Dangun wrote:Marvin Martian wrote:Dangun wrote:I agree.. but it's crazy how he was dropping 25-30 pieces here last season, but now it seems he's a complete scrub now .. yea def should trade O'Neale for a big
Bridges hasn't been a scrub since he is contributing in other ways, but he definitely looks a lot more passive than last year. Maybe when the schedule gets easier, he will gain some confidence.
O'Neale doesn't provide enough on offense or defense to justify playing small
I'm comparing his play with the nets from last season to the start of this season I feel like he's been scrubbing it up..
Just a guess, but it feels like dude ain't feeling he's not the premier offensive option and that's a drag on him.. pretty sure he expected everything to go through him to start the season so im hoping that'll set him off to go berserker mode.. gonna need him to if nets wanna stay with a decent record. Having no go to guy that can change situations (bridges is somewhat capable) , every game could end up like Celtics game until thomas comes back.. gonna be oogly..
To get it out of the way, I'll begin by suggesting we do not use these Boston games as anything more than meaning we cannot hope to compete with them absent Nic and Ben, even with a rusty CJ after a long layoff, We lost the two games with our starters, or to be more accurate the starters and subs for our starters, at a minus 148 points (for both). JV has done a masterful job, but the Celts with their two new additions are very good.
I agree that Mikal has not been a scrub, but has been too passive. He is playing the same minutes, with nearly the same overall efficiency, 46%, but is averaging 7 less points on 4 less attempts. I doubt highly that this is because of any disappointment with perceived stature on the team. He thrived with bigger names on the FIBA team. One big thing is the drop in his 3 percentage from 38% to 30%. This might affect his decision making, but I think "this too shall pass". More probable is the fact that since the peach basket players have deferred to the "hot hand". I think he will realize that Cam T cannot do it alone, however, and revert to being more offensively aggressive himself.
One thing I have been at least equally concerned with in all these close games is Dinwiddie. He has gone from 17 points last year to 11 points currently, and from 14 to 8 attempts. More important is his drop in minutes from 35 to 27 (corrected) per game. It seems strange to me since he is shooting better this year, 44/40% compared to 42/29%. His minutes, many in clutch time, have gone to DSJ who is averaging 6 points on 6 attempts, in 17 minutes, at 39/29%. I love the kid. He is an energetic, fun, point of attack defender who certainly has a place on this team. But the scoring discrepancy between the two confused me, when points were at such a premium. I wondered if it was a planning thing in his contract year, i.e. looking for a younger replacement as insurance. It might be a moot point, however. In the Buck's game, Spencer was only 1 for 4, but had the team best +-. After missing two threes he came out of the game for DSJ with about 4 minutes to go in the 3d quarter. Not blaming this on anyone, the Bucks are good, but we were up 8 when he left and down 2 at the quarter. Spencer did not play in the fourth quarter and we lost by four. Certainly that could have happened even with Spencer, the Greek Freak is that good. But in the next game, against the Clippers, it was the same type of nail biter. Spencer was only 2 for 8. Except this time JV put him back in at just past the 2 minute marker and he hit the three that pretty much put the game away, with Royce following up with another. Maybe it is because I still have nightmares about locking up Luka only to lose to Spencer's literal last second three a few years ago. But whatever the reason I think Spencer's situation this year might be at least as critical as Mikal's. And I apologize for rambling.
