Game #25 Toronto Raptors @ Washington Wizards: Wednesday February 10, 7 p.m. EST

[Dvdvideo]

All the talk of Norm consistency... to me it's always been so closley tied to his health. He was playing some pretty incredible basketball last year, like every shot from deep looked automatic. Then he went down with injuries and when he came back, it wasn't happening.

It's taken time again but now he's back up to where he's playing really, really well. I'm more curious to see whether, if he stays healthy, he can maintain what he's doing, as opposed to assuming he'll just regress... cause the inconsistency always seems to have had a direct correlation to him being in and out of the lineup because of his health.

I agree with this, norm was either hurt or yanked in and out of the starting lineup, playing lots, playing little, when has he ever had a real chance? It seems to me, whenever he has had some consistency with time and minutes, he settles in and plays like he is now.

[inthepaint]

All the talk of Norm consistency... to me it's always been so closley tied to his health. He was playing some pretty incredible basketball last year, like every shot from deep looked automatic. Then he went down with injuries and when he came back, it wasn't happening.

It's taken time again but now he's back up to where he's playing really, really well. I'm more curious to see whether, if he stays healthy, he can maintain what he's doing, as opposed to assuming he'll just regress... cause the inconsistency always seems to have had a direct correlation to him being in and out of the lineup because of his health.

Very true. I would also add that his role, way back since Casey, has always been a jack-of-all-trades all over. Anyone injured on the starting lineup? "sure, let's plug Norm in there". Seems like often throughout his career he would go from rotation piece, to not playing at all, to starting 8 games in a row, then back to no playing due to injury, then having huge playoff games again. All the while interchanging between guard and forward. Ask any player to find consistency throughout that and it won't be easy.

I'm pretty sure if we asked Fred (whom I think is awesome) what we've asked of Norm over the years, I'm not sure we get this confident, "steady" version of Fred. Fred definitely earned his keep and his role, but at the same time he also got a ton of leash, especially from Nurse, and that makes it a lot easier to find "consistency".