I think that if your were to watch film of Jimmer his first year in the league, and then watch film of him in this current preseason, you would have to be blind not to see improvement.. Players that put in the time, get better. Fans on the other hand, tend to live with past imprints, and not see that improvement. To say that he's weak, is just pure nonsense. He's always been a gym rat, and a workout nut. Give credit where its due. You don't think he's rotation material, that's fine. But you don't have to throw him in the trash pile just to make your point. I heard these same things said about J.J. Reddick. Never underestimate an over achiever.
And by the way, I'm not saying that Jimmer should start, or even be in the rotation. All I'm saying is give him his due.
the weak argument applies mostly to his potentially defending guards that actually like to post up, your Millers, Billupses, Westbrooks and what have you. this only gets exacerbated, if you put him at the 2, where the players get stronger and taller. admittedly, it's probably not much of an issue, as only few guards are left that have a game that predicated on punishing their opposition in the post. still, the idea of Jimmer battling a guy like Tyreke or, god forbid, Kobe in the post doesn't the point of that is rather that there's actually no type of player he could comfortably defend. spot up guys are a problem because he has trouble fighting through screens and is then not fast or long enough to effectively challenge a shot. he's an easy target for screens, because he's got a relatively wide body that doesn't allow him to get around them as easily as other guys and he's to slow to cheat around them, because that makes the ways he needs to go even longer. just now, I've rewatched footage of a February game against Orlando, where Jimmer subs in early and gets absolutely lit up by E'Twaun Moore, when Jimmer can't do anything about him draining 3 three-pointers in his face spotting up off screens, rather easily gives up position on the defensive glass (Tyreke saved that one) and then can only foul Afflalo on a switch. penetrators operating heavily with pick-and-rolls are even worse, especially considering that's where the league has a ton of offensive talent.
as for the preseason. in the Phoenix game, the Suns never really made a concerted effort to go at Jimmer. Dragic could pretty much get to any point on the floor he wanted out of pick-and-rolls, but was mostly looking to pass it off. Brown, Goodwin and Christmas managed to score over him in transition a couple of times and got to the rim fairly easily (getting huge amounts of separation between themselves and Jimmer in the process), they just couldn't get anything done there. in the Portland game, he did manage to keep Mo Williams in front of him once and Williams also missed a shot with Jimmer closing out. however, Williams also shot a three over him and set up a couple of open shots for his team. Williams was stopped by help defense some, so maybe Jimmer improved in funnelling his man into the help. the Golden State game just wasn't pretty. Jimmer got confused on screens and gave up quite a few open looks to Curry and Klay Thompson. this, of course, was a team-wide phenomenon in that game, but, particularly in the third, Jimmer did stick out somewhat and was pulled accordingly.
all this is not to dump on Jimmer, I do believe that he tries as hard as he can, it's just that his body and natural athletic ability limit his defensive ability and there's nothing he can do about it.
edit: one thing where there might be a misunderstanding between us, it's not that I don't think that Jimmer can improve his defense or that he hasn't so far. it's that I think his athletic limitations won't allow him to improve it enough to be playable in a rotation that could compete for a playoff spot, let alone a championship.
