how about a "sheesh" the other way, he did not shoot very well for a touted shooter, I know it's only 5 SL games and I am not passing any kind of final judgement, it is what it is and I hope and think he'll shooy better than what we saw on a consistent basis. I think he'll end up being a solid pick
It's pretty taxing when you are playing three games in a row. I would think your arm would wear out. He's not going to be called to be the leading scorer on the actual squad, so he will have rest. Right now the minutes are heavy and his number is called to hoist the shots. I'm not worried...
That's my hope. CJ in particular apparently was good in catch and shoot situations, so maybe he'll fare better in that role?
CJ is going to be a pretty darn nice player, but just isn't a PG. he could play co-pg, alongside Lillard, but doesnt really have the vision to drop the ball inside to the bigs or pass ahead quickly on breakaways. But he can certainly take some pressure off Lillard and fill some time gaps. Hopefully, his shooting returns and even improves, I would love him to become that perimeter shooter that opposition needs to cross as soon as he hits mid court. That would really take some of those double teams off of Lillard.
The only thing that "concerned" me and even this is a stretch is that he needs to be more consistent with the WIDE open three. He was almost better with a hand in his face than wide open. And the reason that would concern me is that is exactly the kind of shot he is going to get when opposing defense pick their poison. Im also willing to chalk that up a little to lack of games before Summer League and the number of games in just a few nights. Overall I am very happy with CJ since I know he will play even better with better players and two because I never expected him to be Lillard no matter what anyone said. And Im sure that has more to do with how highly I think of Lillard. And I see no reason why he cant play some PG but again I never expected him to play full time or as a starting PG
His play at PG did concern me, at times it was downright awful. I think his shot will fall more of the time, he was fatigued in summer league and he had to hoist the ball up when our offense broke down every few minutes. He shouldn't have to do that more than once or twice a game in the season. I agree at the least he will be a nice scoring punch at SG off the bench. But can we trust him to be the only ball handler on the floor without Lillard? I have serious doubts. Against some teams sure we could get a away with it but against others I think we might have to play Watson all of the minutes as backup PG. I’ve always like Watson so I don’t think that is too bad but it could drastically reduce CJ's opportunities. If we have a game where Wesley is playing great and ends up playing 40 minutes, Wright is backing up Batum and CJ can't play the point then he won’t even be able to get 10 minutes.
Compare these two players by their Summer League stats. Player 1 (6' 2.25", 34.6 mpg): 21 ppg, 34.6%, 31% on threes, 81.5% FT, 4 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1 spg, 3.6 TO Player 2 (6' 3.75", 32.5 mpg): 19 ppg, 37.5%, 54% on threes, 82.5% FT, 4.3 rpg, 5 apg, 3 spg, 4.8 TO Player 2 is better, but pretty close, right? Guess who they are.
Lillard is a really good player, who plays PG for us, but he has just average PG skills. If we had Young Jason Kidd, then sure. But Lillard, although better than anyone on our Summer League team, isn't that great at creating for other people.
yeah, a little taller, a better ball handler, but another 4 year player. I see the comparison as somebody who could be a good glue player in the backcourt.
That's actually a fair point. I forgot he hadn't played competitively in a long time. That makes me feel better!