Aw, what's the use. Nobody wants to hear that the emperor has no clothes. I'll let history vindicate me.
I can't lie - I agree with you. I want to believe all the excuses that are made for Greg, and that he hasn't even scratched the surface of his potential. My eyes just won't lie to me. He looked just as clumsy and raw in the Houston series as he did at the beginning of the year. I saw little to no improvement - no adjustments. His defensive fundamentals were awful to start the season, and just never got better. He reaches, he doesn't move his feet or get low enough, his idea of stopping the ball is hip checking guys as they blow by him.
I don't understand how people can even argue that Greg should have been fed the ball more in the post. Talk about stagnating the offense (if you thought Z-Bo was bad) Each of Greg's moves take about 5 seconds. He dribbles, backs down, dribbles, backs down . . . meanwhile he doesn't see the floor at all when he has the ball. He's got to be able to get the ball and make a quick move - a spin, a drop stop, just do it already! And when he has the ball under the basket he pump fakes, lowers his shoulder, pump fakes again (holding the ball at his waist) and ALWAYS tries to just power his way to the rim. You can't do that in the NBA Greg. He did draw some fouls that way, but all too often he also got called for traveling, offensive fouls, 3 seconds, and got stripped COUNTLESS times. You can't tell me they didn't work with him on keeping the ball up higher and going up quicker, but I never saw it. (watch Pau Gasol and Tim Duncan - they never bring the ball down) I looked for that adjustment all year - never happened.
Nobody wants Greg to succeed more than I do. I want to be in this guys camp. There were a few games this year (Boston home game comes to mind) when he played with fire. I kept thinking - HERE it is! He's finally getting it. Then he would look lethargic and disinterested the next game. I don't know if it was a lack of confidence or (gulp) he just doesn't want it that bad.
I want to believe we'll see a new GO next year. Maybe he'll come back with quicker post moves, more intensity,
better fundamentals defensively . . . but like Oldmangrouch I've tempered my expectations. I sure hope that Greg is taking this offseason seriously. I hope he's up for the challenge and determined to prove his critics wrong. But his game needs some serious polishing, and who's working with him? All I read is that he's back at home and he's going to work out with people at Ohio State and go to summer school.
This offseason is huge for him. Even his most loyal supporters will have a tough time if he's a carbon copy next year of what we saw this year.
