yep. If there's a bright side, it's that he showed less of a penchant for off-script hero-balling in the last couple years than he did in his 1st Raptors turn. It's still not controlled enough, but it's a positive step.
My problems with JJ are:
- He reaches and gambles far too much on defense. It is ungodly frustrating when he picks up ticky-tack fouls in the backcourt for trying to do too much. Just stay in front of your man, is that too much to ask? When he plays with his hands up and moving his feet, he locks down pretty much anybody with his athleticism. But the gambling bites him.
- Jumpers. Just don't. You're wide open for a reason. He was a LOT more efficient last year and could finish inside, so the chucking is definitely far down from what it used to be.
- Turnovers. Trying to be too fine with passes and having no handles really hurts him in this regard. Last year, he passed a lot more, but aldo turned over a ton just because he tried to be cute. Not to mention constantly stripped due to his bad handles.
I do think him getting benched in the playoffs reslly aided in our sievery on D. Did us no favors. I mean right now, we have the following defensive prognostication:
PG
Lowry: Gambles FAR too much. STOP. ****ING. REACHING. There's a reason virtually every PG that faced us last year went off against us, even scrubs like Augustin.
Joseph: Good defender (replaces General Sievus Trashquez... no comment)
Wright: Pretty much his strongest asset, D is.
SG
DeMar: Solid fundementals. Exactly average defensively.
Ross: Garbage. Especially off the ball where he's too lazy to bother actually fighting through screens and not losing his man. Lou was a sieve too defensively, so I guess it's better.
SF
Carroll: Great defender. Probably our best in this regard. Pushing Ross to a spot he's more comfortable defrnsively likely.
JJ: See above. Our best defender AINEC when he has his head on straight.
PF
Patterson: Good on the help, but he gets abused down low. Also can't grab a rebound.
Scola: Solid defender all around and rebounds. Doesn't really stand out in any way, though. Downgrade from Amir in that regard, except for his ankles.
C
JV: Very good rim protector, bad help D. Grest rebounder. Overall, above aberage to good.
Biyombo: Our best interior defender by far. Huge upgrade over Hansbrough.
If we aren't a top 10 defrnsive team by the 15 gsme mark, Casey deserves to have his rep as a defensive coach smeared snd pretty much fired.