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Arenas and Van Gundy Struggle to Find Common Ground

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...and Stan's not letting him off the hook.

 

Yes, because we all *know* how reasonable Stan is in terms of putting people in the dog house. :rolleyes:

 

Remember when he basically benched Ryan Anderson for a good while because of some defensive lapses? Ryan is ballin' right now, and the only reason why we get to see Ryan ball so hard is because the trades forced Stan to play him. You can't tell me it was fair for SVG to bench Ryan for that long given the amount of talent he has.

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How can we expect Arenas to put up points with Ryan Anderson on the floor 28jfqkw.gif

 

But in all seriousness, I think he just needs time. He needs court time, practice time, anything he can get. Arenas has been haunted with injuries throughout his past (and hasn't been playing enough NBA ball recently), and now he is out of D.C. after 8 years. He needs to become comfortable with the team and with his body.

 

IMO only time will tell if he can achieve that swagger and production he once had.

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Yes, because we all *know* how reasonable Stan is in terms of putting people in the dog house. :rolleyes:

 

Remember when he basically benched Ryan Anderson for a good while because of some defensive lapses? Ryan is ballin' right now, and the only reason why we get to see Ryan ball so hard is because the trades forced Stan to play him. You can't tell me it was fair for SVG to bench Ryan for that long given the amount of talent he has.

 

Some defensive lapses? Along with Brandon Bass, their defensive inefficiencies make an average defender like Rashard Lewis look like a member of the all-defensive team. He was benched because his play made him the odd man out while we still had Gortat. Stan's approach is actually pretty simple: the better you do your job, the more you play. If Arenas doesn't want to change his ways, he can stick with his 20 minutes a game.

 

He was brought in here to revitalize his career and be an attacking scorer, not to continue to be Mr. Inconsistency.

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Some defensive lapses? Along with Brandon Bass, their defensive inefficiencies make an average defender like Rashard Lewis look like a member of the all-defensive team.

 

Oh quit exaggerating. First off, I'm not going to touch on Brandon Bass, because he is most definitley a terrible defender. But quit acting like RA is just as bad, because he's not, merely for the fact that RA doesn't miss as many rotations

 

He was benched because his play made him the odd man out while we still had Gortat.

 

Do you not remember that game? RA had some defensive lapses in the first couple of minutes in the game, and after that, was benched for a good while. He didn't even see the light of day until Shard left. Had Shard still been here, we would continue to see his 3-point bricks instead of Ryan Anderson's swishes.

 

Stan's approach is actually pretty simple: the better you do your job, the more you play. If Arenas doesn't want to change his ways, he can stick with his 20 minutes a game.

 

I am not saying that Stan should reward Arenas for playing terribly. What I am saying is that he needs to ease up a little bit on snagging that leash every time Gilbert makes a mistake. He's a point guard trying to learn a brand new system.

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Do you not remember that game? RA had some defensive lapses in the first couple of minutes in the game, and after that, was benched for a good while. He didn't even see the light of day until Shard left. Had Shard still been here, we would continue to see his 3-point bricks instead of Ryan Anderson's swishes.

 

It was against the Jazz, and they weren't defensive lapses, they were total breakdowns of focus, including two quick turnovers on the offensive end. That pushed him to the end of the line behind Lewis, Bass, and Gortat. Also, important to note, Stan's starting lineup that game included Lewis and Anderson together as the starting forwards, so he also was factoring into the SF playing time as well (by Lewis sliding down). That won't be happening again any time soon.

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I like that Stan holds Arenas accountable, as he did JJ, Bass, Anderson and Wince in the past. Arenas makes terrible passes which are easy to steal and he lacks effort on defense. If he is a real pro, he should be pissed and get his @ss in gear. He can help the team like everyone else, by playing great defense, guarding his man and not the half @ss efforts. Do that and your offense will come back with your confidence. Please dont let this be another failed trade for Magic like Wince was. Remember Stan didnt trade for Arenas (or Wince), his father figure Otis did. Other than dumping Lewsi contract, I could never figure out why Otis brought Areanas here. The Magic wont have a chance at a championship run this year unless coach does what is best for the team, not what is best for one individual. I heard all the same whinning on this board here for Wince, lets not start this all again for another pro who's best years are behind him.

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I don't understand why Magic traded for Arenas. Lewis had less years on his terrible contract and I think it would have been better to bench Lewis and play him 15-18 minutes a game at PF and SF positions (same minutes Arenas is playing now for the same money). Bass and Anderson could still get their playing time and Bass even could have a minor surgery to repair his knee. Duhon was really bad this year but it does not look like Gilbert is better than him right now. Duhon is much better defender, plays harder and less turnover prone...

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I don't understand why Magic traded for Arenas. Lewis had less years on his terrible contract and I think it would have been better to bench Lewis and play him 15-18 minutes a game at PF and SF positions (same minutes Arenas is playing now for the same money). Bass and Anderson could still get their playing time and Bass even could have a minor surgery to repair his knee. Duhon was really bad this year but it does not look like Gilbert is better than him right now. Duhon is much better defender, plays harder and less turnover prone...

I would almost be inclined to agree with you other than the fact that Duhon actually is downright turrible. He's a better defender, that's about all. Plays harder? Fat chance.....less turnover prone? He may not be as horrible a decision maker as Gilbert is at times, but he "compensates" by stalling any offensive tempo/flow to the game....mostly by using up about 29 seconds of the shot clock...

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I would almost be inclined to agree with you other than the fact that Duhon actually is downright turrible. He's a better defender, that's about all. Plays harder? Fat chance.....less turnover prone? He may not be as horrible a decision maker as Gilbert is at times, but he "compensates" by stalling any offensive tempo/flow to the game....mostly by using up about 29 seconds of the shot clock...

 

Agree...But if Arenas does not improve then his contract will simply destroy us. To pay so much money (20 millions a year) for a non productive back up PG is ridiculous not to mention that we are losing all the salary cap flexibility, which could be regained after Lewis contract would expire.

 

Once again I would love to have Lewis coming of the bench now than Arenas. Rashard would have been much more productive in a reserve role.

 

But lets hope Arenas will get in shape, become healthier and play better...

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Lewis was given (rightly so) star status in the team. THERE WAS NO WAY he was coming off the bench for 15 minutes

(unlike Arenas, who can be benched any time cause he's a scorched card and you need no excuses to forget him in the bus).

 

So between an overpaid game-loser in the starting lineup and an overpaid game-loser on the bench, i'll gladly pay 20 million more to have the latter.

 

Hands down.

 

The other upside is that there is a (remote/good?) chance Arenas gets back to 50% of what he used to be in 2006 (daddy Otis, etc..), which would be pretty much HUGE. Sh*t, even in that game a couple of months ago in DC, which went to the wire, Arenas had the ball in the closing seconds and all we could do was pray that he misses.

 

Even now, Arenas is as clutch as the 2010 Rashard Albatross Edition and about 6 times clutcher than Wince.

He's trash on D. But as has been discussed above, so was Ryan. Big deal.

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Did anyone here ever see Chauncey Billups play before Larry Brown got a hold of him? The guy had a lot of the same issues on D: lack of focus, downright laziness. He also struggled as a point guard on a team that ran plays and made more than one pass per possession. The guy had a lot to learn about being a real point guard, and Larry Brown drove him crazy making him one. But in the end he said he owed all the success in his career to Larry Brown. As other posters have said, Gilbert is a mass of bad habits. He was when he was an superstar, he just made so many good plays you forgot the bad ones. He's not that guy anymore, and he will never be again. And that is OK. If he gets rid of those bad habits and learns to make good shots and good passes and play hard on defense, he might be more valuable to a contending team than he ever would have been then. And there is hope that he can do that. He seems dedicated to making it work in Orlando (as dedicated as one can seem after a only a few weeks), so hopefully he will work hard and improve. If not, Stan just won't play him as much. But we won't know much about whether or not he will work out in Orlando until at least this year's playoffs. Everything with PGs takes time.

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