After Moon, he was my least favorite Raptor of last year. The hand-clapping shot-contests, the purposely made grimaces, his matador defense, the wry smile every time he was asked about his health and just about everything to do with him was flat-out annoying. Everything went wrong with him last year, even his English suffered. But now I’m willing to look past that year of his and start a new page in our relationship, a page which is written in full health and with a year’s worth of experience of handling starting point-guard duties (albeit of bad ones). Nobody on the roster will have to alter their game as much as Calderon since the signings of the summer have impacted his role the most.
The addition of Hedo Turkoglu and Jarrett Jack will result in three major things: 1) Calderon will no longer be the sole initiator of the offense (oh noooo…) , 2) He will be asked to play in a spot-up role and 3) His minutes will go down to something he’s comfortable with. All three changes are to his benefit since he’ll be under less pressure to run the offense, will play to his spot-up shooting strength and the lower minutes will help him keep fresh, something he obviously needs help with. Although he did show some physical resilience in the middle part of 2007-08, we should remember that even that year he didn’t play the full season as a starter and tailed off down the stretch and in the playoffs. He’s yet to show that he can handle 35 minutes a night and it’s better we don’t even ask it of him.
Turkoglu’s decision-making with the ball and his ability to finish going towards the basket is now being seen as the solution to our offense which got stuck in a rut every time we needed a score. We’re putting a lot of faith in him being the key which unlocks the mystery of how this offense should work and it only adds up on paper if Calderon is a consistent productive member of the five-man unit on both ends of the floor. So far the times when he’s been asked to play the off the ball he hasn’t fared well. I remember many fans calling for a Ford-Calderon backcourt a year ago and when Mitchell finally did experiment with Ford at the point and Calderon off the ball, the latter was lost in the mix. His strength of finding open shooters on the perimeter was taken away from him and his outside stroke wasn’t utilized nearly as much as we had hoped.
He basically needs to be like Jameer Nelson – move along the three-point line and make the angle for the pass from the interior easier and then hit the three. Or make them pay at the end of the swing sequence. If the defense is late reaching out to you, use the pump-fake and the step-in dribble to open things up. He’s got to adopt more of a scorer’s mentality than before, don’t always be looking to pass to lesser options on the outside when you can force something inside or take it in on your own. We’re no longer strictly paying him for his AST/TO ratio, those days are over and they never really worked, it’s time for him to re-invent himself as a scoring threat at the point and as a dependable spot-up option. With Jason Kapono gone we’re going to need somebody to spread the floor and there’s nobody more suited to do that than Calderon. He was only behind Tony Parker, Rajan Rondo (because of the drives), Steve Nash and Chris Paul when it came to FG percentage amongst PGs, he also had a TS% of .588 which is exceptional for a guard, so the shooting ability is definitely there.
I don’t think anybody’s expecting heavy screen-usage and baseline to high-post “shows” by Calderon like Anthony Parker used to, mainly because he’s too small to make something of those opportunities and more importantly, he’s never played that way. Defensively, I’d settle for him not getting picked-off so easily. Once he/Triano figure out a way to avoid that, we can move on to more complex defensive strategies but for now, just fight through the bloody screen.
I had three main gripes with how he handled the offense: 1) He didn’t turn the corner on the screen enough, 2) He looked for Bosh more than others, 3) He didn’t push after defensive rebounds even though there were options. The last one was particularly frustrating towards the end of the season. #2 has as much to do with coach’s instructions and Bosh’s movement and position being wrong than Calderon looking for him too much. Still, Calderon must share the blame for not finding a way to make the offense click once the two-man game was neutralized. Adding Hedo into the mix doesn’t mean he’s not going to be responsible for that, it just means he won’t have to do it as much and hopefully it’ll come down to a dose he can handle. If past performance is indicative of anything, I’d say it’s a 50-50 chance that he gets it right. The only explanation I can find for #1 is his injury which has been use as a cover-all excuse for all things miserable about Calderon and we can only hope that he goes back to playing like he did in January and February of ‘08 (kinda pathetic that his acceptable play as a starter only spans two months). So there’s no point in me pointing out how bad he was last year because the response to that would be Hammy!
Thoughts?
153 Raps
Angst much today?
Good overview of the Jose situation.
One major thing that Jack also brings to the situation is competition. If Jose isn’t turning the corner on those screens, Jack will. Soloman and Roko weren’t exactly fantastic motivators. Hopefully Jose picks him game back up to 07-08 form – would go a long way to achieving success this season.
I agree about the Jack competition. Hopefully, they both have good years. The Raptor’s have a lot of weapons now with the summer additions, and can give some dynamic looks. Jose will pick it up in a smaller role, he can lay back and do his thing.
i think you are being too harsh on Calderon and his play last season. He didnt have a solid back up last year and the bench didnt do what it was suppose to. just think of the assists the guy wouldve had if Kapono played to his potential.
you are right about his play improving with the addition of Jack and Turk even if his numbers dont show it. less minutes will lead to better play from JC
Here’s a crazy idea — Kapono *did* play to his potential.
Just not his paycheck
While I agree Calderon needs to become more of a scorer next season, asking him to become like Jameer Nelson is basically taking away one of the strongest aspects of his game – passing. There’s no reason for Calderon to reinvent himself this season, simply adapt to the changes.
The differences in the offense is that Calderon will have *less pressure* to create. It doesn’t mean he should stop creating altogether and defer the duties to Turkoglu alone. The point of bringing in Turkoglu was to create someone else who can create to help Calderon, not take over the role entirely.
If this starting lineup comes into the season and stays healthy, I think we’ll see many good things on offense. It’s the defense I’m worried about, and if you want Calderon to reinvent himself somewhere, it should be how he guards pick and rolls.
meh…jose’s an average (at best) distributor. he’s a facilitator, not a creator. his *strongest* aspect is far & away his outside shooting.
When Jose was playing during the caldeford years, do you not recall how much more “fluid” the offense seemed? It wasn’t until last season when Jose started deferring almost entirely to Bosh. And rightfully so! It wasn’t until half-way through the season that another player stepped up to the plate offensively (Bargs).
Everyone cringed when Kapono or Moon got the ball. Jermaine O’Neil was inconsistent in his “on games” on offense. Marion can’t create a shot. Why did we want Jose to pass to these guys again? There’s a reason he always went to Bosh – for a long time, it really was the only option.
With the changes made this offseason we have the depth we did in the Caldeford year. Except this time instead of an undersized self-centred point guard (TJ) we have a physical and formidable back up (Jarret) who won’t bicker when he comes off the bench. I see us repeating our performance of “The first year of BC”, with Wright replacing AP as our 2-guard defender and Hedo replacing Jorge as our “intangibles” guy.
Calderon will return to form and we’ll see that shooting is merely a complement to the court vision he once had.
Amen to that, brother!
hence, ‘facilitator.’
look, there are PGs who really, truly CREATE offense, and those who facilitate it. you know the difference, and if you’re realistic, you know which side of the fence jose falls. it’s not a knock (per se), it is what it is. he’s a pull-it-back, look for a solid (read: safe) option, don’t take uneccessary risks PG. it works, for their system (controlled, half-court, PnR, etc.). but i can’t put him into the top-tier of PGs simply because he doesn’t command, control or create offensive opportunities at the same rate or at the same level as the upper-echelon points do. that’s all. i’m more than happy with his style, since it means he won’t be relied upon to be something he isn’t.
You both make great point and are both right. Either way I’m expecting a much better Calderon than last season, or actually better than we’ve seen before. But only time will really tell what type of player the 09-10 Calderon will be. It should be exciting to see.
Rap of the day.
09/10 — the year of “Calderjack”
The Jay Triano Raptor Strategy:::
1. CalderJack
2. DeDeMarcoB
3. HedAmir
4. BoshoBargs
5. RashoReggie
6. AntoineQuincyWeemsPOB
7. MascotBanks
(Approved by BC)
what about jackerone
Excellent view on Calderon’s game and how important it is to the Raptors although I would likely put #2 ahead of #1 for what he should be doing as this teams starting point guard. Even with the pitiful team we had last year Calderon is blind when he dribbles into the offensive end. He looks and looks and looks for Bosh as much as Bosh holds and holds and holds the ball when he gets it. Last year there were many other good offensive options on the floor for Calderon to create for but as always he only looks to Bosh, and if impossible takes it alone for the pretend to get the ball knocked out of your hands fall on your ass drive versus looking to get an open Parker, Marion or Bargnani. I absolutely love what Colangelo has done this offseason, but if the Calderon / Bosh thing doesn’t change the Raptor’s will be no more successful than last year. The three biggest things that need to change this year to play to their offensive potential are #10 Bosh’s game has to change and he needs to learn to pass and make good quick decisions involving the rest of his team. #2) Calderon has to push the ball and look to create for the open man on the floor including himself, knowing and understanding that Bosh is just one option.#3) Triano has to understand and demand both of the above creating a smooth flowing quicker passing offense geared around getting the open man the ball. If he has players that do not play this way he needs to demand it and/or change things.
Great overall assessment Arse, and I also would love to see Calderon break through the screen especially most of the really soft ones he never even tries to get through. Honorable mention for an improved Calderon is the point that he should be subjected to cruel and humiliating punishment if we ever see that freakin Clap defense again!!!
(1) I think 30-33 minutes a night is best for Calderon. I think his game drops off when he’s forced to play more minutes, he tries to pace himself and it hurts his effectiveness/aggressiveness.
(2) Jose Calderon isn’t Jameer Nelson and he isn’t going to become Jameer Nelson. Calderon isn’t a scorer, and doesn’t have a scorer’s mentality. Nelson does.
Jose Calderon will never, or at least should never, be at any other position other than the point guard. Jarrett Jack is the more natural two guard of the two and should be at that spot, as well as being a hugely inferior playmaker + floor general in comparison to Calderon.
If there are large stretches of the game where Hedo Turkoglu is controlling the ball, and Calderon is spotting up off the ball, I expect Calderon to perform similar to Steve Blake. Mostly a stand still shooter who’s very efficient and will chime in with the a medium dose of playmaking.
(3) I agree with darthjudd — Arsenalist, I think you’re being too hard on Calderon’s performance last season.
I also think Calderon’s defense, which is poor, is getting too large a share of the blame for that terrible pick and roll defense. More of that blame needs to be directed at Bosh + Bargnani.
I agree with Dave. Just about completely.
The knocks on his defense had more to do with the pnr, guys got past him a lot, he didn’t rotate very well, but yea, he shouldn’t be solely blamed for the defensive ills.
I actually think 28-30 minutes is Calderon’s sweet spot, which begs the question of why he deserved that contract for a guy who doesn’t play starter type minutes. Just putting it out there.
Well, this season we should see just how many minutes he is capable of, with a summer off and hopefully full health.
If he could pull of 34 minutes a game would you consider that too few? 33? 32? Not actually a whole lot of seperation between 30 and 36 minutes (which I would consider full starter’s minutes). Especially on a team with solid backups (Jack, and a full 2 guard rotation that may limit Jack’s time at the 2).
This is one good piece: http://www.wagesofwins.com/UnderPaid0809.html
See Jose at #18. Even on reduced minutes, he’s a big contributor to winning games. As per my previous RR “bio”, I think he’s quite underrated.
I thought Arse’s piece above was quite good. I disagree somewhat with
“… it’s time for him to re-invent himself as a scoring threat at the point and as a dependable spot-up option.” as A) because I think he should remain much the same – pass first, shoot when open. You’ll have an even better half court scoring option this year (Turk over Marion/O’Neal) and B) I believe he’s already a dependable spot-up option.
I did think (maybe it’s selective memory!) that he was a better at turning the corner late last year – when he was supposedly healthy. Injuries are no excuse – but I witnessed (imagined?) a change late in the year.
How can you blame Bosh or Bargniani when he doesn’t fight through or jump picks at all!!!
And the hand clapping on his shot contests can be blamed on his joyous spirit??
Yeah I think everyone in Raptor land has been too hard on Calderon. I am not saying he was one of best in the league last year and nor would I assume his stats bear that out. However, I am willing to put something on the fact that all (ALL) of his stats would show he is in the top half of all PGs in the association, and for an undrafted european unknown, I think that is pretty damn good.
Yeah his defense may not be ideal at the position (and the hand clap is bloody annoying), but his passing, court vision, scoring touch, leadership and relationship with our top players makes him an exceptional fit on our team and an overall above average PG.
Last point, how many teams out there would switch PG with us straight up? My list:
Guaranteed:
Mike Bibby (ATL), Ray Felton (CHA), Mo Williams (CLE), Jason Kidd (DAL), Rodney Stuckey (DET), Stephen Curry (GSW), Aaron Brooks (HOU), TJ Ford (IND), Baron Davis (LAC), Derek Fisher (LAL), Mike Conley (MEM), Mario Chalmers (MIA), Luke Ridnour (MIL), Chris Duhon/Nate Robinson (NYK), Jameer Nelson (ORL), Louis Williams (PHI), Andre Miller (POR), Beno Udrih (SAC),
Possible:
Rajon Rondo (BOS), Johnny Flynn (MIN), Russell Westbrook (OKC), Steve Nash (PHO), Gilbert Arenas (WAS)
Not even Maybe:
Derrick Rose (CHI), Chauncey Billups (DEN), Devin Harris (NJN), Chris Paul (NOH), Tony Parker (SAS), Deron Williams (UTA)
Now, by that count there are 18 teams that would trade their PG for ours straight up, an additional 5 that might do the trade based on age, injury history, maybe a better fit, and finally 6 teams that wouldnt even think about trading. So this puts Calderon in the top 10 in the league, if not top 7. By my count only one team with a top tier PG has won a trophy with that guy at the 1, and only one other guy has won a trophy (billups).
My point being, Calderon may have his deficiencies, but he by no means deserves to be cut up as hard as some seem to enjoy doing.
In order to be a contender, you need a decent-to-above average point, and by my count, Calderon definetly fits the mold.
Jameer Nelson for Calderon is not a guaranteed swap, even with the injury history. Orlando’s front office is way too high on him (as is the rest of the league for some reason).
did i see baron davis?
yeah…BD is on the list…based on his age among other factors, I am certain the Clips would trade for jc straight up…then again, they would probably give us baron and blake for him…hey anyone got the # to Dunleavy Sr???
I think you need to go over that list again
Nelson, Kidd, Curry, Mo Williams, Arenas, Baron Davis, are all better then Calderon. You make a call offering Calderon and the GM hangs up the phone.
Nelson has had 3/4 of a decent year and bombed when he came back in the playoffs, Curry is unproven (although could end up being better), M. Williams is only an allstar bc of the King, Arenas is a better scorer when healthy, which he hasnt been, Baron Davis and Kidd have had better careers than Jose, but at this point are not better players.
The point of my list was a straight up trade today, the players you listed are either unproven, injury prone, or too old. the only player that maybe didnt deserve to be on the list he was on was Rondo…and I think that he is a beneficiary of a good “fit”
A few good ones (Nelson/Kidd/Arenas) but Baron Davis has seen better days.
15 pg on 37% shooting. 37% is, well I don’t have to tell you. Throw in 3 turnovers a game = no thanks.
Great way of putting it. I would put Arenas into the Not even Maybe category, but othe than that, bang on. Calderon has Top 10 PG potential, he just needs to have the right system, players and style of play around him, plus health. We will really see this season, as everything is set up for him to unleash the potential.
The reason I included Arenas in the maybe is due to injury history, and possible fit. I wonder if the Wiz would be better if they had a pass first point guard instead of a shoot first. Although on second thought, with Foye in the fold now, it would be less likely they would make that trade for calderon
Perhaps those GM’s don’t agree with your assesment of Calderon’s abilities and if you think the C’s wqould take Calderon for Rondo based on pure abilities your dreaming. They won a title with Rondo playing pg.
I stated that Rondo might be traded straight up…only might be…he is younger and a better defender, but calderon is a better scorer and facilitator/passer.
As for the rest of the GMs opinions on Calderon…I think I am pretty bang on with what the majority of the league feels/thinks about Calderon…and if there is a specific example of a gm that wouldnt make the trades that i propose, lets hear it
Rajon Rondo was hugely important for the Celtics last season and the season before.
He is an excellent defender and a great rebounder. In fact, I love Calderon and I think Arsenalist has given him too much flack but I would probably take Rondo over him.
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!?!? that is the most rediculous list i’ve ever seen. HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW ANY OF THAT?! and btw all of those guys have won way more than jose.
with that being said i like jose and im not trying to take away from him but that list is retarded..sorry
To throw in my two cents, I’d put Rondo and Nelson into the not even category because they mesh in real well chemistry and style-wise with their current teams. Also I’d put Arenas as a not even because all indications are that he’s all systems go.. so I wouldn’t make that straight up trade as of today!
Arse is just giving Calderon some tough love but I’m not worried about his abilities. We all just want him to step his game up some more.
Oh ya… B Diddy and Fish are maybes in my book…
seriously??? FISH??? come on??/ seriously??/isnt he like 87 by now or something???
ohh and wes….excellent retort….well thought and argued…oh wait…nope none of that was in your post… lets see how could i possibly know that if i was the gm of those other teams, who would or wouldnt I trade straight up for Calderon??? hmmm…I dunno…how would I know any of that??? all of those guys (what guys) have won more than jose…ok…like what???
Ya but he makes some real clutch shots for an 87 year old… and he has good chemistry with that team. That’s why I say maybe, or maybe not.
The key to Jose’s success is limited minutes minutes in order to stay healthy. If that’s achieved then any advancement in his game is a bonus…
Calderon should get 30min a game at most. His defense is very poor and the raps can’t afford the opposing pg breaking him down constantly. For all who say “you are being too harsh on calderon”, just shut up. Do you even watch the raptors? Don’t you see the opposing pg blow by calderon most of the time and bosh/bargnani comes to save his ass or attempt to cover for him? So yes defense is of utmost important, especially now that we have more scorers this year (turkoglu/jack). If it was up to me, I’d start Jack because he’s way better defensively and he’s able to score at the same rate as calderon. Therefore Arsenalist is completely right, nice article.
So much about basketball is instinctual and reactionary. Rarely does any player alter his game significantly over any single season, so I would expect much of the same. But I didn’t think it was all that bad to begin with. I certainly don’t think he’s the reason the team didn’t do well.
calderon and specifically bosh are horrible at defence… bargnani has already surpassed bosh on the defensive side of the ball…Mind you this does not mean much..
So Bosh is a horrible defender because help defence now has to be his forte? Lets see our pg and perimeter players guard their man and we’ll see if you’re still saying that about Bosh’s defence.
It was shameful watching pg’s and sg’s get into the lane continuously last year and watching Bosh our bigs have to come of their man to help. Barg’s needs to learn his defensive rotations this year as well.
bargnani is bad at rotating defensively… bosh is bad at rotating and guarding his own man… loll… on a good defensive team and against inferior opponents of course he looked good… but in reality he sucks hahahahahahaha…jokez aside… I think he played better defense on that team becuz he could focus on the defensive side almost entirely… on the raps he couldnt/cant do that becuz they use him so much on offence…
Funny. Twice with Team USA, Bosh was the glue-and-defense guy. Not according to me, according to Kobe, LeBron, Coach K. (no, I don’t know how to spell it) and others.
Calderon needs to make it a frequent habit to drive to the bucket for layups as he did in 2006,2007, and 2008…’nuff said. I remembered why Calderon was so good before and he beat Boston in the Garden once by doing layups. Before he signed that extension, everyone knew he was going to do 2 or 3 layups a game. Hope Calderon can bring back the frequent layup arsenal he always used.
I think injuries affected the mentality of his game especially in terms of heading to the basket. Before I get jumped for giving Calderon an excuse for playing bad last season, I’m actually saying there’s no excuse for him not to play at top form this coming season.
I don’t think this is being hard on Jose, this is realisticly who he is. He’s got a junpshot and he won’t turn over the ball. That’s good but given the giant holes in his game, he realy is maybe just above average. One realy spot on point was that he won’t push the ball…even when there’s opportunity on the run. I don’t know if he is just overly aware of his AST/TO ratio but his success with that stat is mostly because he stays safe on the court and doesn’t take risks or explores other options than a lob pass to bosh or swinging the ball right. I’m not saying he should be careless and risky but his handling skills are clearly good enough to trust them in a crossver move or a drive and a no-look. If he drives and gets sent to the line there’s a 98% chance he’s making the shot, so I don’t see why he hasn’t exploited that already. Has anyone ever just imagined what else was out there in a deal for Ford, other than O’neall? We could have avoided that whole waste of a season. I still feel like to this day TJ Ford would better fit what the raps are trying to do. You could have easily gotten a potential star for Calderon. Now in my opinion if everything stayed the same and it was Calderon in TJs place and so on the raps record would be far greater. Tell me that Ford Derozan Marion Bosh Bargniani wouldn’t have been good. Marion didn’t get a full season to prove his worth. And I think what he could bring (15, 8. 2stl, 1blk) is just as good and better than what Hedo can- they just have different styles.
tj ford sucks… calderon might not be the answer… but Ford was Definitely not
I somewhat agree with rapsfan_11. Ford was not the answer. Hidsight is 20/20 so its easy to say how much better Ford may have been than Calderon, but I think for the team we are trying to build, Calderon is a better player to have. Ford doesn’t suck, but he is not someone that would work for the team we are building now.
I was with you until you brought Ford into the conversation… My view of Ford lies somewhere between what rapsfan_11 and LukeCage22 said (we need a so-and-so_33 to speak on this..)
—————
“I’m not saying he should be careless and risky but his handling skills are clearly good enough to trust them in a crossver move or a drive and a no-look. If he drives and gets sent to the line there’s a 98% chance he’s making the shot, so I don’t see why he hasn’t exploited that already.”
–
This is an excellent point you make and if Calderon puts this together that will raise his game to a level I haven’t even considered.
if calderon still cant play D this season we should start jack, and let him come off the bench and rape opposing backup pg’s, thats where he has had the most success in his career so far. jack is starter material, we just already like jose, but if he dosent step up that D i rather see jack start and bring that defence from the tip off. jack can guard the quick guards way better, as well as the bigger pg’s in the league. we cant win if were playing catch up from the begining of every game cuz pg’s are blowing by JC
just a thought
I can see how that would work… I havent seen too much of Jack play but hopefully he can D like ppl say… also I am not sure if u wanna start/play all these guys that need the ball in their hands together… turkogulu/bosh/bargnani/caldy… I wud sit one of their asses on the bench to start the game and bring them off the bench to provide some scoring…bosh is gonna start no matter what… so nail one of Hedo or Bargs…
I dont completely agree or disagree with this point, but its not a bad idea….my only question is how do you have a guy on your bench that makes $8+ million a year?
that $8 million is what makes my point an extremely remote possibility… but it doesnt really matter to tell u the truth because they are going to be on the floor at the end of the game anyway so they might as well start..
but I think the defense will be better and the offence better flowing with one of them out of the lineup to begin the game lol…
Manu comes off the bench.
that was prior to this year, and in my opinion, recently their bench depth hasnt been fantastic or deep…so they needed bench scoring to come from somewhere…and lets be honest…he didnt play “bench minutes”, and from what I gathered about your sentiments for Calderon, was that he WOULD be playing “bench minutes”
8 mill is only 3 more than what jacks getting, so at the end of the day watever produces is cool wit me, i jus rather see jack start for the D. our offence will be there (if not triano gotta go) so starting jack might make us stronger, i just hope theres no controversy this year
“(kinda pathetic that his acceptable play as a starter only spans two months)”
First of all, José’s “acceptable” play as a starter would be much longer if a) he’d been the starter for all of 2007-8 — the guy even willingly gave up his starter’s job for the sake of team chemistry in early 2008 and b) if he hadn’t been fighting an injury for most of 2008-9
Secondly, one might easily point out that Andrea Bargnani’s “acceptable play as a starter” only spans about four months. And it seems like most of the fans in Raptorland are quite high on him and much less pessimistic than what I’m reading here about José. And Andrea wasn’t injured when he wasn’t playing well.
Last year his play was acceptable given his leg injury.
The problem was we didn’t have a capable back-up PG. It was Jose or nothing, so we played with a obvioulsy injured/gimpy PG for most of the season, which allowed opposing players to focus on easily beating him on defence on nearly every possession.
While we have improved offensively this offseason, I fear the gains may be more than offset if Calderon does not make a full recovery. I simply don’t see how we can move forward with him as the starter if he can’t play defense in a manner that approaches NBA quality. There are simply too many good point guards in the league who will become the deciding factors in a game if they are allowed to have their way consistently. Given what the rest of the team’s limitations are defensively, I think its asking too much of the other four guys on the floor to cover up for him for 35 minutes a night. Hopefully the injury completely heals and this is a non-issue, because the guy actually makes the players around him better (offensively) and appears to care about winning.
“I simply don’t see how we can move forward with him as the starter if he can’t play defense in a manner that approaches NBA quality”
Steve Nash and Jason Kidd (less so now) were known for their defensive deficiencies and yet both have made it deep into the playoffs. In our conference the only point guards that Calderon needs to seriously worry about defending are Derrick Rose and Gilbert Arenas. The rest are simply ball handlers for their teams (that includes Rondo, assuming the “Big 4″ are all healhty).
Oh man, sorry, thanks for pointing this out. I didn’t realize that Jose was every bit as good offensively as Steve Nash and Jason Kidd were in their primes. I don’t know what I’ve been watching the past three years.
There’s no need to be sarcastic. I’m simply pointing out that you don’t have to be a great defender at the 1 in order to “move forward with [Calderon] as a starter”. I also think Calderon’s defense will improve greatly this season with a healed hamstring and a coach that doesn’t believe, “You can’t coach defense”.
Agreed. Nobody’s asking for greatness and I think even below average defense is acceptable from Jose for him to be a successful starter. But he does have to at least play something “approaching NBA quality” defense in my book – would you not concur? If we had a 2005 Steve Nash on the team I would probably understand your point…but we really don’t. We’ve got a 2009 Jose. You don’t have to be a great defender at the 1 if you’ve got the Twin Towers behind you either – but we don’t – we’ve got Bosh and Bargs. So I don’t think the comparison between Jose and Nash/Kidd is warranted or helpful. My apologies for the sarcasm.
Jason Kidd was a good defender…
he single handedly shut down bosh in our post season series with a lil help from our good friend mikey moore lolll…
I saw lets see how he fairs this season before jumping to too many conclusions.
.
I’m in agreement for Calderon shooting more. With more ball handlers available, Jose can now pick up his scoring game. If you look at 2 years ago, his Per48 (for scoring) was better then last year.
Whether that’s a function of his injury or not, Jose needs to attack the basket more. And hopefully – with more shooters this year – his opportunities will increase. That, plus less attention to Bosh, and I think we’ll see more from Calderon this season.
.
The #1 thing I want from Jose is see him drive/penetrate into the paint much more often.
He’s got enough quickness to get into the paint, and once he’s there he can decide to take all the way or make swift kick-out passes to any of our above average shooters.
As for this defence, I expect it to go along with his health.
Totally agree. Seemed like in his best games he was constantly using that hesitation-drive off the screen to get an easy layup, probably 3 or 4 times a game. Really threw off the defense and opened the floor the rest of the game.
I think a lot of the noted weakness in Calderon’s game stem from coaching; specifically overcoaching from Smitch. There was a distinct change when Triano took over (trying to push more), which was amplified when the JO-Marion trade happened.
It seemed to me that Jose was a little too coachable and didn’t want to go against his instructions. He was doing was he was told. Smitch’s only offensive set was the high pick-and-roll, and even then the screener never slipped to the bucket or actually rolled after the pick (what a novel idea!). It was exclusively pick-and-pop, and that neutered the players. Things changed a bit when Marion came because he was more naturally creative than the others, but everyone else was largely set in their ways.
My hope is that this year Calderon, Bosh, and Bargnani approach training camp with an open mind and allow Jay to implement HIS systems. I’m 100% sure they’ll be more fluid than what we’ve seen the past 4 years. I expect everyone to be able to handle the more hands-off approach and play a more reactionary style offense, because they all seem like intelligent players. Calderon’s general risk-averse style won’t change, but I have high hopes that his methods of achieving success within that style improve.
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I agree – coaching played a bigger role then we give credit (hey Doug Smith). Mitchell may have lit some fires in a few players, but he also affected player’s confidence – which is why I was glad to see him go.
If Jay gets a firm commitment from his top players, then I think we’ll see a positive influence from that part of the equation.
. RapthoseLeafs
I think a lot of the noted weakness in Calderon’s game stem from coaching; specifically overcoaching from Smitch.
Good point. You think Smitch forced Jose into looking for Bosh so often? I can buy that theory but part of me says that Smitch’s instructions were vague enough that anybody could do what they wanted, just look at Jamario Moon’s play. The guy did whatever he felt like whenever he felt like it. No way to verify though, another one of those things that only some game-action will tell.
Mo’Shats Smitch! :P
Smitch seemed more upset with Moon & Co. making bad defensive rotations than taking mo’ bad shats.
After acquiring Jermaine O’Neil, Smitch didn’t have much of a choice in terms of yanking players for doing what they wanted. Our depth was so bad that even a faltering Moon was better than the alternatives (a turnover-prone Kapono, an unconfident Joey).
When we did have depth the season prior, and Moon was starting, he played a much more defined role and didn’t break out of the mould. That’s why we were all so high on Moon in his rookie season.
I agree completely with Macy O’Baston. Calderon doesn’t defy his coach and follows instructions. This was evident when Triano became coach and Jose would look back out of habit to see if there was a play being called, only to find Triano yelling “GO GO GO!”.
I think with a new training camp and plenty of fresh faces to “break the habit” that Smitch set up will result in a much more fluid offense. If I were Triano I would focus most of my game on the drive into the paint. Ignoring the SG position, all 4 other projected starters can drive into the lane no problem, and all 4 of them are average to excellent shooters. The drive and kick makes a lot of sense for this group of players.
Smitch was also the coach that got him to turn the corner on the pick and roll and get to the rim.
Jose’s defence is subpar and he needs to improve it no matter how it’s sliced up.
Every player on this team needs to improve his game in some facet or another and for Jose it’s defence and offensive aggresivness.
lol this is a very good point…
Arse, I heard an interview with Triano and he said that Jose would do whatever he was asked to do. So after his rookie year they said, improve you shooting (he did… one of the most reliable shooters in the league now). They asked him to limit his turnovers (we know how that has turned out). This offseason they asked him to work on moving the ball faster up the court and his D….
It sounded as when the coach says jump… Jose said how high.
Why is everyone bashing Calderon? I dont understand why Toronto fans throw their own players under the bus or scrutinize even the smallest deficiency of a player. Calderon is a very good point guard.
And in my opinion is the perfect compliment to the starting five with regards to running an offense. Yes, he has defensive issues but the man will work on them and will be great this year.
Stop the hatin ya’ll…..
Go Raps Go!
It’s not hatin’, just opinion statin’!
Whether in a negative or positive spin, most posters just want to see him improve. I’ve been a Jose backer from his rookie season but I can honestly say he still needs to earn the ‘D’ in Calderon..
Thank you!!
I hear ya man. Personally I love Jose! He’s my fav Raptor. I believe he will be awesome this year…maybe an all-star. He is light years away from reaching his full potential. He will be an NBA great in time…ala Steve Nash. He is and will continue to grow with the Raps.
Jose is one of our strengths.
Nothing else to say.
did u mean that in a positive way or a negative way?
It’d be stupid to give our starting point guard a pass for the disaster that was last season. He’s still got lots to prove.
Criticize away, folks!
I agree that Calderon needs to be more assertive. Efficiency is great but I would be happy to see his production go up and the % go down a bit. He will definitely need to be off the ball more which I think could help him. He is a great shooter. I also get where you’re coming from with the hand clap thing. I think its rediculous but I do like his passion which is needed on a overall flat and quiet team. The list above of Guards who would be traded straight up is crazy but I do think he is a top 10-15 PG. He could be top 5-8 with the right adjustments. No issue with Jose as the PG of the present and future with Toronto for me!
I am confused….are you saying you wouldnt trade calderon straight up for rose, billups, harris, paul parker or williams? I am certain the GMs of those trades wouldnt even consider it. As for the rest of my list, if you disagree with it, and think Calderon is lower, please, speak up and say who is better or wouldnt be traded straight up?
Raptors need to be accountable on the defensive end to be successful. And that has to come form the coaches because they lack a true leader and don’t have a great defender to lead the way. That is Triano’s mission and he might defer to Ivoroni but they need to get that real aggression on that end to make the push to the top 4!
I’m just curious. Has anyone ever TRIED to play through a hamstring injury, let alone every other day for a full season? Let’s see how a healthy Jose performs this year before throwing him under the bus.
Is it October yet?
Finally a realistic assment of Calderone.
To me he is a perfect change of pace back up, especially if your starter is an up tempo shoot first guard(hello, TJ).
Calderone looked so good when he entered games after Fords poor decisions that everyone( well lots of people) suggested he was a potential all star if he had starters minutes.
Tell me, what teams in the NBA would trade their starter straight up, taking out contract considerations, for Jose?
Is he even in the top half of the league?
Yyes he can make good decisions, and he does not turn the ball over,but he is possibley the worst defending guard in the league and does not push tempo or take advantage of fast break opportunities, the easiest way to score in any league.
I predict Jack spelling him for long streaches, and I predict a good two man tandem al la the TJ days, only with Jose starting and Jack enetering the game to change the tempo and play some defence on nights Jose is being abused.
This will work as long as the other 4 postions contribute average offence and defence. It will not work if our 2 guard can’t defend or score, which reamins to bee seen.
Spewdog Millionaire
this was answered in the list above
article needs some editing
So does your post
Anyone else see him (Calderon) getting traded if he doesnt up his game?
I love Calderon and i want to see he play well in Toronto but if he becomes expendable with Hedo controling the ball more and Jack playing well. We have to look at our options.
Calderon is a valuable asset to have. PointGaurds are always in demand especially a point of Calderon’s skill.
All im saying is if he starts to not “fit” anymore we can get somebody who can and fill another need/role.
INFO
Agreed bro. Calderon is expendable. He really doesn’t add anything to the team. I’m a fan of Rajon Rondo and the guy can do anything on the court regardless of the Big 3. We could have have drafted him too in 2006.
With BC in the managment, there’s a very good chance that jose, marco, andrea and turk (maybe bosh) are going to be a lot of years in toronto. Jose isn’t going anywhere, he’s a very talented player, a good shooter and the type of player that makes everyone around him better, and that type isn’t everywhere, you always want a player like him, now we’ve got two of them, that’s why i have so much expectations for this team.
My guess, Jose and andrea will finish their carreers in toronto and both will be the best raptors ever in their positions. Something that this franchise lack, a true historic leader and if you consider VC one of them, let me tell you something, he wantend out!!!!!!! This team needs history, players that commited their whole careers to the franchise, someone like Reggie in to Indiana, Robinson to SAS or Patrick Ewing to NYK (MJ, Duncan, Kobe too but it’s very dificult to have someone like them)
I wish AP could finished his career here
I hope so. Great character guys to represent the organization.
Great post Raul.
Did we learn anything from last year? If we trade Calderon to fill another role, what does our PG depth look like? Jack and then?!! Douby or Belinelli or OR Turk as PG backup – or Turk as “point forward” as the cool kids say? We have barely two “true” point guards and I do not think one is “expendable”. Jack certainly can play there, but Douby’s not the best backup.
Lets just stop all this “trading Calderon” nonsense before it even starts. He’s not going anywhere, we don’t want him to go anywhere and lastly, he’s no going anywhere.
Douby’s not even a PG
JC trade talk already? Wow… The season really needs to start real soon!
agreed Dr_Claw, agreed.
Calderon has true competition now. Jack, Turkoglu that can play the point. He excelled in 2007 and 2008 because TJ Ford was starting and he wanted to really take the #1 spot from him. And it was a contract year so that helped too.
No excuses or bullshit now. He better produce or else jack will start. Simple as that
Another thing, I think the hamstring injury was an excuse. At the end of the season we won all those games because they were no pressure games against all bad teams. We would have won them without Calderon.
I think management blamed his leg because he wasn’t good enough to play starter minutes and lead the team.
i agree that they won the games because the pressure was off. But the hammy is a touch injury to play through. It makes you lose a step and thats why Calderon looked off.
Lets see him helathy this year and see what he brings. If he gets another injury he might be injury prone because his body isnt used to the heavy workload, and we as fans will have to deal with that.
You can’t be serious? Jose is an extremely competitive and proud person. He is a great guy who would never pull something like that. He was injured…it happens. Jose is our floor general. He will erase any doubts about him this season.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=OffseasonPredictions09-BestNewcomer
we shudda traded marcus banks for jefferson lolll
Funny quote from that article, talking about Marion:
“there’s no way he can shoot any worse from downtown than he did last season”
Obviously they haven’t seen him shoot. The fact that even 1% goes in is an unfathomable miracle.
I think most of you are mad because he had that injury last season. He played well but people do not quite see that. I think that, yes, he does not move much when the ball is not in his hands. He does not attack the basket as much as we would like him to. Those things develop overtime and I know he’s 28. Is it? Still, look on the other side, the better side. He is an excellent passer, exceptional FT shooter (probably the best in the league last year, correct me if I’m wrong). He is a natural team player, other teams know about him, he isn’t just another PG. So if you start to hate on him, please take a glance at his strengths first. Thank you.
He is not an excellent passer. He does not take any risks, ever. Do you watch the games? All he does is stay on the 3 point line and make a simple pass to whoever is opened for an easy assist. He plays no defense, doesn’t rebound, set hard screens, give any hard fouls, and got exposed last year with starting minutes. His body couldn’t handle it, so he got injured all season.
The whole team is a bunch of pussies collectively. They get there ass handed to them night in and night out and afterwards you see Bosh and Co hugging the players and smiling. What a Joke.
he is a excellent passer what your thinking of is that hes not an excellent “creator”.
If he was in the point gaurd skill challange he would probably win, He is so efficent and thats what that “challange/contest” is all about.
The defence is a little suspect, we all hope he improves. I think most fans believe in him and the coaches do too.
As for the toughness point. In short they were cashmere last year. But with the new additions we hope and believe there will be a new mantality for a toughness standpoint.
What screen setting, hard fouling, rebounding PG are you looking for? Sure those might be nice to have (not sure why you’d want your 1 setting screens, but I’ll go with it) but certainly not required for great PG play.
You can also question the legitimacy of the injury as an excuse, but to blame the player because he pulled a hammy? Yeah, what a pussy, his fucking muscles just do whatever they want. I remember when Garbo broke his ankle, he’s a bitch too…his body just can’t handle jumping and playing D. Now he’s out of the NBA, where he belongs.
I’m calling CB4, Turk, AB the big three of 2009/10.
Calderon/Jack are the next two key players.
Wright/Evans/Rasho – veteran role players.
DD/Belli/Amir – X factors, if two of these three players make noise this year, then we are talking homecourt in playoffs for sure.
Douby – improvement to Roko/Will in the 3rd string role.
Weems, POB, Banks – irrelevant.
I try not to let that nagging Raptors tv promo Jose is in influence my opinion of him,but it did.He’s a bit of a drama queen
Haha
Love the like/dislike click section
You will get disagree the whole time unless you kiss the Raptors players ass. Pathetic. Can’t speak your mind these days
Calderon cant play defense – 45
Calderon is an amazing defender + 45
This site never changes. A bunch of fucking faggots it seems.
Seriously dont bash the site because someone gives you a little red number (Ohh no its the end of the world). We get it you dont like getting dislikes but guess what none of us care. Talk about basketball stop whineing
Thanks.
And why do you keep coming back again? Speaking of adding toughness, its not just the Raptors that need to do it….
Why stop at faggots? Isn’t everyone else retards, gooks, chinks, and wetbacks too?
Everyone is willing to listen to reasoned opinions, either positive or negative. Try it sometime.
whats a gook lmao
Slur against East-Asians, specifically Vietnamese people.
Slur against Vietnamese people.
Completely agree with the first paragraph. Well said because that’s what I tell all my friends who think he’s some sort of superhero.
i must say your dislike for jose is fairly superficial. Just because his manuerisms annoy you shouldnt mean you rag on him. they could be worse, he could be avoiding the huddle during time outs like cb did.
also if you want your point guard not to average 8-10 assists a game i question your sanity. yes he is skittish about making mistakes but on a team that will likely hoist up more jumpers then layups it is good to have a bit of ball control to avoid the rush going the other way.
just because turk and jack can handle the ball doesnt mean you want jose’s role to diminish to that of a shooter from the corner. the more peopel who can move and handle the ball the better. and getting cb involved with the offense is not a fault. you want your allstar witht he ball in his hands. on a team like this you want jose right around 13-14 pts and 8-10 assists and turk at 18-20 pts and 4-5 assists. to avoid turks superior scoring skills would be a travesty
I have a nice stat for you. It has to do with the people who voted on the best ever raptors matchup. 73% of you are idiots. How can you pick calderon instead of dell curry? Calderon is a piece of shit.
1) does not enter the paint (even though he’s a 98% free throw shooter)
2) does not take any risks
3) can’t play defense
4) can’t play help defense
= $8 million a year
= waste of money
Let’s see how far calderon makes it in the best raptors ever tournament.
Breaking news: people hate Jose Calderon based entirely on irrational opinions ignoring statistical evidence to the contrary.
Further bulletins as events warrant.
Well, if you’re only going to look at shooting efficiency and assists/turnovers then yes, Calderon is going to look like a top point guard. However, you would be ignoring a great deal of other statistical and contextual evidence that doesn’t shine too brightly on Jose.
Fair enough. Please name one area where Calderon is — statistically — notably deficient to the league average at his position.
I think you’ll find he either far exceeds, meets or is only MARGINALLY below average in every measurable way.
Like this? http://www.wagesofwins.com/UnderPaid0809.html
Wins Produced encompasses both offensive and defensive efficiency.
It takes into account: FGA, FTA, TO, Rebound’s (offensive and defensive), etc.
Forget the excuse that he was injured, he managed to produce 11.5 wins (WP48 score of 0.236) for the Raptors while earning $7.4M
Baron Davis produced a whopping 1.5 wins (a WP48 score was less than 1/4 of Jose – BD was 0.032) while earning $12.1M or 64% more than Jose.
Rank the PGs by salary, offensive ratings, subjective defensive ratings and see where Jose ranks. You may come to a different conclusion.
Dell was one dimensional. He was perhaps the best shooter we have ever had. That entire list you made up with regard to Jose could apply to dell as well….
However with Jose:
1) best FT% ever in the league
2) best assist : turnover ratio for 3 years running (and has destroyed everyone else may I add)
3) 50% shooting and 40% from 3 (make me a list of pgs or players who do that)
4) top 3 in assists last year
5) all on a team that played poorly
How about the elusive 50/40/90 Club. I cant remember who has done it (Nash, Bird, Miller). There has only been a few in leauge HISTORY. He did it 2 years ago but didnt take enough free throws for it to count, last year he “only” shot 49.7% from the field.
I think its safe to say he will one day be apart of that group of players.
He will have the most assists in franchise history and that means alot in the discussion of “Greatest Rap Ever”.
In regards to Jose’s defense… I would like to mention a few things.
1) there was a significant improvement with Jose’s defense in the last quarter of the year. This was likely due to a few factors
i) healed injury
ii) the improvement in Bargs play (specifically D) and the presence of Marion on the wing. These 2 helped cover for Jose.
2) how many PGs in this league do we actually consider good defenders. In fact how many pgs in the history of the league are remembered for their defense? There are ofcourse Payton and Stockton as some of the best recent examples, and last year I’d put Paul and Rondo on the list as the best defending pgs. But I guarantee when you talk about the best defenders in the league PGs rarely come up. You hear, D-Howard, D-Wade, Battier, Artest etc. This is because the PG is the TOUGHEST position to defend. You need to move side to side and backwards while your opponent is moving forward after making the first move (ie. the defender needs to react/anticipate) Defenders at point get burned on a regular basis, having to cover the quickest guy on the court is always a challenge. There lies a big responsibility on the wings and bigs to help, rotate and choose correctly (ie. you don’t step off Lebron, but you can step off Desmond Mason and help).
When it comes to screen and role defense the most important factor is how the big reacts. 1) calling out a screen 2) knowing whether to challenge the pg or stay on his man 3) enforcing his position (ie. blocking/altering a shot or hard foul to prevent an easy bucket… making them think twice about come into the lane next time) There is a need for a pg to fight through, go under or go over the screen ofcourse, but he is put in the most vulnerable position during this play.
Now, that said I’m not saying Jose is a supreme defender ( I see him more as a average defender)… I’m just saying I don’t think his defense is as bad as people think, especially in comparison to other PGs in the league. There is definetely the right to be critical of his D…. but I think we’ll find that a healthy Jose with some better (and hopefully improved) defenders around him, his D will not need to be a major concern for us.
It’s odd that everyone seems to label JJ a great defender and JC a poor one when you look at their numbers from last year.
Jack – Opponent Counterpart 48-Minute Production: PER 17.7
Calderon – Opponent Counterpart 48-Minute Production: PER 16.3
Overall, JC had a PER of 20.9 last season while Jack had a PER of 12.2
Net, JC is +4.6 PER at his position per 48 while Jack is -5.5
Keep in mind as well that Calderon put these numbers up playing 35 minutes against starting 1’s, while Jack split much of his time playing short portions and started as the back up point guard against back up opponents.
The grass is always greener. Raps fans are notorious for driving talent out of town and embracing mediocre players based purely on perceived effort.
Just because someone sweats more and falls more doesn’t make them a better player. Conversely, just because someone is efficient doesn’t mean they aren’t trying (see: Sundin, Mats).
Excellent post with analysis. Thanks Simon!
i dont mind jose, not a huge fan, but defintly not a hater, he is a good point gaurd to have, i hate his defence so me personally would start jack, but jose rarely makes mistakes how can u be mad at that? i kno he should take more risk but as somebody mentioned that had alot to do with coaching. as for the trade talks, that should just stop, if ppl wanted to wait on ukic, how can u turn ur back on jose already, give him 2 more years to proove he can be that guy. his upside overpowers his weakness, plus if he can just step up his D he will have a all star buzz again (but wont make the team) areanas/rose/rondo have that locked up
off topic
only one rap can be a all star and thats bosh
turk isnt a all star, but even if he was to much compitition at sf in the east
AB aint happining (shaq & D12)
we get no all star love north of the boarder, when we gon have the all starr game at the ACC
Some of the comments posted above are just ridiculous. Are the people who talked about trading Jose serious??
His defense could obviously improve, but I think some people have not watched a Raptors game in a while (theres reruns on RapsTV every day!). Jose is what makes this team go and definitely pushes the ball.
Some of the dumber comments were the ones that said he didnt pass to players other than Bosh. Well, Anthony Parker wasn’t exactly the best 2 in the league, and Kapono couldn’t dribble a ball without traveling or sending it out of bounds. O’Neal hardly tried, and the rest of the bench was a joke. Should he NOT be passing to the team’s best player and ALL-STAR?
All of these people saying the Raptors should trade him will jump right back onto the bandwagon when the Raps start winning meaningful games again. Jack is a really good source of motivation for Jose to improve on that sad defence though.
When i talked about Jose getting traded it was just an oppion on what happens if he becomes expendable if Turk controls the ball more and Jack excedes expectations.
I never said we SHOULD trade him it was just a question if anyone sees it happening if he regresses and the points i made above happens too.
I never said to trade him and i just wanted to clear that up.
Turk is a good ballhandler for his size, but you do NOT want him playing a PG type game for any stretch of time.
Thus, your depth chart would be Jack / Douby. Jack wears down beyond 30 min (in the words of a Indy blogger) So you have Douby playing a 1/3 of a game.
No thank you.
What a typoical Toronto fan. You are picking apart a guy for not being perfect. No one is complete. Parker and Paul can’t defend in the post! So, they suck!
Jose defended much better late in the year when he was a bit healthy.Virtually no guard can stop dribble penetration by any starting PG in the league. Why slam Jose for that? Does he defend in a team defence? We’ll see. I think he’ll do well enough. We still do not have much defensive intimidation inside- well Evans might clothesline you , but he won’t block shots. Who do the guards angle drivers to?
Funny enough, as bad a team defender Bargnani is perceived to be, he’s a decent shot blocker. If he learns better positioning with regards to team D, he can be a consistent presence around the defensive basket. Amir Johnson and Chris Bosh have the tools to do this as well, I hope they can find it within themselves (maybe the coaching staff can push them too) to commit to protecting the bucket.
Bosh will never be a shot blocker at the NBA level…
Or any other level… that was one of the knocks on him coming out of college… “has good quickness, athleticism and length yet blocks surprisingly few shots”…
Just throwing it out there…Maybe Jose was so successful in the past has more to do with him being an unknown European.
Also, for all those people saying everyone needs to stop “hatin’” on Jose for one bad season and questioning others on whether they had ever played through a hamstring injury needs to realize there is more unfounded optimism than pessimism with Raptors fans regarding Jose Calderon (75% of the replies on this post seems to backup my generalization).
It seems to me Jose was given an opportunity to be a starter last year and failed. Bad backups and injury excuses aside the fact remains the point was a weak position for the Raptors last year, although maybe not the weakest. My point being, instead of me having to give Jose another season before I am even allowed to begin to criticize him (whats to say he doesn’t re-injure his hamstring and tries to play through it again). I’m going to keep my assessment of Jose and give him the next season to prove me wrong.
Just because some believe Jose Calderon is an above average point guard does not mean we’re “optimistic”. Some of us backed up our view. It could be said we’re just being honest – he’s a good player that helps his team win many more games than lose them.
Tons of teams would kill to have have their point guard put up 13 points and 9 assists on 50/40/90 shooting in a “bad year.”
Also, I’m glad someone brought up opponent PER – because solely based on that Calderon isn’t a bad defender at all. He held opposing PGs to a PER of 16.3 – that’s comparable to the opponent PERs of Rajon Rondo, Chauncey Billups, and Mo Williams. There are a lot of starting PGs with worse marks than Jose Calderon. 16.3 appears to be about average, maybe slightly above.
Now I’m not saying opponent PER tells us everything or even all that much, but its certainly worth noting. Perhaps the claims of Jose’s ineptness on D are exaggerated.
In his rookie and soph year Amir Johnson’s PER was 20….
Yes? And? I’m talking about opponent PERs.
And what’s Amir got do with it?
Calderon is what we have and we just got to deal with it. he was the better player than TJ and unfortunately TJ was the measuring stick. little did we know TJ smells like garbage particularly during a garbage strike. if calderon was backing up CP3 for example, he wouldn’t of looked as good and there would have never been expectations put on him, especially high ones. I think Jordan Farmar could start in the nba, but he backs up derek fisher so he doesn’t look as good. Calderon is what he is, and i think he’s a player that can lead us somewhere. He is a passionate player that seldom makes mistakes. he needs players that conform to that style–that is, a bunch of team players that also have one-on-one skills. no more specialists such as, anthony parker and kapono where jose has to do all the work so they can perform their speciality–that strategic approach was futile.