yungal07 wrote:I agree with Dat2u. Jamison is a horrible, horrible defensive player.
And doc...I disagree with your comparison of Jamison's defense to Butler, Gay, and Durant. Those 3 are wing players...when you don't have a great help defender in the paint, it's darn near impossible to play good man-to-man defense on the perimeter.
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They have the same type of player at power forward (Lewis) who doesn't do anything defensively. Dwight couldn't do it alone and the Magic lost. So that tells you about our chances of becoming a legitimate team with Jamison at power forward. Good player, but you can't win big games with him if he's playing heavy minutes.
Okay, Memet Okur, Troy Murphy and possibly: Pau Gasol, Al Thornton or Antonio McDyess then.
When Okur, Murphy or Gasol are on court, opposing teams shoot a better % (than the difference between Jamison and his back-ups). When Okur/Murphy/Thornton/McDyess are on court, opposing teams score more overall points compared to when they are offcourt. According to the numbers.
But you're not disagreeing with me.
Defensively our biggest shortcoming so-to-speak is that we been playing a rack of SF's on the court all at the same time. Caron, Jamison, Jeffries, Hayes-- often as many as three at once. This leaves us slow outside, small inside, and tired from trying to make up for length with hustle -- at both ends. And tired players can't keep it up 40 minutes a game, 82 games a year. You can turn it on in spurts, when needed, when inspired, when your coach convinces you to sacrifice for the good of the team -- or to save his job and your pride-- and you play on a balky knee or whatever. But you can't do it all game every game, forever, especially when nothing is on the line. And any drop-off in effort exposes your shortfall.
A bigger player will be bigger even when he is tired. All he needs to do is move a couple feet to be in the way, and raise his arms. Then lope up court at the change of possession if his team misses. Best thing is for his team not to miss, since he gets a slight head start at the loping part. (My theory was always that it could be Best in a way if his team can score at a high % while in a high post set, since he gets a head start both ways. But the truth is it tends to be a lower % offense unless you have a Big who can really really shoot the lights out, Eurostyle.) But that's what defense is all about: shaving those %'s. The best teams shoot 50%, if you can shave those numbers, limit second chances, and shoot better or more than them (with offensive rebounding) you win. If you can do that while conserving energy with efficient high% techniques and tactics, you can sustain excellence and energy long term. And wait until crunch time to rely on your high adrenaline effort and inspiration from your most talented players.
Yes. Jamison at PF has a defensive cascade effect. The quandary has been that Jamison at PF gives us an offensive cascade effect by opening up the middle. Jamison at SF has a basically neutral effect, scoring more than he's giving up, leaving only one open door for offensive attacks (unless you have LeBron who can outbig or outquick Jams then pass off the drive if the defense adjusts. The passing means there are open doors all over the court. Heaven help the league if he ever gets a solid alley oop threat. Hate that guy).
But off the bench even at PF, as a backpocket weapon, a situational mismatch, or against second line players, Jamison is a handy guy to have. And as a coach his strengths and weaknesses are evident, consistent and reliable. You can count on them, and use them when and where you choose, but you aren't as exposed to opponents regularly gameplanning against them for 40 minutes a game. He's going to give you maximum effort, and even on defense, since he's not out there for 40 minutes, he can occasionally turn up the heat and play bigger than usual. Even if he's giving up 20 lbs of athletic muscle in the mismatch on any given night.
To do that though, given his effort, professionalism, standing with the team, good reputation with the fans, good relationship with the owner, etc, you will pretty much have to replace him with a clear and obvious upgrade at the positions, to give him the ability to make the honorable sacrifice and take the bench role for the sake of winning. Otherwise you demonstrate that Bigger is more important than hardworking, and you send a tough lesson to young players who haven't yet figured out how to work hard, or win. That's the player motivation aspect, the chemistry consideration of coaching, being a leader of men.
Either that or you have to have cast iron wreckingballs in your jockey shorts. And straight swap out all players who won't learn, can't follow your philosophy, don't fit. Then you have to win, and keep winning. Or have a HOF resume to survive a down year, get the benefit of the doubt.
So: Blake Griffin, as the obvious upgrade who also works his tail off and has ungawdly athleticism while remaining both tough and humble and undaunted. Let him take the scars on his face that Jamison picked up while straight taking the job away from the KFB, let him bang and thump in the post, let Jamison pick on the littler guys and clean up rebounding scraps in the midrange.
Then get a coach who watches the %'s and can articulate the plan to his best players, convince them to buy in and sacrifice for the demonstrated good of the team. To show the best translation between effort and production, and how you find the shortcuts to get there and make the job easier for yourself. To have something in the tank when you need to turn it up in the playoffs, or at crunch time.
How we got to where we are is pretty simple to understand. How to fix it is pretty obvious as well. But the paths to get there are pretty scanty. Not many. 'Get a franchise/all-star Big Man' is easier said than done. Otherwise, you're busy trying to find a way to make do with what you got. And as far as 'make do' is concerned, what we've got in Jamison is a guy who plays hard even when only pride is at stake, gives okay 98% of his talent, even in a lost cause.
To me, there's no point pissing on that. No point killing the guy for what he's not and will never be, when he's giving you everything that he is. Even knowing his not inconsiderable liabilities, I sincerely appreciate what he does give, and would prefer that the youngsters take his example to heart. When they are veterans and have learned how to win, and are teaching youngsters on the teams that they captain (if, ever, and at all) it will be in part because they've seen how hard a guy like Jamison works: early to practice every day; in the weightroom, taking care of his body all season and in the offseason; wanting to play every minute of every game even when the mismatch is against him; never giving up hope or complaining even when the season has long been discarded to the trash heap; and demanding the same professionalism out of every player on the team. Work to deserve your paycheck, even when you are paid an ungodly amount. If Andray Blatche worked as hard offcourt and in practice, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.
No matter his flaws, Jamison has my respect. Simple as that.
