Brutal stretch for him, which is unfortunate since I thought he looked great for large portions of preseason. Floater touch is off, pull up game has completely abandoned him. Never going to be a guy the gets to line or rim at a high rate so he's always going to be heavily reliant on those kind of shots. Passing vision / willingness is at an all time low. No Nurk has hurt him too. His screening, playmaking, offensive rebounding and overall gravity has left him creating more with the ball in his hands and really has syphoned off a lot of his catch and shoot opportunities and assisted 2's.
So, scoring-wise I think it's in his head. He'll probably eventually figure that part out. Now the other holes in his game, I'm just not sure those will ever change at this point.
Before I give my opinion on what I think is “wrong with CJ” I want to mention that (1) this is not all on CJ, the team/coach is largely to blame, and (2) CJ is not playing as bad as everyone says. On point (2): CJ is playing a career-high 37 mpg. This comes when many other teams are resting their stars for entire games at a time. He was also playing 40+ min in the playoffs j CJ so far is getting 18 ppg, shooting 38.5% from the field and and 42% effective. That’s bad, but it’s not THAT bad. Starting out for 9 games with these numbers is not worth trading someone over, not even close. On point (1): the entire team is a mess right now. We are dealing with new players, new injuries, new assistant coaches, new veterans, new rule changes, new court, new starting line up, new bench, new rotation after Zach injury, etc etc you can’t just put the blame on CJ. Our whole team is in a funk. Just bc Dame is a God that can get 60 while being doubled doesn’t mean CJ should be expected to do the same. CJ needs better screening and ball movement to be effective. As for “what’s wrong with CJ”: (1) He doesn’t seem to be at his peak regarding physical conditioning. he had a very serious injury just months ago and he also went father into the playoffs than ever (more games + less time off). (2) it is human nature to not be as driven when you get a contract like he did. We can criticize him for it, but it would happen to any of us. It’s impossible not to be motivated by that kind of money, and conversely to not have your motivation drop when the money is no longer at stake. (3) as mentioned, he relies on a system to get good looks. Our offense is a mess right now from top to bottom. I have faith in CJ. He isn’t a scrub. He works his ass off and he is a genuinely good dude. I honestly can’t believe how much people have turned on him just months after he carried us into the western conference finals against Denver.
It's true that CJ looked very good in preseason, which deepens the mystery (unless it's just that nobody plays D in preseason):
1) I completely agree that coaching is largely to blame here too. Why is CJ being run into the ground in early November when he's struggling? 2) I have no doubt that CJ will find his shot and get hot and his shooting %'s will look fine by the end of the year. However, the rest of CJ's game is the issue I have and that can't be explained away by different teammates this year. CJ's passing has gotten worse each of the 4 years since his breakout season in which he was a fairly decent passer. I completely disagree that he relies on a system to get good looks. He rarely plays within a system. This doesn't mean I'm saying he's a scrub. I agree that he's a good dude. Just off the top of my head I can recall multiple times in each of the 9 games so far where CJ just flat out ignored an open teammate to take a contested shot when drawing multiple defenders. I can maybe see doing so when the game is on the line in the playoffs but starting off a new season with a bunch of new teammates don't you think it would be best for the team for CJ to at least try to help others get going, especially when his shot isn't falling? The Philly game in particular was when I had enough. In the first half Hood had hit 4 shots in a row and was wide open in the corner again and CJ drove in on 3 guys and missed. He even looked right at Hood and had a clear pass before shooting. Same game there was at least two times where Skal's man had left him to stop CJ driving down the paint and he shot and missed a floater instead of just dumping it off for an easy two. Still in that same game, there was a play where CJ gets a pick from Tolliver and both defenders go with CJ and Tolliver is standing at the 3 point line with no one within 10 feet of him. Instead of passing back to him CJ shoots and makes a 15 foot jumper with two defenders all over him. The problem isn't whether or not the shot goes in, it's that over the course of a season a teammate with an open shot should almost always be the priority over taking a tough contested shot. It's even more magnified when the person shooting is struggling. CJ can't blame his teammates for that. If time and time again he passes to someone in that situation and they continually miss then people wouldn't blame CJ at all. There are times when CJ can get hot and make a bunch of crazy shots in a row. He definitely had several of those moments in the playoffs. I just wish he'd try to get others involved first. A lot of his shots are early in the shot clock without any rebounders in position either. The difference between when Dame does it and when CJ does it is Dame often needs to shoot early before the defense is set otherwise he doesn't get a good shot later on. CJ can create a shot for himself at any point in the shot clock. Why not try moving it around first and then if nothing is materializing then let CJ create for himself?
Does anyone ever sit down with him and watch film of plays like that and discuss what he could have done? After all these years, I'm thinking no.
oh c'mon. He had a great game 7 but the Blazers wouldn't have made it to a game 7 if it wasn't for Hood and Dame. and where was CJ the next 4 games? You know, those next 4 games when Dame was being tag-teamed by Klay and Iggy and doubled with Draymond/Looney? While he was being single-covered as the Warrior defense sold out to stop Dame? Where he was was out on the perimeter shooting 39% on FG's, 35% on three's, and carrying an ugly .481 TS%. and that's where the hole in the narrative that people have just recently "turned on CJ" comes in. Most of the people hammering CJ right now haven't just magically appeared this week on the 'hate CJ' bus. They've got there after watching CJ be the #2 option for 4 consecutive years. The views on CJ aren't just informed by the 9 games this season. They are informed by the 457 games before this season I mean, just go back to that 4 game sweep by the Warriors. The formula was the same as it has been for the close-out playoff series the previous 3 years. Opponents sell out the defense to stop Dame knowing the other Blazers can't beat them. The Warriors have done the exact same thing 3 times and the Pelicans did it once. Same formula...stop Dame. Blazers are 1-16 in those series, and the one win came when Curry didn't play. If CJ was as good as his fan-boys claim, that formula wouldn't succeed. It for damn sure wouldn't have succeeded enough that the Blazers were 1-16 and having lost 14 in a row. Where was game 7 CJ all those times? but that's the thing; Dame can have shooting slumps....he does every year. But even when he's shooting poorly he's finding other ways to engineer wins. He gets to the line and he runs the offense, finding the hot hand. He'll even play defense. Dame's shoulders are broad enough that he can carry the team to wins whille making teammates better. CJ doesn't make teammates better. When his shot isn't falling, he's got nothing else. He's not one-dimensional like Crabbe was, but his game has few facets last season, CJ was 5th on the team in PER; 10th in TS%; 12th in FT rate; 8th on the team in winhare/48 (tied with Harkless); 7th on the team in box plus minus. He did that while burning thru 20% of Portland's FGA; 25.5% of Portland's possessions; and over 25% of the cap last season, of the 276 NBA players with 1000 minutes or more, CJ ranked 86th in PER; 160th in TS%; 226th in FT rate; 120th in assist rate; 100th in winshares/48; and 110th in box plus/minus. He also ranked 94th in RPM....and he's a lousy defender so yeah, we all know that CJ will start shooting better and the venting directed at CJ will calm down. But that still won't change what he is: a narrow shouldered, high usage SG who tends to bring little else to a game except ball-stopping offense based on over-dribbling and burning shot-clock. It looks good when he's hitting everything and terrible when he isn't....like now
He want to replace Baker Mayfield and be a QB for the Browns. Only problem is, he don’t know how to pass the ball.
and you are assuming he doesn't? I haven't seen or heard anything to make me think otherwise, but then again, I don't sit in a forum bitching and whining about certain players like some of you guys do. I actually like the Blazers. I don't know what level of sports you played but did you care when you did?
Cup I can agree with everything you posted here but why the dig on all the people of the forum. These are honest questions and yes I agree he is in a slump. Hope he comes out of it. But what do you expect after a performance like we just watched wasting away a 60 point performance? CJ needs to break out of this slump quick or 1M will have his job.
I cant say for basketball, but I have befriended a few Ex-NFL players and Div1 CFB players and when this subject has come up, it has definitely been mentioned that some players care more about their stats and how they played instead of winning. Even current example, theirs been a lot of ex teammates of Antonio Brown who have said he didnt care if the team won or lost it was about his targets / catches and thats all that mattered to him. Im not trying to claim I know anything on CJ, but it’s not unheard in professional sports, or life in general for individuals to be in it for their own goals rather than the teams.
Because it gets old how some of these "fans" are so quick to jump on certain players. Now we have hoopjock question whether he even cares about winning. It's actually pretty sickening and I am about ready to quit the Blazer section. I look at the Blazers as kind of being an extended family and when someone is down, you don't kick them harder, you cheer them on is the way I have always been when I played and coached. Some of the shit that is being flung in this forum is pretty sickening.
