Jimmer came into the game with 3:07 left in the 4th quarter with Golden State ahead 93-74. One of the great debates of the 2013-14 season finally came to an end--would Jimmer play at the 1 or 2? He has been slotted in at point guard. 3rd stringer behind Vasquez and Isaiah Thomas. Dangerously close to "no-stringer" status.
Jimmer with a solid throw-in from out of bounds on the first possession. Then drifted to the right corner at the 3 point line. After the missed dunk, he did a great job getting back on transition D. Ended up on 6'10" Speights. Look on Jimmer's face was "this *** again? Why do we always have these retarded switches?" Shot went up and Jimmer actually blocked Speights out which resulted in the ball going out of bounds and going to the Kings.
2:44 mark.
Jimmer brought the ball up the court, with Toney Douglas applying pressure at half court. Jimmer turned his back to Douglas and used his off-hand to ward him off as he switched dribble hands. After giving the ball up to Outlaw he paused, then ran under Outlaw to the other side of the court above the 3 and called for the ball back. No dice. Ball goes to McLemore for the open jumper, swish.
On defense Jimmer was matched up on Douglas. No issues. Kings rebound. Outlaw brought the ball up the court with Jimmer running ahead on the right, and Outlaw took it all the way to the rim for a layup.
On the next defensive possession, the ball was passed to Douglas on the right "elbow" three-point line, and Douglas seeing Jimmer giving him space, let it fly. Jimmer contested the shot, but it was good. Should Jimmer have been closer? Is this a sign of his defensive liabilities? Is this Douglas letting a shot fly he wouldn't normally in a closer game (thus Jimmer playing the scouting report?). Douglas is a career 36% 3-point shooter, closer to 40% in recent years. Jimmer should have been playing him tighter. When you are on the bubble on being DNP Coach's decision for the rest of the year, you cannot afford to give up a basket in your only chance on the court. A momentary lapse here probably cost Jimmer big time.
Jimmer then brought the ball up the court left side, making a hard 90 degree cut right across the lane and giving the ball up. The recipient was open for the shot, but put the ball on the floor and drew the foul. Nothing flashy about this drive and kick.
On defense next, Jimmer left his man to go into the lane and cut off the driver. After doing so, he immediately ran to find his man in the left corner for a boxout. Solid defense. But after the prior lapse, no one is going to pay attention.
Getting the outlet up the right side, Jimmer took a step to his left, then did a 180 turn off of the defender with #55 helping create some space with a pick. Seeing the help, Kuzmic, a step away, Jimmer stopped and faded with an 18 foot jumper. A nice early offense bucket.
On defense, Jimmer moved down into the lane to help on Speights, should have had the steal, but in getting hit in the face only managed to knock the ball out of bounds.
On offense Jimmer brought the ball up, went past his man at the 3 point lane as the defender anticipated a pick which Jimmer did not use. He put a quick two-footed floating jumper off the backboard which was short and caromed off the rim. As unlikely as it was, Jimmer got the deflected rebound. Went down the baseline, could have hit a McLemore who was cutting to the corner, but instead circled back into the lane, then came out, and came back in. The big came to help and Jimmer gave 55 a nice little bounce pass. 55 went up for the dunk but was rudely rejected by Speights and ended up on his butt. The ball eventually came out to Outlaw at the top of the key. The close out came hard to Outlaw who saw a wide open Jimmer but instead faked the pass and went pass the closeout defender into the lane and scored a layup at the rim. This is the Kings way. The worst thing you can do as a King, apparently, is overpass. Nobody has ever accused the Kings of overpassing. Jimmer was calling for the ball like crazy. Knowing it could have been his only 3 point attempt of the season. Alas, we will never know if he would have connected.
After the Warriors made a layup in the half-court set, the ball went to Jimmer on the final possession. For a second he lost the ball as went behind his back, cementing the notion with the coaches and everyone else that he lacks a handle. You can't make a mistake like that when you are about to be permanently benched. It was just a split second, but it was terrible. The resulting pass from Jimmer that went to Outlaw did end up as a made 3 pointer. So an assist. After that the Warriors ran out the clock.
So in all Jimmer scored 2 points on 2 shots, with 1 rebound, 1 assist and no turnovers. If we calculate Jimmer's averages per 36 minutes, that is a respectable 24 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists and no turnovers or fouls. It is of course a very small sample size, but might be the only sample of the season. He was +8 in his 3 minutes on the floor.
So what do we take away? Jimmer gave up a 3 pointer, not playing close enough to his defender. He did not have trouble bringing the ball up the floor, though did have a non-clean dribbling moment. His highlights were making a difficult jumper as well as blocking out a much bigger Speights.
I think Jimmer walks away from this game feeling okay, but not having done anything to dispel the doubters. He has to be hoping he will be traded as soon as possible. Is it possible that the Kings will grow as a team and organization, with more mature play, giving up their selfish gunner ways? Or is it more likely that they will implode in their usual me-first ways? Interestingly Jimmer is competing for time against Thomas and Vasquez at the 1. With Vasquez ironically being one player in the league who may have less foot speed than Jimmer. But he is taller. He looks bigger as he picks up bad fouls and gives up easy buckets. Tough situation when a guy ahead of you is just as bad a defender, and worse at scoring, but is the guy who the team has invested in. After McLemore's nice game shooting, it has probably even further decreased the chances that Jimmer will ever be on the floor this season at the 2 position. Only an injury to one of the top 4 guard would lead to the possibility of Jimmer getting any time.
Jimmer with a solid throw-in from out of bounds on the first possession. Then drifted to the right corner at the 3 point line. After the missed dunk, he did a great job getting back on transition D. Ended up on 6'10" Speights. Look on Jimmer's face was "this *** again? Why do we always have these retarded switches?" Shot went up and Jimmer actually blocked Speights out which resulted in the ball going out of bounds and going to the Kings.
2:44 mark.
Jimmer brought the ball up the court, with Toney Douglas applying pressure at half court. Jimmer turned his back to Douglas and used his off-hand to ward him off as he switched dribble hands. After giving the ball up to Outlaw he paused, then ran under Outlaw to the other side of the court above the 3 and called for the ball back. No dice. Ball goes to McLemore for the open jumper, swish.
On defense Jimmer was matched up on Douglas. No issues. Kings rebound. Outlaw brought the ball up the court with Jimmer running ahead on the right, and Outlaw took it all the way to the rim for a layup.
On the next defensive possession, the ball was passed to Douglas on the right "elbow" three-point line, and Douglas seeing Jimmer giving him space, let it fly. Jimmer contested the shot, but it was good. Should Jimmer have been closer? Is this a sign of his defensive liabilities? Is this Douglas letting a shot fly he wouldn't normally in a closer game (thus Jimmer playing the scouting report?). Douglas is a career 36% 3-point shooter, closer to 40% in recent years. Jimmer should have been playing him tighter. When you are on the bubble on being DNP Coach's decision for the rest of the year, you cannot afford to give up a basket in your only chance on the court. A momentary lapse here probably cost Jimmer big time.
Jimmer then brought the ball up the court left side, making a hard 90 degree cut right across the lane and giving the ball up. The recipient was open for the shot, but put the ball on the floor and drew the foul. Nothing flashy about this drive and kick.
On defense next, Jimmer left his man to go into the lane and cut off the driver. After doing so, he immediately ran to find his man in the left corner for a boxout. Solid defense. But after the prior lapse, no one is going to pay attention.
Getting the outlet up the right side, Jimmer took a step to his left, then did a 180 turn off of the defender with #55 helping create some space with a pick. Seeing the help, Kuzmic, a step away, Jimmer stopped and faded with an 18 foot jumper. A nice early offense bucket.
On defense, Jimmer moved down into the lane to help on Speights, should have had the steal, but in getting hit in the face only managed to knock the ball out of bounds.
On offense Jimmer brought the ball up, went past his man at the 3 point lane as the defender anticipated a pick which Jimmer did not use. He put a quick two-footed floating jumper off the backboard which was short and caromed off the rim. As unlikely as it was, Jimmer got the deflected rebound. Went down the baseline, could have hit a McLemore who was cutting to the corner, but instead circled back into the lane, then came out, and came back in. The big came to help and Jimmer gave 55 a nice little bounce pass. 55 went up for the dunk but was rudely rejected by Speights and ended up on his butt. The ball eventually came out to Outlaw at the top of the key. The close out came hard to Outlaw who saw a wide open Jimmer but instead faked the pass and went pass the closeout defender into the lane and scored a layup at the rim. This is the Kings way. The worst thing you can do as a King, apparently, is overpass. Nobody has ever accused the Kings of overpassing. Jimmer was calling for the ball like crazy. Knowing it could have been his only 3 point attempt of the season. Alas, we will never know if he would have connected.
After the Warriors made a layup in the half-court set, the ball went to Jimmer on the final possession. For a second he lost the ball as went behind his back, cementing the notion with the coaches and everyone else that he lacks a handle. You can't make a mistake like that when you are about to be permanently benched. It was just a split second, but it was terrible. The resulting pass from Jimmer that went to Outlaw did end up as a made 3 pointer. So an assist. After that the Warriors ran out the clock.
So in all Jimmer scored 2 points on 2 shots, with 1 rebound, 1 assist and no turnovers. If we calculate Jimmer's averages per 36 minutes, that is a respectable 24 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists and no turnovers or fouls. It is of course a very small sample size, but might be the only sample of the season. He was +8 in his 3 minutes on the floor.
So what do we take away? Jimmer gave up a 3 pointer, not playing close enough to his defender. He did not have trouble bringing the ball up the floor, though did have a non-clean dribbling moment. His highlights were making a difficult jumper as well as blocking out a much bigger Speights.
I think Jimmer walks away from this game feeling okay, but not having done anything to dispel the doubters. He has to be hoping he will be traded as soon as possible. Is it possible that the Kings will grow as a team and organization, with more mature play, giving up their selfish gunner ways? Or is it more likely that they will implode in their usual me-first ways? Interestingly Jimmer is competing for time against Thomas and Vasquez at the 1. With Vasquez ironically being one player in the league who may have less foot speed than Jimmer. But he is taller. He looks bigger as he picks up bad fouls and gives up easy buckets. Tough situation when a guy ahead of you is just as bad a defender, and worse at scoring, but is the guy who the team has invested in. After McLemore's nice game shooting, it has probably even further decreased the chances that Jimmer will ever be on the floor this season at the 2 position. Only an injury to one of the top 4 guard would lead to the possibility of Jimmer getting any time.
