Why has Jose changed his game?

[supersub15]

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You guys are the ones telling me Jose is doing everything he can to help this team win. Then you pull out fg%, which makes no sense, because I could say Brevin played better defence than Calderon. Then what?

When you get to the core they are the same, both put up beautiful stats that make you go "wow", but when you watch the games you notice they don't really have much of an impact.

Because Brevin Knight could not play defense to save his life and shot horrible which made him expandable wherever he went.

I'm through with this discussion.

[Trianoball]

OK, so reading this thread I get the impression that most people think Jose is maximizing his effectiveness and there is nothing more he can do to help this team win.

In that case, I guess Jose has reached his ceiling as a ball player. I mean his defence probably isn't going to improve much, if anything. And since everyone thinks he's maxed out on offence.....Brevin Knight FTW!!!

Or your points in this thread could be pointless drivel.

Sure Jose could get better. Same could be said for most players in the league. However, he's doing pretty good right now, at the very least...and I think there are more pressing issues than whether or not Jose has reached his ceiling.

[Trianoball]

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He's not playing it safe. He's 2nd in the league in assists per minute. How can he possibly be creating so many scoring opportunities if he's 'playing it safe' all the time? He's just making quality decisions.

Only on this board can people turn mistake free basketball into both a selfish trait (contract year? WTF?) and a negative stat. This is getting beyond ridiculous.

Here's to Jose turning the ball over more, and perhaps scoring 3 more ppg. Then he'll be the point guard we need on this team.

[garbagnani]

1) teams have adjusted on defense and they don't allow him to drive any more.

good answer. short and sweet, unlike what i'm about to write, lol.

seriously though, this is totally the reason. Jose used to drive for easy layups all the time because teams would sleep on him, he was thought of as a passer and thats all. lately teams have wised up on jose, even if the lane appears to present itself the defense collapses on jose as soon as he gets near bucket. all things considered jose has adapted well, he is still creating all types of open shots for his teamates, and racking up assists (while barely ever turning the ball over). game in game out he has been our best starter. book it!

[Reignman]

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He's not playing it safe. He's 2nd in the league in assists per minute. How can he possibly be creating so many scoring opportunities if he's 'playing it safe' all the time? He's just making quality decisions.

Only on this board can people turn mistake free basketball into both a selfish trait (contract year? WTF?) and a negative stat. This is getting beyond ridiculous.

Damn right he's playing it safe. Who gives a **** about # of assists? He's surrounded by some of the best shooters in the league (world?), of course he's gonna rack up assists.

"Mistake Free Basketball"??? I respect your opinion Hater, but this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard you say.

OK, so here's the scenario: The Raptors have had a tough time recently with their offence (well documented), it's been tough getting easy baskets. So Jose has the ball and is running down the wing on a 3 on 2 break. He pulls back and resets the offence (already sputtering), instead of making a semi-risky pass that could possibly give us an easy basket.

You call this "mistake free" basketball, and I call this a "**** mistake". Hmm, I guess different strokes for different folks.

[The_Hater]

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You guys are the ones telling me Jose is doing everything he can to help this team win. Then you pull out fg%, which makes no sense, because I could say Brevin played better defence than Calderon. Then what?

When you get to the core they are the same, both put up beautiful stats that make you go "wow", but when you watch the games you notice they don't really have much of an impact.

WTF? Brevin Knight didn't put up stats anywhere close to what Jose is putting up. Ever. Jose is a better finisher from all 3 distances (Knight didn't play big minutes because a) he's 5'10" on top of being a poor defender b) he can't shoot a lick). Jose doesn't turn the ball over nearly as much. Brevin's career PER is 15.6, which is considered avearge while Jose is currently at 22.15 which is top 20 in the league right now.

If you're going to try and make a point, at least try and pick somebody in the same stratosphere.

[The_Hater]

[quote="Reignman"][/quote]

As I mentioned in another thread. During the last 12 games, we've played each of the teams (other than ourselves) that are in the top 6 for slowest pace in the league. That leads to decreased scoring totals and less fast break opportunities, wouldn't you agree. On top of that, we've played 6 of the top 8 defensive teams in the leagues (in terms of efficiency) + Cleveland and Dallas, both of whom were top 5 defensive teams last year. The worst defensive team we played was Seattle, they rank 22nd and we still put up 115 points and shot 50% against them and we've played none of the bottom 7 defensive teams over that stretch.

Would you not agree that the fact that we're currently playing stronger defensive teams (in the middle of our toughest stretch of games all season) would generally have a negative effect on our team offense?

[andyo]

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Calderon has put up great numbers as a starter.. but the offense has become far too predictable.

I agree, our offense has always been so predictable...I wish Sam would implement better plays, especially better movement off the ball. We run screen and roll about 95% of the time and without Ford, we don't really have anyone who plays iso (our other only play).

[vaff87]

I think Jose is doing all he can right now, and is doing pretty well overall. He's not being as aggressive as you might like, specifically on fast break opportunities. But he's still doing a good job. And while he may be a little bit less aggressive driving to the basket, I really think that has more to do with the defense than Jose. When we play against bad teams and bad defensive teams, he gets more of those layups and gets into the paint more in general.

While Jose is playing pretty decent, we still desperately miss TJ right now. He has such a great ability to get wherever he wants and make plays, his play making ability and swagger are often missed in crunch time, his defense is exponentially better than Jose's(i can't believe people claimed last year Jose was a better defender, and some of them probably still do for that matter), and with TJ healthy we don't have to rely on Juan Dixon or Darrick Martin.

The consistent top quality PG play when both TJ and Jose is so desperately missed right now. They both provide different things, they allow each other to remain fresh, and they're both very important to our team.

[vaff87]

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You have to do them game by game. Use this link

I added up those stats, and if I added them up correctly these are the totals. The Raptors average:

9.5 fast break points in games TJ played
9.9 fast break points in games TJ started
6.7 fast break points in games TJ didn't play
6.9 fast break points in games Jose started

[xoxoxo]

The point is that Jose could fix the major weakness in his game with the right coaching. Mitchell keeps saying that they have to run the court but if the ball doesn't come there's no point. In the first qtr of the Clevd game Jose did pass the ball up the court & Moon did get some lay-ups. But Jose always goes back to that style of play where he stops passing on transition & dribbles the clock down forcing someone to hoist up a contested shot. In the 4th qtr Moon & Parker had lots of fastbreaks where they could have had uncontested lay-ups but Jose never got them the ball eventhough he clearly spotted them. It's got nothing to do with Ford, it just that they could have won many of their close games recently if Jose had just looked for the fast-break opportunities. There is a much lower probability of winning if every point in the 2nd half has to be a jump shot or Bosh trying to make a play out of the double team. And on the pick & roll, Jose doesn't pass the ball fast enough and he rarely looks to the open man on the right side of the court. All he has to do is deliver on some basic 101 PG skills. I think it's a coaching problem

[Reignman]

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Here's to Jose turning the ball over more, and perhaps scoring 3 more ppg. Then he'll be the point guard we need on this team.

Yeah, that's exactly what I was saying. I've read your posts, and quite frankly your knowledge of ball is limited, but I'll try and explain:

Jose is the starting point guard, and he needs to shoulder a lot of the blame for our offence going south. Now, as Hater mentioned, we have played some tough defensive teams, so it's not all Jose, however, as the lead guard he has to take advantage of every open lane, every fast break opportunity, and use his Iamazing mid range game when our shooter's have gone cold. This team NEEDS him to do that.

IMO, this is where his being "safe" actually becomes a "mistake". As Dagger mentioned our offense is limited so it's even more imperative for Jose to be aggressive because he has the ability to drive, shoot and create. At this point, he has to play like he's the 2nd best player on the floor, but he's not doing that. We need to keep the pressure on the opposing D, and we have not done that because we keep letting the defence reset.

To be honest, I know some people want to blame our personnel, but this is what our team is, so do we complain about that or do we look at our players and ask them to do everything they can?

Bottom line, our offense has gone down the drain, and anyone who understands ball knows that the lead guard carries a heavy burden on offence, especially on this team. And I would venture to guess that we would have lost even more games had it not been for our defence (weird to even type that).

Anyway, I just think Calderon has the ability and skill to have more of acn impact in games, whereas most of you feel he is doing everything he can.
Watching the games it just hurts seeing a lane I know he can manipulate, seeing a slasher cut to the paint only to see Jose hesitate, a 3 on 2 break where he pulls up, or when our team is going cold watching our 56% mid range shooter not try and impose his will.

I guess at the end of the day I think he could help turn some of these losses into wins if he were to just step up.

PS. For anyone thinking that I hate Jose, it's just not true, if that were the case I would have brought up his defence in this this thread. I just think we expect CB4, Bargs, Kapono, Moon, etc, etc, to do more, but the guy that has the ability to do something is playing on cruise control.

[Big Shot]

Hater, I didn't say playing safe is not making the right decision. As a matter of fact, I like the way Jose played even before he came to NBA. Don't you ever think you are the only one who knows BBall? WTF. And also it's stupid to think Jose' agent not to ask him to keep up with his good t/a rate in his contract year.

[Death Knight]

Yeah, that's exactly what I was saying. I've read your posts, and quite frankly your knowledge of ball is limited, but I'll try and explain:

Anyway, I just think Calderon has the ability and skill to have more of acn impact in games, whereas most of you feel he is doing everything he can.
Watching the games it just hurts seeing a lane I know he can manipulate, seeing a slasher cut to the paint only to see Jose hesitate, a 3 on 2 break where he pulls up, or when our team is going cold watching our 56% mid range shooter not try and impose his will.

I second this. There is no reason why Jose can't make more of an impact for this team. He has the dribbling skills to do more than just bring the ball up court and defer to his teammates by just getting them the ball. He should probe and dictate the offensive a bit more to put constant pressure on the defense.

On another note, I have notice something about the Raptors pick and roll plays. It seems to me like nothing really happens when Jose comes off those picks. He pulls the ball back and ends up in the same position as he was before with the same player guarding him. Jose doesn't drive when he comes off the pick, nor does he force the opposition to switch. The 2 man game isn't what it used to be for the Raptors.

[Trianoball]

Basketball knowledge or not, read this, and explain to me how your complaints are relevant, from a common sense point of view.

In a nutshell, you're demanding a good player to become a much a better player, for the sake of the team's holes.

I might as well expect Graham to instantly become better, on the basis that the team needs it. Maybe not as important as a point guard, no, but it sure would be nice to have an athletic swingman capable of creating his own offence.

Calderon is playing within himself. He's playing well. At the very least, he's handling the starting role adequately, considering the fact that he ws a back-up until now. (and the majority of the posters on this forum see him as significantly inferior to Ford.)

anyone who understands ball knows that the lead guard carries a heavy burden on offence, especially on this team.

So what? Are you expecting that by sheer necessity, Calderon is going to turn into a lethal offensive force, if he would try?

Your argument is fantasy.

Sure, if Jose would step-up, it's possible we might win some games....

OR

he might fail miserably, as a result of forcing things he is not capable of doing on a consistent basis.

I'm willing to bet on the latter.

Considering all of that, how do you figure you're observations are anything but pointless?

[Trianoball]

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There is no reason why Jose can't make more of an impact for this team.

There might be one reason. It's an extremely difficult thing to do. Or it could be that my lack of ball knowledge is clouding my eyes from seeing the obvious.

After all, dominant point guards are a dime a dozen. Right?

[RockTHECasbah]

Furthermore, Jose can't "push" the tempo for spurts like he used to given limited minutes. Thats a lot of why he looked better than TJ last year. At the end of the Portland (maybe it was Seattle?) game, we scrambled at the end, and Jose kept pushing. We almost came back. More difficult to do that consistently over 35 minutes.

[seanbig]

I agree with T.Duncan21. Jose is the only guard who pulls up on 3 vs 2 break and allow the defense to get back & set up. He hardly ever passes when a man cuts to the basket or he always hesitates. Therefore, the offense never has any flow. The team would be better with a play making point guard who could take advantage of the Raptor's speed. TJ is too erratic

Yeah that 3 on 2 break kills me....HE NEVER USED TO WAIT till the other slow defender got back so he could play half court basketball...


LIke the anti-nash

His jumpshot off the screen on the elbow is money though...money

[WD-40]

OK, so reading this thread I get the impression that most people think Jose is maximizing his effectiveness and there is nothing more he can do to help this team win.

In that case, I guess Jose has reached his ceiling as a ball player. I mean his defence probably isn't going to improve much, if anything. And since everyone thinks he's maxed out on offence.....Brevin Knight FTW!!!

Considering B knights FG% that's a ridiculous comparison. Jose doesn't have a quality guard backing him up like TJ did. So to compare situations is irrelevant. Can Jose play better more aggressively? Possibly. Maybe the thought of a Dixon/Martin backup has the Smitch saying take it easy Jose.

I think neither TJ or Jose is a 40mpg PG. 30 suits them both nicely. That's why they work.

[xoxoxo]

I agree he is the anti-nash. The problem is that he never passes immediately when the player rolls and is open. He usually has to look at who he's passing to for a few moments. He telegraphs the play. But he has a good shot. I still think while he might not become Nash with a bit of guidance any improvement in this area would make a big diff. Now why haven't the Raptors developed a 3rd PG???
They can't afford to put Juan and/or Derrick in these close games.