Def Swami wrote:Xatticus wrote:basketballRob wrote:Franz has been playing worse since Cole came back too. It's like Cole got jealous of his attention and froze him out of the offense.
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It seems to me that Anthony has been moving the ball around more lately. He is also putting in more effort in his on-ball defense. His shot selection is still poor. His decision-making is still bad. And his off-ball defense is atrocious.
The biggest hindrance to our ball movement right now is Okeke. He shoots damn near every time he touches the ball.
I thought Franz played well last night, but you can’t expect him to facilitate as much with Anthony and Suggs out there. The Lakers made it tough on Franz, but he still managed to make some plays and he had a couple gorgeous passes.
Regarding Anthony, I agree. His efficiency has fallen off a cliff since he returned from injury. I think it's a combination of regression to the mean, perhaps playing through injury, WCJ being in and out of the lineup, and/or a renowned focus on trying to be better as a facilitator and defender.
One of the reasons I tend like Anthony is that I think he's coachable and has good insight into his weaknesses. Whether he can actually overcome those is a whole other story, but you have to start with some level of insight and desire to get better.
I think the coaching staff is challenging Anthony to be better as a facilitator and defender. And for someone who is wired to be score first his entire life, that can be a little upending. I think he's proven he can score 20 ppg if he wants to, and we can lose 70% of our games. But, if he wants to be a winning player on a winning team, which I believe he does, there are things he has to get better at. And I think Anthony knows that. His dad definitely knows that. And the Magic coaching staff know that. If his offensive prowess takes a step back while he tries to commit more on defense and learn how to facilitate, in a lost season, I think that's okay.
He had a sequence earlier in the 4th quarter of that same game where he gave up a backdoor dunk to Josh Jackson because he wasn't paying attention, launched a 30+ foot 3-point attempt, and then gave up an uncontested 3 to Saben Lee the next time down the floor because he, again, wasn't paying attention.
I don't want to harp on this sort of **** because I'll just get labeled a hater. He's just a really bad basketball player right now. I stop short of attacking his character though, because I don't know him. I don't know what makes him go. Perhaps he has just never been taught how to play basketball. It's unfortunate that you get to this level and don't know the basics, but it is what it is.
People have been attacking him since his return because his shots haven't been falling, but regression always should've been the expectation. He just doesn't have a good track record as a shooter. He seems to be reining in his game though. He is cutting out some of the more egregious decisions and he had a few good defensive possessions last night. He actually got low and shut down penetration by Westbrook when nobody else seemed capable. There are obvious limitations with him and he is lost when defending away from the ball, but that's a start. It tells me that the coaches are talking to him and some of it is getting through. To me, that's progress.