Everything Derozan

[enlightenment]

But thru 9 games it's been the exact same story so this is clearly not the case

There have been glimpses of improvement. Dont count out the fact that there was some extraordinary pressure (the existential state of the franchise was at stake) in the first round.

Some examples:
*Casey for the first time ever benched his star player in the fourth, and he did it in the first round with Demar. Where he is known for 'hell or high water'.
*Casey has adjusted to playing a 2nd round pick rookie in the 4th quarters of pivotal games in the playoffs. Where as he is known for being hostile to a rookies playing time.
*Derozan showed spurts of how he was during the regular season, especially in game 7 despite his awful shooting performance to finish it, his ending to the 3rd quarter was super-star like. His second round has not been disastrous yet.

Overall, they are adjusting to new information, albeit slowly. But many organizations have it as a philosophy to be conservative with change, and it isn't the worst idea. You don't want to be too reactionary.

To look out for is the next adjustment, which I think is now obviously clear to everyone in the organization, and that is to rely on JV more. Lets watch for it and save our 'dooms-day' talk for then.

[Nilanka]

Or, euphamistically: the pounding of the rock.

[S.R.]

There have been glimpses of improvement. Dont count out the fact that there was some extraordinary pressure (the existential state of the franchise was at stake) in the first round.

Some examples:
*Casey for the first time ever benched his star player in the fourth, and he did it in the first round with Demar. Where he is known for 'hell or high water'.
*Casey has adjusted to playing a 2nd round pick rookie in the 4th quarters of pivotal games in the playoffs. Where as he is known for being hostile to a rookies playing time.
*Derozan showed spurts of how he was during the regular season, especially in game 7 despite his awful shooting performance to finish it, his ending to the 3rd quarter was super-star like. His second round has not been disastrous yet.

Overall, they are adjusting to new information, albeit slowly. But many organizations have it as a philosophy to be conservative with change, and it isn't the worst idea. You don't want to be too reactionary.

To look out for is the next adjustment, which I think is now obviously clear to everyone in the organization, and that is to rely on JV more. Lets watch for it and save our 'dooms-day' talk for then.

Absolutely, Casey's been making the right adjustments in terms of who sees the floor. The usage of Ross vs. Miami after barely playing vs. Indiana is another one.

[enlightenment]

Absolutely, Casey's been making the right adjustments in terms of who sees the floor. The usage of Ross vs. Miami after barely playing vs. Indiana is another one.

Yes thats a great one too. I dont think even I would make that adjustment but it was the right move.

[psrs1]

And also, for a good chunk of the regular season, it actually seemed like DeRozan finally learned the difference between a good shot and a horrendous one.

I blame myself for assuming it was a transformation. But in reality, it was just a hiatus before going back to his normal ways.

Hey where is Wildling#1? He spent a good chunk of first half of season saying exactly the same thing.

[psrs1]

Absolutely, Casey's been making the right adjustments in terms of who sees the floor. The usage of Ross vs. Miami after barely playing vs. Indiana is another one.

In Casey we trust.

[white men can't jump]

I know where you're coming from but I really think Casey has significantly improved re the ability to make adjustments.

Sure but we discussed this before game 2 and look what happened. JV got about half as many shots and again we spent a lot of our offence trying to get our guards going. The adjustment in question has just not happened and I don't know that it ever will with Casey and DeMar around.

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[white men can't jump]

In all honesty, did any of us expect to see this?

We have to remind ourselves to take a step back and realize we're witnessing historical levels of futility by our "stars".

Some of us have been saying this is exactly what to expect from a system of ball dominant guards who are basically incapable of actually creating in ISO(they really need screens) and rarely pass off screens. D will force you into bad shooting (ourselves right in the foot) with minimal effort. That might be the worst part of our offence when it reverts to the kind of bullshit we complain about: the opponent barely has to work on D, the side of the game that's more tiring.

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[white men can't jump]

He tried to back down Monta Ellis a few times and couldn't do it. He kept starting from horrible spots on the floor, 15-18 feet out.

JV has been able to get spectacular post position against Whiteside, deep in the paint right near the circle - did that a couple of times last game and didn't even get the ball.

One was really brutal where he was dead centre of the paint about 3-4 ft out with Whiteside basically pinned under the basket. Leo was disgusted....everyone was disgusted that the pass didn't go in there.

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[KeonClark]

Have you guys heard of the Ewing theory? I am convinced more than ever derozan needs to walk for cap space. Written by Bill simmons a few years back:

What's the Ewing Theory? Where did it come from?
The theory was created in the mid-'90s by Dave Cirilli, a friend of mine who was convinced that Patrick Ewing's teams (both at Georgetown and with New York) inexplicably played better when Ewing was either injured or missing extended stretches because of foul trouble.
Curious to see if this phenomenon applied to other stars/teams, Dave noticed people were pencilling in the '94-'95 UConn Huskies for a .500 season because "superstar" Donyell Marshall had departed for the NBA. Dave knew better; a lifelong UConn fan, he thought the Huskies relied too much on Marshall the previous season and could survive without him. Like Ali predicting the first Liston knockout, Dave told friends the Huskies would thrive in Marshall's absence -- and that's exactly what happened. By midseason, UConn was ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time in school history; the Ewing Theory had been hatched.
Dave introduced me to the Ewing Theory three years ago, and we've been tinkering with it like Voltaire and Thoreau ever since. Eventually, we decided that two crucial elements needed to be in place for any situation to qualify for "Ewing" status:
A star athlete receives an inordinate amount of media attention and fan interest, and yet his teams never win anything substantial with him (other than maybe some early-round playoff series).
That same athlete leaves his team (either by injury, trade, graduation, free agency or retirement) -- and both the media and fans immediately write off the team for the following season.
When those elements collide, you have the Ewing Theory.
What's the best example of the Ewing Theory?
Peyton Manning
The Tennessee Volunteers won the national title the first season after Peyton Manning left Knoxville.
That's easy. During the '99 NBA Playoffs, Ewing tore an Achilles tendon during the second game of the Eastern finals against Indiana. With Ewing finished for the playoffs and nobody else on the Knicks who could handle Rik Smits, the series seemed like a foregone conclusion. As an added bonus, since Ewing himself was involved, that made this the ultimate test of the Ewing Theory; in fact, I e-mailed Dave that week to say, "This is the greatest test yet."
Dave's return e-mail oozed with confidence, as he told me in no uncertain terms, "Ewing's injury is the best thing that ever could have happened to the Knicks -- they're definitely making the Finals now."
So what happened? The Knicks won three of the next four and advanced to the NBA Finals for only the second time in 26 years. Had Jeff Van Gundy's crew shocked the Spurs in the Finals without Ewing, Dave might have his own line of "How-To" videos out right now (a Knicks upset was simply too tall of a task against Duncan and Robinson, Ewing Theory or no Ewing Theory).

[white men can't jump]

I don't know about Ewing theory, but it doesn't seem like a mystery. It's a frequent problem when teams have a highly talented player. They build trying to address "how can we get the most out of this player because he's talented?", instead of "how can we get the best out of this player because he's talented?"...

[rightsideup]

I don't know about Ewing theory, but it doesn't seem like a mystery. It's a frequent problem when teams have a highly talented player. They build trying to address "how can we get the most out of this player because he's talented?", instead of "how can we get the best out of this player because he's talented?"...

Most implies shots

[white men can't jump]

Most implies shots

Sort of an oversimplification.

Theoretically DeMar could be more effective with the same amount of shots. What if he passed up a couple of ISO shots a game to spot up in the corner while we run more Lowry-JV p'n'r? What if we looked to get him more off ball opportunities as a cutter instead of asking a guy who thrives inside to create from 23 ft out every time? Like you know, using him and our other wings like we've used Carroll nicely in a couple of set plays over the last couple of games as a cutter receiving passes from JV.

And yes, I think ultimately it would benefit him and the team if his usage as a scorer was lower. He could be scoring 3 less points and getting 2 more assists probably with the exact same sets we run now. That would net the team 1-3 more points, probably help his %s (it would likely mean him forcing fewer bad shots), and he'd be handling the ball pretty much exactly the same amount. Imagine if on top of that we tried to use him off the ball a bit more. Maybe he'd even put more consistent energy into his D because he'd be using less on O. *Didn't even get to how that could make his own scoring more efficient. He might not even need to sacrifice points, just shots. If the D thought he was a bigger threat to pass, he might even score quite a bit more effectively, and we've seen him have some of his most efficient offensive nights when he becomes a facilitator.

[KeonClark]

Sort of an oversimplification.

Theoretically DeMar could be more effective with the same amount of shots. What if he passed up a couple of ISO shots a game to spot up in the corner while we run more Lowry-JV p'n'r? What if we looked to get him more off ball opportunities as a cutter instead of asking a guy who thrives inside to create from 23 ft out every time? Like you know, using him and our other wings like we've used Carroll nicely in a couple of set plays over the last couple of games as a cutter receiving passes from JV.

And yes, I think ultimately it would benefit him and the team if his usage as a scorer was lower. He could be scoring 3 less points and getting 2 more assists probably with the exact same sets we run now. That would net the team 1-3 more points, probably help his %s (it would likely mean him forcing fewer bad shots), and he'd be handling the ball pretty much exactly the same amount. Imagine if on top of that we tried to use him off the ball a bit more. Maybe he'd even put more consistent energy into his D because he'd be using less on O. *Didn't even get to how that could make his own scoring more efficient. He might not even need to sacrifice points, just shots. If the D thought he was a bigger threat to pass, he might even score quite a bit more effectively, and we've seen him have some of his most efficient offensive nights when he becomes a facilitator.

At some point you have to wonder if demar is the type of player that values stats over team wins. He says all the right things, but he doesn't seem to be buying in to change.

[white men can't jump]

At some point you have to wonder if demar is the type of player that values stats over team wins. He says all the right things, but he doesn't seem to be buying in to change.

I think he's a low IQ player, and that he has not had that aspect of his game properly developed. He hasn't been forced in the right direction, which is what he needs.