Can He Bounce Back? Richard Jefferson
Sebastian Pruiti
Can He Bounce Back? Is a new series here at NBAPlaybook, and in it we will be looking at players that had a rough 2010 and determine whether or not it was a fluke or a start of a trend.
This past season, Richard Jefferson had one of the worst years of his career. His 12.3 points per game was his lowest since his rookie year in 2001 (when he averaged just 24 minutes per game) and his PER of 13.18 was the lowest of his career.
Where He Struggled
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All the references to his diminshed and diminishing athleticism make me sick to my stomach, since we're now tied to him for 4 more years. Can he really change his game this late in his career to adjust? Can anyone think of a comparable player who relied on athleticism throughout his career and effectively altered his game to suit his diminished athletic capacity?
Thanks for posting this, Blackjack
I don't want RJ to turn into a spot up corner 3 shooter. That was never ever his game. If anything, I want him to be reprimanded if he takes any shot outside of 5 feet from the basket. He's at his best when cutting to the rim and driving hard. We should take advantage of what athleticism RJ has left (easily still one of the most athletic players on the team) and keep him as a slasher.
We'll leave the jump shots to Anderson, Temple, and Neal.
First one that comes to mind is Antonio McDyess, post-injury. But it's different for a big who can rely more on his size than a wing player who has gotten by on athleticism. The thing about Jefferson is that his athleticism shouldn't be declining at age 29-30. That is when he should be at his peak. I don't think he was in very good shape last year, probably carrying 10-15 extra lbs. I don't have much faith in him doing anything but crapping all over himself, but it would be nice if he was busting his ass in the gym and following a strict nutritional plan to be in great shape for the season.
thanks was a good read. agree with the writer of the article and I also hope that with a 2nd year comes better opportunities and just for the damm ball to go in the hoop a little more for RJ this season
I think RJ's best uses offensively are obviously 1) as an off-the-ball slasher, and 2) 3pt shooter.
Although we have several slashers, Manu is pretty old and TP will open up space if he gets into the paint, allowing RJ to attack then.
Thus, Manu should be transitioning to being a majority jump shooter anyway to save his body. TP should continue to divide his offense between driving to the hoop and the pnr, but we should focus on getting RJ the ball when the defense breaks down instead of tony always looking to score on that pnr.
RJ will be fine with his 3pt shot; we should just take advantage of his durability to use his body up more as a slasher to avoid the increased risk of injury to TP and manu.
Rj has loads of potential and has shown he is more than capable. But his heart doesn't follow his abilities. I am routing for him since he is a spur.
RJ for Comeback Player of the Year.
Michael Finley.
Anything is possible, but I don't think I buy that his athleticism has fallen off a cliff.
All the clips posted either show bloopers (didn't Tim string several together during the POs when he kept having trouble receiving passes? You flub a good pass, it's going to knock you out of rhythm... especially if the D is catching up with you) or a player who doesn't know who to be on the floor.
He knows who Pop and the crowd want him to be, and he knows what comes naturally to him (t-minus 10 for gay joke), but he doesn't know how to consolidate the two. He gets going in transition, then tries to slow the play down to a Spursy half-court set because he sees 3 defenders waiting for him. He gets airborne (athletically) for a dunk, but takes his eyes off the basket for the miss. He tries to shoot the corner 3 and over-thinks it. Whatever he has, I think it's mental. No confidence. No focus.
I thought the same thing
His goal should be to get 3 layups or dunks in the first quarter every game. If he could do that, his jumper would start to fall. Scorers need to score, everything comes easy to them after a couple of layups and dunks.
Jefferson last year :
- a new town
- a new team
- a new system, a very difficult one to learn
- the 2 playmakers of the team supposed to help him scoring points were not themselves : Ginobili struggled for 4 months before being the great Manu again & Parker was not healthy all year.
- Pop tinkering with Spurs' lineups & chemistry all year.
- Jefferson was the 1st option with the bucks, he was the 4th or 5th option with the Spurs... with the 2nd highest salary of the team. He was confused and he put too much pressure on himself.
- and don't forget that Jefferson canceled his wedding just before the season starts. His mind was maybe not totally focused on basketball then. Just sayin'...
I think he will surprise a lot of people this year. He needs to redeem himself and with a healthy big 3, he could succeed.
OK, I am optimistic. So what ?
It's too bad the Spurs SF role is spot up shooting.
fifyrj for comeback player of the year.
They're all solid points. I'm with you. I really hope he works out, sometimes I feel people would rather see him fail.Jefferson last year :
- a new town
- a new team
- a new system, a very difficult one to learn
- the 2 playmakers of the team supposed to help him scoring points were not themselves : Ginobili struggled for 4 months before being the great Manu again & Parker was not healthy all year.
- Pop tinkering with Spurs' lineups & chemistry all year.
- Jefferson was the 1st option with the bucks, he was the 4th or 5th option with the Spurs... with the 2nd highest salary of the team. He was confused and he put too much pressure on himself.
- and don't forget that Jefferson canceled his wedding just before the season starts. His mind was maybe not totally focused on basketball then. Just sayin'...
I think he will surprise a lot of people this year. He needs to redeem himself and with a healthy big 3, he could succeed.
OK, I am optimistic. So what ?
That's because that was the limitation of Bowen's offensive game. Sean Elliott took it to the rim more than he shot jumpers.
Nobody who's a true fan would rather see him fail. Like it or not, he becomes a big part of how far the Spurs go for this next season (and likely seasons after).
Some people are just a little more realistic about what kind of improvement to expect than others. I, for one, hope he exceeds my modest expectations for him.
I think the article is exaggerating his diminished athletic ability, most of those bonehead plays were the result of bad decision making and concentration. If he is more comfortable and more adjusted to where he and his teammates need to be, he is still an above average athlete.
I am optimistic too, I think RJ will have a great year
Agreed. His attempts around the rim going down also makes sense considering he went form the Bucks' first option to our 4th. I thought athletically he was fine last season. 12-13ppg is fine with me if he also has 4-6 boards and plays hard, the biggest problem with RJ last year was he showed no effort on either side of the floor.
Spurs need spacing imo. TP, Manu and Tim all operate in the paint for the most part. The SF needs to be able to spot up efficiently because that is where the majority of shots will be because the team is built around the big 3.
Sure, it's great to have the SF do other things, but they have to be good at that.
Also, I most definitely will be rooting for RJ next year. I hope he comes out fired up and plays well. I want that. I don't like his deal, but I like him just fine and I love the team.
I am not even going to be one of those guys who bags on him if he does have a bad year, because I expect it. I am talking a lot about it now because it is relevant, but I am not going to follow him around all season dogging him.
I think it was a combination of a lot of things...
1) Man-defense fundamentals...the guy was routinely in a bad "set up" when trying to defend a perimeter player and got burned more often than he should have because of it. He used to have pretty good fundamentals, but I guess he lost them somewhere along the way.
2) Loss of athleticism...while I agree it has been overstated, he simply doesn't have the foot speed or quickness to make the aformentioned mistakes fundamentally and recover in time to make a play.
3) System-defense principles...to put it in one word "horrific". He was routinely caught "ball watching", didn't know where to be or when to make rotations. This is probably the biggest area of concern, but fortunately it's probably the easiest to correct with time in the system.
It's not likely that we'll see improvement with #2, but if he can make strides in the other two areas he should, at the very least, not be a defensive liability when on the court.
That's good to hear, Dude.
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