Everything VanVleet

[MACK11]

How this midget is still getting minute is beyond ridiculous

[Apollo]

I like Fred but he's been exposed in the playoffs. It has nothing to do with his size. He's missing open shots, he doesn't have the ice cold blood one needs for high pressure situations. I hope they can get back a shooter.

[DanH]

Gotta hit some shots. Man alive. I mean, still better him than Powell (who is a disaster zone even when on fire like in this game) but man alive. Using both of them is seeming necessary to get rest for the starters, but it's really costing us. Mind you, if we are throwing stones in this one Serge gets the lion's share of the blame for the bench.

[golden]

I like Fred but he's been exposed in the playoffs. It has nothing to do with his size. He's missing open shots, he doesn't have the ice cold blood one needs for high pressure situations. I hope they can get back a shooter.

The pressure is related to size and it's become mental now. The length of the team's we've been facing, and harder contests in the playoffs have forced him to speed up his shots. Now, he's rushing on normal contests or hesitating on wide open shots. It's put him out of rhythm and scared like everybody else.

[golden]

Gotta hit some shots. Man alive. I mean, still better him than Powell (who is a disaster zone even when on fire like in this game) but man alive. Using both of them is seeming necessary to get rest for the starters, but it's really costing us. Mind you, if we are throwing stones in this one Serge gets the lion's share of the blame for the bench.

But On/Off, though.

[DanH]

But On/Off, though.

Fred's on-offs have been awful, mostly because he can't hit shots.

Of course, he hasn't been as big an issue as other bench players, but it would be real nice if we had the sharp shooting Fred of the seemingly distant past back.

[golden]

Fred's on-offs have been awful, mostly because he can't hit shots.

Of course, he hasn't been as big an issue as other bench players, but it would be real nice if we had the sharp shooting Fred of the seemingly distant past back.

Or Austin Rivers (who I detest). Heck, even Shabazz Napier. Never thought I'd miss Lorenzo Brown either.

[DanH]

Or Austin Rivers (who I detest). Heck, even Shabazz Napier. Never thought I'd miss Lorenzo Brown either.

Lorenzo Brown would be dramatically worse than FVV. Wright would sure look good. Would have been nice if Lin was a good player still, but sadly that's not the case. Ideally, though, OG Anunoby would help a lot if he got healthy. He could eat up all those extra wing and forward minutes that Ibaka and Norm are playing, plus push some of Kawhi's minutes to the 2, stopping FVV from having to play minutes beside Lowry when he's struggling so much.

[golden]

Lorenzo Brown would be dramatically worse than FVV. Wright would sure look good. Would have been nice if Lin was a good player still, but sadly that's not the case. Ideally, though, OG Anunoby would help a lot if he got healthy. He could eat up all those extra wing and forward minutes that Ibaka and Norm are playing, plus push some of Kawhi's minutes to the 2, stopping FVV from having to play minutes beside Lowry when he's struggling so much.

I was joking about Lorenzo Brown. Some guys just get unlimited chances with a coach and are put in positions where they simply can't fail (and still do). Other guys just can't do anything Wright.

[Demographic Shift]

The pressure is related to size and it's become mental now. The length of the team's we've been facing, and harder contests in the playoffs have forced him to speed up his shots. Now, he's rushing on normal contests or hesitating on wide open shots. It's put him out of rhythm and scared like everybody else.

So distilled down..it looks like it is really tough going against the top 8 teams in the league in the playoffs ..where everyone plays relentless defense ....

I like FVV.....but pro sports is a tough business..If the belief is that they can become incrementally better at that position with a variety of factors taken into consideration....then they will do it..

until then..cheering for Freddy to make some shots...

[slaw]

So distilled down..it looks like it is really tough going against the top 8 teams in the league in the playoffs ..where everyone plays relentless defense ....

I like FVV.....but pro sports is a tough business..If the belief is that they can become incrementally better at that position with a variety of factors taken into consideration....then they will do it..

until then..cheering for Freddy to make some shots...

The fundamental problem with the bench has been the inability to finish. Just look at last night. A lot of that early 4th quarter run would have been negated if Powell and FVV could have made shots. Powell even missed a layup. When that happens, your defense doesn't get set and the problems start to bleed over into every facet of play.

Now, I know that some people believe that a player has absolutely no control over whether a shot goes in or not but if you rarely make over a long stretch of time then perhaps there might be an issue beyond random chance. For me, I don't even blame FVV at this point, this is all on the coaching staff.

[slaw]

Or Austin Rivers (who I detest). Heck, even Shabazz Napier. Never thought I'd miss Lorenzo Brown either.

What about Jeremy Lin!

[Demographic Shift]

The fundamental problem with the bench has been the inability to finish. Just look at last night. A lot of that early 4th quarter run would have been negated if Powell and FVV could have made shots. Powell even missed a layup. When that happens, your defense doesn't get set and the problems start to bleed over into every facet of play.

Now, I know that some people believe that a player has absolutely no control over whether a shot goes in or not but if you rarely make over a long stretch of time then perhaps there might be an issue beyond random chance. For me, I don't even blame FVV at this point, this is all on the coaching staff.

Its a 7 game series....shots are going to start to fall....

As an aside there is an inordinate amount of empty dos Eqis and Tecate beer cans here in Cancún ....
My gang is at the end of the beach at club med..where did you stay ?

[slaw]

Its a 7 game series....shots are going to start to fall....

As an aside there is an inordinate amount of empty dos Eqis and Tecate beer cans here in Cancún ....
My gang is at the end of the beach at club med..where did you stay ?

I don't even want to dwell on the shot-making cause, again, this really was about a couple of bad coaching decisions at the start of the fourth quarter that swung a game Raps had control over.

We stayed near Puerto Vallarta - we were down there for an event so we stayed where we were told, which was a quasi-hotel/compound/house. Really nice but it was cook and clean up after yourself a lot, so not terribly relaxing when you have young kids to deal with as well. Wouldn't do it again if we had a choice even though the cost was cheaper than a resort....

[GOLDBLUM]

How'd he finish top three in sixth man last year then?

To be clear, this was not a defense of Fred, it was a question.

Obviously, the five man unit skewed our perceptions. That said, if he’s able to play with this year’s starters, including Pascal, who we now know was responsible for driving much of the success of that unit. Shouldn’t that be an even better situation?

We could say that it’s the rigour of the playoffs, and how opponents step it up, but really his play has dropped off all year. You could say people have figured him out, but what’s there to figure out. Last year he hit his shots when he needed to. This year he hasn’t. And he’s now in his head and it’s compounding itself exponentially.

Again, not a defense, but a question, how did this guy finish top three for sixth man of the year?

Pretty much everyone was off the Kyle Lowry boat — read my post about him before yesterday’s game. Not giving myself credit, but lo and behold, he has the playoff game of his life.

Fred is obviously not Kyle Lowry but he’s previously shown that he can play in this league.

It’s looking less and less likely Fred steps up but with our sudden lack of depth, if we’re gonna have any chance of getting out of this series, he’s gonna have to start producing some positive minutes. (For a lot of you, I guess that means we’re cooked.)