Clippers' Jordan making forward strides

[mkwest]

LOS ANGELES – While the Clippers limped their way to getting swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Playoffs last May, Kenyon Martin took a moment to sit down for an interview.

The topic? Figuring out DeAndre Jordan.

Martin let out what sounded like half grunt and half laugh.

"Good luck," he said.

Interview over.

Jordan, his head coach, Vinny Del Negro, and his closest friend on the team, Blake Griffin, all agreed that a year ago, Jordan would let frustration at the offensive end bleed over to the defensive side.

Maybe it was a lack of focus. Maybe he was trying too hard. Or, maybe, simply put, he was immature.

For whatever reason, Del Negro didn't trust Jordan enough to keep him on the floor late in games. Some people point to his free-throw shooting (52.5 percent in 2011-12) as a reason why he was relegated to the bench, but his replacements Reggie Evans (50.7 percent) and Martin (37.0 percent) were actually worse foul shooters.

There had to be more to it.

Coaches and teammates suggested that Jordan's lack of a presence offensively, where he was relegated to lob receiver and rebounder, led to him becoming disengaged defensively.

"At times," Jordan responded to that suggestion. "You're always frustrated when you feel like you could play better than you're playing."

"If my offense isn't happening, I'm going to play defense and grab as many rebounds as I can," he said.

A more mature Jordan would certainly be a version that Del Negro would be willing to trust late in games – poor free-throw shooting or not.

"In the fourth quarter, it's going to be an issue at times," Del Negro said. "But if he's doing those things and affecting the game the ways he's able to defensively, blocking shots, getting us out on the break and doing things, the positives should outweigh the negative."

"Myself included, we have to get more mature," Griffin said. "(Jordan) knows he can be good, but I don't think he knows truly how good he can be.

"We know. We tell him everyday."

Dan Woike, OC Register

[apet8945]

Can't complain much about the improvements he's making. At least now we can give him the ball in the post and he won't be flustered, he might even surprise us as he has. But he still has a tendency to panic at times when he gets the ball.

In last nights game, there was a moment where Jordan got the ball deep underneath the basket, after either Paul or Bledsoe drove in and was met by a bunch of defenders, and the second Jordan received the pass, he tried to dunk it like it was a hot potato. And he got rejected by Jefferson.

If he had done a pump fake right there, Jefferson would have been in the air and Jordan could have dribbled once to the side and dunked it easily. It just surprises me that a move like that isn't natural to a guy his size. The pump fake could be his most lethal move if he knew how to use it.

I just want to see that sense of panic gone completely when he gets the ball, and hopefully that will come with more time and experience.

[DangerCurtis]

Can't complain much about the improvements he's making. At least now we can give him the ball in the post and he won't be flustered, he might even surprise us as he has. But he still has a tendency to panic at times when he gets the ball.

In last nights game, there was a moment where Jordan got the ball deep underneath the basket, after either Paul or Bledsoe drove in and was met by a bunch of defenders, and the second Jordan received the pass, he tried to dunk it like it was a hot potato. And he got rejected by Jefferson.

If he had done a pump fake right there, Jefferson would have been in the air and Jordan could have dribbled once to the side and dunked it easily. It just surprises me that a move like that isn't natural to a guy his size. The pump fake could be his most lethal move if he knew how to use it.

I just want to see that sense of panic gone completely when he gets the ball, and hopefully that will come with more time and experience.

I agree as well, I felt as though Jordan was rushing things a bit. Not like what we saw in the previous preseason games.

But the thing that jumped out at me mostly is that despite his early offensive woes and his horrid early ft shooting (1-8), he stuck with it in the second half and ended up pulling down 16 rebounds overall and went 4-5 ft shooting in the second half. Like he said, if he's not putting the ball in the basket he needs to focus his attention toward rebounding and defense.

As for the Kenyon Martin comment, that's a pretty harsh thing to say about a young player, as well, I think it's a testament that Deandre is still the starter on the team and there were never any reports about KMart being brought nor has he been picked up by another team.

[mj_shoefanatic]

Glad he finally has some sort of "in the post" game. It took forever. Now he needs to show Blake the way and they both need to practice FT's to get that % up higher on the season.