Game 53: Pistons (24-28) vs. Lakers (18-36) - 7:30 PM EST

[Blkbrd671]

i think SVG realized RJ's still injured. WAtching games, RJ still gets that seperation that makes coaches drool in the PnR, its his decision and ability to finish after that has been his downfall. What really ahs been the biggest change, at least this game, is RJ's focus on defense, he at times looked like KCP or Ish fighting to get over screens and back in front of his man. If this is the RJ that we get for the rest of the season, you'll hear me maybe b* once in the game threads. He looked like the player that we traded for

i don't know if it's just me but reggie looks like he was moving so much better in the playoffs last year than he is now:

Watch on YouTube

i just feel like he's a lot slower now than in that video and less mobile moving laterally, on cuts and stuff off-ball as well.

i watched him play live in miami, and he's still limping when he plays, but at times forgets he's hurt??? don't know how to describe it. I think its more a mental approach in that he's always thinking about his legs in traffic. Today he looked really good on the defensive end of the floor and really only had a couple shots or decisions that were poor. It was mostly because the ball was taken out of his hands early and he made a effort to pass the ball up the court in transition letting our other guards and forwards make the play.

If RJ is in fact still injured, he can still make a impact if he can get his mind right .

[DetroitSho]

i think SVG realized RJ's still injured. WAtching games, RJ still gets that seperation that makes coaches drool in the PnR, its his decision and ability to finish after that has been his downfall. What really ahs been the biggest change, at least this game, is RJ's focus on defense, he at times looked like KCP or Ish fighting to get over screens and back in front of his man. If this is the RJ that we get for the rest of the season, you'll hear me maybe b* once in the game threads. He looked like the player that we traded for

i don't know if it's just me but reggie looks like he was moving so much better in the playoffs last year than he is now:

Watch on YouTube

i just feel like he's a lot slower now than in that video and less mobile moving laterally, on cuts and stuff off-ball as well.

i watched him play live in miami, and he's still limping when he plays, but at times forgets he's hurt??? don't know how to describe it. I think its more a mental approach in that he's always thinking about his legs in traffic. Today he looked really good on the defensive end of the floor and really only had a couple shots or decisions that were poor. It was mostly because the ball was taken out of his hands early and he made a effort to pass the ball up the court in transition letting our other guards and forwards make the play.

If RJ is in fact still injured, he can still make a impact if he can get his mind right .

And that's the weird thing about people who just want to dump him and pretty much are rooting for him to fail. The guy still has redeemable value, regardless of the group think scapegoating around here. Alot of times he misses some really good shots that he absolutely should be taking (and making), but he's deemed a ball hog regardless. If dude comes free off a screen and has a wide open 12 footer he absolutely better take that shot everytime, unless there's a wide open dunk/layup that is available for someone else.

If he misses them he doesn't need to stop shooting (ballhogging), he just needs to make the damn shot, period. The problem is he's getting the separation but he doesn't have the explosiveness to maintain that separation so even the Jerebko's of the world are recovering and giving him problems at the rim. Whereas last year he was blowing by 90% of the league and getting to the rim before anyone could come close. So he really needs to refine that midrange pull-up and not worry as much about expanding so much energy getting to the rim and finishing in traffic. He needs more Sam Cassell in his game, because that will actually open up the drive game more. Hell even Ish Smith seems to be a devastating shooter from 15-17 feet, which makes life easy when all you take are the wide open ones. That's why he's getting to the rim so uncontested now. They're not just backing up off of him.

[hoophabit]

i think SVG realized RJ's still injured. WAtching games, RJ still gets that seperation that makes coaches drool in the PnR, its his decision and ability to finish after that has been his downfall. What really ahs been the biggest change, at least this game, is RJ's focus on defense, he at times looked like KCP or Ish fighting to get over screens and back in front of his man. If this is the RJ that we get for the rest of the season, you'll hear me maybe b* once in the game threads. He looked like the player that we traded for

i don't know if it's just me but reggie looks like he was moving so much better in the playoffs last year than he is now:

Watch on YouTube

i just feel like he's a lot slower now than in that video and less mobile moving laterally, on cuts and stuff off-ball as well.

i watched him play live in miami, and he's still limping when he plays, but at times forgets he's hurt??? don't know how to describe it. I think its more a mental approach in that he's always thinking about his legs in traffic. Today he looked really good on the defensive end of the floor and really only had a couple shots or decisions that were poor. It was mostly because the ball was taken out of his hands early and he made a effort to pass the ball up the court in transition letting our other guards and forwards make the play.

If RJ is in fact still injured, he can still make a impact if he can get his mind right .

Absolutely, the best thing for RJ and the team is for him to relax and play off the ball movement game. For one thing, the team likes to play that game. For another, everyone, including Reggie, will get better shots. Make an honest defensive effort, which shockingly he was doing last night? Maybe Isiah talked to him? His knee is still bothering him, and playing with an inflamed tendon involves risk. Make it easy on yourself, help out as best you can and let the team help you. Don't care about the points, that was about Reggie's best game so far this year. (Incidentally, I know how bad the Lakers and 76ers are.)

[whitehops]

i hope RJ's knee can heal a bit over the all star break but i'm afraid it will be something that hampers him all season.

[hoophabit]

i hope RJ's knee can heal a bit over the all star break but i'm afraid it will be something that hampers him all season.

Wouldn't be shocked to hear some surgery occurs after the season. Best case they just need to do a clean up to reduce the tendency to inflammation. Worked for Wall.

[bballnmike]

Didn't catch the game tonight, but just asking in general... Does SVG deserve blame or some credit for that? Reggie was arguably our best player last year and most of our offense.

i believe in the first half of the season he was our best player and fell off in the 2nd half when teams started blitzing him and he struggled adjusting. Mook essentially carried us in the 2nd half.

Coming back from a significant injury, SVG tried to give him every opportunity to get it together and get back to his old self.

To be honest its hard to say "when's the right time to realize its not working" so to take SVG's own words. He indicated that it normally takes 20 games for a team to build a identity, being that we are 20+ games into RJ's return and he is just now making the adjustments would indicate that he waited too long.

Furthermore ,RJ obviously lacks his explosiveness due to recovery from injury and still plays with a limp. He is literally our worst defender and offensively , if stats didn't tell the story, the film did in terms of the teams reaction , in terms of production, with him at point. I mean it was obvious on film that our defense and offense kicked up a notch with Ish. From a coaching stand point, if you see the entire team regress w RJ, but keep him in , or continue to call his # just so he can "work through" his struggles seems pretty idiotic to me. I really don't see the argument as to why you don't have RJ come off the bench and then work his way back in especially when its so blatantly obvious he is/was the problem.

Sure SVG's usually criticized for being too stubborn, but if he really calls the plays and now has switched up to where we're playing better... does he get a little credit? Better late than never?

I'd say wait and see if this lasts/if we can do it against better teams. Just another way to look at it imo

Problem is it shouldn't have taken him this long to figure this out and to a point he deserves credit for finally making a change. It just irritates the sh* out of me that in all his post games he talks about how we play with a lack of energy and dont' commit to defense, but continues to trot out RJ, who's return coincided with our regression in both those areas. Its like SVG head was so far up his a* who couldn't see what was obvious.

My fear is that defensively we aren't much better than we were before but rather just playing a sh* team who "outsh*'d" us. RJ's play was encouraging as i thnk this is the first game ,since he's been back, where he looked like a pg and his teammates responded.

In this reply i may sound like i am disagreeing, but for the record, i think your point is valid just playing devils advocate

Yeah that's fair. The real test will be whether or not this continues as we start to play quality teams

[Blkbrd671]

i don't know if it's just me but reggie looks like he was moving so much better in the playoffs last year than he is now:

Watch on YouTube

i just feel like he's a lot slower now than in that video and less mobile moving laterally, on cuts and stuff off-ball as well.

i watched him play live in miami, and he's still limping when he plays, but at times forgets he's hurt??? don't know how to describe it. I think its more a mental approach in that he's always thinking about his legs in traffic. Today he looked really good on the defensive end of the floor and really only had a couple shots or decisions that were poor. It was mostly because the ball was taken out of his hands early and he made a effort to pass the ball up the court in transition letting our other guards and forwards make the play.

If RJ is in fact still injured, he can still make a impact if he can get his mind right .

And that's the weird thing about people who just want to dump him and pretty much are rooting for him to fail. The guy still has redeemable value, regardless of the group think scapegoating around here. Alot of times he misses some really good shots that he absolutely should be taking (and making), but he's deemed a ball hog regardless. If dude comes free off a screen and has a wide open 12 footer he absolutely better take that shot everytime, unless there's a wide open dunk/layup that is available for someone else.

If he misses them he doesn't need to stop shooting (ballhogging), he just needs to make the damn shot, period. The problem is he's getting the separation but he doesn't have the explosiveness to maintain that separation so even the Jerebko's of the world are recovering and giving him problems at the rim. Whereas last year he was blowing by 90% of the league and getting to the rim before anyone could come close. So he really needs to refine that midrange pull-up and not worry as much about expanding so much energy getting to the rim and finishing in traffic. He needs more Sam Cassell in his game, because that will actually open up the drive game more. Hell even Ish Smith seems to be a devastating shooter from 15-17 feet, which makes life easy when all you take are the wide open ones. That's why he's getting to the rim so uncontested now. They're not just backing up off of him.

to me his problem is that he doesn't recognize when to shoot and when to pass, a lot of the times he'll get his man picked off , have a lane to force help side, but picks up his dribble and passes out to a covered player, or the defense will switch on a PnR or play the PnR well and he'll try to force the issue instead of passing off. Other than these recent games, his shot selection has been absolute sh*, taking shots early in the shot clock, long 3 pointers, just overall not high percentage shots.

His job also as a pg is to not only get his, but as Isiah said, to gage the teams emotional state. RJ too many times tries to do it all and simply can't, whats more frustrating is that he doesn't need too on a team that has several options.As a team we at times would be better served having KCP, or TH or SJ run the pnr or carry the ball up in transition, especially when RJ doesn't have it. Until recently it seemed RJ was absolutely blind to that.