JR Giddens: Odd Man Out

[Change]

If you evaluate JR & Walker, JR seems to have all the tools. Mountain West Conference Co-Player of the Year.  JR can pass, shoot, defend, and rebound. But Walker gets the playing time despite his limitations. So whats holding him back? Is he intimidated by the league? It could be just a mental thing, he wasn't ready for the transition. If he doesn't make a huge splash in the summer league, JR is Gone!

[BudweiserCeltic]

What's holding him back is that he was a rookie last year. As simple as that.

[Mon]

I think "Giddy Up" Giddens is going to surprise a lot of people this year...he shoots better than "Wild Bill" and is just as physical for a guard...Watch out!

[ssspence]

What's holding him back is that he was a rookie last year. As simple as that.

nope. what's holding himback is he's not very good. have you heard anyone in the organization say anything positive about him, other than "he works really hard"? when that's all that's being said the translation is: he sucks.

[BudweiserCeltic]

No need to make stuff up.

[Tr1boy]

give him a chance. He wasn't recruited by kentucky after high school for no reason.

He just needs to tighten the nuts and bolts to play in the nba

[2short]

I'd say the main thing last year was he looked completely lost when on court.  Doesn't mean he won't make it but he simply was overwhelmed.  Walker got minutes at sf and at the least plays mean d.

[BballTim]

What's holding him back is that he was a rookie last year. As simple as that.

nope. what's holding himback is he's not very good. have you heard anyone in the organization say anything positive about him, other than "he works really hard"? when that's all that's being said the translation is: he sucks.

  Isn't he more of a sg while Walker is more of a sf? That makes a big difference since the depth chart would be Ray/Eddie vs Paul/injured TA. Also, remember that Walker might have gone much higher in the draft if he hadn't injured his knee before the draft.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I'd say the main thing last year was he looked completely lost when on court.  Doesn't mean he won't make it but he simply was overwhelmed.  Walker got minutes at sf and at the least plays mean d.

In a couple of minutes in preseason and 8 total minutes during the season? Come on, these kinds of assessments particularly of a rookie I find them a bit ridiculous. JR is a better defender than Walker. He also went 2 for 3 and just had 1 turnover... for him being nervous, I think he did pretty good.

[Rondo_is_better]

I'd say the main thing last year was he looked completely lost when on court.  Doesn't mean he won't make it but he simply was overwhelmed.  Walker got minutes at sf and at the least plays mean d.

In a couple of minutes in preseason and 8 total minutes during the season? Come on, these kinds of assessments particularly of a rookie I find them a bit ridiculous. JR is a better defender than Walker. He also went 2 for 3 and just had 1 turnover... for him being nervous, I think he did pretty good.

Remember though, you can't dismiss any negatives because he only played 8 minutes and then turn around and cite the positives in those 8 minutes you just dismissed. Those 8 minutes are either a valid criteria for judgment or they're not.

[wdleehi]

He must make huge strides this offseason to earn a rotation spot.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I'd say the main thing last year was he looked completely lost when on court.  Doesn't mean he won't make it but he simply was overwhelmed.  Walker got minutes at sf and at the least plays mean d.

In a couple of minutes in preseason and 8 total minutes during the season? Come on, these kinds of assessments particularly of a rookie I find them a bit ridiculous. JR is a better defender than Walker. He also went 2 for 3 and just had 1 turnover... for him being nervous, I think he did pretty good.

Remember though, you can't dismiss any negatives because he only played 8 minutes and then turn around and cite the positives in those 8 minutes you just dismissed. Those 8 minutes are either a valid criteria for judgment or they're not.

Of course I can... same way you can excuse a player for missing shots because he's injured, same way you can applaud a player for making shots even though he's injured.

The important part here is the context and the circumstances. Making a player to be garbage simply because he's a rookie and looked a bit lost in very minimal playing time I find absurd. But he did do some positive things out there, things you can build on under the circumstances of what he was facing.

If he were given consistent playing time, and still looked lost, etc. then that's another thing.

[bknova]

How far a players goes in this league is 75% up to them?  If the kid wants to play, especially on this team or any other championship level team, then he'd better work his tail off in the off season, come to camp, and force himself into the rotation. 

Doc, nor the team House nor Scalabrine, are just gonna give up their minutes to any of the kids.

They tell them at the end of the year what they want the players to improve on, we'll see at summer league if Giddens has progressed. 

Considering we need to limit Ray and PP's minutes as much as possible while still winning games, there's opportunity for him, but I agree wholeheartedly with the coaching philosophy, he needs to earn his way onto the court.  Nothing will be handed to him.

[Rondo_is_better]

I'd say the main thing last year was he looked completely lost when on court.  Doesn't mean he won't make it but he simply was overwhelmed.  Walker got minutes at sf and at the least plays mean d.

In a couple of minutes in preseason and 8 total minutes during the season? Come on, these kinds of assessments particularly of a rookie I find them a bit ridiculous. JR is a better defender than Walker. He also went 2 for 3 and just had 1 turnover... for him being nervous, I think he did pretty good.

Remember though, you can't dismiss any negatives because he only played 8 minutes and then turn around and cite the positives in those 8 minutes you just dismissed. Those 8 minutes are either a valid criteria for judgment or they're not.

Of course I can... same way you can excuse a player for missing shots because he's injured, same way you can applaud a player for making shots even though he's injured.

I don't think excusing players for missing shots because they're injured is the same thing at all. I really see no parallel.

We're talking about selectively filtering data (only extracting the positives and leaving out the negatives) versus... I don't know. A totally different issue. I don't understand your argument at all.

[Big_Matt34]

give him a chance. He wasn't recruited by kentucky after high school for no reason.

He just needs to tighten the nuts and bolts to play in the nba

He wasnt recruited by Kentucky, and never went to Kentucky. He went to Kansas and then transferred to New Mexico. And just because he was recruited by a big college program doesnt mean anything, most of the players those teams recruit never make it to the pro's.

I think he can be a decent player but i dont think it will be here because he is just so far back on the depth chart at Sg or Sf.