JJ Gave Up His Minutes for Ross

[LYKaPROinDaGaME]

Game6 must feel stupid right now. This guy kept blasting JJ during the game on Monday talking about how no one wants him and how he should be in China. SMH.

[Tacoma]

yah... he didn't "give up" his minutes. they were taken from him and he "understood" why, according to Casey.

This is a much better interpretation of Casey's words than the OP's interpretation. And I'd go further that JJ also "understood" the "why" being that he's in the doghouse and Casey is spinning this under pretense of developing Ross.

And if you believe this sacrificial lamb story, you must also believe JJ gave his minutes to Vasquez and Lou as well since they both benefited from those sacrificed minutes.

I'm sure Chapter 2 of Casey's story will tell us how JJ should be nominated for the Nobel Peace prize for giving so much to so many of the unfortunates.

[KrazyP]

why he couldn't put JJ and PPat in the starting lineup while putting amir and terrence in the second, nobody knows.

same players, same spacing, no starting GV.

Spacing is not always as simple as that. Patterson needs more time to square up for this shots and his release is slow....defenders can sag off him a bit more than they would with Ross when his game is rolling.

[JWiLL02]

why he couldn't put JJ and PPat in the starting lineup while putting amir and terrence in the second, nobody knows.

same players, same spacing, no starting GV.

Why mess the rotation that much. Amir is our best help defender and was big that night. Everyone here wants these drastic changes but that will only make things worse.

He doesn't need to mess with the line up like that, agreed.

But why couldn't he use JJ at the 4 alongside Pat, instead of running Tyler out there? The Bucks had Henson at C and Giannis at the 4 for extended periods.

The one time we should utilize small ball more and Casey doesn't, unbelievable.

There's still more to this story. JJ not playing a single minute makes absolutely no sense however you look at it.

[JWiLL02]

why he couldn't put JJ and PPat in the starting lineup while putting amir and terrence in the second, nobody knows.

same players, same spacing, no starting GV.

Why mess the rotation that much. Amir is our best help defender and was big that night. Everyone here wants these drastic changes but that will only make things worse.

He doesn't need to mess with the line up like that, agreed.

But why couldn't he use JJ at the 4 alongside Pat, instead of running Tyler out there? The Bucks had Henson at C and Giannis at the 4 for extended periods.

The one time we should utilize small ball more and Casey doesn't, unbelievable.

There's still more to this story. JJ not playing a single minute makes absolutely no sense however you look at it.

[wow09]

This thread title is unbelievable.

He hardly told the coach don't play me at all this game give my minutes to Ross. All this is saying is he understood the situation. He didn't actively seek out the coach and tell him not to play him. Christ this board is getting more looney by the day.

[Tha Cynic]

This says more about Johnson's character, not complaining that the guy who has been one of the top 3 players on the team got benched.

This also shows just how stupid Casey is. You couldn't take minutes away from Vasquez and Williams?

[chuckdevlin]

[goinrogue]

I think Vaques and Ross are getting traded. JJ just has to hang tight til then.

[22haytham22]

Through out the year Casey has made me believe he doesn't know how to rotate his players. Mind you his earlier years proved that to me but I was willing to give him a chance to change, he changed a bit last season but this season is absolute horse crap. Having GV guard Evans on the final possession the other night told me enough. Than starting GV and not playing JJ last game alone tells me Casey needs to go.

[EH15]

JJ's becoming one of my all time favourite Raptors, and I already liked him during his first tenure.

[hound101]

#FreeJJ

[BrunoSkull]

[GreatWhiteStiff]

This thread title is unbelievable.

He hardly told the coach don't play me at all this game give my minutes to Ross. All this is saying is he understood the situation. He didn't actively seek out the coach and tell him not to play him. Christ this board is getting more looney by the day.

Good point, sounds like he was given a new temporary diminished role and he embraced that role. Also I'm not even convinced this makes JJ some sort of great guy. And I'm still salty internet keyboard warrior over his lack of lowry support. But good for him, here.

And I guess most NBA players are such egotistical self entitled pussies we practicly expect them to sulk when they get their minutes cut, its kind of sad.

[Game6]

Game6 must feel stupid right now. This guy kept blasting JJ during the game on Monday talking about how no one wants him and how he should be in China. SMH.

Coaches aren't going to throw players under the bus. It's unprofessional. See below.

Is Michael Beasley done? It looks that way in the short term, but Miami coach Erik Spoelstra has not ruled out the possibility of Beasley breaking back into the rotation for the playoffs.

Even with the roster battered by injuries, Beasley has barely played lately. He has been a DNP-CD the past four games and has not gotten more than six minutes since March 24.

When asked what is keeping Beasley on the bench at a time when the Heat are hurting for healthy bodies, Spoelstra answered, “Nothing really.”

“He’s fully on board with this team,” Spoelstra said Friday. “I made a choice three weeks ago. That’s not an indictment on Michael, certainly. This team is just about, ‘How can you help us?’ When we get to that postseason, help us win a possession, help us win a quarter, help us win a game, help us win a series — whatever it may be. Help us win by helping us prepare. He’s been able to wrap his mind around that.

http://heatzone.blog.palmbeachpost.com/ ... l-beasley/

[dballislife]

If its lowry lou gv demar ross jj, and u gotta pick 1 to take out of rotation why d heck is it jj, why isnt it gv? Then ross is next to sit imo

[TheSamMitchell]

Casey didn't say that minutes were given up for Ross. Even if they were, what would be the point? Ross has been playing like garbage for the majority of the last month. Why punish a guy like JJ who plays his role and is a positive on the floor. I think this make Casey look even more like an idiot, if true.

[gp2015]

This sounds eerily similar to the Bargnani situation. Who the f cares if one player is not playing well and is depressed or whatever other s***? Put your big boy pants on, work your ass off and earn those minutes back.

Ross should either work harder or GTFO. We don't need to coddle him by going out of the way to give him more minutes, especially when he hasn't earned them. At this point, we are a better team with JJ on the floor.

[Scase]

Many on this board on Monday were blasting Casey for not playing JJ, but I made a point in the PG thread that may be JJ decided to give his rotational minutes to help get Ross going. It looks like my assumption was correct. Casey was on Prime Time Sports yesterday and here's what he said about that situation:

Casey says that while the team does want to focus more on Ross, there will be games when Johnson will return to his usual rotational minutes.

“James understood,” Casey said. “He understood the fact that it may be a situation where we want to work with Terrence and get him going and that the next night may be his night, so he just has to stay ready.”

Full interview here:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/ ... right-now/

Again the whole reason for JJ not playing was to help his teammate come out of his funk for the betterment of the team. We saw JJ cheering for Terrence throughout the game and wasn't sulking. This wasn't Casey being an idiot like a lot of you on here think. It also tells me that the locker room is still very tight even with the slump that they went through.

It's time for a lot of you on here to take a step back instead of jumping to ridiculous conclusions and making this board unreadable.

I still think he's an idiot for putting Trashquez on Evans. And I doubt anyone is willing to argue that.

Just cause people were wrong about him being an idiot about this time doesn't mean he's not still an idiot lol

[Naija Boy]

Lou has been way under 40% shooting since the start of December. Throw in some lousy defense and you have a guy who is getting way too many minutes. JJ not playing is ridiculous. There are always minutes to go around.

The fg% is misleading in this case because Lou is still finding ways of scoring effectively by hitting 3s and drawing fts. His TS% for December was 54.6% and for January has been 54.4% so far. That's not superstar level for a guard like he was hitting in November, but is still pretty damn good. By contrast, Kemba Walker's TS% is 51.0%. Derrick Rose is sitting at 50.6%, and even at the height of his superstardom, his career high was 55.0%. Tony Parker is sitting at 55.2% on the season. Dwyane Wade, who is actually having a solid season offensively, is sitting at 55.2%. Kyle Lowry, on the season, is at 54.3%. Louis Williams doesn't offer much else, but when it comes to scoring, he keeps some pretty good company. His defense isn't great, but is still functional. He's been basically the equivalent of Jamal Crawford (55.0% TS% on the season so far) to the Clippers. The Raptors would only be hurting themselves by cutting his minutes. He's basically got the perfect role for himself as the 6th man.

And to top it off, Lou doesn't turn the ball over at all. The only Raptors who have a lower turnover% than Lou who also get regular rotation minutes are Ross and Patterson, basically guys who never dribble the ball. Being both efficient, high volume, and with low turnovers is the recipe for an excellent offensive player.

Excellent post.

I'm getting tired of people trying to blame Lou for our problems. He does EXACTLY what he's supposed to do in his roles. Scores points in bunches at slightly above average efficiency. His defense is ok and like you said he doesn't lose the ball. I think he'd play even better next to a big point guard that actually plays defense, because that way you can have him guarding backup point guards or combo guards.

I actually like him long-term for this team as a 6th man if he can be retained for a decent rate. It's nice to have a two guard who can come off the bench and score in a bunch of different ways, especially when DeRozan is having a bad game.