Vasquez: hot garbage or slow starter?

[kid idioteque]

[trwi7]

I wouldn't even trust Vasquez to shake the plastic bag and do the twisty thingy too.

[Dr Positivity]

As a Raptors fan the thing that surprised me when we got Vasquez after who it looked like he was a poor man's Calderon he was in New Orleans, was how much of a chuck-first player he was. He was a "irrational confidence guy" to quote Bill Simmons. We gave him the nickname Swagvez because he played like he had the most confidence in the world and was generally a pretty fun player in style of play to come in and change the energy level of the game. He was decent off the pick and roll and helped us create offense in the Brooklyn series when we got stagnant. But last year playing him and Lou Williams together screwed up the culture of our team cause when those guys got in it was all reckless jumpers and no defense. It was too much and the whole team's style of play started to play like their shot selection and defense had no responsibility like those two. His numbers also just regressed in general. Overall I would call his impact average being kind. He was average efficiency shot jacker with poor defense. His impact was comparable to Tyler Hansbrough and James Johnson on our team at the back end of our rotation, frankly probably the worst of those 3 in impact as Psycho and JJ had good seasons last year. At 6 million I would have been more than happy with just a 2nd round pick and moving his contract in return for him. The Bucks just signing Jeremy Lin or whatever would've been a more efficient use of their assets

[Prince12]

The thing with him is he isn't even chucking or taking annoying shots. He has been damn terrible because he just dribbles around in circles and then turns it over trying some ridiculous pass that the d can see coming the whole way. His defense is as advertised but man he's been a joke on the end he's supposed to bring something.

[Throwback24]

He's slow and at times garbage. Tricky question OP... he is both

[sca]

He was a polarizing figure, for sure.

I remember the first time he came to the Raptors. He was one of the major pieces that we gained in the Gay trade which was supposed to be our ticket to lottery. Surprisingly though, our new roster instantly clicked and we won like 12 out of 15 afterwards, and he was a major part of that eight-man rotation of Kyle, DD, Ross, Amir, Val, Salmons, PatPat, and him. That Raptors team was my favourite ever. Every guy was putting the team above themselves and they had that "f you" attitude towards the basketball world which was eagerly expecting them to start losing sooner or later.

I always felt like the versatility of Vasquez was one of the main reasons why that team has been able to win so many games. You could give him the ball and watch him set up great pick and roll plays with Amir (or PP). You could move him to one of the wing spots and give yourself an extra ball-handlern and a shooter who moves surprisingly well of the ball (and he struggles less against slightly bigger and slower guys on D, anyway). He also had that confidence in him, swag as they call it, and backed it up time and time again. All in all, he was a creative and versatile combo guard who had a tendency to do the unexpected, and someone didn't even blink when he needed to get up his own shot. Thinking about it, he was like our very own Ginobili in a sense, though obviously not as good (or calm) as him.

Last year though, everything changed. We went from an effort first team to a trigger happy one, and our defense completely collapsed. Our coaching staff followed a weird philosophy of emphasizing iso ball in a league where ball movement became more and more important every year. I think that had to do with a BS study which came to the conclusion that iso ball was more successful in the play-offs (we all saw how it turned out, SMH).

Vasquez signed a new contract that offseason and I think his ego and pride also got much bigger than his playing skills. Think about that: You're coming off your career year,
and just signed a new contract, but playing behind the undisputed star of the team (Lowry). You also have a new backcourt mate who is one of the most iso-happy players in the league (Lou). Anyway, GV and Lou ran the show off the bench last year, and it was a great one on some nights and terrible on many others. With our incredibly guard dominant, unbalanced offense, he went from a team oriented player to a "shoot first, second and third" one. I also think many of Lou's bad habits got to him, and he wasn't exactly happy with seeing his role and minutes diminish on the team, especially when he believed that he could start on some others.

Anyway, I feel like my post has many unnecessary details, but to sum it up, he can be a valuable player when he feels his role is matching his skills and he gets his minutes. He can't beat guys off the dribble, but runs pnr plays very well and has that creative spark in him where he could make you go "wow" with the unexpected plays he sets up, or shots he takes / makes (and this right here is the main reason why he should never, ever be compred to Calderon, who's the most system-oriented player in the world). His defense is a mess, especially on pnrs, but can be masked with putting him on the opposing SG instead of PG, and his length can be disruptive at times. I think his main weakness is his ego, as he thinks he's a far more better player than he really is. Anyway, he's much more talented than Bayless, another former Raptors guard, for sure. I think these two can be an intriguing duo off the bench, but I might be wrong, as there's not a lot of bball IQ between these two.

ETA: on post game thread I see that you guys are already calling for his head. Oh well. Guess he'll never actually "get it."

[DeKobe DeBryant]

Slow garbage.

[BobbyLight]

I've never seen a man so in love with lob passes that appear to be more for the backboard than they are intended for any other player.

I also enjoyed his desire for bounce passes meant to go in between defenders when there is literally no room between the defenders.

[step3profit]

[Nightfall]

Guys you have to be a little more fair to Vasquez.
Being greek in Germany, so living somewhere where you are not native speaker, I understand him more than anyone.
The new owners said : "We will build a new Arena. Brick by brick" . He just took things a bit too literally...

[ChuckChilly]

[feldm093]

................... slow garbage?

[AussieBuck]

Weird looking bolt-ons, 2/10 would not bang.

On topic I think he'll improve. He's a guy who thinks he should a starter in a contract year, he'll be looking at MCW's gig as a target. Also he's bound to improve once he's got some idea of the team D. Bayless improved here defensively.

[HKPackFan]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSGaQwP26Uw[/youtube]


about the :20 second mark is where I imagine Vasquez floating by on his makeshift garbage pontoon.

[Chapter29]

Yuk.


BOT

Slow burning hot garbage.

[JimmyTheKid]

He's currently my least favorite member of the Milwaukee Bucks. Just awful through three games.

[Badgerlander]

Greivis is a slow down, half court, two man game player that hasn't found chemistry with anyone yet. I'm not worried, we'll need him in the playoffs and hopefully by then Henson will be the deadliest of roll men, ok second to Giannis.

[Siefer]

He's playing worse than I think he actually is, but he's still going to be a frustrating player. He's awful on defense, and he telegraphs pretty much everything he does with the ball. I think I'd be happier giving the backup PG minutes to Mayo, and playing Vasquez mostly off the ball.

[Iheartfootball]

I'm going contrarian:

[raferfenix]

I'm surprised that Vasquez is looking more like a SG than a PG.

I though we were getting a player with fantastic court vision but we have yet to see much evidence of that.

Maybe he just hasn't built chemistry with anyone and is still out of shape so will get it together a month or two in the season.

Vasquez being able to hit a 3 was another supposed benefit of the deal and his inability to do that so far has been discouraging too.