The Bench: Where Has Nate's Jumper Gone?

[Bankshot]

Baby is scoring all of the bench points.  The bench looks pretty bad right now aside from Baby.  Where is the Marquis we saw in preseason?  And my gawd, where the heck is Nate's jumper?  Has he made a shot since the Finals? He's in a terrible slump and he needs to snap out of it.

The bench better step up.

[hwangjini_1]

In the times I have watched Robinson on the celtics, he struck me as a streak shooter. There are times when he runs down the court and immediately heaves up a three point shot and I flinch thinking "geez, no chance on that one." and it goes in.

When he is hot no one can stop him.

The down side is thither has inevitably distressing cold periods when his doesn't fall for him. Those are the times I wish he would play the pg role better and get other players involved more by passing better. I also wish he would attack the basket more at those times.

But ante is what he is. I am not really worried. Some time soon he will go off and win a game for the celtics.

Also, when delonte is back it will take pressure off of Nate to play pg, which will allow him to play more sg. Good for him.

[2short]

I was just looking at minutes played for everyone which is a side note from Nate's jumper.  So far the regular season nate has been pretty ineffective.  He should be getting really good minutes with Delonte out, splitting time at sg and pg backups.  Doc has done the right thing and limited the minutes as he hasn't been doing well at all.  Nate doesn't seem to be forcing it (that badly) but his shots are clanging.  Granted he is more of a streak shooter and might just need to settle down.  Again with his streak shooting this is a bench guy who can put up 20 pts or more.
Davis has looked great.  I also feel marquis has done well and even Erden in limited minutes has done a nice job.  Wafer is useless.
The future of bench is (insert) ONeil, Delonte West, Avery Bradley, Nate, Marquis and Davis (don't forget perk).  Come end of season that is one heck of a bench.

[Donoghus]

He's a shooter. Streakiness in nature. From what I can tell, its just a cold streak.

[Greenbean]

The bench minus Baby is struggling to score. Nate has alot to do with that. Let's hope he snaps out of it soon. The man can score but he sure is as coooold as the November rain right now.

[jimmehx]

It's a cold streak. It'll break. Probably right around when Delonte comes back and he realises he has to earn those minutes.

P.s. Wafer has been entirely not useful. That and I don't like him as a locker room guy.

I noticed in the game vs. Detroit, Baby had it at the top of the key and was looking right for Quisy who was being smothered by a defender. Wafer called for it repeatedly and Baby ignored him and took it himself.

It's just not working.

[WeMadeIt17]

I feel when he comes in when he attacks first then goes to his jumper then he shoots better. But he has been really frustrating so far this year.. Hopefully he picks it up on Friday.

[clover]

SalmonAndMashedPotatoes or Peas or whatever his screen name is seems to have an inside line to the team and he said Nate's nursing a bad shoulder.

[Evantime34]

It is the easiest for a shooter to score when they play with someone who will drive and draw the defense. The second unit doesn't have anyone like that to free Nate. A lot of his jumpers are coming off the dribble with the defender all over him.

In 5 games when D-West comes back you will see more open looks for Nate.

[nickagneta]

Let's not forget that once Shaq is back either Shaq or Jermaine will be coming off the bench too. So far in 5 games, the C's have only had the O'Neal boys playing in the same game twice. Once they are both healthy, I see one making a very good offensive contribution off the bench as will Delonte once he returns.

[Drucci]

Nate is currently 5/26 from the floor and 1/12 from three. He is in a big slump. He seems healthy to me and the majority of his shots are good looks, he is just clanging them or they are in and out.

I hope he gets back to his normal level soon, Delonte's return should help him in that regard. The thing that worried me the most last night was that he was totally off on defense too while so far he had been good defensively.

[vinnie]

It was reported right near the end of preseason that Nate had a shoulder injury. As for his shooting, right now I would say it is a tossup as to whether Nate or JO has the better jumper  At least last night, JO finally made one. The way he shoots, I honestly did not think he would make one all year!

[Evantime34]

It was reported right near the end of preseason that Nate had a shoulder injury. As for his shooting, right now I would say it is a tossup as to whether Nate or JO has the better jumper  At least last night, JO finally made one. The way he shoots, I honestly did not think he would make one all year!

I have no idea how you can be in the NBA for as long as JO has without someone suggesting that hey maybe you should square your body to the hoop when you shoot. It really only makes it more difficult the way he turns his shoulders.

[pearljammer10]

Nate is a two guard in a really small body... He is best at letting someone else run the offense and him coming off screens and waiting for the outside jumper off a drive and dish. He has trouble getting the offense going. If he is going to be a scorer he needs someone else to start him off. As much as I dislike West when he is at the point guard position, I think its going to help Nate get going a little bit.


And I really havent seen a problem with how Marquis has played so far this year... Offensive production has been down, but he has still been a good defender and has worked well in the system.

[moiso]

I keep waiting for Nate's shot to start going down.  This is very surprising.  Yes, he is streaky but he is also a good shooter in general.  I mean, I don't think the entire preseason was just a hot streak.  I figured Nate would average 10-12 pts per game this year.  It doesn't look like that will happen, but he should get it going soon.