[Game] Wizards @ Kings - 1/16/13

[Glenn]

i saw Jimmer actually play some pretty good one on one D against Wall last night at times. he did the same thing against Kyrie the other night and even blocked his shot once. besides a few moments of leaving good shooters alone in the corner, Jimmer's D has greatly improved.


still i wouldnt wanna see the results of him guarding some starting PG's like Westbrook, D Will, CP3 etc

I thought I saw some very good defense at times also. The issue in my mind is whether or not his defense is good enough so that we can take advantage of his one amazing skill and that is his shooting. He doesn't have to be all pro on defense. He can get burned by some of the better guards but can they stop him? Can the great guards guard Jimmer?

The crowd is already cheering when he pulls up for a shot and I don't think that's because they are all BYU fans. They recognize what an incredible shooter he is already. I mean ALREADY. He'll most likely get better but what amazes me about him is that he has so many different types of shots that tend to swish. As crazy and illogical is this may sound, given the incredible change from the poor lost Jimmer of last year to the Jimmer with a swag of this year, can we look forward to the same from TRob? If so, we will have two guys with special skills that will be remarkable role players (I have an odd definition of that) to play around DFC and Tyreke.

It is an absolute shame that the joy of watching these guys improve is weighed down by the worry of whether they will even be in Sacramento.

 

[The_Jamal]

i saw Jimmer actually play some pretty good one on one D against Wall last night at times. he did the same thing against Kyrie the other night and even blocked his shot once. besides a few moments of leaving good shooters alone in the corner, Jimmer's D has greatly improved.


still i wouldnt wanna see the results of him guarding some starting PG's like Westbrook, D Will, CP3 etc

With Jimmer though, we don't need him to even be average defensively if he continues to be a mega efficient offensive player as he's been most of the year. PG defense is by far the least important of any defensive position and bad defensive PG's can be hidden quite easily. If Jimmer is playing with a lineup consiting of Reke-Salmons-JT-Cousins he's going to be able to shine offensively and not be exposed defensively. If he plays with a lineup consisting of IT-Jimmer-Thornton-James Johnson-Hayes then we're going to see his problems exposed.

Not being able to maximize his players talents is a real problem Smart has. We saw it perfectly last night when Jimmer an Hayes played great basketball the second half when they were in roles they could succeed in.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

it would be a lot easier to give Jimmer big minutes at PG if we had a shot blocker in the paint like Chandler. or even the guy we recently lost Dalembert.

then we wouldnt be so worried about CP3 or others getting past him

 

[HereWeBoogie]

If Jimmer is playing with a lineup consiting of Reke-Salmons-JT-Cousins he's going to be able to shine offensively and not be exposed defensively.

thats a great point. if he's on the floor with Reke and Salmons, who will be guarding the best 2 players, Jimmers defense will not be as important.

now when Smart puts his crappy bench lineup out there and Jimmer is on the court with Thornton and Garcia and T-Rob and Hayes, his defensive inefficiency is highlighted.

 

[LWP777]

I have a random criticism about something DMC does (and I have a lot of them!). How come on almost every defensive rebound he cradles the ball and puts his head down for 2-3 seconds? I can understand doing it every once in a while when there is heavy traffic and he's just trying to protecting the ball, but he does it a lot and it's extremely unnecessary. What it does it eliminates a chance for us to get out and run, or at the very least get up the floor quicker and get into our offense sooner. It also allows the defense to get back and set up their defense scheme.

I know this might be nitpicking but I think it should be pointed out and frankly I'm surprised that his coaches haven't pointed this out to him yet. He needs to learn how to rebound and get his elbows out and quickly find one of this guards.

 

[Glenn]

I know this might be nitpicking but I think it should be pointed out and frankly I'm surprised that his coaches haven't pointed this out to him yet. He needs to learn how to rebound and get his elbows out and quickly find one of this guards.

I've noticed it and, yes, I think it is nit picking. He seems to be a decent rebounder the way it is and perhaps all other rebounders will copy him.

 

[LWP777]

I've noticed it and, yes, I think it is nit picking. He seems to be a decent rebounder the way it is and perhaps all other rebounders will copy him.

I agree he is a good rebounder. I have no problem with that but don't you agree that he could work on getting the ball to a guard quicker? I seriously think it could result in scoring on a couple more possessions per game, which could be huge. It's all about correcting a lot of small mistakes in order to be a great player/team. That's the stuff Pop in San Antonio would correct right away.

 

[spudfan]

I don't mind him taking a second to collect the ball. He has hit guys with full court passes after getting a board when they leak out so it really isn't an issue. In addition I would rather have one of our top 2 offensive players down the court instead of having one of our guards push it up while leaving Cousins way behind. His offensive rebounding is one of our strengths. Pushing the ball more often removes that from the equation.

 

[twslam07]

i saw Jimmer actually play some pretty good one on one D against Wall last night at times. he did the same thing against Kyrie the other night and even blocked his shot once. besides a few moments of leaving good shooters alone in the corner, Jimmer's D has greatly improved.


still i wouldnt wanna see the results of him guarding some starting PG's like Westbrook, D Will, CP3 etc

Wall is one of the most athletic PGs in the league if not the most athletic and he is able to get by pretty much anybody he wants. We saw last night that Fredette was able to keep up with him adequately. Who is to say he can't do the same thing against Westbrook, Williams, and Paul?

 

[mac]

I have a random criticism about something DMC does (and I have a lot of them!). How come on almost every defensive rebound he cradles the ball and puts his head down for 2-3 seconds? I can understand doing it every once in a while when there is heavy traffic and he's just trying to protecting the ball, but he does it a lot and it's extremely unnecessary. What it does it eliminates a chance for us to get out and run, or at the very least get up the floor quicker and get into our offense sooner. It also allows the defense to get back and set up their defense scheme.

I know this might be nitpicking but I think it should be pointed out and frankly I'm surprised that his coaches haven't pointed this out to him yet. He needs to learn how to rebound and get his elbows out and quickly find one of this guards.

I've noticed it - I don't think he does it too often that it limits our fast break opportunities. More often than not he does it when there are opposing players around him. Probably could pass it out a tiny bit quicker, but I don't think it'd make such a big difference

 

[twslam07]

I have a random criticism about something DMC does (and I have a lot of them!). How come on almost every defensive rebound he cradles the ball and puts his head down for 2-3 seconds? I can understand doing it every once in a while when there is heavy traffic and he's just trying to protecting the ball, but he does it a lot and it's extremely unnecessary. What it does it eliminates a chance for us to get out and run, or at the very least get up the floor quicker and get into our offense sooner. It also allows the defense to get back and set up their defense scheme.

I know this might be nitpicking but I think it should be pointed out and frankly I'm surprised that his coaches haven't pointed this out to him yet. He needs to learn how to rebound and get his elbows out and quickly find one of this guards.

I do see him do this too. I noticed about a month ago, but I don't agree that he puts his head down. If you watch him closely, he gets the rebound and immediately looks up court. If he doesn't see anything he cradles it and waits for the opposing team to clear out. I vividly remember him getting a rebound and immediately making a full court pass to Evans where he either had a layup or it was the one that Wall blocked from behind. I'm not exactly sure which one.

If you are simply just talking about making an outlet pass quicker, I think you are definitely nitpicking.

 

[The_Jamal]

I do see him do this too. I noticed about a month ago, but I don't agree that he puts his head down. If you watch him closely, he gets the rebound and immediately looks up court. If he doesn't see anything he cradles it and waits for the opposing team to clear out. I vividly remember him getting a rebound and immediately making a full court pass to Evans where he either had a layup or it was the one that Wall blocked from behind. I'm not exactly sure which one.

If you are simply just talking about making an outlet pass quicker, I think you are definitely nitpicking.

Yep. It's not like he's holding the ball for 2 or 3 seconds after everyone clears out before he passes. Securing the ball and the possession is much more important than having an extra second to rush down the court. Those sort of possessions often end up in a bad shot or TO anyway. As others have pointed out as well, Cousins is great at finding the outlet man or passing to an open man down the floor.

 

[Boogie-havoc]

The big criticism about DeMarcus is how he's a liability in PNR defense in terms of recovering either his man, or the man of the guy who came to help him.

He just gets up on the ball handler which is good - but once the ball handler passes it the open man, he then literally stops playing and ball-watches the rest of the play caught in no-mans land as he walks back while we play 5v4.

He does that pretty much every single time, and it's so infuriating to watch. When he sees he actually needs to move his feet defensively most times he just uses his hands, and gives up on the play all together if that doesn't work - and then puts on his angry face and gets mad to top it all off like he's not the main guy to blame.

 

[bajaden]

The big criticism about DeMarcus is how he's a liability in PNR defense in terms of recovering either his man, or the man of the guy who came to help him.

He just gets up on the ball handler which is good - but once the ball handler passes it the open man, he then literally stops playing and ball-watches the rest of the play caught in no-mans land as he walks back while we play 5v4.

He does that pretty much every single time, and it's so infuriating to watch. When he sees he actually needs to move his feet defensively most times he just uses his hands, and gives up on the play all together if that doesn't work - and then puts on his angry face and gets mad to top it all off like he's not the main guy to blame.

At least three times in the last game, Cuz left his man to stop the ball. At that point, its someone's job to pick up Cousin's man. It should be part of the rotation. All three times he stopped the ball, the player he stopped then bounce passed the ball to Cousins man for a layup behind his back. That my friend is not Cousins fault, and its also the reason why players stop leaving their man to stop the ball. Because they can't trust their teammates to cover their back.

You can't be in two places at one time. To expect a 270 pound center to come up and stop the ball, and then get back to guard his own man is ridiculous. The best he would be able to do at that point is make a silly foul, which would give folks something else to criticize him about. As a matter of fact, the second time it happened to him, he turned around and screamed at JT, who had blown the assignment.