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Spurs' Jefferson also confirms water is wet.
Spurs' Jefferson agrees he has underachieved
Jeff McDonald
There are those who say Spurs forward Richard Jefferson has not been playing up to the potential that made him one of the NBA's most hyped acquisitions of the offseason.
Among those who agree with this line of thinking — Richard Jefferson.
“I particularly haven't been playing as well as I would like,” Jefferson said. “Everyone kind of has to look in the mirror and try to step it up.”
Jefferson is averaging 12.8 points per game, tied with Manu Ginobili for third on the team, but isn't producing the bang for the 14.2 million bucks the Spurs are paying him this season.
In June, the Spurs traded for Jefferson, a career 17.7 points-per-game scorer, in hopes that he would help them avoid the scoring lulls that had wracked them in recent seasons. In 41 games this season, Jefferson has hit or surpassed 17 points 11 times, but only once since the start of January.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich says he doesn't waste time evaluating whether the team is getting its money's worth from Jefferson and Antonio McDyess, another under-performing addition.
“Those kind of opinions are for you all (in the media) to form,” Popovich said. “We just go to work every day and try to be the best team we can be. You can assess it any way you want.”
Jefferson said he expects the second half of his first season with the Spurs to go more smoothly than the first.
“We all know at this point in time, being professionals, what is expected of us,” Jefferson said. “We know the things it's going to take for us to be a successful team. There's no excuses.”
Duncan and 20 grand: Tim Duncan scored his 20,000th point in Friday's loss to Houston, becoming the 35th player in NBA history to hit that plateau.
He is just the 10th to score 20,000 points with one franchise and one of only seven players to record that many points, plus 10,000 rebounds and 2,000 blocks.
Officially, Duncan — who has 20,024 career points — trails only David Robinson (20,790) for the franchise's all-time NBA scoring lead. George Gervin scored 23,602 points in a Spurs uniform, but 4,219 came during the Spurs' ABA days.
Adios, Marcus: Former Spurs forward Marcus Haislip officially became a member of the Greek team Panathinaikos on Saturday, less than 24 hours after the Spurs bought out the remainder of his NBA contract.
Popovich said he didn't have any complaints with how Haislip handled himself during his short stint with the Spurs, even while relegated to the inactive list most nights.
“A lot of guys have reacted poorly and been a drag on their team, but he never did that,” Popovich said. “I really respect that.”
Spurs' Jefferson also confirms water is wet.
I haven't been too upset by Jefferson's scoring. Sure, it's disappointing. But he wouldn't be the first guy to see his numbers fall dramatically once joining the Spurs. And it's hard for him to score when the things he's good at aren't part of the game plan, it took over 20 games for Parker and RJ to come together to work in a halfcourt lob play. And he's not aggressive enough, but I'm not that surprised.
But what has been maddening is his soft, lazy defense. I didn't know he'd be this bad. He might be the worst wing defender on the team, and that's saying something when Mason and Finley are on the roster.
He doesn't put up any fight. Not fighting through screens, not fighting on the post. Nothing. AK47 was able to score all over him around screens. Ron Artest posted him up and RJ backed away and gave up scores. This guy is as soft as it comes to defense, with only a handful of desperation blocks which might lead people to forget about the rest.
Well said. His scoring doesn't bother me too much. His role is currently the 3rd/4th option when he's on the court. The offense needs to improve for him to fully fill the role that's expected of him ... but he's not too far off on that end.
Defensively, he's been Charmin soft. I saw him play some good defense very early in the season but it seemed like he started slacking off on that end once Bogans was put into the lineup and RJ didn't have to defend the top wings. Lack of rebounding is also a concern for me ... especially when he only tends to give effort on the boards when he's getting touches on the offensive end. That's just a lame approach to the game of basketball. If he's not involved offensively ... he should be giving more effort on the other end -- not less.
The disappointment has little to do with the scoring (although, he was expected to take some of the burden off the Big 3 in that aspect).
As you stated, he's been soft. But more than soft, he's been a one-dimensional player that does nothing to fill the gaps in any other aspect of the game; a floor game need not apply. He doesn't get to the free-throw line like he should, he doesn't rebound anywhere near his capability and he's become a player that's impact on the game is absolutely minimal; his stats have been empty for the most part.
I knew I didn't like him as a fit and that the thought of him taking on Bowen's assignments was laughable, but, like you said, there's nothing that prepared me for this type of player; nothing..
At first I was super pissed that SA has lost already 17 games on their schedule.Then I received comfort in the fact that teams like Orlando and Dallas have 16 losses too. So I'm not entirely so upset, even though I thought SA was a 60+ win team this year. If SA were to somehow only lose 5 more games after the all-star break, they could still have a 60-win season, and I'm just insanely optimistic enough about this Spurs team that I think they can do it. Granted it would take 3-4 10-12 game-winning streaks until the playoffs start. But that's usually when SA kicks their team chemistry into high gear after the Rodeo road trip. I believe, even though my belief is more like a candle in the wind--and not the way Elton John meant it.
Last edited by timtonymanurich; 01-24-2010 at 12:42 AM.
I originally only had expectations of Jefferson being along the lines of Sean Elliott in 99 on offense; something in the range of 12-14 ppg, an occasional dunk, an occasional three, and the ability to put the ball on the floor every once in a while. However, I don't think that's acceptable with Parker's plantar fasciitis. I think it's vital that he improves his offensive efficiency drastically since Parker and Ginobili aren't able to with the condition their bodies are in. I agree that his defense is the most disappointing part of his game so far, but he's got a lot of things to improve on that this team desperately needs.
I've seen his defensive intensity pick up after a big dunk. That's the only time he seems to lock in and get intense when he gets a big dunk. I'm not really a fan or RJ at all. He just seems to play basketball a different way and it's a soft brand of basketball.
RJ has played so soft that on numerous occassions I've clicked the 'new thread' button, and started making out a poll that read:
Softer Spur: Richard Jefferson or Willie Anderson?
But never finished the new thread because I was so young when Willie was a Spur and don't have any of those games on tape that I can't trust my memory on it. I also considered including Vinny Del Negro in the poll, but then remembered that dunk on Worthy and simultaneously felt bad that everyone thinks he'll be fired soon.
It had to be Vinny.
Back to RJ, I'm still baffled that Pop and RC actually thought he'd come in here and do yeoman's work on the defensive end. Once players have played on bad teams most of their careers, they pick up and develop bad habits. RJ has never had to play any semblance of defense. Why now, at 29 years of age, would anyone expect him to morph into Dennis Rodman?
The other thing is he's incredibly lackadaisical with the basketball. Each game he makes 1 or 2 totally unacceptable turnovers (lobbing it cross court, taking his eyes off the ball, etc). These are totally unproductive turnovers-- not aggressive mistakes but careless lazy turnovers.
I guess he has another year and a half to impress...
I'm not entirely pissed at RJ for his performance. He just needs to be more consistent, but then again, so does the rest of the team. His scoring shouldn't be a concern. He's going to get his points. It's the defense that bothers me, but he's shown he can be a good defender, too. It just looks like he takes the night off on defense alot. If he improves his defense and plays solid on that end more often than not, I'm fine with him.
First of all, Jefferson is shooting less. Last season his FGA was 14.9 compared to this season, 10.1. Also, 42% of his shot selection is coming in crunch time, compared to last season, 33%. It seems that he is more comfortable when he is involved in the offense during the first 15 seconds of the shot clock.
The Spurs will get scoring from someone, it's the defense that sucks.
this is Pop-speak. Translated it says:
" all you crybaby Spurs fans on Spurs Talk who question our desire and professionalism. Why don't you get off your dumb asses, learn something about Basketball, and then come back with some informed opinions as to our recent struggles. Thank you very much"
Yes, RJ is one of the softer power forwards on the team.
True. Many of these kinds of RJ TOs occur during inbounds plays.
It is not just inbounds plays. He tumbles the ball during the flow of the offense. I think he is resigned that he will not touch the ball on those possessions. That shows not only his lack of focus, it also shows he is not touching the ball enough unlike his past experiences with other teams that he quits mentally.
/thread
Ya think?
I think if I said anything else about RJ I'd be stating the obvious. However, I don't mind if RJ doesn't fill up the stat sheet like many here would hope for, but I would just hope that he would play with a lot more passion. Most nights he's just a ghost on the floor. There are other ways he can help the team...just leave your damn imprint on the game.
I'm not surprised he's bad on defense but I think he should be expected to excel at his strength, scoring. If he can do that, then based on prior play the rest of his game "might" improve. At this point that's all I'm hoping for.
IMO RJ needs to start as the SG in order to excel in the spurs system. If hes the 2nd/3rd option to start off games rather than the 3rd/4th option, i can see him playing better in a position that fits his game more. Being a small foward isnt his cup of tea apparently.
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