JJ Hickson
- Thread starter Mr. S£im Citrus
- Start date
I'm pretty disgusted that Hickson has been playing as well as he has since joining Portland....
21 pts, 9-10 shooting in 26 mins against OKC, then 12 pts 6 reb, on 6-10 shooting against NOH. Now Tonights 29pt 13 reb game... Was he purposely trying to suck in order to leave or is Portlands system just getting more out of its players.
21 pts, 9-10 shooting in 26 mins against OKC, then 12 pts 6 reb, on 6-10 shooting against NOH. Now Tonights 29pt 13 reb game... Was he purposely trying to suck in order to leave or is Portlands system just getting more out of its players.
saw that. he gave up here, it's clear. he didn't want any part of this screwed up situation. He was just waiting/maneuvering to go to a place he wanted. Would not be surprised if he becomes Aldridges long term mate... and yes, potential all star. He fits very well there. body language TOTALLY different on the court.
Where was this guy all year?? He leaves, and then gets 29 pts and 13 rebounds for the Trailblazers!!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore?gid=2012033012
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore?gid=2012033012
I think the big concern was that he didn't work with Cousins and you certainly don't boost Hickson at the expense of Cousins. With Aldridge the last of Portland's "Big 3" out and all their other assets shipped off at the deadline Hickson finds himself pretty much in the same spot he found himself in Cleveland last year. We're a different kind of bad team, unfortunately.
IMHO he was just a terrible fit for this team and this team was a terrible fit for him. Its just about the worst player we could go for at PF and we were just about the worst team he could be sent to. When I say worst team, I really mean worst situation for him as a player.
This "marriage" was never going to work out. It sure as hell looked sexy on NBA2K12 but in real life, it was always disaster waiting to happen. JJ Hickson was everything we did NOT need in a PF and from his perspective, Cousins was everything he did NOT want in his frontcourt partner.
We never used him right and we were never going to get him involved as much as he needs to be involved. Hickson is a talented player but he needs to be in the right situation to be effective. He did not sandbag it here because he had everything everything to lose by doing that. He is in a contract year and if he ever needed to play well this was going to be the year.
This "marriage" was never going to work out. It sure as hell looked sexy on NBA2K12 but in real life, it was always disaster waiting to happen. JJ Hickson was everything we did NOT need in a PF and from his perspective, Cousins was everything he did NOT want in his frontcourt partner.
We never used him right and we were never going to get him involved as much as he needs to be involved. Hickson is a talented player but he needs to be in the right situation to be effective. He did not sandbag it here because he had everything everything to lose by doing that. He is in a contract year and if he ever needed to play well this was going to be the year.
To go to a team that is a better fit. I think he feels like he could get a contract eventually of 10-15 mil/year. Probably sized up the situation here (after a little bit-- not saying he planned it from the get go), and saw he'd never be a major front line cog. You can imagine him going from the year he had last year... to then being maybe some kind of rebounding/put back specialist with us. He wouldn't have even been the number two scoring option in the post.
I think it's right to be annoyed when your team--desperate for talent, that really needs to make the most with every asset it has--has clearly mismanaged a piece that could have been valuable. At the very least, why not use JJ as the interior offensive focus when DMC is on the bench? Even if it's more on JJ, how is Portland's--interim, by the way--coach able to reach him but the Kings staff can't?