RealGM

Posted: **Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:23 am**

It has been the wise Billups offering wisdom from his 15 years of NBA experience to the willing Jordan, much of it focused on how the young Clippers center can provide the team with a unique presence that can be similar to Ben Wallace's during his heyday with the Detroit Pistons.

Billups has told Jordan that he can be a game-changer on defense, a force in the middle, an intimidator and a key rebounder — some of the traits Billups saw firsthand while playing with Wallace in Detroit.

"I have to be our defensive anchor," Jordan said. "Just kind of be everybody's safety net. Me back there gives everybody a lot of more confidence to gamble [on defense]. And then I have to rebound, be one of the leaders, especially on the defensive end."

Now that Billups is sidelined by a season-ending torn left Achilles' tendon, he is like the teacher in the classroom, talking to Jordan at practice, video sessions, shoot-arounds and during games. Billups will travel in the playoffs with the Clippers, ready to mentor.

"But it's a process and sometimes I've got to slow myself down and remember that he is young and he doesn't have a lot of experience. I'm talking about a finished product in Ben Wallace and not the first stages. I think that DJ can certainly get there. He has a little ways to go, but he's locked into trying to get there and that's the most important thing."

Brad Turner, LA Times

Posted: **Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:12 pm**

I'm glad that DJ keeps getting positive reinforcement. He needs to constantly hear how important he can be to this team.

My hope is faint, but I do hope IF by some miracles Billups comes back that he would be happy with playing backup point guard to CP3. That would be ideal. He's not a bad 2, but on defense it hurts us.

Posted: **Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:38 pm**

"I have to be our defensive anchor," Jordan said. "Just kind of be everybody's safety net. Me back there gives everybody a lot of more confidence to gamble [on defense]. And then I have to rebound, be one of the leaders, especially on the defensive end."

It's one thing to say it and another to actually go out on the court and do it. DJ will have great stretches of dominance in the paint, and then he'll have two or three sequences in a row when he just doesn't give the effort to get a rebound or box a guy out even though its such a simple task. And then he gets his ass benched.

Idk about everyone else, but I would like my 10 million dollar 6'10" athletic center who has the physical tools to be a dominant defender to actually play at the end of games instead of a 34 year old K-mart. And yet, K-mart is closing out every game now.

We can blame lack of training camp and all that, but him making 10 million for the next 3 years is starting to become a concern if he isn't going to live up to it.

Posted: **Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:09 pm**

billups is a good coach .
fire dfail and hire billups to coach the playoffs

Posted: **Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:14 pm**

apet8945 wrote:"I have to be our defensive anchor," Jordan said. "Just kind of be everybody's safety net. Me back there gives everybody a lot of more confidence to gamble [on defense]. And then I have to rebound, be one of the leaders, especially on the defensive end."

It's one thing to say it and another to actually go out on the court and do it. DJ will have great stretches of dominance in the paint, and then he'll have two or three sequences in a row when he just doesn't give the effort to get a rebound or box a guy out even though its such a simple task. And then he gets his ass benched.

Idk about everyone else, but I would like my 10 million dollar 6'10" athletic center who has the physical tools to be a dominant defender to actually play at the end of games instead of a 34 year old K-mart. And yet, K-mart is closing out every game now.

We can blame lack of training camp and all that, but him making 10 million for the next 3 years is starting to become a concern if he isn't going to live up to it.

DJ gives the effort to rebound, it is the boxing out that is a problem. The thing is that boxing out isn't such a simple task. It is, and it isn't.

It's easy in that yea, just boxing out isn't something hard to do, but it's hard in that unless it is drilled and has become a reflex action, the natural response is to just attack the ball and out-jump people. Then when you're 6'11 with long limbs and a high vertical, it's unlikely that boxing out is your first thought when you see the ball go up.

Posted: **Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:26 am**

I like that DJ has a veteran in his ear to help him on his game, but I wish that veteran was a big that has a full understanding of what DJ needs to do and that can show him how to carry himself. It is a process that will not happen overnight, and it is positive that DJ recognizes what the team needs of him. I'm sure he wants to be in the 4th quarter, and he needs to make the proper adjustments to warrant that.

With his first playoff game taking place Sunday night, I'm sure he'll realize that the stakes have risen to a whole other level that he hasn't experienced prior to this season. The team is playing for a purpose as opposed to just suiting up to put on a good show. It remains to be seen how far this team will go over the postseason, but the only way to go further is to grow. His desire to grow should be far greater this summer than ever before.

Posted: **Tue May 8, 2012 3:59 pm**

I'm a little worried about DJ at this point, his role on the team, and his salary.

The biggest problem is that he is a much better help defender than 1-on-1, good opposing centers often have very good games against him. He is also not a huge presence on the boards, adequate but not huge. His offense has declined even more in the playoffs, as defenses tighten up and there are less easy opportunities.

His averages for the year were incrementally better than last year. I was never expecting much offensively from him, but wonder if he can really become the stalwart at center that we are paying him to be. For his salary and limited offensive abilities, he really has to be a good rebounder and 1-on-1 defender, and that hasn't happened yet. I still like the guy and agreed with the decision to match GS's offer sheet, but at his pay we definitely need more out of him to be a championship contender with this current squad.

He can improve rebounding by simply hustling more. His lower body strength is not great compared to other players of his size (just due to his body type), if he can increase this that will help his 1-on-1 defense. The good thing is he's still really young.

Posted: **Tue May 8, 2012 11:21 pm**

He was playing well in game 4and got pulled when Martin was sucking it up and he had close to the amount of rebounds Reggie had in couple of mins plus 3blks in only 22mins. The guy didn't even get into serious foul trouble.

Posted: **Wed May 9, 2012 12:04 am**

Now that we've played a few playoff games...

It is very true that the contract isn't exactly favorable at the moment. the 5 year/$40M that we offered would have been much better annually, but things didn't work out that way. In the event that we have to cut our losses with him in the future, it will be one year sooner. He'll be an expiring contract beginning in the summer of 2014.

I'm not going to give up on DJ just yet. He's still only 23 years old. He may not be much help to us now, but I'm truly hoping that he will benefit from having a proper offseason. It could be wishful thinking on my part, but I'm hoping that he sees the importance of what we need out of him. He gets frustrated for playing under 30mpg and very few minutes in the 4th. If he wants to increase his playing time and be in the game when it matters most, then he must make some adjustments and become a necessity rather than a liability.

Offensively, he needs to develop a legit move or two. Adding a reliable jump hook and a drop step spin move would be great. He's still a miserable foul shooter, but did in fact improve by 7.3% and was the best percentage of our bigs. The prior season showed an increase of 7.7%. If he continues that progression, he'd be at 59.4% next season. That is still not good enough. We need him to climb to at least the mid-60's to not be a liability.

Defensively, he needs to improve his awareness and make better use of his body. He has a 9'5.5" reach. He don't really need to jump all the time to defend a shot. He doesn't have the lowest center of gravity, but he's still a big body that takes up a lot of space along with his reach and wingspan.

He needs to workout with someone over the summer that can provide him with the knowledge that he needs. No guards, not Camby or somebody like that. Go see someone like Hakeem, Kareem, Moses, Shaq, Clifford Ray, etc. for big man training/tutoring. DJ's got money now, so if he needs to make a donation or cut a check....

Posted: **Wed May 9, 2012 5:44 am**

I wouldn't mind looking into trading DeAndre Jordan in the off-season. We can get some nice pieces for him and we can look at players in the off-season who have more skills at the center position. DeAndre is just a huge liability on the court when it's crunch time.

Posted: **Wed May 9, 2012 3:37 pm**

I'm on board with mk, he has a lot of areas to fix, but I'm not ready to give up on him. I'm not happy that Golden State got overly excited and paid so much for him, but it is what it is. I wouldn't just trade him for the sake of trading him, because the playoffs definitely have not increased his value, and he still has attributes that are in demand.

I'm proud of him for improving his FT shooting, but I didn't like that he didn't have much developmental work done through the off-season. Again, the lockout played into that, which is why I would like to see what he can do this off-season. He needs to work on strengthening his base, go to Hakeem's big man camp, and work on developing with the team as much as possible.

On raw attributes alone, he's a 10-11-3, 60%+ FG big man in 36 MPG, and this season only 3.8 fouls / 36. If you can teach a guy like that a few things:
-how to consistently set solid and effective screens
-how to be a smarter defender
--staying on the ground
--effective rotations (eg: cutting off offensive players instead of waiting to block them)
-how to do one effective post move

If you can do that, you can make him a player that you are comfortable playing for a whole game. Right now, while his FT shooting is a liability, Evans and Martin aren't getting more 4th quarter minutes than him because of that. But in addition to those things, a continual improvement of his FT shooting would also be good.

Posted: **Wed May 9, 2012 5:20 pm**

LOL they overpaid for Biedrins, so why not DJ?

Yeah, I'm not giving up on him by any means nor do I regret signing him, I would only trade him if someone really wanted him and thus offered value in return. My post was critical of DJ, but mainly to highlight where he really needs to improve.

High center of gravity is exactly what he has, it makes it harder for him so he needs to strengthen his base and train with big men in the offseason. His arms are thicker than before which is great, if he could add some weight to his backside even better.

I do think he has made steps this season (lockout hurts a guy like him the most), so there is definite potential for continued growth to where he could actually not only live up to his contract but exceed it. We just need a bigger step this offseason.

Posted: **Wed May 9, 2012 10:01 pm**

Yeah, he's still raw. The good thing is, he's been improving since his rookie season. Bad news is, it's not significant enough. Being good defensively does not mean just blocking shots, especially on the weak side or against smaller defenders. That's what DJ excels at. I believe DJ already has or can further develop an outside shot. It would be nice to see him post up too but he doesn't protect the ball that well. His footwork just seems odd. He can run the floor and jump pretty high but he can't really play that lock down, man-to-man D that you see other big men do.

He's no where close to being who many compare him to or see his ceiling as, Tyson Chandler. Still has a lot of work, but he's still young.

This is why I don't understand the hate for Kaman. Other than decision making, Kaman was the better C. People criticized that he didn't fit well next to Blake-- I call BS. Kaman had a mid-range shot and would've allowed for different plays ran through him instead of what we see right now, just through Blake. Not saying we should've kept Kaman for CP3, but Kaman is a valuable C moreso than DJ and if you see otherwise, you're blind.

Hopefully he improves big time and becomes some type of a threat with the ball in his hands (shooting or passing out of the post). With the amount of shooters we have, establishing the post with Blake and setting screens isn't enough... need a big man who can pass and post too.

Kinda OT, but I kinda feel the same about Bledsoe in terms of raw, untapped ability. Bledsoe just needs to harness his speed and stop making stupid decisions/turnovers.

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2012 12:14 am**

I know that many were calling for DJ over Kaman not too long ago, so I can only speak for myself on the Kaman issue. He's easily better and more skilled than DJ. The problem with him is that you cannot count on him. This shortened season was his healthiest season in years. If you take into account that the Hornets held him out of games and sent him away, then you can see that he only missed a handful of games (with the flu).

In his last 4 seasons with the Clippers, he played in only 195 of a possible 328 (59.5%). Without the injuries, the perception of Kaman is a lot different for everybody. DJ has been predominantly healthy throughout his career with the exception of a few minor injuries that may have kept him out a game or 2.

Posted: **Thu May 10, 2012 4:06 pm**

I think I was just saying the same thing to [Clippers] on the general board a few days ago. Kaman is a better player, but having DJ for 82 games a year is superior to having Kaman for 50-60 games and then having him possibly injured, or just recovering going into the playoffs. If Kaman played 80-82 games a season, I don't even know if DJ would be on the Clippers right now.

The other issues I had with Kaman were that he always wanted to shoot a lot, lol, he wasn't a very good post passer, and had a high turnover rate, but it was mainly the injuries that were the problem.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2012 3:45 am**

og15 wrote:I think I was just saying the same thing to [Clippers] on the general board a few days ago. Kaman is a better player, but having DJ for 82 games a year is superior to having Kaman for 50-60 games and then having him possibly injured, or just recovering going into the playoffs. If Kaman played 80-82 games a season, I don't even know if DJ would be on the Clippers right now.

The other issues I had with Kaman were that he always wanted to shoot a lot, lol, he wasn't a very good post passer, and had a high turnover rate, but it was mainly the injuries that were the problem.

I'll always have a soft spot for Kaman, because I like the guy as a person and did have some good memories of him throughout his tenure on team. The health issues were just too much at the price that he was being paid.

I'd be happy with 70 games per season from Chris and for him to be fully healthy throughout the playoffs. That's probably too much to ask for though.

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2012 6:01 am**

I liked Chris as a person and generally speaking as a player, what I didn't like is his slow plodding style. To go inside to Chris is basically going to eat up 10 seconds of your shot clock, regardless of whether he has a good opportunity or not. As og says, he wasn't a great passer out of the post either (which would have helped.)

I thought DJ would be a better fit playing alongside Blake and especially after getting CP3. But that being said, Chris had the best ball skills probably of our big men (although he didn't have the greatest FG%, mainly because he wasn't quick enough to get a lot of easy shots.)

Posted: **Fri May 11, 2012 4:25 pm**

When Chris wasn't used as a main option though, he had a high FG% (ie: 05-06). So for example, on this current Clippers team with Chris Paul, Blake, etc, if Kaman would be content getting only about 10-11 FGA/36 minutes and being a 13-14 PPG scorer, he would be able to do it on >50% FG as he wouldn't be taking as many tough shots.

Thing is, after being an All-Star in 09-10, and putting up ~19 PPG, and haven taken 16-17 FGA/36 minutes over the past two seasons, I don't think he would have been happy. He again took 15.7 FGA/36 in New Orleans this season, so he would probably complain about touches, etc.

With Chris, it was nice to have a big man that could hit some FT's though, lol

Posted: **Tue May 15, 2012 10:09 pm**

I see what you're saying. I guess I was trying to address the two other complaints about him: him not being a good fit with CP3 and him being a worse fit next to Griffin compared to DJ. The thing about CP3 and DJ was that people thought he would be like a Tyson Chandler. In NO, CP3 had David West AND Tyson Chandler so that mid-range shot and post-up skill set was more of a threat and gave CP3 more options with both.

ANYWAYS, back to DJ. I noticed he almost always finishes with one hand. He needs to work with finishing with two, on lobs/dunks AND rebounds. I also noticed he moves terribly laterally which makes his defense very blah (easy to go around him) and pair that with eager-to-block-every-shot-mode, that's an equation for super bad D. It's sad to say that KMart and Evans are outplaying him. I REALLY hope him and Griffin make big strides in the offseason.

If not, lets make room for Trey Thompkins to shine pwease.

Posted: **Sun May 20, 2012 7:53 am**

T.J. Simers, Los Angeles Times (5/19/20)

Much of his time is spent stewing over why he's not in the game. But sometimes when he gets in, it's as if he's not there. He went one whole playoff game without getting a rebound. He went another not scoring a basket because he never attempted a shot.

"It's a rhythm thing; if you play well, you play," he says, and excuses, excuses. "Me coming out of the game, I don't control that."

But he does, of course. He played the entire first quarter in Game 1 against San Antonio because he dominated, and not surprisingly the Clippers and Spurs finished tied.

He never made it back on the court in the second quarter, and maybe Coach Vinny Del Negro forgot he was there because old habits are hard to break. Too often Jordan's play has been forgettable.
...

He's nowhere near as good as he should be earning that kind of money and with the chance to start at center and play with the caliber of teammates the Clippers have assembled.

It's so discouraging because he has shown on occasion the difference he could make inside.

He took on Tim Duncan early in the first quarter, for example, got stuffed on his initial offensive move, but stayed with it and went up again to score. Where did that come from?

He should watch that aggressive play over and over this off-season. At age 23 he has plenty of time to develop, the Clippers' future in many ways tied to it.

"I don't have to apologize to anybody about anything," Jordan says. "I feel like I'm getting better."

And I disagree.

DeAndre Jordan is a nice guy who might not last

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DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

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Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

Re: DeAndre Jordan is schooled by Chauncey Billups

DJ playing tired song and dance