Post by DERRENMATTS on Jan 3, 2007 4:03:20 GMT -5
Why in the world has Doc been so hard on Gerald? The way he makes him sound, Gerald is bad for the team. But look at the numbers Gerald has posted in Pierce's stead and tell me that he's not improving at a rapid pace:
Dec 22 vs. Philly: 20 pts/9 rebs (3 - 6 3pters, 39+ mins)
Dec 26 vs. Nuggets: 18 pts/8 rebs (2 - 5 3pters, 36+ mins)
Dec 27 vs. Clippers: 17 pts/7 rebs (5 - 8 3pters, 34+ mins)
Dec 29 vs. Warriors: 6 pts/3 assts (2 - 3 3pters, 16+ mins)
Dec 31 vs. Sonics: 18 pts/2 rebs (3 - 9 3pters, 22+ mins)
Jan 1 vs. Blazers: 6 pts/4 rebs (0 - 1 3pters, 15+ mins)
Can you see the trend here? Doc is cutting Gerald's minutes more and more each game. How is Gerald going to learn from his mistakes if he isn't given the chance to learn from them. He gets yanked for making youthful mistakes, and all this does is make him tentative and make him second guess his every move (and you can see it sometimes when he's just frozen cause he doesn't want to make a mistake and get yanked). And giving his minutes to Wally is a questionable move because Wally is hurting out there, and he's potentially going to hurt Wally seriously by continuing to give him big minutes.
I see a 20 year old kid taking steps forward, with some stumbles and trips along the way. Sure he's taking a lot of three pointers, and that's not what I want him to settle for, but during these 6 games, he's connected on 50% of them (16 of 32). And he's averaging 15 ppg and he's also had some strong rebounding games as well. And for the first time in his life, he's actually showing some solid defensive potential (again, some steps forward and some steps backwards).
Why is Doc being so hard on Gerald when he's clearly doing things right? Let Gerald continue to build on his encouraging games and he'll learn from the mistakes he's making out there.
Dec 22 vs. Philly: 20 pts/9 rebs (3 - 6 3pters, 39+ mins)
Dec 26 vs. Nuggets: 18 pts/8 rebs (2 - 5 3pters, 36+ mins)
Dec 27 vs. Clippers: 17 pts/7 rebs (5 - 8 3pters, 34+ mins)
Dec 29 vs. Warriors: 6 pts/3 assts (2 - 3 3pters, 16+ mins)
Dec 31 vs. Sonics: 18 pts/2 rebs (3 - 9 3pters, 22+ mins)
Jan 1 vs. Blazers: 6 pts/4 rebs (0 - 1 3pters, 15+ mins)
Can you see the trend here? Doc is cutting Gerald's minutes more and more each game. How is Gerald going to learn from his mistakes if he isn't given the chance to learn from them. He gets yanked for making youthful mistakes, and all this does is make him tentative and make him second guess his every move (and you can see it sometimes when he's just frozen cause he doesn't want to make a mistake and get yanked). And giving his minutes to Wally is a questionable move because Wally is hurting out there, and he's potentially going to hurt Wally seriously by continuing to give him big minutes.
I see a 20 year old kid taking steps forward, with some stumbles and trips along the way. Sure he's taking a lot of three pointers, and that's not what I want him to settle for, but during these 6 games, he's connected on 50% of them (16 of 32). And he's averaging 15 ppg and he's also had some strong rebounding games as well. And for the first time in his life, he's actually showing some solid defensive potential (again, some steps forward and some steps backwards).
Why is Doc being so hard on Gerald when he's clearly doing things right? Let Gerald continue to build on his encouraging games and he'll learn from the mistakes he's making out there.