CJ is the main reason the Pels lose

I blame Green for just sitting there with all his timeouts and allowing that BS. He has no command over the team.

Dude the whole fricking team sucks, fat pussies sitting the bench, terrible play in the clutch when it matters. We Lose in play in. Book it.

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Are they though?

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Exactly. This game might make you think otherwise

CJ was excellent the first half of the year playing mainly as a catch and shoot guy. He clearly struggles when he tries to be the focal point of the offense and he’s a horrible playmaker.

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He clearly struggles when he tries to be the focal point of the offense and he’s a horrible playmaker.

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Which makes you question is he really a third star or just a rotational vet?

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Which makes you question is he really a third star or just a rotational vet?

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Absolutely correct.
He is absolutely fine but he isn’t 36 fricking million in cap space fine.

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CJ is like a 13 year vet with zero basketball IQ. It’s relatively confounding bc he’s seemingly a well spoken, smart guy off the court. Yet, his basketball IQ is lower than say a 3rd year, Jalen Green type player.

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I watched his presser last night and just to be clear Im not excusing any of his horrid play recently. But it just feels like this coaching staff has put everything on CJ and they are going to live/die with the results. When hes struggling that much- thats where a coach tries to devise a play or scheme to get him or the team a better shot. Our staff does none of this ever. In fact CJ in his presser states its up to ME to get us a better shot in the closing minutes than the Herb blocked shot. Meanwhile not once does Willie take ownership that we need to help CJ and make sure we’re putting him in the best position to succeed.

To me this is the divide thats going on between the players and the staff. Its ALL on the players. When your down two key stars, your coaching staff has to help you- draw up plays, devise schemes, make advantageous lineups, etc. None of this is happening. Basically the gameplan was CJ jack up shots and we’ll live/die by that.

Finally both CJ and Willie were asked how is the locker room after this 4 game losing streak during this time of year. Willie responds by stating I am always positive and we’re handling the adversity. When CJ was asked this- he gets a bit upset and says what do you want us to say we’ve lost 4 straight basically the vibe obviously isnt great. Personally, I thought that was telling- I just don’t think the players are buying Willie’s do nothing positivity through adversity bullshite anymore.

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yes he sucked badly in the 2nd half last night.

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You know what would be just the silliest shite ever? Putting CJ at the top of the key and trey on the wing and dropping the ball into Jonas to facilitate.

Just a silly idea I had. I'm just a fricking message board poster, no way that idea is a better concept than what we trotted out last night

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CJ is forced to take more shots than he wants

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No such thing.

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He doesn't remotely play the same way when both or even one of Zion or BI are playing

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For sure, by design CJ is a secondary option, and for the most part, has played well in this role. Here's the rub with CJ though, for all his acumen, he has always lacked court awareness. For better or worse BI and Zion defer to their teammates, its one of the things I like best about their games. CJ does not have that gene and unchecked his whole focus becomes to get his. It's Coach Green's job to check him and with the season tilting he has not done so.

I'd argue that not only last night's debacle, CJ has cost the Pels two other games in the homestand. You have a team without Zion and BI where you still have scorers in Val, TM3, Herb, and Hawk who are capable scorers but CJ gives them no air. The game plan to feature CJ was flawed (prior history), but to unnecessarily continue with it reflects poorly on Coach Green and CJ.