# Somebody finally told JJ..



## Arclite (Nov 2, 2002)

How much better he is when he takes the ball to the paint instead of settling for jumpers. He could do that every night if he wanted to, and being more aggressive like that is only going to help his jumper.

Awesome game from JJ tonight.

Also, I thought D'Antoni made a lot of coaching mistakes tonight. Substituting Maciej in the midst of a furious Cleveland comeback? Putting McDyess on Boozer in the second half after Amare held him to 2-8 shooting and 3 boards in the first? There were some others, but I forgot them.. I wonder if he's the right coach sometimes.


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## azirishmusic (Feb 25, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>Sovereignz</b>!
> How much better he is when he takes the ball to the paint instead of settling for jumpers. He could do that every night if he wanted to, and being more aggressive like that is only going to help his jumper.
> 
> Awesome game from JJ tonight.


Recently teams have been double teaming JJ to force him to give up the ball. The Cavs didn't do that and JJ just shredded their defense.



> Also, I thought D'Antoni made a lot of coaching mistakes tonight. Substituting Maciej in the midst of a furious Cleveland comeback? Putting McDyess on Boozer in the second half after Amare held him to 2-8 shooting and 3 boards in the first? There were some others, but I forgot them.. I wonder if he's the right coach sometimes.


I'm not sure it is fair to evaluate D'Antoni based on some of the moves he is making now. Lampe needs to get game experience and there are only 11 more games left after last night.

One of the problems with using Amare on Boozer was the risk of getting Amare into foul trouble. As it was, he had four fouls and could have easily fouled out. Boozer is a strong player and was much more agressive in the second half, so I'm not sure Amare could have held him back the entire game.

There were some decisions I disagreed with, but they were mostly tactical. I would have left White in longer. It appears that opponents cannot help but foul him as they try to knock the ball out of his hands. It is the same treatment that other guys get, but White is so strong that they end up doing it longer without the ball coming out. Give him the ball in the paint enough, and opponents will foul out trying to stop him.


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## Arclite (Nov 2, 2002)

Two awesome games from JJ in a row.. tonight he had 27 pts, 8 assists, and 4 boards..

Too bad the game was ruined by a complete fourth quarter letdown and the most disgusting officiating ever. If a fly landed on a Philly player, the refs probably would have called a flagrant two. How petty.. I don't think I would have had a problem with it if they were calling it both ways, but Amare was getting bumped every time he touched the ball to a usual no call, while Kenny Thomas trips over his own feet while barreling to the hole and barely gets touched and it's a foul.

We weren't even playing aggressive defense and ended up with 30 fouls. I would have hated to see that crew on the Rockets game, we might have had to resort to sending in D'Antoni or Grgr..


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## azirishmusic (Feb 25, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>Sovereignz</b>!
> Two awesome games from JJ in a row.. tonight he had 27 pts, 8 assists, and 4 boards..
> 
> Too bad the game was ruined by a complete fourth quarter letdown and the most disgusting officiating ever. If a fly landed on a Philly player, the refs probably would have called a flagrant two. How petty.. I don't think I would have had a problem with it if they were calling it both ways, but Amare was getting bumped every time he touched the ball to a usual no call, while Kenny Thomas trips over his own feet while barreling to the hole and barely gets touched and it's a foul.
> ...


I think it was a huge mistake for the Suns to go small like they did late in the game. The refs let the Sixers push them around and there was no one to push back.

The only problem I see with JJ's game was his 5 turnovers. I'm not sure how you work on that, but it is an area he has do improve on if he is going to continue to be the Suns PG.


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## Arclite (Nov 2, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>azirishmusic</b>!
> 
> The only problem I see with JJ's game was his 5 turnovers. I'm not sure how you work on that, but it is an area he has do improve on if he is going to continue to be the Suns PG.


I agree with that.. but if you watched the entire game, a couple of his turnovers were not characteristic JJ turnovers.. he'll usually get about half his turnovers off of getting hung up in the air and throwing the ball away.. in that first quarter, he slipped twice (seemed like the floor might have been slick), and one of them was a turnover, then later in the first he somehow lost his dribble and it went out of bounds, then he got another turnover from stepping on the baseline..

The other two were either offensive fouls (the BS one on Snow when he tripped over his own feet and fell, then tripped Joe) or he might have thrown one away, not sure.. but he was handling the ball a lot tonight, even with Leo in the game.. 

That reverse on Dalembert was sick, too.


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## azirishmusic (Feb 25, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>Sovereignz</b>!
> 
> 
> I agree with that.. but if you watched the entire game, a couple of his turnovers were not characteristic JJ turnovers.. he'll usually get about half his turnovers off of getting hung up in the air and throwing the ball away.. in that first quarter, he slipped twice (seemed like the floor might have been slick), and one of them was a turnover, then later in the first he somehow lost his dribble and it went out of bounds, then he got another turnover from stepping on the baseline..
> ...


I think they use the arena for hocky which would explain why the floor was slick. The sad part was that when the Suns players slipped it was a turnover, but when the Sixer slipped it was called a foul even when there was no real contact.


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## John (Jun 9, 2002)

I love this poster, the guy who is 54. What a veteran. So allow to introduce myself here, I am a pure Suns hater, so bring it on guys.

Any veteran, you dont have to quote on the mod everytime you post, u could simply press REPLY To the thread!


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## azirishmusic (Feb 25, 2004)

> Originally posted by <b>John</b>!
> I love this poster, the guy who is 54. What a veteran. So allow to introduce myself here, I am a pure Suns hater, so bring it on guys.
> 
> Any veteran, you dont have to quote on the mod everytime you post, u could simply press REPLY To the thread!


I'm supposed to take slagging from a Knicks fan?

I'm very active on www.arizonasportsfans.com where we typically quote the person we are responding to. This is know as dialog. Perhaps you can look the word up in a dictionary.


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## Arclite (Nov 2, 2002)

Johnson expands game at point 

I like having JJ there at backup point intead of Eisley.. the team plays a hell of a lot better.. 20/8 ast/to's is pretty impressive. My only beef with him, as evidenced in the NO game especially, is that with a little pressure he takes way too long getting the offense set up.. there were quite a few times where he was dribbling around 45 feet away from the basket with 13 seconds left on the shot clock.

They say this might be the last time JJ plays point, do you guys think so? I think it's going to depend on who Phoenix picks up in the offseason more than anything, but I doubt we've seen the last of JJ initiating the offense..


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## azirishmusic (Feb 25, 2004)

I'm not sure what it is about the Suns offense that reduces the PG to dribbling around, but they don't always seem to be moving without the ball like they should.

In any case, JJ needs to spend a lot more time learning to be a PG the same as with Leandro.


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## #1SUNFAN (Jul 17, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>azirishmusic</b>!
> 
> 
> I'm supposed to take slagging from a Knicks fan?
> ...


He isnt a Knicks fan, he's a Penny Hardaway fan, any team Penny is on he's a fan of.


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## John (Jun 9, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>azirishmusic</b>!
> 
> 
> I'm supposed to take slagging from a Knicks fan?
> ...


True fan here, you go to that crap page and can still be very active? I respect you as a true fan here.


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## John (Jun 9, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>#1SUNFAN</b>!
> 
> 
> He isnt a Knicks fan, he's a Penny Hardaway fan, any team Penny is on he's a fan of.


thanks.


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## The_Franchise (Mar 30, 2003)

How similar do you guys feel his game is to Desmond Mason's?


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## Amareca (Oct 21, 2002)

Mason is NOTHING like JJ. That's a night and day difference.

First of all Mason is 6'4-6'5 while Joe Johnson by most accounts is 6'8.

Joe Johnson plays more like Paul Pierce or Lebron James with less athleticism. 

JJ is one of the smoothest players in the league. Totally different from Mason.


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## Arclite (Nov 2, 2002)

JJ is a very fluid player, and pretty much everything about Mason's offensive game is awkward except the dunks. Mason is one of the better athletes in the league, and JJ is probably just slightly above average for his position (he does have deceptive speed though, he can get by most with his first step).

Mason could be a bit better than he is now if he improved on his guard skills, but I don't know if he has that much upside at this point.. he's improved his jumper a bit (still just as ugly as Marion's, IMO), but most players his age don't make significant leaps in terms of ballhandling..


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## Amareca (Oct 21, 2002)

Exactly. 

It is not like JJ's explosion was much of a surprise to fans who have seen him play before. He could always do all that just not consistantly even in his rookie season.

The only fans who were surprised are those that were still riding Penny's jock to the bitter end.


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## azirishmusic (Feb 25, 2004)

Early in the seasons when the JJ versus Hardaway debate was in full flower, it was generally agreed that JJ's biggest problem was that he was taking too many three point shots.

I have argued that this was due to the way the offense worked when Marbury was driving to the basket. He would kick the ball out to the outside rather than pass to someone in the paint. JJ and Marion rarely got the ball in position to do much more than take long jumpers. That is not their game, so their stats have improved since Marbury left.


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## The_Franchise (Mar 30, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Sovereignz</b>!
> JJ is a very fluid player, and pretty much everything about Mason's offensive game is awkward except the dunks. Mason is one of the better athletes in the league, and JJ is probably just slightly above average for his position (he does have deceptive speed though, he can get by most with his first step).
> 
> Mason could be a bit better than he is now if he improved on his guard skills, but I don't know if he has that much upside at this point.. he's improved his jumper a bit (still just as ugly as Marion's, IMO), but most players his age don't make significant leaps in terms of ballhandling..


But how much of JJ's game did you know about when Marbury was on the team?


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## Arclite (Nov 2, 2002)

I watched him up close and personal at the RMR before the season started, when he was getting some serious numbers there.. Obviously I didn't think that would translate into the success he's having now but you could tell the talent was there. From day one I said with JJ that the only way he's going to be effective is if he has the ball in his hands.. that's still the case. If he doesn't have the ball he tends to watch and play very passively.

If it was any other player, Suns fans would have given up on them a long time ago considering how inconsistent JJ was before Marbury left.. but most of us wanted to sit on him because we knew how talented he was and we were hoping it would only be a matter of time.


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## azirishmusic (Feb 25, 2004)

Ever since he joined the Suns, JJ has been frustrating. He would have moments when he would make incredible plays and then long periods when he would do little or nothing. Late last season he had six games where he scored over 20 points a game. Yet at the start of the seaon he was mostly ineffective on offense.

The consensus was that he lacked confidence. I think that's true. But I think he lacked the confidence of the team because he was often the fourth option on offense which gave him little time to do much more than jack up long jump shots.

Right now JJ needs the ball in his hands. I look forward to a time when he learns how to move without the ball on a team that gets the ball to him. I look forward to him learning how to post up small players and I look for him to get better at dealing with screens and picks on defense.


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## PHXSPORTS4LIFE (May 8, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>azirishmusic</b>!
> 
> 
> I'm supposed to take slagging from a Knicks fan?
> ...


always wondered if anyone from asfn was here! this is ouchie-z-clown under a nom-de-plum that i used until i allowed asfn to rename me. sweet.


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## Arclite (Nov 2, 2002)

There's at least four of us here from ASFN. I don't post much but I check the boards there daily.


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