The Evolution of Richard Jefferson
Tough, tough loss for the Nets tonight.
But the biggest gain so far this season has got to be the continued evolution of Richard Jefferson. Not only is he playing an all-around game, including inside and outside shooting, tough defense, and even distributing the ball, but he's also a rebounder now. In a major way.
After 4 games, RJ is averaging a hefty 10+, including 11 offensive rebounds (he had 6 in tonight's game). He seems to be getting better position, but also seems to be making a conscious effort to replace some of what was obviously lost by the SAR debacle.
It's not realistic to expect RJ to average 10 rebounds a night, at least not with the other demands placed on him, but if he can average 8, and Kidd and Krstic average 7, and Carter and Collins can get around 6...see what I'm saying here.
Even with Carter on the team, RJ is the best all-around player.
Don't believe me - check out his official page at NBA.com. His efficiency rating is #3 in the league, and he's Top 10 in an amazing amount of categories.
And kudos to Jeff McInnis for at least attempting to take shots tonight. Appears as though he's finally broken through on playing his game, although he passed up another few open shots tonight. Yes, Jeff, the team wants you to fit in, but it also wants you to contribute your sizable offensive skills.
Congrats to Linton Johnson for finally making the cut as the 12th man and actually wearing a uni. Come back quickly, Cliffie...
But the biggest gain so far this season has got to be the continued evolution of Richard Jefferson. Not only is he playing an all-around game, including inside and outside shooting, tough defense, and even distributing the ball, but he's also a rebounder now. In a major way.
After 4 games, RJ is averaging a hefty 10+, including 11 offensive rebounds (he had 6 in tonight's game). He seems to be getting better position, but also seems to be making a conscious effort to replace some of what was obviously lost by the SAR debacle.
It's not realistic to expect RJ to average 10 rebounds a night, at least not with the other demands placed on him, but if he can average 8, and Kidd and Krstic average 7, and Carter and Collins can get around 6...see what I'm saying here.
Even with Carter on the team, RJ is the best all-around player.
Don't believe me - check out his official page at NBA.com. His efficiency rating is #3 in the league, and he's Top 10 in an amazing amount of categories.
And kudos to Jeff McInnis for at least attempting to take shots tonight. Appears as though he's finally broken through on playing his game, although he passed up another few open shots tonight. Yes, Jeff, the team wants you to fit in, but it also wants you to contribute your sizable offensive skills.
Congrats to Linton Johnson for finally making the cut as the 12th man and actually wearing a uni. Come back quickly, Cliffie...
2 Comments:
Cherrypicking Tonight's Game...
Obviously, it was a tough loss, but there are a lot of positives to take out of it.
* The improved play of McInnis. He's still a little hesitant to take shots at times, but he made a couple of big baskets last night in the 4th quarter when the Nets desperately needed some scoring.
* RJ's rebounding, as you said Joe, is amazing. The guy has a realistic shot at being a double-double guy. I wonder who the last small forward was to average that in a season - if its ever been done before from that position.
* Miami using only 7 players. With Shaq out for 3 weeks, Miami using only two bench players is bound to wear down the Heat by the end of the season. In addition, it also makes them more vulnerable to injuries. If they keep this up, it might not be as good a year for the Heat as everyone thinks. Which, obviously, is good news for us Nets fans.
* Again, in extremely limited minutes, Zoran looked good and confident. Sure he missed a 3-pointer, but he also skyed for a putback and almost had a rebound-putback from under the basket that was taken away because apparently a toenail was over the baseline.
* Lawrence Frank looking like Bobby Knight. You have to love the emotion. He was feeling exactly what every Net fan was feeling last night. Like we wuz robbed. Seeing him that upset actually made me less angry at the refs, because at least you knew they were getting chewed out by someone. Kudos to LF.
It was a good game last night. I guess sometimes things go our way and sometimes they dont. I was very impressed with mcinnis's defense.He was all over putting a lot of pressure on payton and not letting them set get into an offensive rythm.Without Shaq this team is probably beatable.There are too many volatile characters in this team and we have to wait and see how they perform over the length of this long season.
Jason Kidd seemed lost for some reason. He was not in the thick of things and when he is not we usually lose.
Another positive was Collins. This guy was probably half blind yesterday but was still there on the defensive end making all the dirty plays and hustling for the loose ball.His free throw percentage is going down on a freefall from the time he started with the nets. He better try and work on it before it costs us big
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