What is wrong with CJ?

[H.C.]

Thanks for the shout out...but this is completely #FakeNews. "No matter what CJ does" is dead wrong. And I've complimented him on his ability to score and posted numerous times I think he would be quite good as a #1 on his own team. If he improves his passing instead of going 1-on-3 at times when teammates who have just made shots are wide open, I've be quite happy with him. But he has done VERY little of that over the last 3 years. He obviously can score (when he is hot) but can shoot a team right out of a game as well....and unlike Dame, does very little else to help his team win.

Nice try....but not close.

Which is basically what I said in the part you conveniently deleted. Shocking btw.
Guess it was closer than you want to admit.

 

[H.C.]

I think you misread what I said. The idea was by Hoops asking the question, you could infer that he was having doubts about CJ’s motives.

Ive never been super high on the Dame/ CJ combo, but I think it can work in the right situation.

Yes your post did read like you were saying I was calling it into question by even mentioning eric's question.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Yes your post did read like you were saying I was calling it into question by even mentioning eric's response.

Sorry for not being clear.

Questions are fair game though, especially on a forum where most of us want the Blazers to win.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

learn the difference between mean, median and mode please.

Nobody's being median or mode about CJ

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Nobody's being median or mode about CJ

 

[julius]

Nobody's being median or mode about CJ

People are mean muggin' about CJ tho.

 

[hoopsjock]

Whatever is happening in this forum for the last few weeks doesn't qualify as "Criticism". It's a bunch of people yelling for trades and taking a dump on CJ and other players on the team, really feels like a Rockets' fans forum.


You really think that CJ or Lillard wouldn't tell most of the people here to GTFO in real life? please...

CJ can't be traded nor will he be so I've gone out of my way to correct those people. Doesn't change any of my other comments though.

 

[TBpup]

Which is basically what I said in the part you conveniently deleted. Shocking btw.
Guess it was closer than you want to admit.

Just stopped reading when the first part was so off base. If you quoted me correctly later, I missed it.

 

[royo]

8reb, 4as, 2stl, 2bl, looks like he opened some doors

 

[riverman]

Solid game from CJ tonight...glad it was in front of the home crowd.

 

[SIeepwalker]

His reaction when he finally made a 3 kinda blows away any of y'all theories about him not caring after getting paid...

 

[illmatic99]

He's missing threes. That's all that's wrong with him.

 

[bobf]

Nothing is wrong with CJ. Variance. Or if you think math & B-Ball don’t mix, then it’s early season rust and he’ll shake it off soon.

 

[TBpup]

Nothing is wrong with CJ. Variance. Or if you think math & B-Ball don’t mix, then it’s early season rust and he’ll shake it off soon.

He'll start making shots...not doubting that. But after 4 declining years, will he finally start to find WIDE OPEN teammates once again?

Pesky Math: If you drive into 3 defenders who collapse to guard you, that leaves 2 defenders left to guard your other 4 teammates.

 

[bobf]

He'll start making shots...not doubting that. But after 4 declining years, will he finally start to fine WIDE OPEN teammates once again?

Pesky Math: If you drive into 3 defenders who collapse to guard you, that leaves 2 defenders left to guard your other 4 teammates.

It’s been so long. Did CJ really used to find open shooters?

Edit: Oh I misread your post. CJ didn’t find open shooters. He fined them. That makes more sense.

 

[royo]

That pass, when two defenders collapsed on him and he found Dame for open three was quite nice.

 

[wizenheimer]

He's missing threes. That's all that's wrong with him.

he's missed more than three's

he s shooting .308 from three when his career mark is .399. But he's also shooting .420 on two's when his career mark is .480. Combined, he's .391 on FG's when his career mark is .453

his poor shooting may be in his head because his assist/turnover ratio is 1.23 when his career mark is 1.71. A lot of that may be from driving too deeply into crowds, resulting in turnovers, because of worry about his perimeter shot

he'll turn his shooting around; I think we all know that. It's just unfortunate he couldn't have developed more aspects of his game except his one-on-one skills. When he's missing shots, he doesn't bring much else to the floor

 

[illmatic99]

he's missed more than three's

he s shooting .308 from three when his career mark is .399. But he's also shooting .420 on two's when his career mark is .480. Combined, he's .391 on FG's when his career mark is .453

his poor shooting may be in his head because his assist/turnover ratio is 1.23 when his career mark is 1.71. A lot of that may be from driving too deeply into crowds, resulting in turnovers, because of worry about his perimeter shot

he'll turn his shooting around; I think we all know that. It's just unfortunate he couldn't have developed more aspects of his game except his one-on-one skills. When he's missing shots, he doesn't bring much else to the floor

This isn't something new. What player has drastically changed their floor game in year 8 of their career? Clearly the most obvious thing holding CJ back this year has been his shot, something that is prone to high variance at times. It will come back. To expect CJ to suddenly drive more and pass more is foolish.

 

[wizenheimer]

To expect CJ to suddenly drive more and pass more is foolish.

where was it I said he should "drive more"? He definitely should drive less into a pair or a trio of defenders. And he sure as hell should dribble less.

Also, it's ridiculous to say we shouldn't expect CJ to pass more, and by extension, ball-hog less. That's not a foolish expectation at all, it's just asking somebody making 30 million a year to play smarter

 

[TBpup]

That pass, when two defenders collapsed on him and he found Dame for open three was quite nice.

Yes it was. IMO, it needs to happen much more often given the amount of attention he often garners during his dribble-dribble-stepback-dribble-crossover-stepback-crossover-pullup jumper forays.

 

[B-Roy]

This isn't something new. What player has drastically changed their floor game in year 8 of their career? Clearly the most obvious thing holding CJ back this year has been his shot, something that is prone to high variance at times. It will come back. To expect CJ to suddenly drive more and pass more is foolish.

You're probably right, but it's not the only aspect of his game he can improve. I think it's magnified here when we have Dame, who has literally improved parts of his game every single season he's been here.

 

[riverman]

Both CJ and Dame are adjusting to playing without the screens they've been shooting over for 4 years...Nurk, Chief, Mo, Ed Davis.....with our injuries those big screens aren't where they like them ...work in progress...Hassan set better screens and both Tolliver and Skal seemed to be finding those spots last game...chemistry....Dame and CJ are hunting for their spots more than just getting to them second nature. I expect this to be awkward up till the break...sucks to be down so many bigs right now

 

[SIeepwalker]

I'll say one thing, I like Ant game more than CJ's (I mean their style of play)

Ant is more straight to the point. It's either catch and shoot, or straight drive with a nice array of floater finishes around the rim, or he can give you a couple of dribble moves and has a nice and smooth step back.

CJ sometime can dribble in circles for the whole shot clock. And if he misses, well the possession looks BAD.

 

[royo]

This isn't something new. What player has drastically changed their floor game in year 8 of their career? Clearly the most obvious thing holding CJ back this year has been his shot, something that is prone to high variance at times. It will come back. To expect CJ to suddenly drive more and pass more is foolish.

I think Dame is changin it, not to search far. This season his drives under the basket are basicly unstoppable for example. His passing is much better than it was IMO and he is not lazy i defence anymore.
CJ choose to be one-dimensional and it was fear few years ago that he's going to be Jamal Crawford. And he is now. Is Jamal worth 25mil and coul he be 2nd option in championship team?

 

[illmatic99]

I think Dame is changin it, not to search far. This season his drives under the basket are basicly unstoppable for example. His passing is much better than it was IMO and he is not lazy i defence anymore.
CJ choose to be one-dimensional and it was fear few years ago that he's going to be Jamal Crawford. And he is now. Is Jamal worth 25mil and coul he be 2nd option in championship team?

The Dame point is fair and I accept that but even his improvement has been incremental. CJ has stagnated in his development basically for the past four years. We can't expect that to change drastically.

As far as the worth question, we can't forget that our second best player is sidelined with a broken leg, and on an absolutely ridiculous 11 mil/yr deal. It makes CJ's 30 mil a lot more palatable.

 

[Reep]

He's missing threes. That's all that's wrong with him.

I don't agree with that. He is also getting blocked at the rim repeatedly. He is also missing a lot more mid-range shots than usual. Compare his success at the rim to Dame. It's not even close. Now, Dame has taken it to another level (which in itself is amazing), but CJ seems to be moving in the other direction. Some may be correct in that he used his off arm to clear space and that has been taken away so now he doesn't have a counter. Maybe.

 

[hoopsjock]

The Dame point is fair and I accept that but even his improvement has been incremental. CJ has stagnated in his development basically for the past four years. We can't expect that to change drastically.

As far as the worth question, we can't forget that our second best player is sidelined with a broken leg, and on an absolutely ridiculous 11 mil/yr deal. It makes CJ's 30 mil a lot more palatable.

My issue with CJ isn't that he's not improving it's that his main passing flaw is getting worse. In his breakout season his assist % was 21.6% which is pretty decent and shows that he is capable of being a distributor. Without his usage really changing all that much his assist % in following years has been 18.0%, 15.8%, 13.8%, and now this season is at a really poor 13.1%. If he could just get that back up into the upper teens, say around the 18% he had 4 seasons ago then I think he'd be close to being an All-Star, even if his shot was off.

 

[gatorpops]

My issue with CJ isn't that he's not improving it's that his main passing flaw is getting worse. In his breakout season his assist % was 21.6% which is pretty decent and shows that he is capable of being a distributor. Without his usage really changing all that much his assist % in following years has been 18.0%, 15.8%, 13.8%, and now this season is at a really poor 13.1%. If he could just get that back up into the upper teens, say around the 18% he had 4 seasons ago then I think he'd be close to being an All-Star, even if his shot was off.

He made 6 passes against the Hawks and I believe at least three were assists.

 

[Strenuus]

The issue with cj is hes still on the team.

 

[hoopsjock]

He made 6 passes against the Hawks and I believe at least three were assists.

Oh, CJ had a decent game. That post wasn't a reflection of just one game, we were discussing improvements from season to season.