el loco wrote:cavsfan_osiris wrote:Nutty Nats Fan wrote:And AI was at first trying to help out his team mates more, but Karl got on him to score more rather than pass. He wouldn't play AI at PG and ask him to try and be a team player.
After AI was first traded to Denver while Melo/JR were suspended AI was distributing the ball and making things easier for his teammates. It was almost like AI was trying to prove everyone wrong who called him a selfish type of player.
Then out of nowhere Karl comes in and says he needs AI to be a scorer. To this day I have no idea why Karl has repeatedly said that. When AI was getting those 10+ assist games the Nuggets looked really good.
I agree with you totally on that. I was so upset when Karl made those statements. AI will score on his own, you don't need to urge him to become more of a scorer. That makes zero sense.
AI was distributing the ball well when he first got to town, I agree with that, but why does he get a free pass on his defense and Melo gets called out on it? Which one of the two should be the better leader that leads by example? Heck, for that matter, why not call out Camby last year for not rotating out, switching out, or manning up on defense? Why not call out Kmart for not grabbing enough rebounds? It all goes back to the system or lack of a system like many have said, and I agree with them. George himself has even said that he let things slip away slow and steady as the season went along. It was almost identical to an article he had about 3 years ago. IMO this team has gone about as far as it is going to go with GK as its mentor, and a change is overdue.
AI typically gets the smaller or weaker defensive assignment and does a decent job defending his man. He doesnt gamble as much as he use to, and plays his man to the help defense on the inside as dictated by their 'defensive' strategy. His defense isnt bad, as much as his size is a liability covering two guards. Which creates match-up problems when the other team has a big off guard that can score, exposing guards like carter as inadequate defenders...The solution isnt for AI to be criticized for being undersized. Its simply to put a bigger player at his side to reduce the match-up problem. Hence playing carter over JR being a fundamental error in strategies. What they give up in perimeter scoring is not made up for by supposedly have a technically more sound defender. JR simply fits better into a team defense system with a ball dominant guard that more than makes up for his defensive liabilities with the sheer number of points he puts on the board. I suspect that both AI and Melo will look better as defenders with JR in the line-up. For the mere fact that their men can't simply pick and roll into poor match ups against two undersized guards.
