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This was originally a response to a few posts concerning Weems in the James Johnson thread. But it got pretty big and started to verge off topic, so I'm starting a thread instead. The thesis stated: Weems plays much better than people on these boards think he does, and he should replace Barbosa (who should be traded) as the bench 2 guard. A common knock is that he takes the bad shot. This is true, but he will hit them. Like a less spastic Marco Belinelli. A good coach who holds his players accountable should fix that habit right quick. The other common knock is his bad attitude and lack of will to improve defensively. This last point is what I mostly want to address here.
The biggest thing to remember about Sonny is that he played this year out of position. In no way should he be playing the 3. If you think Demar Derozan is undersized for the 3, well, Weems is not only shorter by an inch, but lighter by a good 15-20 pounds. Makes no sense to play him at the 3. When he plays there, he simply doesn't do well. PER of 9 vs. an Opp. PER of 15.6. That's a terrible differential, due mostly to his offense, not his defence, which is average (See above about taking the bad shot).
Play him at the 2, and this changes dramatically: PER of 14.6 vs. an Opp. PER of 12. Basically, when he played at the 2, he outplayed his opponent. Importantly, he did this through improved defence (Opp. PER of 12 is excellent) and vastly improved offense. Give him 24 minutes at the 2, instead of the 3, and he'll give you 12 points and neutralize his man. That's exactly the kind of production you want from your bench 2 guard (unless you're looking for your bench 2 to be your sixth man).
And for those who rag on him for it looking like he coasted on D this year, just take a quick look at his numbers, and you'll see that he actually improved on defence. Considerably. Last year Opp. PER (at the 2 and 3, respectively): 17.4, 19.1. This year: 12, 15.6. Playing out of position, he still played better D than he did last year playing his proper position. And this is with an increase in playing time - which, if Weems did in fact regress defensively, should make his numbers that much worse, not better. Those are huge increases in defensive ability (ie, the ability to make your opponent have a bad game).
Given that a new contract for him might fall in the 2-3m dollar range, you'd be hard pressed to find a better bench 2 for the same money, for a player of his age. When Leandro Barbosa scores, it's largely out of the offensive flow. That is, he gets the points, but they don't seem to have an effect on the momentum of the team. For the cost of his services and his market value, Barbosa should be moved, for the reasons both that he could probably net the team a 3 point shooting, defensively capable bench SF, and because Weems should be playing over him anyways, given the rebuilding state of the Raptors as a whole.
The biggest thing to remember about Sonny is that he played this year out of position. In no way should he be playing the 3. If you think Demar Derozan is undersized for the 3, well, Weems is not only shorter by an inch, but lighter by a good 15-20 pounds. Makes no sense to play him at the 3. When he plays there, he simply doesn't do well. PER of 9 vs. an Opp. PER of 15.6. That's a terrible differential, due mostly to his offense, not his defence, which is average (See above about taking the bad shot).
Play him at the 2, and this changes dramatically: PER of 14.6 vs. an Opp. PER of 12. Basically, when he played at the 2, he outplayed his opponent. Importantly, he did this through improved defence (Opp. PER of 12 is excellent) and vastly improved offense. Give him 24 minutes at the 2, instead of the 3, and he'll give you 12 points and neutralize his man. That's exactly the kind of production you want from your bench 2 guard (unless you're looking for your bench 2 to be your sixth man).
And for those who rag on him for it looking like he coasted on D this year, just take a quick look at his numbers, and you'll see that he actually improved on defence. Considerably. Last year Opp. PER (at the 2 and 3, respectively): 17.4, 19.1. This year: 12, 15.6. Playing out of position, he still played better D than he did last year playing his proper position. And this is with an increase in playing time - which, if Weems did in fact regress defensively, should make his numbers that much worse, not better. Those are huge increases in defensive ability (ie, the ability to make your opponent have a bad game).
Given that a new contract for him might fall in the 2-3m dollar range, you'd be hard pressed to find a better bench 2 for the same money, for a player of his age. When Leandro Barbosa scores, it's largely out of the offensive flow. That is, he gets the points, but they don't seem to have an effect on the momentum of the team. For the cost of his services and his market value, Barbosa should be moved, for the reasons both that he could probably net the team a 3 point shooting, defensively capable bench SF, and because Weems should be playing over him anyways, given the rebuilding state of the Raptors as a whole.
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