Its Confirmed: JJ Hickson is Terrible

Baseline Runner · Post #1 » by **Baseline Runner** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 2:42 am

Does anyone still think this guy is going to be a player? I know people are going to say, "oh he's so young, give him a chance", the same excuse big men have been getting for years, from Kwame Brown to Darko Milicic. He has zero basketball IQ and just makes one terrible play after another. As a basketball player, you either have it or you don't and if you don't have it, you ain't never going to have it. Watch a guy like Dajuan Blair or Beasely, compare how much more refined and smarter they are to Hickson. Nothing is ever going to bridge that grand canyon of a gap.

Cavs really need to revamp their scouting staff. I'm tired of one wasted draft pick after another.

Baseline Runner · Post #2 » by **Baseline Runner** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 3:25 am

I did a reverse jinx on him. He goes out and has the best quarter of his career after this post

Post #3 » by **TheOUTLAW** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 3:34 am

Oh, I still think he gets blocked way too ofter and doesn't go up strong enough, but he's shown an awful lot of good things today.

Benedict_Boozer · Post #4 » by **Benedict_Boozer** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:16 am

The Kid can score the ball. He has a nose for getting open and moving off the ball, and he has good hands - which is perfect for LBJ. He also has some decent touch on his shot.

Like Outlaw said he needs to learn to go up quicker/stronger - but that will come with time.

He is improving defensively also, definitely a solid pick IMO. Big men with his tools aren't that easy to pick up.

Niko23 · Post #5 » by **Niko23** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:23 am

Baseline Runner wrote:I did a reverse jinx on him. He goes out and has the best quarter of his career after this post

I command you to start a "Cavs will not win 2010 Finals" Thread

Canomad · Post #6 » by **Canomad** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:25 am

Baseline Runner wrote:Does anyone still think this guy is going to be a player? I know people are going to say, "oh he's so young, give him a chance", the same excuse big men have been getting for years, from Kwame Brown to Darko Milicic. He has zero basketball IQ and just makes one terrible play after another. As a basketball player, you either have it or you don't and if you don't have it, you ain't never going to have it. Watch a guy like Dajuan Blair or Beasely, compare how much more refined and smarter they are to Hickson. Nothing is ever going to bridge that grand canyon of a gap.

Cavs really need to revamp their scouting staff. I'm tired of one wasted draft pick after another.

wow hickson just played his best game as a cav. i agree with outlaw though he needs to go up stronger, and maybe settle down a bit he can get overly wild at times.

L&H_05 · Post #7 » by **L&H_05** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:33 am

It's pretty obvious that JJ has skills and talent... And it's more than obvious that he needs to play with the guys that can feed him the ball and make things easier on him... He's a completely different player when playing with LeBron/Mo/Shaq...

Look at it this way... The Knicks wasted a lottery pick on an inferior player in Jordan Hill... :lol:

Post #8 » by **TheOUTLAW** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:34 am

I know he's much better as a starter than he had ever been coming off the bench.

prekazi · Post #9 » by **prekazi** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:43 am

Hickson will be fine but his atrocious basketball IQ will give him some hard time. He gotta get some experience though, he's starting right now and he shows that he can contribute right away. Let's show some love to the kid. :hug:

Wise1 · Post #10 » by **Wise1** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 5:27 am

L&H_05 wrote:It's pretty obvious that JJ has skills and talent... And it's more than obvious that he needs to play with the guys that can feed him the ball and make things easier on him... He's a completely different player when playing with LeBron/Mo/Shaq...

Look at it this way... The Knicks wasted a lottery pick on an inferior player in Jordan Hill...

Right. They could have had Brandon Jennings. :lol:

Post #11 » by **B Mac** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 5:59 am

Also dont forget that this guy has basically received zero valuable playing time up until this last week for this team. Oh yea and he broke his freaking back last year. He still struggles on rotations and positioning but you can see things starting to click for him. As the game continues to slow down and he continues to figure things out he is going to be a very solid player. Now if someone could just teach him how not to get blocked on dunk attempts...

Neutral 123 · Post #12 » by **Neutral 123** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:29 pm

Yeah, he'll probably always struggle to finish around the basket as strongly as you' would like, but he played with a lot of hustle and has the skills to be a solid contributor. His hands and strength around the basket are a bit suspect though.

L&H_05 · Post #13 » by **L&H_05** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 7:39 pm

JJ's size and athleticism will eventually allow him to finish strong... A little less thinking and more reaction out there will come naturally...

However, he's slowly showcasing his talents and for our situation, that might just be the best thing to come out of this... He might be very attractive for another team to take along with an expiring contract in return for their star..

This is the best of both worlds for us... If JJ is here for the long haul, he'll only get better... Or, he's showcasing that talent to another team...

Post #14 » by **TheOUTLAW** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:15 pm

I'm not that worried about his defense on rotations yet. It seems that the Cavs defense is alot more complicated than it's offense so he's just gotta get playing time in order to get the rotations down.

Pula_86 · Post #15 » by **Pula_86** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 4:36 am

I think Hickson has a chance to develop. His basketball IQ is still light years ahead of Varejao. At least he has some type of offensive skill. This front court will be better if Leon Powe comes back and if Hickson works on his game. The learning curve is usually greater for the big guys because in the NCAA there is not a lot of quality big men. In the NBA, you face quality big men every night.

calibanPK · Post #16 » by **calibanPK** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 4:38 am

B Mac wrote:Also dont forget that this guy has basically received zero valuable playing time up until this last week for this team. Oh yea and he broke his freaking back last year. He still struggles on rotations and positioning but you can see things starting to click for him. As the game continues to slow down and he continues to figure things out he is going to be a very solid player. Now if someone could just teach him how not to get blocked on dunk attempts...

+1

He does play the glass extremely well on offense though for a big man.

Canomad · Post #17 » by **Canomad** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 6:14 am

another good game from the terrible jj hickson :roll:

. this guy is basically just getting his feet wet in the nba i expect him to be a really solid player down the line.

prekazi · Post #18 » by **prekazi** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 6:17 am

Niko23 wrote:
Baseline Runner wrote:I did a reverse jinx on him. He goes out and has the best quarter of his career after this post

I command you to start a "Cavs will not win 2010 Finals" Thread

I think it's a great idea. But we have to lock it immediately because other team's fans can come in and counter-jinx the thread.

Baseline Runner · Post #19 » by **Baseline Runner** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:54 am

The Cavs are terrible, they won't win a championship! Hope it works

Hickson is adjusting quick. The guy has skills and has a nice stroke for a big guy. Some players just can't get in the flow when they are playing 10 minutes a night and Hickson seems to be one of those guys. At the start of the season everytime Hickson got the ball he would get a charge call on him, turn it over or get his shot blocked. None of those things happened in the last game. Too early to tell how good he'll be, remember we've had 30-40 point games from guys like Trajan Langdon and Dajuan Wagner, then they were out of the league in a couple of years

Baseline Runner · Post #20 » by **Baseline Runner** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 4:20 am

After having 3 nice games Hickson has basically disappeared, playing some atrocious basketball lately. It's nice that he can put some points on the board at times but there are lots of marginal players around the league that can do that. All of the silly turnovers, stupid mistakes, and defensive lapses are unfortunantly things that will most likely never be cured. He is also a surprisingly poor rebounder for someone of his size and strength. We saw the same thing with guys like Chris Mihm, Desagna Diop and Drew Gooden, big guys with some talent but just didn't have what it takes to be an integral part of an elite team.