Can we stop blaming DD now for taking away Ross/JV's opportunity?

[Fully]

JV was terrible last night from the opening tip. You can't blame anyone else for that particular performance - Casey, the referees, his teammates, etc. He looked half asleep from literally the moment the ball was thrown in the air to begin the game.

No, he wasn't directly responsible for TT's huge night or some of the porous defence being played but that's only because he was on the bench due to foul trouble or terrible performance.

While everyone keeps complaining about JV being held back or whatever, he's played 20, 33, 33, 33, 28, 23, 32, and 26 minutes respectively over his last 8 games. That's in the neighbourhood of what guys like Horford, Gortat, Hibbert, etc. all play. And he hasn't been particularly good in any of those games, save for a couple. Now the blame shifts to Casey and his teammates to a lesser extent, for not getting him enough touches. Do we actually watch the games? Do we really think that the Raptors would be better served dumping the ball into JV a lot more so he can throw up a herky jerky shot or pump fake three times only to have the ball stripped down low when he finally begins his move?

I love JV by the way. I really do. Probably my favourite Raptor. But the notion that the Raptors are pissing away a chance to be great by not force feeding him is so ridiculous.

[mcHAPPY]

JV was terrible last night from the opening tip. You can't blame anyone else for that particular performance - Casey, the referees, his teammates, etc. He looked half asleep from literally the moment the ball was thrown in the air to begin the game.

No, he wasn't directly responsible for TT's huge night or some of the porous defence being played but that's only because he was on the bench due to foul trouble or terribly performance.

While everyone keeps complaining about JV being held back or whatever, he's played 20, 33, 33, 33, 28, 23, 32, and 26 minutes respectively over his last 8 games. And he hasn't been particularly good in any of those games, save for a couple. Now the blame shifts to Casey and his teammates to a lesser extent, for not getting him enough touches. Do we actually watch the games? Do we really think that the Raptors would be better served dumping the ball into JV a lot more so he can throw up a herky jerky shot or pump fake three times only to have the ball stripped down low when he finally begins his move?

I love JV by the way. I really do. Probably my favourite Raptor. But the notion that the Raptors are pissing away a chance to be great by not force feeding him is so ridiculous.

There is no defense of or support for JV right now. He is playing with his emotions and frustration evident to all. He is sulking and pouting which should be evident to all watching. That has to change. The likely reasons for his frustrations are justified in my opinion but his handling of them are most certainly not.

However reading through this thread there are actual inaccuracies of statements. That is my only issue.

As for blaming Casey, it isn't so much blaming Casey as highlighting he is not a flexible coach. He is trying to do the same thing with DD out as he did with DD in. He is attempting to use different players with different skill sets in the same roles as DeRozan. It is why come playoff time a rookie head coach like Jason Kidd outclassed him and he will likely be outclassed again this coming playoffs.

Casey is a great assistant coach but poor head coach. He has good qualities of a head coach but the the overall package is weak. Keep in mind this a supposed defensive coach and look at the defense.

None of the 'silver linings' of derozans injury have come to pass because the assumption was Casey would adapt but he hasn't.....like at all. JV and TR are still doing the same things on the court that would be done if DD was playing - little more, little less.

It really is a shame.

[MACK11]

There is no defense of or support for JV right now. He is playing with his emotions and frustration evident to all. He is sulking and pouting which should be evident to all watching. That has to change. The likely reasons for his frustrations are justified in my opinion but his handling of them are most certainly not.

However reading through this thread there are actual inaccuracies of statements. That is my only issue.

As for blaming Casey, it isn't so much blaming Casey as highlighting he is not a flexible coach. He is trying to do the same thing with DD out as he did with DD in. He is attempting to use different players with different skill sets in the same roles as DeRozan. It is why come playoff time a rookie head coach like Jason Kidd outclassed him and he will likely be outclassed again this coming playoffs.

Casey is a great assistant coach but poor head coach. He has good qualities of a head coach but the the overall package is weak. Keep in mind this a supposed defensive coach and look at the defense.

None of the 'silver linings' of derozans injury have come to pass because the assumption was Casey would adapt but he hasn't.....like at all. JV and TR are still doing the same things on the court that would be done if DD was playing - little more, little less.

It really is a shame.

Dwane Casey = Mark Jackson

Eventually were gonna find our Steve Kerr to take this team to another level

[Fully]

There is no defense of or support for JV right now. He is playing with his emotions and frustration evident to all. He is sulking and pouting which should be evident to all watching. That has to change. The likely reasons for his frustrations are justified in my opinion but his handling of them are most certainly not.

However reading through this thread there are actual inaccuracies of statements. That is my only issue.

As for blaming Casey, it isn't so much blaming Casey as highlighting he is not a flexible coach. He is trying to do the same thing with DD out as he did with DD in. He is attempting to use different players with different skill sets in the same roles as DeRozan. It is why come playoff time a rookie head coach like Jason Kidd outclassed him and he will likely be outclassed again this coming playoffs.

Casey is a great assistant coach but poor head coach. He has good qualities of a head coach but the the overall package is weak. Keep in mind this a supposed defensive coach and look at the defense.

None of the 'silver linings' of derozans injury have come to pass because the assumption was Casey would adapt but he hasn't.....like at all. JV and TR are still doing the same things on the court that would be done if DD was playing - little more, little less.

It really is a shame.

The part I don't get is your first paragraph. You open up by saying that there's no excuse for JV playing so poorly right now and then turn around in the next sentence and saying that he's justifiably frustrated because his teammates don't get him the ball and that Casey is a bozo.

Generally speaking I don't think you're completely off base by the way. I would have loved to see the Raptors shift to some different schemes in the absence of DD rather than picking a guy off the bench and saying, "Hey you, let's see your best bad Derozan impression." I'm just not convinced that you can make that the reason that JV has had so many bad games this year.

He spends a lot of time throwing his arms up in the air and complaining to referees. He gets lost a lot on defence. He gets the ball taken away from him consistently. All small things that could probably be shored up with a little more focus/mental toughness, so I have no problem with his minutes and opportunities to shine hinging on him doing so.

[JimiCliff]

The part I don't get is your first paragraph. You open up by saying that there's no excuse for JV playing so poorly right now and then turn around in the next sentence and saying that he's justifiably frustrated because his teammates don't get him the ball and that Casey is a bozo.

Generally speaking I don't think you're completely off base by the way. I would have loved to see the Raptors shift to some different schemes in the absence of DD rather than picking a guy off the bench and saying, "Hey you, let's see your best bad Derozan impression." I'm just not convinced that you can make that the reason that JV has had so many bad games this year.

He spends a lot of time throwing his arms up in the air and complaining to referees. He gets lost a lot on defence. He gets the ball taken away from him consistently. All small things that could probably be shored up with a little more focus/mental toughness, so I have no problem with his minutes hinging on him doing so.

It's the idea that the frustration is justified, but that frustration shouldn't impact your play.

Honestly, I don't see how any of JV/Amir/Chops wouldn't be at least a little frustrated on this team: afterthoughts on offence, and then asked to clean up for all of the wings minus JJ on defence.

[MixxAOR]

I think it's a little too late to introduce new better offense in absence of DD.

[special1]

JV was terrible last night from the opening tip. You can't blame anyone else for that particular performance - Casey, the referees, his teammates, etc. He looked half asleep from literally the moment the ball was thrown in the air to begin the game.

No, he wasn't directly responsible for TT's huge night or some of the porous defence being played but that's only because he was on the bench due to foul trouble or terrible performance.

While everyone keeps complaining about JV being held back or whatever, he's played 20, 33, 33, 33, 28, 23, 32, and 26 minutes respectively over his last 8 games. That's in the neighbourhood of what guys like Horford, Gortat, Hibbert, etc. all play. And he hasn't been particularly good in any of those games, save for a couple. Now the blame shifts to Casey and his teammates to a lesser extent, for not getting him enough touches. Do we actually watch the games? Do we really think that the Raptors would be better served dumping the ball into JV a lot more so he can throw up a herky jerky shot or pump fake three times only to have the ball stripped down low when he finally begins his move?

I love JV by the way. I really do. Probably my favourite Raptor. But the notion that the Raptors are pissing away a chance to be great by not force feeding him is so ridiculous.

Exactly.

Obviously we all like JV and want him to be great for the sake of our team. I'm just frustrated with his play over the last few games and frustrated with some fans who want to blame EVERYONE else except the guy who can actually do something about it.

Unfortunately, this reminds me of the Bargnani situation all over again.

I never expected Ross to turn into a star. I felt me made a mistake as soon as we passed up on Drummond. However, I think Ross can still be a good role player.

JV averaged about 30 minutes per game in the last 3 games. In those 3 games he has a grand total of 1 offensive rebound, 2 assists and 3 blocks. He averaged just about 10 points and just over 5 rebounds per game. I don't want to hear more excuses.... Tell me why this is acceptable. Blaming Casey for this is pretty despicable imo.

[mcHAPPY]

The part I don't get is your first paragraph. You open up by saying that there's no excuse for JV playing so poorly right now and then turn around in the next sentence and saying that he's justifiably frustrated because his teammates don't get him the ball and that Casey is a bozo.

Generally speaking I don't think you're completely off base by the way. I would have loved to see the Raptors shift to some different schemes in the absence of DD rather than picking a guy off the bench and saying, "Hey you, let's see your best bad Derozan impression." I'm just not convinced that you can make that the reason that JV has had so many bad games this year.

He spends a lot of time throwing his arms up in the air and complaining to referees. He gets lost a lot on defence. He gets the ball taken away from him consistently. All small things that could probably be shored up with a little more focus/mental toughness, so I have no problem with his minutes and opportunities to shine hinging on him doing so.

What JimiCliff said.

It's the idea that the frustration is justified, but that frustration shouldn't impact your play.

Honestly, I don't see how any of JV/Amir/Chops wouldn't be at least a little frustrated on this team: afterthoughts on offence, and then asked to clean up for all of the wings minus JJ on defence.

[Fully]

But what is he frustrated about?

Lack of minutes? He's averaging just shy of 30mpg over the past 8 games. A career high, and in line with all of the other top tier centres in the league. This was the big reason for JV's slow start during the first few weeks of the season, but now that his minutes have increased a bunch, he's not playing any better.
Lack of shots? He's shooting a career low over his stretch of increased minutes and is generally making bad decisions with the basketball. Do we really believe the solution is to keep feeding him the ball more and more?

His defence isn't notably better with the increased burn either. I'm not joking when I say that the Cleveland game last night was the worst one I've ever seen him play.

[mcHAPPY]

I think it's a little too late to introduce new better offense in absence of DD.

They don't need a new offense.

They need to increase the variety of the sets they are running......especially with DD out.

[MixxAOR]

They don't need a new offense.

They need to increase the variety of the sets they are running......especially with DD out.

that's basically means different offense. Efficiency will change, touches will change. Who knows how well they will execute it. And they had no time to practice new sets after DD was out.

[Axel]

But what is he frustrated about?

Lack of minutes? He's averaging just shy of 30mpg over the past 8 games. A career high, and in line with all of the other top tier centres in the league. This was the big reason for JV's slow start during the first few weeks of the season, but now that his minutes have increased a bunch, he's not playing any better.
Lack of shots? He's shooting a career low over his stretch of increased minutes and is generally making bad decisions with the basketball. Do we really believe the solution is to keep feeding him the ball more and more?

His defence isn't notably better with the increased burn either. I'm not joking when I say that the Cleveland game last night was the worst one I've ever seen him play.

Lack of touches - still gets looked over a lot even when he has a mismatch. He needs to see the ball in more pnr and high-low feeds and less pure post ups. The touches he does get are often 1v1 post plays and the defence is keyed in. Ball movement rarely seems to find it's way to the bigs at the hoop.

Lack of trust - or whatever you want to call it. I'm sure it's not lost on JV that he has the quickest hook on the team

Lack of productivity - the guy is a talented competitor, I'm sure he is partially frustrated with himself

Lack of respect from the refs - he gets in foul trouble in part due to some BS calls and this is doubly frustrating when these plays are due to another players mistakes.

[mcHAPPY]

that's basically means different offense. Efficiency will change, touches will change. Who knows how well they will execute it. And they had no time to practice new sets after DD was out.

You're talking two different things.

I'm talking about running what they always have run with different allocations.

Less ISO.

More pick and roll.

More drive and dish.

More ball movement.

More post ups.


They already do all those things just need to diversify.

[JimiCliff]

But what is he frustrated about?

Lack of minutes? He's averaging just shy of 30mpg over the past 8 games. A career high, and in line with all of the other top tier centres in the league. This was the big reason for JV's slow start during the first few weeks of the season, but now that his minutes have increased a bunch, he's not playing any better.
Lack of shots? He's shooting a career low over his stretch of increased minutes and is generally making bad decisions with the basketball. Do we really believe the solution is to keep feeding him the ball more and more?

In another post, someone pointed out that since DD's injury, JV's attempting fewer shots per game in spite of the fact that his minutes have gone up. This is ridiculous, and that would be enough to frustrate me.

But regardless, the main thing is, that frustration should never effect your other work. Something's up with him mentally, that's guaranteed, and he has to find a way through it.

[mcHAPPY]

But what is he frustrated about?

Lack of minutes? He's averaging just shy of 30mpg over the past 8 games. A career high, and in line with all of the other top tier centres in the league. This was the big reason for JV's slow start during the first few weeks of the season, but now that his minutes have increased a bunch, he's not playing any better.
Lack of shots? He's shooting a career low over his stretch of increased minutes and is generally making bad decisions with the basketball. Do we really believe the solution is to keep feeding him the ball more and more?

His defence isn't notably better with the increased burn either. I'm not joking when I say that the Cleveland game last night was the worst one I've ever seen him play.

When he gets his head out of his ass the answer might be yes. But he needs to extract his cranium first.


The game versus Phoenix when he was interviewed at half time, Leo asked what was difference. He said something to effect team was sharing the ball. I can guarantee you he is pissed about double standards on D and lack of team play on O....and as a former post player myself, I can't blame him for the frustration. Unfortunately there is no excuse for him not to bring the focus and effort each night and until he does he will continue to suck and does not deserve the increased minutes.


**I decided to hold, underline, and increase font because I don't think people are actually reading everything I write.**


Unfortunately some people also believe an increase in minutes is the same as an increase in opportunity which is evident by a decrease in usage.


Also he is always shit on for turnovers but he is averaging just 0.6 over last 5 games and a career low on the season at just 1.2 (1.7 per36 is also career low).