Ireland just asked JC what it's going to take for this team to get some wins, and he was speechless. He opened his mouth, and no words came, only a sort of squeak and a puzzled look. Then he finally conceded "do the opposite of everything we're doing". Sounds like the players are really buying into the coach's gameplan.
That's assuming there is a game plan to begin with. Every game looks the same, no adjustments at all.
So this dude continues to be a pretty good playmaker, no? He's pretty much an all around player on offense, can drive, shoot midrange, shoot threes, shoot floaters or at least high layups, and can run the offense. I have said he's not a PG, but he's certainly got those skills and can be called a hybrid. I love how he gets into the lane pretty easily, feels the defenders surround him, uses his body, maybe even off arm here and there, and can still get to the hoop. And that play at the end of the quarter he set up for a Nicholas three to beat the buzzer, that was nice.
Why is this guy not the team's first offensive option? Rhetorical question I know, Byron, Kobe, yada yada, but it still needs to be acknowledged. Clarkson has pretty much everything you need offensively, except an offense that is built to set him up for regular looks. Get him steady looks and he'd be averaging 20+ this season
With Kobe throwing away 20 possessions a game, thats not going to happen. It is almost impossible to win with Kobe in the lineup right now. He needs almost 17 shots for 15 ppg...maybe the Warriors can get away with a player like that but no other team.
A lot of Jordan's offense seems like he has to make up on the fly due to the obvious lack of an offensive system. Give him and the team a real offense and he will probably be even better than he has (and he's already pretty good).
Actually he and Randle are the only one with rudimentary go to moves that they can duplicate over and over again. I suppose Russell's mid-range pull up fits there too so make that three guys (who all happen to be our future stars. Hell yeah!). Jordan does a great job getting to the rim and either using his length to finish with the floater over his defender or he uses his pivot foot and takes that little fade away shot from 8-10 feet. That's pure skill which he can use forever and it's great to see. As he continues developing and as our systems improve, he'll do an even greater job of finding others off of his penetration. The kid is going to be good for us for a long time.
The kid just works and does not stop. Nothing deters him...even with all the crap around him. I'm sure he is frustrated but he does not show it or let it affect his play.
I liked when he went right back to the same spot he missed a shot on the previous possession and knocked it down. That's the type of aggressiveness I like. At first I was about to complain about him being a little selfish, but he's certainly earned it. The brightest spot of this season so far.
I like the subtle jab to how the Lakers are playing like a**. "Let's compete for the wins and honor the legacy" - which is the exact opposite of what the Lakers are doing right now. At least JC gets it.
At least the franchise is in pretty good hands with JC (and Randle and Russ) when Kobe retires. IMO he's playing an almost perfectly balanced game between scoring and sharing the ball/steping back for others. He's playing hard every night and clearly wants to win, that's a guy I want on my team.
