threrf23 wrote:imgrindin247 wrote:When motivated and playing hard, he's a very effective player. With his length and quickness, he can be a very disruptive force on the defensive end. Unfortunately, he plays with zero intensity and is incredibly soft. He never drives to the basket and has terrible shot selection. His lack of TO's are more of a negative than a positive. It's from him just chucking up jumpers when he gets the ball instead of being aggressive.
I keep reading stuff like this. But, Raptors' offense functioned better (per +/-) with Moon on the court as opposed to the bench, both this season and the last (+7.6 last season). He took 33% of his shots 10 seconds into the shotclock last season and posted an eFG% of about 55% on them. As a comparison Jason Kapono took 49% of his attempts 10 seconds into the shot clock and posted an eFG% around 49%.
Moon rarely gets his shot blocked (virtually never gets his jump shot blocked - 0% rate as opposed to the seemingly standard 2% rate for guys like Ray Allen/Peja/Kapono). He rarely turns the ball over. Maybe that doesn't speak to his overall offensive ability, but it does speak to him knowing his limitations and trying to play unselfishly to his strengths. He might put up shots that look bad but he hits a respectable enough percentage of them (particularly in context) and has at least the potential to improve his shot.
For someone who supposedly chucks up ill-conceived jumpers, it is perhaps ironic that he never missed more than three 3 point attempts in a single game last season (ignoring the season finale) despite playing big minutes in these games where he missed 3 3PT field goals.
Averaging 26 mpg over 80 games last season, there were only six games where he had more than one turnover, and only 32 where he had any turnovers. This was all either for a Raptors team in semi-disarray or in a situation where he was the new guy in town.
These are all reasons why I am reluctant to buy into Raptor fan led banter.
ETA to add one more random fact. His assist-turnover ratio last season was 1.97-1. By comparison, Ben Gordon's ratio was 1.4-1. Posey's was 1.04-1.
To understand what I'm saying you have to watch him play for yourself. His offensive game consists of standing at the 3 point line on the wing. Most of the time he doesn't touch the ball or he makes a simple pass into the post or around the perimeter. It's pretty hard to turn the ball over when you never make the D even have to move. He's also the player that gets left unguarded when the D goes to help. That's the reason for his percentages, he gets a ton of wide open looks. He's improved his jumper to the point that it is respectable when open, but he can't hit if the D takes that shot away, he really has nothing. Defenses most of the time just dare him to shoot though, which I'm not sure why. If you make him use the dribble, he ends up taking an off balance one dribble pull-up just about every time.
When I say he has bad shot selection, it is mostly because of the time he does decide to shoot the ball that makes you cringe. For instance, he'll go down the floor and pull up for a 3 pointer in a close game with 30 seconds to go with no offensive rebounders on a fastbreak. That's not something that is part of his game, yet he decides to do it at the worst time. Most of the time he doesn't even get the ball in his hands much to do anything stupid and for good reason.
There's no point comparing efg %'s with Kapono and Moon. It's obvious that the D sticks to Kapono like glue while leaving Moon wide open for the most part. Kapono hardly ever gets clean looks, but he also had a down year shooting the ball last season as well. What makes me sick about someone like Moon is the fact that he averages 1 FT attempt per game. That is pathetic for just about any player, but sickening for someone with his athleticism. Funny enough Kapono actually attacks the basket more than Moon does.
at this thread because it's one of those rare situations where I'm actually in agreement with the Raps fans. Guys, listen to the Raptors fans. They know what they're talking about. As a Celts fan living in Canada, I've seen more than enough coverage of the Raptors to say that Jamario Moon is garbage. We already have a smaller version of him in Tony Allen. Seriously, he's that dumb. He reminds me of smaller version of Mikki Moore too. Really nice guy so you root for him, but he's just plain dreadful. Jacking up 3s at inopportune times, biting on every pump fake, and just a lack of real understanding about the game. Last but not least, we already have a guy on the bench who smiles 24/7, and his name is Gabe Pruitt. 
