This year - RJ's coming out party?

[Venti Quattro]

He's been tearing it up for the Spurs this season and has seemingly found his mojo. Probably already found his niche within CIA Pop's system.

So what do Spurs fans think?

[z0sa]

It is just 4 games, but his entire mentality, his swagger is so much different. And, the Spurs offense in general is ultimately the same; he is just taking advantage of every single opportunity.

Defensively, he still needs work. He'll never be up to some people's par, but it's hard living in the shadow of Bruce Bowen on that end.

[Venti Quattro]

Bruce Bowen is so one-dimensional on the offensive end. You always know he's going to spot up in that corner. RJ brings more to throw defenses off with a far better arsenal.

But RJ can't substitute for Bowen's defense.

[mingus]

RJ's playing great and i have no doubt it will continue (though his % will drop off a little). people forget that he's a great slasher and has a great first step. he's also strong and good at using his body to draw fouls. last year, he couldn't drive. players and teams were giving him the open jumper, and for the most part he couldn't make them. it's the main reason the Spurs lost the Phoenix series IMO (or at leat one of the top reasons). combination of his shot looking broken (which he fixed) and not looking comfortable because he was thinking way too much (which he also seems to have gotten better at). thus now you hve a player that can ply to his strength in his driving abiltiy AND hit the three.

it's impressive. basically, this is what we expected from RJ last year.

[20beastie45]

which type of coming out? closet?

[Dex]

http://rlv.zcache.com/i_see_what_you_did_there_poster-p228060760404242422t5wm_400.jpg

[DJ Mbenga]

ricky martin is not richard jefferson

[Venti Quattro]

hey I just put some word play. We're talking about his basketball, not his gayness.

Carry on sons

[z0sa]

gotta watch for a troll every thread nowadays ..

[AFBlue]

Given that he's most likely going to be with the team for at least the next couple of years, Spurs fans are thrilled with his early season performance.

I think you can attribute it to his work in the off-season. He gave his jumpshot a makeover; smoothed it out at the release point and made it a much more rhythmic shot. He also worked on his biggest weakness from the past year; spacing. He seems much more comfortable with where he's supposed to be on the court. This allows for him to be effective both on and off the ball (i.e. cutting to the rim at opportune times or setting up for the corner 3). In general, he just looks very confident and is playing basically mistake-free ball on the offensive end. Defensively, I don't think he'll ever be "lockdown", but if he can continue to show the effort in man defense and intelligence in team defense then he is pulling his weight.

It's been said before, but this is the player that many Spurs fans thought they were getting when the trade happened last off-season...the same trade that many said would make the Spurs the unquestioned challenger to the Lakers for the Western Conference crown.

So yeah...we're excited.

[nkdlunch]

the offseason one on ones with Luke Walton are paying off

[Venti Quattro]

the offseason one on ones with Luke Walton are paying off

Yup, but not for Lakers fans I guess. Luke has been rotting on the bench.

We could sure use his basketball IQ to power the Laker bench :cry

[koriwhat]

He's been tearing it up for the Spurs this season and has seemingly found his mojo. Probably already found his niche within CIA Pop's system.

So what do Spurs fans think?

redundancy sucks! there's plenty of RJ threads going on already with the same subject. you could've just read those to get your answer.

[z0sa]

redundancy sucks! there's plenty of RJ threads going on already with the same subject. you could've just read those to get your answer.

yeah, it was an actually not-too-subtle smack/troll thread.

I gotta watch out for this shit more often, apparently ..