JuJuan Johnson

[cman88]

Jjj is just too thin imo....until he improves his post defense he likely wont see much pt.

[gar]

To hear Doc talk about it JjJ has not earned his minutes either in the weight room, in practice or in games. Likes and dislikes have nothing to do with it.

[theswitch]

Here's some of the reasoning, per Forsberg:

Rivers also said something revealing a couple weeks back when he noted that Boston simply isn't sure "if JaJuan's a big." The insinuation there is that, while he's got size, he might be more of a wing player at the moment and the team needs to bulk up his frame before he's ready to go rumble down low in the NBA.

That quote is pretty telling, in my opinion. You heard Doc talking about how they wanted a guy through free agency who had bulk and was a true big to bang with guys down low. Johnson's simply a few sandwiches short of playing time. The guy needs to live in the weight room.

[letsgoblue86]

Here's some of the reasoning, per Forsberg:

Rivers also said something revealing a couple weeks back when he noted that Boston simply isn't sure "if JaJuan's a big." The insinuation there is that, while he's got size, he might be more of a wing player at the moment and the team needs to bulk up his frame before he's ready to go rumble down low in the NBA.

That quote is pretty telling, in my opinion. You heard Doc talking about how they wanted a guy through free agency who had bulk and was a true big to bang with guys down low. Johnson's simply a few sandwiches short of playing time. The guy needs to live in the weight room.

Even in that case, Doc can't get JJJ some of Paul's minutes and have Pietrus play the 2 or 4?  Then we could effectively rid Dooling of any minutes 

[MBunge]

To hear Doc talk about it JjJ has not earned his minutes either in the weight room, in practice or in games. Likes and dislikes have nothing to do with it.

And Dooling has earned his minutes...how?

Mike

[nickagneta]

To hear Doc talk about it JjJ has not earned his minutes either in the weight room, in practice or in games. Likes and dislikes have nothing to do with it.

And Dooling has earned his minutes...how?

Mike

Defensive ability, defensive effort, knowledge of the sets, ability to run the floor, ability to play two positions.

Sorry but if Dooling wasn't in a bad shooting slump and was shooting his career averages, everyone would be praising the guy to the hilts because the rest of his game has been very good.

The only thing both JJJ and Moore have shown us, the fans, is that they can jack shots up when they get in games. Both of their defenses are poor, Moore has shot exceptionally well in about two to three games all year otherwise he is shooting pitifully(much worse than Dooling). JJJ has shown he can be pushed around under the basket very easily, is a poor rotational defender, not a great rebounder, he gives up down low position very easy, and his offensive game is from 15-20 feet from the basket.

Those things are not going to get you in the good graces of Doc Rivers who will give time to youngsters but has to have them prove their willingness to sacrifice offensively and play in rhythm and play defense with hustle, intelligence and tenacity. JJJ and Moore just don't exhibit those things yet. But they do exhibit the intelligence to eventually get there so they will have to wait til next year.

[snively]

If Doc is concerned about JJJ's size at the 4, why is he playing Pietrus and Pierce at the 4 in his place?  Those guys are getting annihilated in the paint, even moreso than JJ was.  And there are indirect negatives to that strategy as well, as our wing depth isn't great enough to compensate for bumping our best wings down to the 4 spot.

I believe that Doc hasn't been able to get the defensive focus and intensity out of JJ that he wants to see.  I was worried about this after watching JJ with Purdue: he was the focal point of the offense, and, accolades notwithstanding, he was a fairly casual defensive player.     

[snively]

To hear Doc talk about it JjJ has not earned his minutes either in the weight room, in practice or in games. Likes and dislikes have nothing to do with it.

And Dooling has earned his minutes...how?

Mike

Defensive ability, defensive effort, knowledge of the sets, ability to run the floor, ability to play two positions.

Sorry but if Dooling wasn't in a bad shooting slump and was shooting his career averages, everyone would be praising the guy to the hilts because the rest of his game has been very good.

Which parts of his game have been good exactly?  He's actually been worse than Avery Bradley as a ball-handler/decision maker/floor general.  His defense on 2-guards has been sketchy at best, with the ancient Stackhouse scoring on him easily last night.  Nor has he been able to take advantage of any quickness advantage against bigger 2-guards; Stack drew a charge on Dooling's ill-fated attempt to break him down off the dribble.

As for the other contributions, he's been one of the absolute worst rebounders in the league, and he doesn't create turnovers.

Add that to his poor shooting and you have one of the very worst rotation players in the NBA.  And this is coming from a guy who used to like Dooling.  His speed and athleticism kept in the league: those attributes have diminished so much that he doesn't belong anymore.

[MBunge]

Defensive ability, defensive effort, knowledge of the sets, ability to run the floor, ability to play two positions.

Sorry but if Dooling wasn't in a bad shooting slump and was shooting his career averages, everyone would be praising the guy to the hilts because the rest of his game has been very good.

The only thing both JJJ and Moore have shown us, the fans, is that they can jack shots up when they get in games.

E'Twaun Moore - 9.1 minutes and 3 points on 37% shooting.
Keyon Dooling - 13.8 minutes and 3.6 points on 35% shooting.  He's also scored more than 4 points in a game only once since January 26th.

Dooling might be better defensively than Moore, though there's not nearly as much evidence for that as you seem to think.  As for your other conditions, those are only reasons why Dooling SHOULD be better than Moore.  By this point in the season, that kind of speculation is overwhelmed by what Dooling has actually done on the court, which is suck.  No one can actually look at how Dooling has played, how Moore has played, and say Dooling is head-and-shoulders better than the rookie.

And saying "If Dooling were playing better, he'd be a better player" is so weak, I can't even find the words to respond.

As for jacking up shots...SOMEBODY has to score off the bench and neither JJJ nor Moore have been any more guilty of shot-jacking than Pietrus.  Lack of bench scoring has been a HUUUUUUUGE problem for the Celtics the last few years and part of the reason seems to be Doc screaming at them for not taking only the perfect shots at the perfect times to the point where even veterans like Sasha look afraid to even look at the hoop.

Mike

[paintitgreen]

I agree that Dooling has been a bum. Celtics are heading for a 7th or 8th seed at best and have a brutal schedule of 16 games (10 on the road) in 25 nights coming up. They need to dig a little deeper into the bench and get some support for the starters who will not be able to carry the entire load during this stretch. Doc's unwillingness to play rookies is not new. This is something that has been commented on throughout his tenure in Boston. Hopefully having two off days right now will give him a practice day to work on some things with Johnson and Moore so they can give some spot duty over the next four weeks.

[Evantime34]

Defensive ability, defensive effort, knowledge of the sets, ability to run the floor, ability to play two positions.

Sorry but if Dooling wasn't in a bad shooting slump and was shooting his career averages, everyone would be praising the guy to the hilts because the rest of his game has been very good.

The only thing both JJJ and Moore have shown us, the fans, is that they can jack shots up when they get in games.

E'Twaun Moore - 9.1 minutes and 3 points on 37% shooting.
Keyon Dooling - 13.8 minutes and 3.6 points on 35% shooting.  He's also scored more than 4 points in a game only once since January 26th.

Dooling might be better defensively than Moore, though there's not nearly as much evidence for that as you seem to think.  As for your other conditions, those are only reasons why Dooling SHOULD be better than Moore.  By this point in the season, that kind of speculation is overwhelmed by what Dooling has actually done on the court, which is suck.  No one can actually look at how Dooling has played, how Moore has played, and say Dooling is head-and-shoulders better than the rookie.

And saying "If Dooling were playing better, he'd be a better player" is so weak, I can't even find the words to respond.

As for jacking up shots...SOMEBODY has to score off the bench and neither JJJ nor Moore have been any more guilty of shot-jacking than Pietrus.  Lack of bench scoring has been a HUUUUUUUGE problem for the Celtics the last few years and part of the reason seems to be Doc screaming at them for not taking only the perfect shots at the perfect times to the point where even veterans like Sasha look afraid to even look at the hoop.

Mike

+1

[thestackshow]

Like Doc said of Bradley last year "He just isnt ready"

[Evantime34]

Like Doc said of Bradley last year "He just isnt ready"

At this point I'm just hoping that Bradley and JJJ continue their progression next year.

[gar]

Doc's quote:

“We’ve got three bigs, and we’re still debating on whether JaJuan’s a big yet,” the Celtics coach said. “I guess giving him more time is good. I don’t know why we would think that is good. He’s a good player, but you don’t want to force anybody into minutes. I don’t ever believe that’s good for a guy. The minutes he earns are what he should play all of the time, not the minutes that are there.”

I really don't know what to make of this statement. They tried to make Brandon Wallace a three after one summer league game and it takes them a half season to come up with a lame statement like that. Bizarre. I have to think that they tried him at SF and weren't convinced there either. Is Doc saying he is not sure if we drafted an NBA player over Marshon Bleepin Brooks?

[theswitch]

Doc's quote:

“We’ve got three bigs, and we’re still debating on whether JaJuan’s a big yet,” the Celtics coach said. “I guess giving him more time is good. I don’t know why we would think that is good. He’s a good player, but you don’t want to force anybody into minutes. I don’t ever believe that’s good for a guy. The minutes he earns are what he should play all of the time, not the minutes that are there.”

I really don't know what to make of this statement. They tried to make Brandon Wallace a three after one summer league game and it takes them a half season to come up with a lame statement like that. Bizarre. I have to think that they tried him at SF and weren't convinced there either. Is Doc saying he is not sure if we drafted and NBA player over Marshon Bleepin Brooks?

That's an extremely bizarre statement. Seems like he just doesn't know what to say about him.