Netaman wrote:vincecarter4pres wrote:Decipher wrote:
Probably known for a while that he isn’t going to be extended & might not believe that JV has put him in the best place to succeed
He’s playing 30 minutes per game though so you would have thought that he’d show some passion at some point even if it meant completely tearing up the gameplan and just going after his own
Instead just looks like he’s moping around the court
Exactly.
x3. 100% dead on.
I totally agree. I like the guy and he seemed so excited about getting back to his roots. And I was shocked...shocked! I expected so much. In two years with a rookie coach, Jason Kidd, he had 15.8 points on 49.8/40.4/72.5% and 17.7 points on 45.5/40.4/82.1%. I figured he'd be at least close playing for another ex point guard. I think the distinguished beard fooled me. I worried a little early in the year when he was replaced in fourth quarters by a six year, six team, player. I herein opined that management had decided not to re-sign him (probably for repeater tax purposes) and was seeking a cheap replacement, somewhat like our summer hires. But that ended after a couple of close losses and all was well until sometime during our losing streak.
Suddenly Spence was replaced in fourth quarters by DSJ. Don't get me wrong. I think the kid is good. But it didn't make sense to me. NBA.com clutch player stats had Dinwiddie 97th and DSJ 211th. On our team they listed Spence 3d in clutch points and DSJ 9th, 6th in FG% to 9th, and tied for second on 3's% to 7th. And heaven knows our defense was certainly no better in spite of his talents. In one recent game Spence came in at the nine minute mark of the fourth quarter, had an immediate assist on a Walker three, and was replaced by DSJ after one minute, never to return. I haven't seen that done with even college freshman. A pundit recently wrote that he thought Spence was on strike. That seems out of character to me. I could be projecting but, to me, he seems totally dispirited. In a recent interview he expressed relief that at least his pension was secure.
In summary and in retrospect I now feel totally naive. I should not have expected so much with Spence following two generational talents like Harden and Irving and the success they had with this organization. I realize, however, that mine is a lonely opinion.