[Grades] Grades v. Raptors 11/20/2016
- Thread starter Bricklayer
- Start date
I maybe should have been more clear with my original post.
I am not advocating for Willie to get more minutes. He's getting minutes when we have foul trouble and/or injuries and that's the way it should be. We can now allow him to grow, in the smaller role where he will make mistakes but we can hopeful minimise that. He should learn from these mistakes and in another couple of seasons turn into a valuable piece for our team. I was speaking out specifically against the statements of "WCS is a bust" and "trade home for scraps" etc.
I am not advocating for Willie to get more minutes. He's getting minutes when we have foul trouble and/or injuries and that's the way it should be. We can now allow him to grow, in the smaller role where he will make mistakes but we can hopeful minimise that. He should learn from these mistakes and in another couple of seasons turn into a valuable piece for our team. I was speaking out specifically against the statements of "WCS is a bust" and "trade home for scraps" etc.
Rudy looked like a 2 way all star last and again why can't we have this energy from him everynight. His mobility and length pretty much shut down the NBA's best scorer.
I feel like Rudy sometimes lets the bigger name SFs like Lebron, KD, Khawi etc get into his head too easily and relies on long jumpers and stuff he can't do well to overcome it.
He is NOT physically inferior to any of them! In fact he is more often the bigger and equally as mobile guy outside of Lebron.
Joergers number 1 job should be getting Rudy in his spots(midrange,downlow) and get him going because for him that gets his defensive energy going. Cuz will get his but even he should recognize that an engaged Rudy makes us able to compete with any team in the league and should look to use the attention he draws to get Rudy going from the jump.
Perhaps we have been under-utilizing Temple a bit this year because the defensive effort he put forth last night was not anything new yet he continues to get overlooked in our rotation. Maybe things will change now.
I feel like Rudy sometimes lets the bigger name SFs like Lebron, KD, Khawi etc get into his head too easily and relies on long jumpers and stuff he can't do well to overcome it.
He is NOT physically inferior to any of them! In fact he is more often the bigger and equally as mobile guy outside of Lebron.
Joergers number 1 job should be getting Rudy in his spots(midrange,downlow) and get him going because for him that gets his defensive energy going. Cuz will get his but even he should recognize that an engaged Rudy makes us able to compete with any team in the league and should look to use the attention he draws to get Rudy going from the jump.
Perhaps we have been under-utilizing Temple a bit this year because the defensive effort he put forth last night was not anything new yet he continues to get overlooked in our rotation. Maybe things will change now.
He got beat one time when he didn't stop the ball. After that, he did stop the ball, but had no help. You can't have it both ways. If the center commits to pushing the PG out aways from the basket, then he has to get inside help, and Willie didn't get it last night. He made one mistake and that's it. Go read a book on NBA defense and how its played. Sometimes the guy that looks guilty isn't the one that made the mistake. I guarantee you that if Willie is on the floor with Cuz, he gets the help he needs. Amazing that no one noticed that the same thing happened when Cousins was out there with four midgets. But then, you wouldn't be able to pick on Willie would you?
Temple needs to start, instead of Lawson at Shooting Guard! 
I wouldn't even mind starting temple at PG, provided it's next to Afflalo and Gay. 5 mins at the start of each half.
Then he can finish the game at the 2 next to Collison.
Not saying he should play more than minutes, it's just more time would be spent defending the other team's best guards. I see Ty as more of a situational spark/injury insurance, rather then being a set part of the rotation. When you need scoring, put in Ben, ballhandling put in Ty.
Then he can finish the game at the 2 next to Collison.
Not saying he should play more than minutes, it's just more time would be spent defending the other team's best guards. I see Ty as more of a situational spark/injury insurance, rather then being a set part of the rotation. When you need scoring, put in Ben, ballhandling put in Ty.
Damaging photos theory is the first, that comes to mind, but it's more likely "He was so good not long ago, so there must be something similar still left not far underneath the surface, so I should keep digging in order to uncover it" thinking going on, though reuniting Denver gang of Lawson, Afflalo and Koufos along with pacey crowd of Ben, Omri and Willie (yes, I did just call lethargic Willie pacey) looks like a natural fit.
He pretty much has been playing with that kind of energy all season. He's been rock solid outside of a couple of bad games against the Clips and Spurs who both have really good defending SF's. He's been much more effective on the defensive side of the ball and you could see that he really took shutting down the #1 scorer in the NBA seriously last night.
I really like what he's been doing in the low post lately. Instead of setting for jump shots, he's been spinning by his man and throwing down dunks all season long.
On a second unrelated note, what was up with the Raptors not taking advantage of Collison guarding Carroll? They went to him immediately for 2 easy points. Next possession they tried again but his positioning wasn't as good and he ended up further away from the basket where Collison could guard him easier. After that I can't recall them ever going back to that mismatch again. I know Carroll isn't a give me the ball and get out of the way kind of scorer but life should have been a bit easier for him when a guy 8 inches or whatever shorter is on him.
I really like what he's been doing in the low post lately. Instead of setting for jump shots, he's been spinning by his man and throwing down dunks all season long.
On a second unrelated note, what was up with the Raptors not taking advantage of Collison guarding Carroll? They went to him immediately for 2 easy points. Next possession they tried again but his positioning wasn't as good and he ended up further away from the basket where Collison could guard him easier. After that I can't recall them ever going back to that mismatch again. I know Carroll isn't a give me the ball and get out of the way kind of scorer but life should have been a bit easier for him when a guy 8 inches or whatever shorter is on him.
Actually, you are wrong. Valanciunus set a pick on our PG, and then rolled to the basket. WCS has 2 options at that point. Either make a quick show and follow Valanciunus to the basket (leaving Lowry a clear lane to the basket), or stopping Lowry and letting one of the forwards rotate to Valanciunus to take away the pass. WCS chose the latter, but no one rotated. I should point out that the first time the Raptors ran the play, WCS chose the first option, and Lowry went right to the basket.
We started sending help, which you need to, and notably stayed away from the double mini backcourt after the Raptors made such a display of going after it -- in the end Collison + Lawson only played maybe 11-15 minutes together.
As an aside, I thought that was a poor coaching move by Joerger. I know he needed to shake things up, but the exact "how" of it was up to his discretion, and I could have told him right off that the Raptors were NOT the opponent to suddenly use a twin-mini backcourt against. If you want to experiment with that you need it to be against a team with a non-scorer or pure jumpshooter at the 2/3 to hide the 2nd little guard on.
But Joerger figured that out pretty quick.
As an aside, I thought that was a poor coaching move by Joerger. I know he needed to shake things up, but the exact "how" of it was up to his discretion, and I could have told him right off that the Raptors were NOT the opponent to suddenly use a twin-mini backcourt against. If you want to experiment with that you need it to be against a team with a non-scorer or pure jumpshooter at the 2/3 to hide the 2nd little guard on.
But Joerger figured that out pretty quick.
I actually liked how Cousins played the 4th. He was taking what the Raptors were giving him (yes, he was missing some shots, but they didn't feel forced). I have seen some 4th quarters where he bully balls it or Rudy forces shots, resulting in turnovers and offensive fouls and a loss. I didn't get the sense Cousins was disengaged but rather under control.
Look at his reaction after the final tip. He was energized, but calm and confident. We don't need a bunch of guys trying to be heroes at the end of games. Keep the schemes, play within yourself. Cliches, but useful for this team to remember down the stretch.
Look at his reaction after the final tip. He was energized, but calm and confident. We don't need a bunch of guys trying to be heroes at the end of games. Keep the schemes, play within yourself. Cliches, but useful for this team to remember down the stretch.
