Most Indiana Pacer fans were ecstatic with the JO for TJ Ford/Rasho Nesterovic/Roy Hibbert trade — and with good reason. For the most part, the joy was more so about finally severing ties with the last holdover from the Malice at the Palace Era Pacers (Jamaal Tinsley, who isn’t expected to ever wear a Pacer jersey again, notwithstanding).
The return pieces, however, are also pretty nice. TJ will be the team’s best PG since Mark Jackson and although his contract is maybe slightly high and, oh yeah, his career could end on any given play due to his congenital spine disorder, the upgrade from Travis Diener is worth celebrating. And Rasho and Hibbert, while unspectacular, should each help clog up the middle.
But a lot of people haven’t seen much TJ Ford of late since he’s missed a lot of time and Calderon. Fortunately, the Toronto Raptors do a pretty sweat recap of (I think) all their games in a thing called “Game in 6 Minutes.” Since it’s YouTube, the quality is obviously not ideal, but they’re well-edited and you can find dozens of them, but it is a good way to get a look at him in situations that aren’t just highlights. Unfortunately, there is generally more Jose than TJ in these six minute clips, but you can still get a more nuanced look at his game/abilities than other TJ YouTube vids, which tends to be only his sickest assists, ankle-breakers or dunks set to bad music. And regardless, the Raps are a pretty fun team to watch anyway (unless you’re Lou Dobbs).
Here are a few I just watched.
——————————————————
November 5, 2007
Boston 98 – Toronto 95
TJ’s highest point total of the season (32 pts) comes in his fifth game of the year. Pretty good game by him overall and the tape does a good job showing some of his positives and negatives.The first play is TJ drilling a mid-range pull-up J, something he’s pretty good at in space and does lightning quick. At 0:35 he begins his overdribbling show, however, which is probably the biggest criticism of him from Toronto’s Jose Calderon. After an offensive board, he does manage a nice little scoop finger roll though. He’s crafty on the interior for a midget.More dribbling antics at 1:18. It again ends well when TJ drops a sweet dime to Rasho who finishes with an up and under, but he did dribble 11 times in the front-court and had the ball in his hands for the first 13 seconds of the possession.At 1:52, Rasho looks absolutely lost playing helpside D and more resembles Kevin McHale trying to count the screws in the parquet floor until he feels the breeze of Paul Pierce racing by.Great rotation by TJ at 2:42 to react to a very nice cross-court skip pass from Pierce enough to disrupt Ray Allen’s jumper. Not so great is at 3:18 when he has a sloppy, telegraphed, one-handed entry pass just snatched away from him by Rajon. Good pass at 3:37 to get out of (self-imposed) trouble.
Later, at 4:50 (and it OT), TJ shows why he’s arguably the quickest guy in the League. Then he turns into Mr. Clutch and gets to the rim again at 5:11 to finish with a crafty lay-up. Next play, “Onions, baby…Onions,” according to the Raps play-by-play man as TJ drills a triple to tie the game with 0:04 to play. Too bad they leave Ray Ray wide open to drill a three of his own on the ensuing in-bounds play. Wow…nice D, Sam Mitchell.
——————————————————
November 8, 2007
Lakers 117 – Toronto 108
Great post sequence by Rasho at 0:40. Strong screen on Fish, decent show with Gasol behind him, nice pass to the cutter, and fantastic mismatch recognition by going right to the hoop and man-handling Fish. Later, he shows his range nicely at 4:30ish and chases down an O board at 5:15.No TJ sightings until 3:04, when he makes a great pass. More size-related D issues at 3:45 on Farmar, but then he makes a nice steal and has a ballsy, sick dunk attempt in Kobe’s grill (although it doesn’t work out so well). More bad D at 4:50. Creates his own shot nicely on the next play (though misses the J).More sloppy D at 5:45…There’s really no reason to collapse that far when Kobe’s going to the other side of the lane (especially when you’re too little to possibly affect his shot), although it does take a great pass from Mamba for him to get burnt on it. Nine times out of ten, TJ won’t get bitten by that cause few people can make that pass. Unfortunately, that’s also the reason people develop bad habits.
——————————————————
November 18, 2007
G-State 106 – Toronto 100
We see TJ get abused in the paint twice to start things off. Then also see him push the ball up the floor, smoke The Beard off the dribble (though he misses the J) and make a creative cross-court pass to Bosh.Later he makes a nice transition lob to Maceo. At 3:30, you’ll see what people don’t like about his defense. People make him out to be a real ball-hawk, which he can be at times, but he also falls asleep or gets muscled out of position quite a bit (or just sags off guys he’s quicker than for no real reason). Honestly, you really can’t guard a screen/roll any worse than he does right there. The next play, however, shows his best asset — his ability to beat the D up the floor. And it’s not just with his feet…it’s a mindset. Here, he makes a sweet lead pass to Kapono.Around 4:00, you see him also not put much pressure on Monta and then be unable to disrupt Baron even remotely on a reach-in hedge. Then, at 5:05, you see something we will see a lot of next year. This drive-and-dish game is going to get us an absurd amount of open threes.
——————————————————
March 17, 2008
Raptors 100 – Sacto 106
Rasho shows one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses early. On the first, Rap possesion, he sets a solid screen at 0:23 and then after Parker gets the ball in the post on the other block, he makes sure to drift all the way down to the baseline to open up as much space as possible in the middle. That also makes it tough for his guy to recover if he goes for the double. It’s a minor thing, but few players pay that much attention to spacing — something that is absolutely vital to Jim O’Brien’s offense.On the next play, however, he lumbers down the court and sort of oafs his way around the paint. He doesn’t really clog anything up and he’s not really guarding anybody or committing to anything. He tends to do that and the result is him “playing smaller” than he is at times. If he would just take up more space, he could at least be a better deterrent. In general, he does a lot of this undecided, hopping around on both ends. It makes him slow and off-balance often.At 2:27 is more subtle, good offense though. He shows hard in the post, gets the ball, kicks it back out nicely and then again pulls his Mikki Moore 15 feet from the hoop. Moore has to respect his jumper on Parker’s ball fake, and is unable to close the gap to prevent him from penetrating.At 2:56, you see him execute a great screen/roll. Not only does his wide body pick prevent Udrih from getting through quick, he also times his release well and should have gotten a dunk if Calderon hadn’t pulled up for the jumper so quickly. (It’s worth noting that this was pretty horrible D as well…but still shows his acumen for ball-screening.)Sick dunk for Jamario at 3:30. And…nothing else happens.
——————————————————
April 28, 2008
(Playoffs – First Round, Game 4)
Magic 106 – Raptors 94
TJ starts the game with a great pass to Andrea that hits him in the perfect location to shoot. (A PG’s ability to do that is, IMO, the most underrated aspect of the position…and just passing in general. As a shooter myself, that really is the difference between me making it and missing it like half the time. If it hits you square in the pocket in rhythm, the ball may as well already be in the hoop.)He abuses Jameer at 0:45, but tries to do too much on the next trip down and forces a bad shot (another one of his flaws.)Not about TJ, but Bosh looks exactly like 2004 JO at 3:15.Shows his quickness at 3:40. Then shows horrible screen/roll D at 3:55. Great drive-and-dump at 4:03. At 4:28 and again at 4:58, you get to see more another of his lazy defensive habits — ball-staring while standing still. IMO, a guy with his size and quickness should just be more active, and no one should just stand in the paint with their back to their man and watching the dribbler like he’s 1987 MJ or something.
{ 0 comments… add your thoughts }