Nalod wrote:Thanks JoeC! I respect Martin so when he say he does not think much of RJ’s Defense I do question myself.
But at least I was not going crazy! It was a thing!!!!!
The Two way thing was why RJ WAS held accountable and he played thru cold shooting. THibs kept him in.
With Hart and Grimes he had the defense covered if the shooting was not there.
He is passing better, has an effective move to his right, his foul shooting improved, and he stood well in the playoffs.
If he can level his 3pt shooting to the high 30%’s (he did shoot 40% year two) his efficiency will improve.
RJ is not far from being really good. I get 3rd over all pick should be allstar ceiling, and maybe he gets there but he is not flashy and has to get to about 24pts per game to get that look.
As I said previously, he is polarizing.
I agree something needs to change as he and Randle don’t bring the best out of each other. Trade is not always necessary to do that, but I don’t have the answer either.
Nalod and JoeC. I skimmed the articles cause I have to jet soon and definitely read the bolded. They were definitely complimentary. But nothing more than opinion'ish and communicating the same things I had said: he put in really good work and was always put on the best offensive player. RJ can do well on defense occasionally, there is no doubt. That was not really the ask though.
martin wrote: thought the Knicks absolutely had RJ guarding the best wing players against opponents in the way Grimes did this past year, big development step.I have zero recollection of RJ being considered good at it or above average or maybe even near average. He put in good work and effort but that was it. He wasn't locking anyone down.
Help me understand how those articles translate to RJ being a pretty good defender? Like, some maybe even some flimsy stats that compare him to what the rest of the wing players who do the same thing? How does he rate out? How has he rated out over the whole year and then over a couple?
With Grimes, there are literally like hundreds of tweet posts have either map out all wing players showing Grimes in the upper right corner of all defenders or straight show him in the top 10 of things, meaning he is near best in the league. Every time I look at those, RJ is nearly always on the opposite end of the spectrum.
RJ was still young so we can even grade him on a 22 yo curve. Let's dig into the actual numbers.
Joe, I really appreciate the articles and reminders. I am not sure they really back up the fact that RJ was really that good. He had some great moments. OK. Now was he actually good across year?
Also, and this is just a me thing, I don't take too much weight with DailyKnicks.com articles and the like; those blogs have too many writers who vary in terms of observation skills. That's just me though.
Nalod. RJ is not polarizing to me. Cause I just am mostly looking at the data.