Missing Person Report!

[redskinfan]

6'7" small forward, college-Arizona wears #24 for the San Antonio Spurs! last seen sometime in Dec. 2010, if found please call (210) 444-5000...:wakeup

[ChuckD]

Uh, you could fill the HEB dairy case with the milk carton "missing" from the Spurs tonight.

[DesignatedT]

lol

[maddnezz]

W! So what?:rolleyes

[ShoogarBear]

It is getting a little worrisome.

On the other hand, unlike last year, he not pressing or forcing out there and doesn't look lost. Would be nice to see a couple games in a row where he gets 10+ shots to try to get back on track.

[tdunk21]

RJ has to hit those open shots...

[Bender]

i thought this would be about timvp

[justinandimcool]

I still have faith in his shooting, but he isn't attacking the rim nearly as relentlessly as he was the first two months. Did Pop tell him to take it easy or is he getting comfortable in his corner?

[DPG21920]

RJ is playing pretty terrible lately.

[justinandimcool]

From October to end of November he got to the line at least once in every game, with most games hovering around 4-5 FTA

Now since December 1 he's had about 10 games without getting to the line at all :( But his point production and FGA has been consistent so can't complain.

[EricB]

Hard to get on track when your treated by the coaching staff like a leper on offense...

[Capt Bringdown]

He had 17 on Jan 11 against Min, a bit of a slump since.
Rarely does he go over 15 pts lately. Only 4 times since Dec 1.

However, from the start of the season to Dec 1, he was over 15 pts 9 times. His last 20+ game was Nov 10!

Seems to me he's should be 15pt/night scorer that's capable of busting out over 20 every now and then. Especially against teams such as the Raptors.

So yeah, I agree this is a little worrisome as the effort to get him more involved seems to have waned. Maybe this is one of those aspects that is wiped out by the glare of our record. We're winning, who cares?

I think having him play to his capabilities just makes us that much more multi-faceted and dangerous, so IMO it is something to care about.
http://www.sonofsparky.com/wp-content/gallery/sci-fi-posters/1957-the-incredible-shrinking-man-great-britain.jpg

[DMC]

He's a last option. Might as well have Owens out there.

[jag]

Hard to get on track when your treated by the coaching staff like a leper on offense...

Agreed. He's being turned into little more than a spot-up shooter. And if you think about what RJ brings to the table, spot-up shooting should just be a bonus.

[ElNono]

I was waiting all night for the Spurs to run that alley-oop play for him, since Toronto has basically no rim-protectors. Never happened.

[UnWantedTheory]

I was waiting all night for the Spurs to run that alley-oop play for him, since Toronto has basically no rim-protectors. Never happened.

[lil'mo]

Jefferson was getting to the line a shit-load early in the season on (mostly) baseline drives and taking nasty hits in the process. But he did it with ease and regularity. I'm betting pop has told him to hold off on that and use that as a "secret" weapon in the playoffs. No use letting rj take those beatings now while we're winning handily without them. Save it for when it counts.

[ElNono]

Jefferson was getting to the line a shit-load early in the season on (mostly) baseline drives and taking nasty hits in the process. But he did it with ease and regularity. I'm betting pop has told him to hold off on that and use that as a "secret" weapon in the playoffs. No use letting rj take those beatings now while we're winning handily without them. Save it for when it counts.

I'm not sold on all these 'weapons' we're saving for the playoffs... :lol

He might just be on a small slump. Happens to everyone.

[DesignatedT]

Plus, it's somewhat of an indicator that opposing defenses are paying more attention to him. He hasn't been able to get as many open looks as he was getting in the beginning of the year. He can definitely still hit the wide open three ball but defenses are doing a good job of taking that away now. Creates room for others though.

[lil'mo]

I'm not sold on all these 'weapons' we're saving for the playoffs... :lol

He might just be on a small slump. Happens to everyone.

are you kidding? pop always dusts off plays in the playoffs that we havent seen all season long.

[ElNono]

are you kidding? pop always dusts off plays in the playoffs that we havent seen all season long.

Sure. That doesn't mean that he's telling players to hold back now. Nobody really knows what goes through Pop's mind.

[jag]

Jefferson was getting to the line a shit-load early in the season on (mostly) baseline drives and taking nasty hits in the process. But he did it with ease and regularity. I'm betting pop has told him to hold off on that and use that as a "secret" weapon in the playoffs. No use letting rj take those beatings now while we're winning handily without them. Save it for when it counts.

Interesting idea. It makes sense that Pop would tell him to cut back on drives to the basket. The last thing the Spurs need is a vacant starting SF spot.

[jag]

Sure. That doesn't mean that he's telling players to hold back now. Nobody really knows what goes through Pop's mind.

Manu leads the league in 3-point attempts. It's not unreasonable to think that's being done as a result of Pop's game planning. Could be similar with RJ...he's basically just a spot-up shooter right now

[lil'mo]

Sure. That doesn't mean that he's telling players to hold back now. Nobody really knows what goes through Pop's mind.

i'm just basing that on it occurring only once in the last 20 or so games

[lil'mo]

jefferson got Battered on that one occassion, too

[ElNono]

Pop is saving Splitter's legs for the second half of the season: check
Pop told Manu to hold back driving the basket until the playoffs: check
Pop is saving McDyess for the playoffs: check
Pop has told Jefferson to drive less until the playoffs: check

:lol

It's all speculation. Case in point, Manu has been driving a lot more the last two games. I don't think Pop is terribly upset about that.

[ElNono]

Manu leads the league in 3-point attempts. It's not unreasonable to think that's being done as a result of Pop's game planning. Could be similar with RJ...he's basically just a spot-up shooter right now

It's not unreasonable, but it's also just as reasonable to think that's Manu decision seeing that the team is shooting very well overall.
I just think sometimes people here exaggerate a bit the whole 'saving for the playoffs' schtick. Last season, until we traded him, we were saving Ratliff for the playoffs to match up with the Lakeshow :lol

[ElNono]

i'm just basing that on it occurring only once in the last 20 or so games

Don't get me wrong, not hating on your opinion.

[mingus]

i'm really not worried about it. i think it's difficult when you have 4 scoring options on the floor at the same time. you would think that RJ would perform his best against the shitty teams, but logically it's actuallly the other way around. Shitty teams aren't going to stop any of our big 3 most of the time, which means the offense will primarily go through them. that's why we hardly saw Rj touch the ball tonight. notice when he's getting most of his shot attempts you'll find that he's shooting more against good teams. that's because usually good teams are able to manage the big 3, forcing RJ to step up. for example, he shot quite a bit in the LA and Boston games (14 and 10, respectively), compared to 4 tonight and 6 against Denver, who are actually good, but don't play shit for D.

he needs to capitalize agains the good teams. that's when he'll show his worth. for the most part, he's done a pretty good job of that this season.

[EricB]

That is one problem that has been pointed out is that teams pretty much keep a man glued to him at all times now. I thought he was solid to good against Denver hitting some shots.

[mazerrackham]

That is one problem that has been pointed out is that teams pretty much keep a man glued to him at all times now. I thought he was solid to good against Denver hitting some shots.

If teams keep a man glued to him than he's doing his job. Last year he was left open and couldn't do anything...

[objective]

January must not be RJ's month.

09/10 : 31 mpg, 10.9 ppg, 45 fg%, 9.5 fga, 31% from 3

10/11 : 29.4 mpg, 8.8 ppg, 41 fg%, 7.3 fga, 37% from 3

[tuncaboylu]

Hey guys, what are you expecting from Spurs player?
It's bad when:
Parker didn't get 20 pts-7 rebs
Manu didn't get 22 pts 4 assist, 5 rebs
RJ didn't score 16 pts 5 rebs
Duncan didn't score 18 pts 9 rebs
Blair couldn't score 13 pts and 8 rebs.
Hill didn't score 12 pts 3 assists.
Neal didn't score 7 pts 2 assists.
Bonner didn't score 9 pts 5 rebs.
McDyess is usually gets 6 pts 6 rebs already.

This can't be every night. We can't score 120 points all games. Some of our players will step up in some periods and some of them will step down in this period. There is no problem when most of them step down at the same time.

[L.I.T]

Pop is saving Splitter's legs for the second half of the season: check
Pop told Manu to hold back driving the basket until the playoffs: check
Pop is saving McDyess for the playoffs: check
Pop has told Jefferson to drive less until the playoffs: check

:lol

It's all speculation. Case in point, Manu has been driving a lot more the last two games. I don't think Pop is terribly upset about that.

Kind of similar to what we saw last year, his FTAs and aggressiveness increased as the year went on. Granted, that was partly because he was still trying to find his legs after the previous season, but I suspect they adopted a similar approach this year.

[WalterBenitez]

January must not be RJ's month.

09/10 : 31 mpg, 10.9 ppg, 45 fg%, 9.5 fga, 31% from 3

10/11 : 29.4 mpg, 8.8 ppg, 41 fg%, 7.3 fga, 37% from 3

Christmas and New Year's food arent easy to digest.

[ElNono]

Kind of similar to what we saw last year, his FTAs and aggressiveness increased as the year went on. Granted, that was partly because he was still trying to find his legs after the previous season, but I suspect they adopted a similar approach this year.

Last season was a completely different situation though. Manu had to go to another gear earlier than usual or we were missing the playoffs, period. It's a different situation than this season.

[arles]

Hey guys, what are you expecting from Spurs player?
It's bad when:
Parker didn't get 20 pts-7 rebs
Manu didn't get 22 pts 4 assist, 5 rebs
RJ didn't score 16 pts 5 rebs
Duncan didn't score 18 pts 9 rebs
Blair couldn't score 13 pts and 8 rebs.
Hill didn't score 12 pts 3 assists.
Neal didn't score 7 pts 2 assists.
Bonner didn't score 9 pts 5 rebs.
McDyess is usually gets 6 pts 6 rebs already.

This can't be every night. We can't score 120 points all games. Some of our players will step up in some periods and some of them will step down in this period.

This

[L.I.T]

Last season was a completely different situation though. Manu had to go to another gear earlier than usual or we were missing the playoffs, period. It's a different situation than this season.

Good point. What I remember seeing though was him becoming more aggressive as he became more comfortable on the court as the season went on (coming off of that injury plagued previous season).

From observation, it seems he's pickier when he attacks the rim, seeking the perimeter shot more as well as acting as a facilitator (both seem to be carry overs from last year). However, it seems that he's slowly been attacking the rim more in 2011. Could be a mirage since his FTAPG are higher than his career average. Yet, I can't help but shake the feeling that he's following a similar trajectory to last year (despite the different impetuses) and we going to be seeing him attack the rim more as the season continues.

[Jose Ole]

RJ has to hit those open shots...

I'm more inclined to say he has to hit those layups and dunk attempts... over the last stretch of games, he's blown at least half a dozen, some of them being easy point-blank baskets without a hand in his face :bang

[Sec24Row7]

Well... Jefferson creating his own shot is like option #37 on offense...

You have parker and Gino doing that to start...

Gary Neal and Hill in the second unit as most productive with the ball in their hands... (Neal is a much better passer in the offense on the way to the basket than Jefferson simply because people run him off the 3pt line harder... )

RJ has been getting the ball wide open lately so he should keep shooting... no need to drive when the only time you touch the ball is with 7 feet of space in the corner...