JR %

[pickaxe]

JR is shooting in the low 30% overall for this series. He also is shooting low 30% for FT.

He takes up over 10 shots per game. I say if he doesn't start driving with at least half of those, he needs to start deferring to Nene, with the 55% FG. Sorry to say ut and it depresses me to no end, but Dahntay Jones is actually shooting better in this series than J.R. Smith.

[el loco]

He has played ugly, but he wasn't taking bad shots in the last game, they just weren't dropping.

[pickaxe]

That's the idea though....I mean when you know your shot ain't dropping.....do you shoot your team out of a game, or start taking it inside one at a time so at least you're staying competitive? Ok, and so let's say he makes it to the line after driving, 30% free throws? Shaq never had it so good.

My thing with JR is I've always seen him as a guy that could complete a drive without getting fouled so he never has to worry about his below average FT. And his long range is usually in your face too. He's not like Melo in terms of battling to get inside, but he has the ability to duck and weave so as to not get touched.

I'm just saying he is playing the exact wrong way to maximize his skills. Taking too many not dropping outside shots, and not utilizing his ability to avoid contact.

It would be much more pleasing to see JR work and work and work the drive, add a little passing in there, and see him come up with maybe 40% FG which is what Melo and Billups are at.

Keep shooting? Sure....spend all the time he wants before and after games sharpening his shot. Be ready to shoot come playoff time? He's got to be ready for execution....which we know he can get into very quickly.

[fullermd]

I hate to say it, but the Nugget's season is over, unless there is some divine intervention that get's Billups and J.R.Smith to put together two consecutive outstanding games.

[denvers_finest]

I agree to a point. 1-10 from beyond the arc is unacceptable. If they aren't falling, try something else, even if its just a step or two inside the line its a much higher percentage shoot. But at the same time, JR and Chancey have to take (and make) those shoots to keep the defense honest, otherwise you end up with what we saw in the 4th quarter, the Lakers packing the paint daring the Nuggets to shoot. We need JR to hit those shoots to give Melo and Nene room to operate down low.

No excuse for his free throw shooting. I can make more than 30%.

[madmaxmedia]

I don't know, NBA shooters thrive in the NBA because they have the confidence to believe in their shot even if the last few have not fallen.

He wasn't forcing 3's last game, he was missing good looks. We watch a game and say 'oh, his shot just isn't falling tonight he should stop,' but anybody who gets timid after missing a few open looks probably isn't going to cut it in the NBA at all, much less make it this big stage. It would be a different case if he was forcing questionable shots, or pulling up for contested 20 ft. jumpers when he had a clear path to the hoop.

As the previous poster stated, the Nuggets are going to need him to make those shots to win the series. The same goes for the Lakers, who have had serious problems with some of their perimeter shooters.

[pickaxe]

Well, it's not that JR needs to walk around thinking......he can't make a shot. It's only that when a few don't drop, change it up, get some scoring going in other ways, then come back to it. It's when you see too much of any one thing be unsuccessful that it's time to change up a little. Then come back.

This last game 6, JR did a great job of mixing. Just because it was in a losing effort, doesn't mean he didn't just arrive a little tonight. JR's confidence is exactly the thing that allowed him to perform tonight. That's a positive regardless of the loss.

[BballerShotCaller]

Needs to learn to make concerted effort to mix it up better.

Don't live & Die on 3-pt attempts. He drives the ball well,.. excellent
at driving to the rim. So, why doesn't he develop a consistent pull-up
jumpshot off of a hard drive move and pull-up??

I THINK OTHER ASPECTS OF HIS OFFENSIVE GAME NEED MORE PRACTICE
AND EMPHASIS THAN JUST SO MUCH 3 POINT SHOOTING.