SB Nation User Blog: buzzer beater

Maggette vs. Jackson

buzzer beater — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:58:14 -0000

This was written in response to a post on how Maggette's play is hurting the team. Let me know what you guys think.

The Warriors know what they were getting in hiring Maggette. He is a scorer, he makes his free throws, he plays within himself. He is not as dynamic of a playmaker as Jackson is. Warriors signed Maggette for those specific skills, and because of the lack of scoring, which he provides, that’s it. To be complaining about Maggette’s inability to involve his teammates and expecting him to be a playmaker sounds a bit ridiculous. He is who he is, he’s a one dimensional player. It’s the same as if the Warriors were to sign a pure 3 point shooter and you are expecting him to help the team rebound or block shots. Not gonna happen. We shouldn’t really blame Maggette for being detrimental to the team’s success, nobody likes having a ballhog on his team, but at least he plays within himself.

On the other hand, Jackson is more than a one dimensional player, however, that also contributes to his weakness. He is a capable scorer, he has the vision of a passer. What is lacking is his ability to put a string of games together where both those skill sets come together. The highs and lows of Jackson’s performance is more dramatic than Maggette’s, and because he is being forced to do too much, I see him hurting the team’s success more this season. Hear me out on this.

Warriors are asking Jackson to do everything, scoring, passing, and defending. So far this season, he’s done scoring, passing, but he doesn’t have the energy to be a lockdown defender anymore. So not bad right? 2 out of 3 he’s getting it done. Not really. When his shots are falling, the rest of the team gets left out, no ball movement. He seems to always be in isolation plays, stab jabbing right and left, backing down defenders, maybe a few zip passes once or twice a game, that’s it. When he doesn’t get a foul called in his favor, he loses focus, doesn’t get back on defense, hurts the team defense. Remember that he is a high volume shooter, only knocking them down at 39% rate this season, which means he takes away shots from his teammates. It all make sense. He shoots a lot, but at a low percentage, less ball movement when he melts the shot clock in one on one plays, then he is forced to make zip passes that 4 out of 10 times end up being a turnover, result is the team loses on most nights.

But you say Jackson leads the team in assists (6.7/game)! But he also leads the team in turnovers (3.9/game). You have to look the assists/turnover ratio. Jackson’s A/T ratio is a dismal 1.71. A quality passer has a A/T ratio of 2.5-3.0+. Chris Paul 3.8, Jose Calderon 5(flat out crazy good), Baron Davis 3.38, Kidd 2.7 this season. Jackson is not even close. So what about the 11 assists he had in the last game and we almost won? Well, he’s injured wrist prevented him from shooting, even though he still tried 11 times (2/11). Which leads to my next point. Jackson had 11 assists(4 turnovers, A/T ratio=2.75), only took 11 shots, and he shut down DWade in the 4th quarter (2/10 shooting), we had the game won. If that wasn’t enough indication of what Jackson needs to do to help this team win, I dont know what is. Less ballhogging, more passing, shut down defender. we know he has the skills to be a multi-dimensional playmaker if he wants to. He is more dynamic than Maggette, he has the skills to lead this team, therefore we should expect more out of Jackson and not Maggette. Jackson needs to realize what he did in the Miami game that made the team so much better(if not for all those 2nd chance points, rebounding, we should've easily won by 10+ pts), don't try to do everything. Let Crawford create, let Maggette drive, let shooters shoot, run that pick and roll with Biedrin until teams can stop that, and let the game come to him.

J. Smith(ATL) and E.Okafor(CHA)

buzzer beater — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:08:37 -0000

By now the whole league should have an idea of the size of our treasure chest, second tier star players such as Smith and Okafor should be legit possibilities for the Warriors to sign. Why these 2 players besides the fact they will both become restricted free agents?

J.Smith is playing on a team with a plethora of SF, his style of play and skill sets would greatly benefit the Warriors - his ability to extend out to 3pt range when needed (although not at a high percentage), rebounding, shot blocking, length, ball handling and explosiveness. I would take him over Harrington any day of the week. Warriors would be doing them a favor by taking Smith away, and being on difference conferences always helps.

E.Okafor is playing for a team that is not going anywhere, even with the addition of JRich, they won't be going anywhere close to where the Warriors are heading in the next few years. Okafor could be the low post player Warriors have always wanted. To help defend the rim, finish pick and rolls, get physical with the pool of talened big men in the West, plus he might be just as smart as A. Foyle! I'm sure he would appreciate the environment of an intelligent fan base of the bay area.

With the addition of either player, this Warriors team would be much bigger, while still fast and athletic as hell with Monta at point, sharing ball handling duties with Jackon/Buki/Bellineli. I'm already curious to see if Coach Smart will assign ball handling duties to Bellineli in the summer league, i think it would be smart to. With the break up of the speedy Suns, the new trend in the West is to become bigger. Suns got bigger, Portland will be a monster, Lakers, Jazz, Hornets are all loaded with big talented players, Warriors need to follow the trend and sign one of these players if they want a piece of the conference championship.

Start "let's go warriors" BEFORE tip-off

buzzer beater — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:18:24 -0000

If you or you know someone that's going to tonight's game, Bob Fitzgerld of KNBR/Warriors Broadcaster is asking the fans to start the "Let's Go Warriors" chant BEFORE tip-off. Not that I need to reiterate this to the best fans of the nba. Hopefully 'the Oracle was rockin tonight' will be an understatement.

let's do this. I friggin believe.

show our support for Fisher in Game 3&4

buzzer beater — Thu, 10 May 2007 17:35:40 -0000

if you are lucky enough to be going to the upcoming home games, let's make sure we show our support for the struggling warriors. namely monta ellis and michael pietrus. if this series is going the distance, we cannot afford to lose baron davis to fatigue. monta won't be able to guard deron williams, but deron certainly won't be able to slow down monta either. i would love to hear a loud chant for monta ellis whenever he gets the opportunity to play, the kid's confidence level is at an all-time low, he desperately needs some encouragement.

i wasn't suprised when michael missed both critical free throws; then again, i wouldn't be surprised if he had made both free throws either. my expectation of him sums up the type of player he is at the moment. inconsistent and inexperienced. we needed his size to collect much needed rebounds and play that scrappy defense; otherwise, coach would not have left an inconsistent free throw shooter in the game under those circumstances. let's show him some loyal support.

now finally, most importantly, to those of you who plan on attending game 3 or 4, if derek fisher makes the trip out here with the jazz, let's give him a loud standing ovation. i know we're not supposed to cheer for opposing players, but if there's a time to disregard that cardinal rule, i'd do it for mr. fisher and his family. go warriors!