pepe1991 wrote:There is no evidence of this whatsoever.
If anything, all evidences point out that he is as much of a passer as Fournier, if not worst.
His raw APGs are well below average, his potential assists are below average ( for PG) ,his secundary assists are also below average.
He is right now having 21% usage rate. That's nothing spectacular but he is not being ignored like some here claim.
Problem with him, when he has ball is same problem any other non shooting PG has.
Defenders sag off, they go under screens and don't cover ground and him being ball dominant - non shooting PG hurts team, especially because he is not as gifted passer as Rondo or Rubio , who also belong in that "not shooter" category, and he does not have athletic atributes like Simmons or Lebron ( Lebron is career 34% three point shooter on 5100 attemps and teams STILL go under screens ).
This play alone ( despite being executed ) shows preparation for this , Vuc and Gordon -less Magic. Pistons bank on two things:
1) Bamba can't post up and can't pass well enough or read
2) Fultz outside paint is no treat
And yes, this play actually did end up with Bamba passing to Fultz, but in many other plays same defensive set played right into a hands of Pistons and 33 points in second half are best evidence of it.
To show you that i did not cherry-pick on one play to bash Bamba and Fultz, there is another example of same strategy in same game
and again
This play in particular was ugly because Isaac got ball and hit top of the glass with jumper. But once again two things on display- center that can't pass and guard who isn't treat to shoot.
and at end of a day it all comes down to making or missing shots nowdays ,and when you are this much wide open
you just have to make your damn shots. Worst thing was that he didn't even took shot, but dribbled to mid range,step back jumper, that he missed.
And for the end, notion that he never gets plays for him is also false, here you can see clear isolation set for him to take Kennard 1 on 1, Kennard positions himself poorly, and Fultz should have drived to his left to avoid center and power forward, instad,he drives right, right into two Kennard , Drummond and Griffin and gets stripped. It's just poor baksetball play.
But as usual he will be stripped from any critisms from his board for healthy 3,4 years like Gordon , Payton,Hezonja, whoever were. Where in reality he just isn't that good and things he does well ( driving , finishing at rim) can only be used so often.
Since he now played with all 3 Cs , and didn't execuse Pick&Roll with any of them well, it's objective to come to conclusion he isn't that good at it. Just like he isn't that good or gifted as a passer or willing passer. As we saw enough times him dribbling into mid range pullups rather than passing ball for better looks. Per 36 min 5,2 assists a game paints perfect picture of more of a Iverson, Marbury type playmaker than Chris Paul, Steve Nash type PG.
Overall when you pair point guard that can't shoot, to a team that can't shoot and score in general, you are asking for trouble.
I often posted how Magic strategy of making teams worst to win games will never be sustainable and i already see lot of anti Clifford posts. In reality when you put so many challenged offensive players on same roster, what a hell coach can do with them? I don't get it. Maybe i'm just dumb.
