Flip needs a short leash

[exodus]

Pretty funny? Try hilarious! You have got to be kidding me! What is the point of getting to the rim if you can't finish or create an easy shot for your teammate? You act like Acie was breaking people down off the dribble and then getting all the way to the rim only to miss an easy layup (or to dish the ball to Shelden, Zaza, Solo or Blo and watch them miss the layup).

corrected

And yes Acie was beating guys off the dribble regularly but he clearly struggled to finish with much taller guys around. He doesn't put his layup high off the glass. he puts them up just barely over the rim inviting blocks which happened way too frequently. He also didn't use his floater enough.

He took 7 treys in ONE game. In the other 6 preseason games he was 6-13 from 3 (which is pretty dang good).

Smith was 3-6 from 3 vs Boston in Game 3 but that doesn't mean he should be shooting 3s. He was 0-12 from 3 the rest of the series.

Flip is a career 28% shooter from 3. Even if he has improved he shouldn't be looking to shoot 3s very often.

"That might be true most of the time but when you see Dwight "The Manimal" Howard throwing Al's attempt at a turnaround J into the 10th row, you might be hesitant to give it to him a lot in the low post in that matchup. "

If Al is going to be a future All-Star as you seem to believe he is going to have to score on other quality bigs. He isn't going to get many all-star votes getting owned by other bigs like Howard or even Bogut.

It is preseason which is the perfect time to get Horford more touches and confidence.

"Besides, all Acie did was stand around and watch for that ENTIRE game."

Ray Allen and Rashard were frequently reduced to doing nothing and watching the Flip show in Seatle. I used to watch some of their games on LP after the Hawks game ended and Flip could put on a show at times. But he could also take the other guys out of the game completely.

"Flip may not be a pure PG but he sure as heck played the point well against us last year when we went to Indy last April desperately needing a win at the time and he lit us up for 20 pts, 10 assists and 3 rebounds in 30 minutes and Indy kicked our butts. "

Flip has plenty of talent. He can beat guys off the dribble fairly easily and is probably a better than average defender.

But he had the 9th highest usage rate in the NBA last season. The only players that had higher usage rates than Flip were Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Baron Davis, Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James and Joe Johnson. That should be self explanatory.

I think he can be an asset if he gets his head on straight. Barring that it is up to Woody to keep him in check.

[Traceman]

You may be right about Woody's thoughts but I think Bibby does a better job of bringing the ball up and initiating the offense with more ticks on the clock left, even if that means just handing the ball off to Joe.

The more Joe works off the ball, the more looks we can throw at opponents because Joe is by far and away our most consistently dangerous outside shooter.

EDIT: and that doesn't even take into account the wear and tear factor of Joe trying to beat guys the length of the floor on every trip.

I don't know why JJ brings it up so much but I would rather see Bibby bring it up too. I don't know if Bibby gets it up any quicker but I agree that we can give opponents more looks with JJ playing off the ball.