His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

[OnlyPacersLeft]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

overrated? you can't be serious. We are what 8-8? that's not overrated. I think this team can make a serious push for the playoffs if JO can come back healthy. I like our chances in a series vs anyone except the celtics...so let's get it!
this team gels and we might make something special of this season...(just maybe)

[Roaming Gnome]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

I think some of you guys are reading waaaay too much between the lines here. IMO, some of you just want to dislike JO so much that you'll read whatever you want, just to get riled up even further.

...

I'd have to agree with this 1%.

[Hicks]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

Getting JO back and playing somewhere in the ballpark of his best, without expectations of his game from 4-5 years ago returning, will make the team even better. Maybe they are a .500-.520 team now and he makes them a .550 team.

Now wait a minute. You're telling me, we're paying JO a huge salary, bestowing upon him the cloak that has "The Man" and "The Franchise" stitched on it, and making him the face of this team, all for 4 wins?

[aceace]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

overrated? you can't be serious. We are what 8-8? that's not overrated. I think this team can make a serious push for the playoffs if JO can come back healthy. I like our chances in a series vs anyone except the celtics...so let's get it!
this team gels and we might make something special of this season...(just maybe)

What I meant by over rated was people making a big deal of the fact that we are 5-1 without O'Neal and 3-7 with him. I didn't mean the team was over rated. I would have hard time believing O'Neal makes us worse.

[NorCal_Pacerfan]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

JO just needs to sit out until he's 100% without any doubt at all. Then, he can try to integrate into the style of ball the team has been playing. If he cannot, or the team declines, then the writing is on the wall.

[CableKC]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

****cough****Tinsley***cough***
I strongly agree. Getting JO back and playing somewhere in the ballpark of his best, without expectations of his game from 4-5 years ago returning, will make the team even better. Maybe they are a .500-.520 team now and he makes them a .550 team. He allows the defense to spread out and defend away from the paint more, he cleans up problems created on the outside by Tins or Dun or Troy. And oh by the way, he draws doubles for a reason and that means defensive motion and holes to cut through for easy scores, or open jumpers on the weakside.

Seth....although his defense would be much needed......assuming that he is healthy....should we run the offense through him as the #1 scoring option as JO'B suggests if he continues to take low-percentage jumpshots ( as opposed to high-percentage "close to the basket" shots)?

Specifically...how do you envision using him in the offense?

Like many here on PD...I am of the belief that if JONeal focuses more on rebounding, defending and he can be an efficient scoring option on the floor ( as in taking high-percentage shots that he can make in the low-post rather then the low-percentage mid-range jumpers that he can miss ) that he would be able to fit into the offense/defense.

IMHO...that is basically what Foster and Harrison have been doing and how the offense has been running......our Big Men on the floor ( outside of Murphy ) rebound and control the paint and have only been taking shots that can easily hit......otherwise they defer the offense and the scoring comes from the Guard/SF positions.

That's one of the reasons why I think that JO'B thinks that there should be no difference if we take out Foster / Harrison and insert JONeal. Assuming that JONeal is healthy, he can do everything that Foster and Harrison can do. The only question is whether he can be efficient on the offensive end when he gets the ball.

[Anthem]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

Specifically...how do you envision using him in the offense?

I'm nowhere near as smart as Seth, but I'd like to see Jermaine with a 3-second rule of his own. He's always been at his best when he makes quick moves. He's got good vision and makes good quick reads, so I'd love to see a situation where he's allowed to post up if he can shoot within 3 seconds.

EDIT: And Jermaine just did exactly that... got the ball and made the quick spin instead of waiting for the D to set.

EDIT 2: Three straight makes from Jermaine, all on quick moves. He got the ball and made his move within 3 seconds.

[Peck]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

I think some of you guys are reading waaaay too much between the lines here. IMO, some of you just want to dislike JO so much that you'll read whatever you want, just to get riled up even further.

It is important for JO to return to "his level," because if he doesn't, he's not going to be helping the team very much.

I have to respectfully disagree with you on this Shade.

I think the only person who really dislikes J.O. is me and to a lesser extent Bball.

Everybody else was a fan pretty much but are now coming to the realization that he just doesn't fit with what the team is trying to do.

So to say that everyone is just hating on J.O., IMO, is just not accurate.

[Peck]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

I'm nowhere near as smart as Seth, but I'd like to see Jermaine with a 3-second rule of his own. He's always been at his best when he makes quick moves. He's got good vision and makes good quick reads, so I'd love to see a situation where he's allowed to post up if he can shoot within 3 seconds.

EDIT: And Jermaine just did exactly that... got the ball and made the quick spin instead of waiting for the D to set.

EDIT 2: Three straight makes from Jermaine, all on quick moves. He got the ball and made his move within 3 seconds.

I said this last season, I wish J.O. would watch tape of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the post during the showtime era of the Lakers.

Even though the Lakers ran all of the time, they still went to Kareem in the post early and often. However if you watch Kareem you will see the guy never held the ball for more than 2-3 seconds and often times not even that long. He either went fast to the skyhook or he threw off, either way he rarely got a chance to be double teamed.

Also I agree, I think J.O. did make faster decisions for the most part all night long. There were only a couple of times that I thought he took to long and even then wasn't as long as he used to.

[Anthem]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

I said this last season, I wish J.O. would watch tape of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the post during the showtime era of the Lakers.

Even though the Lakers ran all of the time, they still went to Kareem in the post early and often. However if you watch Kareem you will see the guy never held the ball for more than 2-3 seconds and often times not even that long. He either went fast to the skyhook or he threw off, either way he rarely got a chance to be double teamed.

Also I agree, I think J.O. did make faster decisions for the most part all night long. There were only a couple of times that I thought he took to long and even then wasn't as long as he used to.

I almost wondered if Obie had been working on it as a team, because once JO came out then David posted on the right block (same place JO did) and made an immediate move (missed). Then Trophy did the same thing three times in a row: get position, get the ball, immediate move.

I saw a few (especially late in the game) where he took too long. Even his quick moves could probably be a split-second quicker. But the quicker he was, the more effective he was. I don't know why he went back to last year's form late in the game... early on he was blowing by his defender at will. That's all I want to see, and what I wanted last year. Putting the ball in the post doesn't have to be an exercise in waiting... you should post, get the ball, then make a move or pass right away (before the D gets set up).

[CableKC]

Re: His best in Past? Mike Wells Indy Star

I almost wondered if Obie had been working on it as a team, because once JO came out then David posted on the right block (same place JO did) and made an immediate move (missed). Then Trophy did the same thing three times in a row: get position, get the ball, immediate move.

I saw a few (especially late in the game) where he took too long. Even his quick moves could probably be a split-second quicker. But the quicker he was, the more effective he was. I don't know why he went back to last year's form late in the game... early on he was blowing by his defender at will. That's all I want to see, and what I wanted last year. Putting the ball in the post doesn't have to be an exercise in waiting... you should post, get the ball, then make a move or pass right away (before the D gets set up).

Maybe part of it is mental and physical. It sounds like if he had his explosiveness in the post that he could post his player alot quicker and score in the time alotted. But if his legs just aren't there yet...and he doesn't have the explosiveness that he is used to...maybe he falls back into old routines ( like what he was used to under Carlisle ), does what he is accustomed to and takes longer to either score or make some move.

Hopefully this is just a matter of practice and getting used to JO'Bs offense if there is an "unofficial" rule that the players on the court should not hold the ball for an extended period of time.

BTW....for those that have a lot of time and recorded the game.....someone should time how long the average time each player holds the ball to see if JONeal does hold it longer then the rest. I'm not suggesting that JONeal dominates the ball cuz he is selfish........but that this maybe something that he has "learned" under Carlisle ( since the offense completely ran through him ) that he will likely have to "unlearn" under JO'Bs offense.