Spurs' Jefferson stuck in neutral
Jeff McDonald
When the season's first substantial cold front blew through last week, one recent migrant to San Antonio couldn't help but chuckle at the local hysteria surrounding the Snowstorm That Never Was.
Richard Jefferson had all but put away his hardiest of winter clothes when he was traded to the Spurs in June. His full collection of heavy coats, which had served him well through frigid Decembers in Milwaukee and New Jersey, wouldn't be needed here.
“As a California guy, I like that,” Jefferson said.
If only Jefferson's game had transitioned as quickly and seamlessly to South Texas as his wardrobe.
Eighteen games into his first season in San Antonio, Jefferson — a scoring star whose offseason arrival heralded the Spurs' seriousness about challenging the Lakers in the West — is still struggling to find his niche in a new town.
He is averaging 12.8 points per game, little more than Michael Finley provided the Spurs at small forward last season. In his past five games, Jefferson has reached 10 points just once.
“It's not about what my numbers should be,” said Jefferson, who owns a career scoring average of 17.6 points. “I've been on teams where I've averaged 20 points and not made the playoffs. For me to take a step back and find my groove on a team that's getting wins, I'd much rather have that.”
Right now, Jefferson is getting the worst of both worlds. The Spurs have lost three in a row, spiraling to 9-9 in advance of tonight's game against Sacramento.
And Jefferson is still in search of his elusive groove.
He arrived, via trade with Milwaukee, accompanied by a package of skills the Spurs have seldom enjoyed in a small forward — deadly on the fast break, able to isolate bigger defenders on the wing and, at 6-foot-7, lethal posting up smaller forwards.
Just as Jefferson is struggling to find his space with the Spurs, the Spurs are struggling with how best to use Jefferson. Gregg Popovich has encouraged his team to fast break more, in part because it might help Jefferson find a comfort zone.
“If we can get him in transition more often, I think it would help loosen him up and take advantage of his capabilities,” Popovich said.
Jefferson endured a similar feeling-out period last season with the Bucks, albeit with one key difference. He arrived in Milwaukee just months after new coach Scott Skiles did.
“In Milwaukee, all of us were going through the same learning curve,” Jefferson said. “Here, half the guys are new and half aren't, so there's a different timing.”
In Milwaukee, Jefferson's directive was simple: Fire at will. In San Antonio, he is still trying to navigate the tightrope between finding his own shots and deferring to the collection of All-Stars around him.
He is averaging 10.4 attempts per game this season, the fewest since he was a rookie with the Nets.
It is no coincidence his two best games as a Spur — 29 and 24 points in November wins over Dallas and Toronto, respectively — came with Tony Parker and Tim Duncan sidelined. Jefferson's only other 20-point game came Oct. 31, when he dumped 21 on the Kings.
“It's not that easy to integrate a guy who is that talented,” said guard Roger Mason Jr., who at this time last season was in Jefferson's shoes. “It changes the dynamic of the team.”
The transition process, Mason admits, has “taken a little bit more time than we've wanted.”
“It would be OK if he was still adjusting and we were winning,” Mason said. “That's what you hope with a team as talented as ours. It's tougher when you're losing and still trying to make that adjustment.”
Jefferson agrees.
“It's going to be a continual adjustment,” Jefferson said. “As the season goes along, I really believe I'll get better, and the team will get better.”
Interesting that Pop wants to run more. First, I don't see him committing to that. When the RJ trade went down and the Spurs got "more athletic" it seemed obvious that the tempo would pick up a little. Points are up this year, but I don't see any conscious effort to run. If anything, they're trying to slow the tempo and pace to minimize turnovers. And, we have no one to direct the break right now, except Manu and his passing has been bad lately.
Tony is simply faster than RJ. And he's not going to slow down so Richard can run with him... If you look at the fast breaks this season, they've been mostly a one man show from Tony (which is great BTW, since I'll take all the easy points we can get)...
I think he might have a better chance to run with the second unit...
The thing with RJ is that I wouldn't mind if his lack of scoring if he did work in other areas. If he was pulling down boards, playing lockdown defense or creating for others, I'd be fine. But the combination of no scoring, no rebounding, no creating and a lack of defense that has required Bogans to be inserted into the starting lineup has me miffed.
I think he can turn it around but I'd at least like to see a sense of urgency.
The advanced stats made me opine before the season began that Jefferson wasn't going to be very effective. I hoped that this season would be a victory of system over statistics. So far it hasn't been.
I wonder if Whott's opinion has changed since our extended discussion of RJ's strengths/weaknesses back then.
As most of us know, RJ is not a good defender but all we need and expect to him is that we hope he can play aggressively and score 20 points a game ,unfortunately he has not contributed what we need on offense,anyway, i strongly believe that he is a 20+5+5 player.However, his performances were not satisfied
Unfortunately...For me to take a step back and find my groove on a team that's getting wins, I'd much rather have that.
Jefferson and one other person are usually there, tony just doesn't know how to pass it off on the fast break and when he does its usually not to Jefferson.
A loud clank would be heard because the other guy can't convert, I can't even laugh or cry at that.
I do'nt know about his body language during the interview, but does anyone else get the feeling from those quotes that RJ just doesn't really care that he/the team is struggling right now? Sort of like he convinced himself it's ok?
This is eye opening considering how much people here hated FinHe is averaging 12.8 points per game, little more than Michael Finley provided the Spurs at small forward last season.
It also shows how much the Spurs did not try to integrate Jefferson into the offense as a legitimate option and instead made him a role player.
And this was quite dishearteningFor me to take a step back and find my groove on a team that's getting wins, I'd much rather have that"
Please explain how the spurs did that. See the next quote.
He took a "step back" on his own
I'm not playing the blame game with RJ anymore. RJ and RJ alone is who is at fault for his current level of play. TP, Pop nor Duncan made him go 0-for-5 at the line, not rebound and not play D.
can you guys see it?
when figures is out, oh boy. . .
Maybe jeffs intergration to this team has more to do with getting on the same level as them mentaly.
Stop taking the backseat role. If you want to contribute. Go out there and make a difference.
See matt bonner who has 50% the talent you do, yet plays like he wants to win and contribute to winning game in and out
Jefferson I believe can still turn it on. Fact is, he's not used to being the 3rd or 4th option in the team that's why he's finding it hard to make decisions on the court. I believe he's just thinking too much out there. I agree that the Spurs can run more. With Ginobili, Parker, and Jefferson all playing, I can't understand why we're not running more often.
That was not what he meant. Don't even try to twist his words.
What do y'all think about starting Manu and playing RJ as the 6th man? He'd have the ball in his hands more and more opportunities to score. I'd like to see him play a bit like Corey Maggette off the bench - come in and just continually bull your way to the hole, with Bonner on the other wing and MoMoney in the corner for the pitchout.
As for the lack of hustle he's showing, timvp is spot on although I have one thing to add - sometimes when your confidence is down, as his clearly is, no matter how hard you try on the court nothing seems to go right... the boards go over your head, you get called for stuff that isn't there, etc. He looks to be in that kind of slump to me. Get him scoring again and the rest may come with it.
Missing from the foul line is most abnormal of everything actually, considering he's shot more than 80+ FT% before. I really hope he improves on that end. His rebounding is basically about the same as it was as the last two seasons (in less minutes), I'm not sure how much you're expecting on that end (the only spurs who've grabbed more boards this season are Duncan/Blair/McDyess/Bonner). He's grabbing at least 2 boards than we'd be getting from Finley. His man-man defense hasn't been that bad, but his help defense could use serious improvement. He's never going to be a shutdown defender in my opinion. He's not a player coming into his own in the league as a defender, like a Bowen or a Battier. He's strong and heavy, but he's not the longest or peskiest defender. I've seen flashes of good D though, and just hope he sticks with it. You look at that Denver game, and alot of the times Jefferson was right on Melo, dude is just an amazing jumpshooter and player. Last game, Jefferson had a pretty clutch block on Mehmet Okur with a minute and half in the fourth quarter that lead to a fast break and a wide open three for Manu on the other end. That was pure effort. When Deron Williams hit that last pull up jumper for Utah, and broke away from Hill, Jefferson was right there to block his path and lunge for the block, to no avail D-Will's execution was near perfect. Point being, I'm really not getting the idea that Jefferson is not trying out there, or doesn't care. He's actually playing hard, it's just not entirely clicking yet as him being more than a role player. He needs more touches in post ups and in the beginning of plays, versus being just a finisher or spot up shooter.
Last edited by SCdac; 12-09-2009 at 02:27 AM.
i agree with this. Coming off the bench makes him the team's first option. That way, he doesn't have to think about deferring too much
Pop's idea of running more is one thing, but getting TP to open his eyes, survey the wings and PASS THE BALL is totally another. He's so used to being a one-man break, that most times, he doesn't even bother to look around for anyone else. The most frustrating part is there are times that players are open - especially when he elects to barrel ahead into 2 or more defenders.
If we can continue enjoying this stretch of health, it'd be very telling.
I wonder if dude is just happy with his huge payday. Would be a ing shame, but really the lack or urgency is extremely telling.
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