Jason Thompson... Learn to use your left hand

S

sactownfan

Guest
#1
#1
he was very active and consistent during the summer league... he showed an ability to be clutch... he showed a good all around game complete with rebounding and defense.... BUT

Dude learn to shoot with your left hand... in the NBA he's going to draw alot of fouls with his moving to the left shooting with the right moves, but he will probably be blocked more for not protecting the ball with his off hand...

i dont know about you but i see this as the biggest RED FLAG in his game...
 
S

sactownfan

Guest
#3
#3
VF21 said:
If that's the biggest red flag, I'm even more encouraged about this young man from Rider.

:)
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yep... very excited to see this kid grow... he will figure out that he has two hands... im sure of it...
 
R

rhythmless

Starter
#5
#5
biggest red flag? how many nba players do you see able to consistently use their left hand? now how many of them are 4/5s? please, do name them.

there are only a handful of guys in the nba that can consistently use both hands, and they do so only sparingly.

further, you talk like using an offhand is easy to do, with a couple months of training. how many people can use their offhand for eating, writing, brushing their teeth, throwing a ball, shooting a gun, etc?

i think you are vastly underrating the difficulty and occurances of an offhand in nba play.
 
S

sactownfan

Guest
#6
#6
rhythmless said:
biggest red flag? how many nba players do you see able to consistently use their left hand? now how many of them are 4/5s? please, do name them.

there are only a handful of guys in the nba that can consistently use both hands, and they do so only sparingly.

further, you talk like using an offhand is easy to do, with a couple months of training. how many people can use their offhand for eating, writing, brushing their teeth, throwing a ball, shooting a gun, etc?

i think you are vastly underrating the difficulty and occurances of an offhand in nba play.
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dude it aint that hard... serious... it took me less than a month to develop a consistent little spin to a left handed baby hook shot in high school... in fact once i got that shot down it was gravy... people didnt expect it even after i showed it once or twice in a game... im sure JT will figure it out in no time... (i also learned a counter move to go wit it during that time)

if you have played basketball you would know its nothing like learning to write with your off hand... wow... practice it for like 1 1/2 hours a day for 2 weeks it will be raining baby left hooks after that... i still wouldn't be able to write left handed after that same amount of time practicing...
 
M

mac

All-Star
#7
#7
Greg Oden can shoot with both hands right? I'm sure JT can use it in practice, but at the professional level (ok fine so it's summer league) you want to go with shots that you're most comfortable with, and that you are more likely to make.
 
Aenadin

Aenadin

Starter
#8
#8
every ones got their bread and butter moves... im pretty sure he will learn his..

heck shooting wise i know he is already better than most Bigs out there...

same goes with Hawes both guys in terms of versatility are better than other bigs out there.. they just need a little muscle and need to get that "im still a guard that had a growth spurt" mentality out of their system and get in the paint their big boys now
 
D

dmj

Bench
#9
#9
I don't think I saw him use his left hand once during summer league, and there were several occasions where I saw him use his right hand when he clearly should have gone left.

He doesn't have to be great with his left hand, but he at least has to have it as an option. Otherwise players will have a much easier time guarding him in the post.
 
A

ainokea

Prospect
#10
#10
I was impressed by him much more than Hawes. As much as I would like Hawes to be good I just don't think he will be. JT's biggest weakness from what I saw was his pick and roll d. He was either hedging too loose and letting the pg into the lane or too flat and not forcing the pg back into the defense. Needs to be fixed or he's a liability. Love him though.
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#11
#11
dmj said:
I don't think I saw him use his left hand once during summer league, and there were several occasions where I saw him use his right hand when he clearly should have gone left.

He doesn't have to be great with his left hand, but he at least has to have it as an option. Otherwise players will have a much easier time guarding him in the post.
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If you had watched closely, you would have noticed that he dribbled the ball with his left hand. He can use his left hand, he just has to get comfortable with it. As someone said eariler, you tend to go with whats worked in the past and your comfortable with. In his college games I saw him use a jump hookshot that, because of his height, is almost unblockable. I finally saw him use it yesterday, and he scored with it.

Now, if in two years he still doing he same things, then we'll worry. Lets put it this way. Everyone was in love with Justin Williams. If Justin had to go one on one with Jason, Jason would foul him out of the game. The opposite wouldn't be true. I find it amusing that some people were willing to completely overlook all the offensive weaknesses in Justin's game, and now want to nic pic Jason's. Nature of the beast, I suspose.
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#12
#12
ainokea said:
I was impressed by him much more than Hawes. As much as I would like Hawes to be good I just don't think he will be. JT's biggest weakness from what I saw was his pick and roll d. He was either hedging too loose and letting the pg into the lane or too flat and not forcing the pg back into the defense. Needs to be fixed or he's a liability. Love him though.
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I think liability is just a tad too strong a word. I mean he hasn't even been through a training camp. Come on folks. Lets keep it real here. Its summer league. Lets not over analyze this thing. He's not a finished product, and neither is Hawes. Hawes is 20 years old and Jason is 21. For thier age they show the potential to be very good. That means that the Kings, along with Beno, Martin, Salmons, Cisco, and maybe Sheldon, have the potential to be very good. Lets all just be patient.
 
Löwenherz

Löwenherz

Starter
#13
#13
I'm with VF ... if this is the biggest gripe we have about the 12th pick out of Rider, I am rather optimistic for the young PF/C who initially made me yell obscenities at the TV for having his name called.
 
F

FakeInjury

Bench
#16
#16
I really hope that Petrie informs theus to take the hawes route with thompson. Slow and steady. give him a scrap of pt here, a scrap of pt there. See what he does with it. I am against starting a rookie, and i think theus agrees. This streaky MF is only going to be good for a few minutes anyways. but he definately has some streaks of dominant thompson.
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#17
#17
FakeInjury said:
I really hope that Petrie informs theus to take the hawes route with thompson. Slow and steady. give him a scrap of pt here, a scrap of pt there. See what he does with it. I am against starting a rookie, and i think theus agrees. This streaky MF is only going to be good for a few minutes anyways. but he definately has some streaks of dominant thompson.
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I think, that at the end of training camp, if Thompson is your best PF on the team. You start him and take your lumps. You throw scraps to a dog, which he is not.
 
Telemachus

Telemachus

Starter
#18
#18
rhythmless said:
biggest red flag? how many nba players do you see able to consistently use their left hand? now how many of them are 4/5s? please, do name them.

there are only a handful of guys in the nba that can consistently use both hands, and they do so only sparingly.

further, you talk like using an offhand is easy to do, with a couple months of training. how many people can use their offhand for eating, writing, brushing their teeth, throwing a ball, shooting a gun, etc?

i think you are vastly underrating the difficulty and occurances of an offhand in nba play.
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Nobody is asking him to learn to shoot left-handed, only to use it around the basket once in a while. That is NOT a hard thing to do. Almost all NBA PFs and Cs use both hands around the basket some of the time.

I agree that if this is the biggest red-flag (which I think it is), then that is a good thing. Almost all the weaknesses in JTs game that I see are things that can be corrected with hard work and good coaching. That means in the end it is going to come down to how hard JT is will to work.
 
Telemachus

Telemachus

Starter
#19
#19
FakeInjury said:
I really hope that Petrie informs theus to take the hawes route with thompson. Slow and steady. give him a scrap of pt here, a scrap of pt there. See what he does with it. I am against starting a rookie, and i think theus agrees. This streaky MF is only going to be good for a few minutes anyways. but he definately has some streaks of dominant thompson.
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I think you have let his performance during Training camp and pre-season dictate if he starts and how much he plays. Based on what I have seen, I think he is already our best offensive option at PF. If Moore starts, I think it will likely because of defense. It is going to take JT some time to learn the ins and outs of NBA defense, not to mention dealing with the rookie treatment from the refs.

As for Hawes, I don't think he would have been played as sparingly last season if not for the injury. Hopefully, we will get a chance to see more of what he can do for the Kings this season.
 
F

FakeInjury

Bench
#21
#21
I dont think he will be getting the regular rookie treatment. when you can FINISH over the top, with authority, you dont need the foul calls. but they should come anyways.
 
tyrant

tyrant

Starter
#22
#22
Telemachus said:
I think you have let his performance during Training camp and pre-season dictate if he starts and how much he plays. Based on what I have seen, I think he is already our best offensive option at PF. If Moore starts, I think it will likely because of defense..
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what defense?
 
M

mrlaze

Bench
#23
#23
I have seen top level players use their right hand to make, what should be, left handed moves. I wouldnt be too worried about it. But I'd would like it better if they all learned what I learned in HS B-Ball. I like that he has shown the ability to perform at the end of a game, big ups there.
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#24
#24
bajaden said:
I think, that at the end of training camp, if Thompson is your best PF on the team. You start him and take your lumps. You throw scraps to a dog, which he is not.
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When I heard Reggie on the radio yesterday the first guy he wanted to talk about was Sheldon Williams. Maybe Williams is going to be the first guy off the bench?...:rolleyes:
 
JerN820

JerN820

Bench
#25
#25
bajaden said:
I think liability is just a tad too strong a word. I mean he hasn't even been through a training camp. Come on folks. Lets keep it real here. Its summer league. Lets not over analyze this thing. He's not a finished product, and neither is Hawes. Hawes is 20 years old and Jason is 21. For thier age they show the potential to be very good. That means that the Kings, along with Beno, Martin, Salmons, Cisco, and maybe Sheldon, have the potential to be very good. Lets all just be patient.
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Good point. There are some nobodies out there scoring a lot of points in the summer league, but wont see much playing time come the season. Wasnt Marco Belinelli the stud of the summer league last year? And what happened to him? I think Jason and Spencer have potential, but this just goes to show we shouldnt put any stock into the summer league.
 
tyrant

tyrant

Starter
#26
#26
bajaden said:
I think liability is just a tad too strong a word. I mean he hasn't even been through a training camp. Come on folks. Lets keep it real here. Its summer league. Lets not over analyze this thing. He's not a finished product, and neither is Hawes. Hawes is 20 years old and Jason is 21. For thier age they show the potential to be very good. That means that the Kings, along with Beno, Martin, Salmons, Cisco, and maybe Sheldon, have the potential to be very good. Lets all just be patient.
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i said the same thing and got yelled at.
 
F

FakeInjury

Bench
#29
#29
Experience at which position?...He will get manhandled by 4's and dominated by 5's. I think his best bet is to take over Artest's role as a big 3. He is closer to lebron james, than he is to dwight howard. If we are going there...Overall he seems to be a healthy mix of those two, which might work well. Once again, he will not be happy against 4's and 5's this year, maybe next year. I would like to see him handling the rock at some point, just to know where my lebron james comparison stands. I would like to see him eating more and working out more, because he is a four with the body of a legit small foward.
 
EricDraven

EricDraven

Prospect
#30
#30
FakeInjury said:
Experience at which position?...He will get manhandled by 4's and dominated by 5's. I think his best bet is to take over Artest's role as a big 3. He is closer to lebron james, than he is to dwight howard. If we are going there...Overall he seems to be a healthy mix of those two, which might work well. Once again, he will not be happy against 4's and 5's this year, maybe next year. I would like to see him handling the rock at some point, just to know where my lebron james comparison stands. I would like to see him eating more and working out more, because he is a four with the body of a legit small foward.
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He is small for the 4 position. Hes tall enough i guess, but he def needs some weight gain. He might do well as a small forward. Not sure if he would be a Bron type player in that spot, but possibly a pretty good one.
 
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