Tripod wrote:Westside Gunn wrote:mtcan wrote:Oh and don't forget these same gurus wanting Gradey or Jakobe to replace RJ in the starting line-up this season...LOL. Guarantee these gurus don't actually watch basketball and have not paid attention to how different RJ has been playing as a Raptor vs as a Knick. His style of play has changed completely since arriving in Toronto.
I could to some extend understand Gradey Dick specially to expand his current skillset with the range he has.
But Ochai I was like wtf what games are these people watching
Ochai was for these reasons:
To be the POA defender vs guards to shelter IQ and not have Barnes running around chasing small fast guys.
Then on offense, just go sit in the corner for 3's and cuts to the basket. After all, this was said with him posting 39.9% from 3 last year.
And the thought was with IQ, BI and Barnes+Yak there was enough offense but lacked defense especially at POA since Barnes excels as help down low.
And then taking out a starter, say Barnes 1st, RJ comes in and the offense doesn't miss a beat.
It was always about more balance of offense vs defense. Plus lots of those same people who said RJ off the bench felt it would put him in 6th man of the year convo. It was never about Ochai or any other bench player being "better" than RJ, but a better fit(defense and 3pt shooting) next to BI, IQ, Barnes and Yak.
Obviously Ochai is off to an awful start but he also isn't going to continue to shoot 7% from 3.
So hopefully he goes on a heater when others go thru struggles. But he has lots of competition for playing time with almost everyone healthy. We have been pretty lucky in that regard.
I hear you and I always knew it was more about “fit” than Ochai or Ja’Kobe being better than RJ. But I think this idea that a stand still catch and shoot 3 point shooter who is extremely limited offensively beyond that being a better fit than RJ just isn’t true. What makes our starting lineup hard to guard and makes RJ so important is his ability to put pressure on the rim constantly and create in second side actions and in the pick and roll. Ochai can’t even dream of being able to do any of that. Ochai can barely dribble and can barely shoot anywhere but in the corner. He also plays very passive and scared on that end at times in a way RJ never does. RJ is always aggressive and isn’t afraid of the moment, sometimes to a fault, but I rather that than the opposite, because he does it without needing any plays called for him and while staying within the team concept. Standstill catch and shoot 3 point shooters are not enough in this league anymore, at least not as a starter. Starting calibre role players have to be able to do more than just that on offence unless their defence is elite, and everyone here overrates Ochai’s defence way too much for me. Especially against starters. He is just average. Ja’Kobe is a much better POA defender than Ochai.
There are so many more ways to create spacing beyond just 3 point shooting. And the joke is RJ isn’t even a bad catch and shoot 3 point shooter, so I don’t get this obsession with benching him. RJ’s cutting has been so important for this team and that also creates spacing. He’s literally the best scorer off the cut in the league currently and one of the best in transition. Ochai couldn’t dream of being the best in the league at anything. At this point if people still want Ochai or Ja’Kobe starting over RJ they just hate RJ and can’t get over how RJ played in the past with the Knicks. There is no way we are watching the same Toronto Raptors and the same RJ if people could still be saying Ochai over RJ. That’s a very rudimentary way of viewing basketball in my humble opinion.
But I’m glad Darko is the coach and won’t be benching RJ anytime soon. Let’s let RJ prove he doesn’t fit in the starting lineup and can’t adapt before we start demoting him to the bench just because y’all THINK Ochai would fit better on paper because of some stand still 3 point shooting. If Ochai were an elite defender like OG then maybe, but he isn’t. OG even does more offensively than just catch and shoot. The game has evolved way too much for people to still think just strictly 3 and average D is better than what RJ brings.
RJ’s defence is a problem, don’t get me wrong, because he is not good, but a perfect example was against Philly. They started Ochai for his defence against Maxey and he was terrible. Got eaten alive, because again, he is an average defender. Especially against the amazing starting guards in this league. He isn’t stopping any of them and then on offence he’s just gonna stand in the corner and not be able to do much of anything other than shoot. He puts no pressure on the opposing team’s defence. This isn’t 2010, team’s know how to guard players who can only shoot on offence and are extremely limited doing anything else. It’s not hard. Especially when it’s strictly stand still and not even movement shooting. Which is why a guy like Gradey who isn’t shooting the 3 well still has a thousand times more gravity Ochai ever has and is still a positive on this team. Movement shooting or just the threat of it is way more valuable than stand still.
The second time we played Philly and we ran our regular starters our defence on Maxey was much better, even with RJ and IQ not being known as good POA defenders. RJ was a huge part of us closing out that game because of his offence. Sometimes what we think should not work on paper does work. And I feel some people need to accept that or maybe look in the mirror and accept that they aren’t as good at analyzing the game as they think they are. Once you fall into the trap of thinking 3 point shooting is the only form of spacing and all players who can shoot are better players and/or better fits than the players who aren’t as good of shooters you’ve already lost. It’s why so many people on this board did not see it for CMB or for RJ starting and both have proved them wrong so far this season whether they want to admit it or not. And this isn’t a shot at you because I think you’re a great poster and analyze the game pretty well. It’s just a general thing I’ve noticed on this board that I wanted to address. Sorry for the long post.
