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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 11, 2005 4:40:45 GMT -5
At first, I thought his 12 pts - 10 reb peformance was an eye openor. Then he went out and did 16 and 9, with 2 blocks, and I thought, wow, this kid is really starting to get it. And then tonight, he goes out and really shows what he's capable of, by putting up 21 pts, 12 rebs, and 2 blocks!!! And what's more impressive is that he did this in only 26 minutes. Imagine what he could have done with 35 minutes.
He's still very raw offensively, but how scary is it to think that this kid is doing things offensively that many veterans aren't capable of doing--and he barely knows what he's doing? He's only learned these new moves this year. He has this pump fake that completely disrupts his defender's timing, and with his ability to quickly put up a soft hook, he's getting a lot of points using this new post move. Some of his moves are McHale-like.
He has too many wasted movements at times, but he's picking things up rather quickly.
One thing we haven't seen much of is his midrange jumper. In the summer league of his rookie season, he was drilling his midrange jumpers with a lot of confidence. But we haven't seen him use it this year. He has completely abondoned it. He needs to bring it back because it makes him an even more dangerous scorer.
It won't be much longer before Jefferson starts averaging 15 ppg off the bench. And what a difference it will make for the team to have such a big scorer off the bench.
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Post by BCHISTORIAN on Dec 11, 2005 4:44:22 GMT -5
... it won't be long until he starts...
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 11, 2005 4:51:01 GMT -5
... it won't be long until he starts... That's what I'm praying for. But with Doc, you can never tell what he's going to do. But even if he makes Jefferson our 6th man, it could be to our advantage. With Ricky and Pierce being our big scorers in the starting rotation, Jefferson's scoring ability off the bench will be huge. Plus, he makes an impact on the boards too. Last year, Ricky almost won the 6th Man Award. Maybe Jefferson can make a run at it this year.
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Post by Celtic17 on Dec 11, 2005 16:10:15 GMT -5
I could see Jefferson starting after the All-Star break. It would be fun seeing what he and Perk can do in the starting unit, with PP, RD and DW.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 11, 2005 18:21:46 GMT -5
I'd like to roll the dice with that. But I'd tweak that lineup you have just a bit.
Perkins Jefferson Pierce Allen Delonte
Pierce and Jefferson can make a beautiful inside outside combination that will make it hard for defenses to focus on whether to guard the perimeter or the paint.
Putting Ricky in the 6th man slot will give us that scoring presence off the bench. And if Blount is playing well as a backup, he and Ricky will be able to continue that inside outside game.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2005 20:46:35 GMT -5
Big Al will be in the starting lineup this year. I'll be shock if he isn't starting by this seasons end.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 11, 2005 22:28:43 GMT -5
Agreed. He should be in the starting rotation--he's proving that he's capable of doing a lot of damage when he gets 20+ minutes.
But deserving, and getting what you deserve seems to be 2 separate things with Doc. Mark Blount does not deserve to be playing much, but yet he still plays a lot of the minutes that should be given to Perk. Big Al deserves to be playing a lot, and we all agree that he should. I'm all for giving Jefferson Raef's starting spot, and I'll be highly disappointed if he isn't starting at some point this season. But Doc has had us scratching our heads all season with his rotations.
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Post by Celtic17 on Dec 12, 2005 21:54:19 GMT -5
True Derren. I'm still holding my breath about TA. I see where you come from though.
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