Denton: D12, LEWIS UPSET ABOUT OFFENSIVE MELTDOWN IN LOSS

[MagicStarwipe]

Whenever Dwight and Hedo are in a pick and roll I cringe (which is about 6 million times a game). It usually ends in Hedo charging his way to the basket and chucking up an odd looking shot. Dwight never get's the ball on a pick and roll. He's just too good for that to be happening. At least try and find him a couple of times.

[Cammo101]

You got to put the blame on everyone here.

Rashard being terrible

Hedo taking alot of shots....

PG play is off

And the bench being terrible.

I think the problem with players not getting enough shots. That's what happens when you have 4 shooters on the court along with a Superstar big-man who himself dosen't get the ball enough. There is not much ball to go around.

People asking to give Rashard Lewis the ball in the post. Face it, it's not happening with Dwight Howard in the post. He isn't in Seattle anymore.

Hedo made 50% of those shots. He gets zero blame for that game last night. Hedo carried us in the 4th quarter when no one else even wanted to shoot the ball. I find it comical that so many people have turned on Hedo.

A lot of people can be blamed for last nights game, but not Hedo and not Dwight.

[tisbee]

Rashard ave'd 14.0 shots per game last yr. So far this season he's getting 15.4 a game. Only twice in his career has he ave'd more shot attempts. In his last 7 seasons in Seattle(where he got over 30minutes/game) he averaged 6+ 3pt attempts only twice. His first season in Orlando he set a career high of 6.8 3pt attempts/game-nearly half his shots were 3pt ones. So far this season he's averaging 7.1 3s a game. In his 7 yrs in Seattle as a 30+ minute player he ave'd 4.1 FTs a game,as a Magic 3.2 FTs last yr,so far 3.0 .
In other words Rashard is getting almost a shot and a half more a game than last yr,and his 3pt and FT rates are about the same.

[craig01]

I do think that ball movement is often times lacking.

Focus to move the ball needs to be reinforced with a few players,,,,

[MagicFan149]

it seems that almost every time we rotate the ball around it results in a quality shot... getting everyone to buy into that concept would help us tremendously

[tisbee]

Only 7 games,etc.,but last yrs shot attempts per game vs this yr's:
Dwight 11.9 12.6 +.7
Rashard 14.0 15.4 +1.4
Hedo 14.9 15.6 +.7
Pietrus 5.9* 8.6 +2.7 *GS. In 06/07 in @ same minutes,8.1 FGA's/game
Jameer 8.7 10.6 +1.9
Bogans 7.2 5.7 -1.5
Battie 5.5 3.0 -2.5 (1/3 less minutes this yr)
Interesting how ALL the starters are getting up more shots per game than last yr.

EDIT add.
But how often do they shoot/
Here's how minutes it took to ave an adjusted shot attempt last yr and this.(FG attempted plus .4xFTs attempted. Good enough for the True Shooting 5 people,good enough for shot attempts.)
Dwight 2.32 minutes 2.12minutes
Rashard 2.48 2.27
Hedo 2.20 2.19
Jameer 2.96 2.78
Pietrus 2.61* 2.89 * His 06/07 GS season when he was gettingg slightly more minutes
Bogans 3.48 3.76
So in addition to getting more shot attempts,the returning starters are shooting more frequently.
Side note,the adjustment for FTS pretty much turns out to be @ 20 seconds except for Dwight. He gets a ton of FTs compared to his FGAs.

[J-Mezzy]

It will be hard to trade Hedo with our current point guard situation. But it looks like we have no choice.

[Magicalltheway]

I Rashard upset enough to request a trade? oh please oh please....

[eyriq]

Only 7 games,etc.,but last yrs shot attempts per game vs this yr's:
Dwight 11.9 12.6 +.7
Rashard 14.0 15.4 +1.4
Hedo 14.9 15.6 +.7
Pietrus 5.9* 8.6 +2.7 *GS. In 06/07 in @ same minutes,8.1 FGA's/game
Jameer 8.7 10.6 +1.9
Bogans 7.2 5.7 -1.5
Battie 5.5 3.0 -2.5 (1/3 less minutes this yr)
Interesting how ALL the starters are getting up more shots per game than last yr.

EDIT add.
But how often do they shoot/
Here's how minutes it took to ave an adjusted shot attempt last yr and this.(FG attempted plus .4xFTs attempted. Good enough for the True Shooting 5 people,good enough for shot attempts.)
Dwight 2.32 minutes 2.12minutes
Rashard 2.48 2.27
Hedo 2.20 2.19
Jameer 2.96 2.78
Pietrus 2.61* 2.89 * His 06/07 GS season when he was gettingg slightly more minutes
Bogans 3.48 3.76
So in addition to getting more shot attempts,the returning starters are shooting more frequently.
Side note,the adjustment for FTS pretty much turns out to be @ 20 seconds except for Dwight. He gets a ton of FTs compared to his FGAs.

I don't understand all this, but I want too. Please explain the relevance.

[mhectorgato]

I don't understand all this, but I want too. Please explain the relevance.

He's showing that the starters are getting more FGAs than last season, so they shouldn't be complaining.

afaik:
With Rashard - it's not the amount - but how he's being used.
With Dwight - it's that he gets a ton in the 1st half and the opposite in the 2nd half.

[parso15]

I am very tired of Hedo being so damn high on the list. The guy was a utility bench player prior to getting Dwight and Shard, and now he's the homers favorite player simply because he puts up numbers now.

Nonesense... first in an attempt to support your rather weak argument you categorize Hedo as a bench player, next you give all the credit for his current production to Shard & then you have the nerve to blame him for Shards poor performance... either you are on Shards payroll (I mean he can afford it) or logic is not very high on your list of priororities

[DrunkOnMystery]

Dwight froze himself out of the 4th quarter by bricking free throws during Portland's run.

I agree. It's Dwight's fault. After all, it's not like there is an intrinsic benefit in fouling out their entire, already thin frontline.

[eyriq]

I don't understand all this, but I want too. Please explain the relevance.

He's showing that the starters are getting more FGAs than last season, so they shouldn't be complaining.

afaik:
With Rashard - it's not the amount - but how he's being used.
With Dwight - it's that he gets a ton in the 1st half and the opposite in the 2nd half.

Ahh, thanks. That makes perfect sense and is a great point.

[mhectorgato]

Dwight froze himself out of the 4th quarter by bricking free throws during Portland's run.

I agree. It's Dwight's fault. After all, it's not like there is an intrinsic benefit in fouling out their entire, already thin frontline.

Missing the green font?

Agree completely.

BTW his bricking free throws ... 2 for 6

Plus it's not like they happened in the stretch.

According to the Play by Play, he had only 5 touches in the 4th quarter:

His only FGA was at 10:19 for a missed tip.
He had a TO at 7:55
The timing of FTAs in the 4th quarter 10:19, 9:37, 7:30

Nothing listed after 7:30

So he was without an opportunity for 1/2 the 4th.

[spinedoc]

I am very tired of Hedo being so damn high on the list. The guy was a utility bench player prior to getting Dwight and Shard, and now he's the homers favorite player simply because he puts up numbers now.

Nonesense... first in an attempt to support your rather weak argument you categorize Hedo as a bench player, next you give all the credit for his current production to Shard & then you have the nerve to blame him for Shards poor performance... either you are on Shards payroll (I mean he can afford it) or logic is not very high on your list of priororities

Oh really? Tell me then, what was he prior to playing with Dwight and Shard? Did he take us anywhere other than mediocrity or any other team for that matter? I'm not blaming Hedo here. I actually like the guy, and think he's a good player. The problem that I have is that our priorities should be focused on Dwight and Shard, and when they aren't in rhythm or being utilized properly, the team suffers no matter how many points Hedo scores. Hedo is not this team's center of gravity, otherwise I'm very scared to see his next contract. It should make Shard's look like minimum wage. You can't deny that Hedo is benefiting greatly by having Dwight and Shard on this team. Considering we have quotes from both Dwight and Shard about the teams play in that game and nothing from Hedo on the subject should be evidence enough. But after all, Hedo is in a contract year isn't he? I'm not on Shard's payroll. But don't you think its a shame to go out and spend that kind of money on a guy, and then relegate him to being a three point jump shooter as Hedo dominates the ball?

[Rccanes2311]

LMAO at Spinedoc trying to say Lewis makes Hedo better. I guess that's why Hedo usually ends up with the other teams best defender on him right? If you wanna say Howard makes him better fine, but please PLEASE don't come with that Lewis makes people better. If that were the case Seattle would have been falling over themselves to throw max money at him as well, and they wouldn't have been cellar dwellers while he was there. No coaches in this league are afraid of Reshard Lewis. They let him stand out there and take those three.

They put PF on him cause they know he wont take advantage of the matchup. No one is scared of the guy because he simply isn't as you think. He's a good player, but to try and say he makes Hedo better or to say Hedo isn't as good or better than him tells me you may be blind or something. He put up those numbers in Seattle because Seattle was a bad team.

He's a good player but that's it he's not some prolific scorer, he's not some guy who makes everyone around him better, he's not a great defender or has any real intangibles that make him stand out as a basketball player except his ability to shoot the 3 and he's not as good as guys like Korver, or Kapono. He's simply a good player and from what I have seen from the two of them Hedo is the better player.

One more thing you say it's a shame to spend that kind of money on the guy and regulate him to a three point shooter. I think it's more a shame we spent that money on Lewis in the first place that speaks volumes about the guys running this franchise more than anything else. I kinda hope we lose Hedo just so I can see if Lewis is as good as some on this board think. I'm not sold on the guy and never will be until he gives me a reason to be.

[spinedoc]

LOL, yeah whatever man. The difference in the two is that Shard can go to any team in the league and be a 20pt scorer, Hedo can not. I've watched more seasons prior to last year. I don't believe Hedo's light bulb turned on by itself. He didn't blossom two years ago with Dwight, instead he struggled getting open and finishing plays. What you are seeing is a more active, and possibly athletic player with Hedo, not a better one. That's why he s getting the tougher defensive assignment, also because Shard is playing pf and Hedo is at the three. And as far as Seattle goes, they were getting the second pick in the draft that just happened to be Durant. That, and they were in the process of relocating and dumping salaries. Ray Allen was also a casualty of that as well, and he's a pretty good player too. Or, maybe they were the wiser ones and realized playing two sf's in the starting lineup was an exercise in futility. Hmmm.

[Rccanes2311]

Your faith in Lewis is funny. I guess when he carried Seattle to that top draft pick spot when Ray Allen got hurt would give you a lot of faith in his abilities lol. Don't worry I faith that Devos won't go over the salary cap. We will find out just how good Lewis is once Turk is gone. Personally I think were going to be in trouble cause Lewis aint as good as u think. Lewis isn't even 2nd option on this team he aint that good. That's why most people in the league thought the Magic were completely insane killing their cap space and signing Lewis to that insane contract.

[spinedoc]

Your faith in Lewis is funny. I guess when he carried Seattle to that top draft pick spot when Ray Allen got hurt would give you a lot of faith in his abilities lol. Don't worry I faith that Devos won't go over the salary cap. We will find out just how good Lewis is once Turk is gone. Personally I think were going to be in trouble cause Lewis aint as good as u think. Lewis isn't even 2nd option on this team he aint that good. That's why most people in the league thought the Magic were completely insane killing their cap space and signing Lewis to that insane contract.

Now was that the ones who made the playoffs, or the ones that didn't? I'm really not trying to be a Shard homer here, honestly. I know it seems that way, but why go out and pay a sf max money and keep the one you have in his position long term? I mean, its alright if its temporary as you transition. But its like getting a pf and making him your starting center, or a sg and making him play pg, and so on. You do that with backups, but not guys that you hand pick and pay max money to. Now that is what is insane, to me anyway. That's why I was cool with it last year, because I honestly thought it was only for a year, and not six. I don't blame Hedo, its not his fault. I'm pointing my finger at Otis and Stan. It lies with either, or both of them.

[Cammo101]

Hedo was never used as this point forward, so it is unfair to fault him for other teams misusing him. Clearly Shard, Dwight, and Hedo all make each other better, but the idea that Hedo is some bench bum being carried by Shard and Dwight is comical.

Hedo was always predicted to be this kind of player, he finally got the chance.