled) and proceeded to sail in for an uncontested layup. The calls of "bum" and "dog" on the forums would have known no end. I don't think RJ is a bum, but I'm definitely disappointed that he's talking in the press about Marcus Williams not "fading away" while making plays like that one and the similarly idiotic, lazy play against Chicago where he was gathering himself for a fancy open court dunk and took so much time that he had his shot blocked from behind. If he ever had pretense about being a "leader" . . .</div> I agree, he's totally out of it. Think the Kidd thing stung him hard. </div> But you do agree that he has stunk it up the last couple of games at least. </div> Absolutely. Like I said, he's had bad stretches in the past. All players do. I don't think that merits trading him or thinking it wasn't his place to push Marcus. His consistancy over 7 years merits a little leniency during a small bad stretch.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 04:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (razel231 @ Mar 5 2008, 03:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 02:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Maybe people should stop ripping RJ and thank him for kicking Marcus in the butt a little and reminding him he's still needed even though he was going to be coming off the bench again. Over the past 7 years RJ has had great stretches and bad stretches, but mostly he's been pretty solid. Marcus has had a handful of good games in his 1.5 years. Just thought I would provide a little perspective in the middle of a witch hunt. The funny thing is that people complain when no one on the team is calling anyone out in public/press. When it happens they take offense to the message and turn it back on the messenger. Make up your minds... do you want public disclosure and tough love or do you want to continue questioning peoples hearts and not knowing what goes on behind the closed gym doors?</div> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 01:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW @ Mar 5 2008, 01:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>If we're back to taking RJ's daily or weekly temperature, he's morbidly cold. Except for the Milwaukee game, where he was merely competent, he's sucked badly in the last 4. God help Vince if he ever looked as completely lazy and casual as RJ did when Ginobli beat him to the backcourt for a ball (that Jefferson had mishandled) and proceeded to sail in for an uncontested layup. The calls of "bum" and "dog" on the forums would have known no end. I don't think RJ is a bum, but I'm definitely disappointed that he's talking in the press about Marcus Williams not "fading away" while making plays like that one and the similarly idiotic, lazy play against Chicago where he was gathering himself for a fancy open court dunk and took so much time that he had his shot blocked from behind. If he ever had pretense about being a "leader" . . .</div> I agree, he's totally out of it. Think the Kidd thing stung him hard. </div> But you do agree that he has stunk it up the last couple of games at least. </div> Absolutely. Like I said, he's had bad stretches in the past. All players do. I don't think that merits trading him or thinking it wasn't his place to push Marcus. His consistancy over 7 years merits a little leniency during a small bad stretch. </div> Don't give me that bullshit. RJ hasn't played defense all season. He hasn't hustled, he hasn't really tried all that hard. The effort just isn't there.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ Mar 5 2008, 04:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Don't give me that bullshit. RJ hasn't played defense all season. He hasn't hustled, he hasn't really tried all that hard. The effort just isn't there.</div> Oh yeah... players often fall into the top 10 in scoring in the NBA by not caring, hustling or playing hard all season. I agree his defense hasn't been there like the past, but I think a big part of that is due to the energy being expelled on the offensive end. All on a team ranked 27th in the NBA in scoring, imagine where they would rank if he didn't try so hard to score and saved more for the defensive end. And it's not just a volume issue. He's still shooting 46% from the field and a career high 37.5% from 3. And it's also not all jumpshots since he leads the team in FT attempts with a career high average of 9 per game.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 04:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ Mar 5 2008, 04:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Don't give me that bullshit. RJ hasn't played defense all season. He hasn't hustled, he hasn't really tried all that hard. The effort just isn't there.</div> Oh yeah... players often fall into the top 10 in scoring in the NBA by not caring, hustling or playing hard all season. I agree his defense hasn't been there like the past, but I think a big part of that is due to the energy being expelled on the offensive end. All on a team ranked 27th in the NBA in scoring, imagine where they would rank if he didn't try so hard to score and saved more for the defensive end. And it's not just a volume issue. He's still shooting 46% from the field and a career high 37.5% from 3. And it's also not all jumpshots since he leads the team in FT attempts with a career high average of 9 per game. </div> Well then, I guess RJ's lost course with how to win games.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 04:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ Mar 5 2008, 04:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Don't give me that bullshit. RJ hasn't played defense all season. He hasn't hustled, he hasn't really tried all that hard. The effort just isn't there.</div> Oh yeah... players often fall into the top 10 in scoring in the NBA by not caring, hustling or playing hard all season. I agree his defense hasn't been there like the past, but I think a big part of that is due to the energy being expelled on the offensive end. All on a team ranked 27th in the NBA in scoring, imagine where they would rank if he didn't try so hard to score and saved more for the defensive end. And it's not just a volume issue. He's still shooting 46% from the field and a career high 37.5% from 3. And it's also not all jumpshots since he leads the team in FT attempts with a career high average of 9 per game. </div> Netted, I never expected you to pull out a "look at the pretty stats" argument.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cpawfan @ Mar 5 2008, 04:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 04:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ Mar 5 2008, 04:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Don't give me that bullshit. RJ hasn't played defense all season. He hasn't hustled, he hasn't really tried all that hard. The effort just isn't there.</div> Oh yeah... players often fall into the top 10 in scoring in the NBA by not caring, hustling or playing hard all season. I agree his defense hasn't been there like the past, but I think a big part of that is due to the energy being expelled on the offensive end. All on a team ranked 27th in the NBA in scoring, imagine where they would rank if he didn't try so hard to score and saved more for the defensive end. And it's not just a volume issue. He's still shooting 46% from the field and a career high 37.5% from 3. And it's also not all jumpshots since he leads the team in FT attempts with a career high average of 9 per game. </div> Netted, I never expected you to pull out a "look at the pretty stats" argument. </div> Oh no, I'm not making the argument that they are "pretty". I just mean offensively the numbers do show he has not become a volume chucker that is shooting a worse percentage in order to hit the scoring average he hits. And for a team that is 27th in the NBA in scoring, a guy that raises his scoring average by about 7 ppg obviously has to be expending more energy on the offensive end just to keep his team at #27. He's obviously working hard and efficiently on the offensive end. We've had 2 guys that you can count on to reliably score all season, RJ and Carter. Kidd would put up single digit scoring games regularly. Same with Collins, Wright, Allen, Boki, Krstic, Boone, Marcus and Sean. Kidd averaged 11.3 ppg as a Net and everyone else avg less than 10. I don't think there is another team in the NBA that has only 2 players averaging more than 11.5 ppg. So regardless if you know defense wins and you want to play that way, if you're one of only 2 guys that can create your own shot and score that is what you have to do. It's a priority then. Thank god we got a scoring pg in Devin because this team needs it. Also needs Boki, Marcus and Nenad to contribute consistantly or it's just too big of a strain on 2 guys. Damn we need some shooters.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 02:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Maybe people should stop ripping RJ and thank him for kicking Marcus in the butt a little and reminding him he's still needed even though he was going to be coming off the bench again. Over the past 7 years RJ has had great stretches and bad stretches, but mostly he's been pretty solid. Marcus has had a handful of good games in his 1.5 years. Just thought I would provide a little perspective in the middle of a witch hunt. The funny thing is that people complain when no one on the team is calling anyone out in public/press. When it happens they take offense to the message and turn it back on the messenger. Make up your minds... do you want public disclosure and tough love or do you want to continue questioning peoples hearts and not knowing what goes on behind the closed gym doors?</div> yeah but what authority does RJ have? especially after his last two clunkers? sure, its actually great to call out a player but why not prove why you can call him out? it's like the same scenario as matt bonner calling out tim duncan, unless you can get it done consistently, don't call anyone else out
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jizzy @ Mar 5 2008, 07:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Netted @ Mar 5 2008, 02:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Maybe people should stop ripping RJ and thank him for kicking Marcus in the butt a little and reminding him he's still needed even though he was going to be coming off the bench again. Over the past 7 years RJ has had great stretches and bad stretches, but mostly he's been pretty solid. Marcus has had a handful of good games in his 1.5 years. Just thought I would provide a little perspective in the middle of a witch hunt. The funny thing is that people complain when no one on the team is calling anyone out in public/press. When it happens they take offense to the message and turn it back on the messenger. Make up your minds... do you want public disclosure and tough love or do you want to continue questioning peoples hearts and not knowing what goes on behind the closed gym doors?</div> yeah but what authority does RJ have? especially after his last two clunkers? sure, its actually great to call out a player but why not prove why you can call him out? it's like the same scenario as matt bonner calling out tim duncan, unless you can get it done consistently, don't call anyone else out </div> you don't read... i said RJ's 7 years of consistancy out weigh a few bad games compared to Marcus' handful of good games in 1.5 years. And he didn't even call him out as much as he said that he still needs to bring it even though he's not going to be starting anymore. We all know Marcus disappers. Marcus agreed. Should nobody say anything? Apparently it's working.
wahhhhh he spends a lot of energy on offense wahhhhh defense is mostly about desire, he's not doing it right now
http://www.nj.com/nets/ledger/index.ssf?/b....xml&coll=1 He called himself out last night several times after the game over his play the last week too. -Petey
