RJ, are you for real?

Great write-up.

I’ve been asking myself all the same questions lately, and the best I can figure out is that after me defending him for two years but ultimately coming out in favor of using our amnesty on him whether or not we signed a replacement, RJ is simply trying to make me feel like a douchebag.

I can take it, RJ. Make me look like a douchebag through June (a junebag?) and I’ll love you forever.

I don’t think he will keep shooting this well (no one would) but I do believe he will be better than last year due to several factors (some overlap and some are contradictory or can work against him):

1. One more year in the system. A cliché but true.
2.

The attitude is better, and he’s showing a hunger and desire that I haven’t seen.

Maybe not the best of indicators since this can change overnight but still.
3.

Also, it doesn’t hurt that he’s getting his rotations and spacing down.

4. He will carry less of a load in both minutes, scoring and defensive assignments due to our depth improvement at the wings.
5. The amnesty threat will fuel him. Making him play like is contract year every year until the clause is used or his contract actually expires. (I’m crediting CIA Pop and PAFTO for this).
6. He has competition at his position.
7. Everyone thinks he faded last season and playoffs and it’s true, but it’s also true that most of the team did. Like Pop said, the whole team underperformed against Memphis, why single out RJ? Our bigs looked helpless against theirs. Tony was either a wash or even outplayed by Conley; and Manu, George and RJ were against 2 of the best wing defenders in the league.
8. We now have TJ giving us at least one playmaker at all times. George was simple not one.
9. Look at his shooting motion, specially on catch and shoot situations, is a thing of beauty. One fluid movement and no hesitation.
10. He has looked for his shots (and making them) when the team seems to be running out of clock.

He’s for real. I was going to write something about this, but in short, I think he won’t be amnestied if he stays at this confident level. Leonard, although he’ll demand more minutes, likely won’t have a shot that clean for a few years.

Who knows how the JA/Green/Neal thing will roll out.

Unless they really think they can grab someone with cap space, I doubt he gets cut. He’s too valuable just to drop.

I blame his drop off last year on RJ, but the other 50% on the coaching staff. They started to go to more 4-down toward the end of the season.

Also, he’s taking more threes that he would have passed up last year or the year before due to defender proximity. There have been several times that the defender has a pretty good jump out to the perimeter when RJ catches the ball, and he just lets it fly no matter how hard they’re coming or how close they get. It’s quite beautiful to behold.

Good stuff… this 3-point pace will be very tough to maintain, but if he can hit somewhere in the mid- to high-40s, percentage-wise, and continue to work on the boards I’ll be satisfied. Really, as long as he hits ANYTHING in the playoffs (assuming SA makes the playoffs, that is) I’ll be satisfied. Isn’t that what it will really come down to: hitting these shots when it counts the most?

I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that RJ finishes the season averaged 13.5 ppg, and shoots 50% from 3. He’ll also be the most well rounded SF we’ve had since Sean Elliott, and he won’t disappoint us in the playoffs this year…unless the whole team no shows again.

I thought he was for real last season except when he flopped in the playoffs. We should always keep in mind that he is at best the 4th option, and last year with George Hill he was the 5th option a lot. I think a lot of people expect him to produce like he did in NJ or Milwaukee but those situations were completely different. In NJ he played with Kidd who at that time of Kidd’s career was just going to inflate anyone’s stats with the way he rebounded and broke out so quickly, head always up and rarely looking to score for himself. And in Milwaukee RJ was the number one scoring option, ball in his hands a ton.

With Manu out he is the 3rd guy (Even though Timmy doesn’t score as much as he used to he still gets more touches than RJ ever will) so his numbers should be up but I think it’s all about efficiency and sometimes it’s hard for players to be efficient when they don’t get many touches. I think RJ is beyond that and his comfort level is sky high and in turn so is his confidence and productivity. He won’t keep up his 3-point percentage but like Tynan said, if he stays in the 40’s I’ll be stoked. Also his playoff outing will determine a lot of how much of this year was a success for him.

I think that me and Grego21 have defended RJ for the past year. I wrote a fan shot last year on how Rj’s usage was one of the worst in the NBA not just among starters but the entire NBA he was around 260-270 range. this year he’s at 214.

I have defended him forever. I needed an alley oop but im calling it now.

RJ for MIP!!!!!

Really, we could just ask, “Spurs, are you for real?” It’s not just RJ that we don’t quite trust. No matter how good the team looks at times, and even if they real off an incredible record like last season, it’s the playoffs that we will use to judge them by. We are a bit spoiled that way.

He’s really playing great right now and I hope he doesn’t fade…