OdontoBear66;842242784 said:
And the team isn't going anywhere (by your definition) if Jabari does not get engaged. He did not contribute Friday night, and MM sat him. This is what MM does. Is this the end of JB? Heck no. It is a wake up call. He needs to get over his temporary pity party, and all will be well. A bit of defense would help too.
+1 I could not agree more.
I predicted before he came to Cal that Jabari would have problems initially, because from what I saw in the ProAm and high school clips was that Jabari did not play defense at all. His idea of defense seemed to be standing up, and when his man beat him off the dribble, Jabari would take a swipe at the ball as the player went by. Being the extraordinary athlete that he is, Jabari would actually get a steal once in a while with that technique. But that technique is something that you must put aside after the 7th grade, if you have any sort of knowledgeable coaching at all.
The reason Jabari would have problems initially playing at Cal is that Montgomery is primarily a defensive coach, and Jabari does not yet have the skills or the desire to play tough defense. Playing defense requires much more hard work than playing offense, in practice, and in the game, and it is much less rewarding than playing offense. Offensive stats and dunks and threes and fancy moves are what is glamorous and what pleases the player and fans alike, while defensive stats are few, and stats like steals and blocks do not really indicate how well a player is playing defense.
Jabari has a lot on his plate, as far as learning how to play for Mike Montgomery. Defensively, not only does he have to learn basic defensive position and movement, but he has to learn to play both man-to-man and zone defenses. That in itself is a load. Offensively, he has to learn Montgomery's system, which requires numerous responsiblities. He is a scorer, so his primary responsibility is to find ways to get open. He is more talented than Allen Crabbe was as a freshman, because he already has a variety of shots, and he needs to learn how to get open for all of them. Crabbe, when he arrived, had one shot, the long jump shot, so it was easier for Crabbe to concentrate on just getting open for that. Bird also needs to learn to set good screens, and how to block out on rebounding. Finally, Jabari has to learn how to mesh with his teammates, both defensively and offensively, so they can play as a unit. He has to go from being the star high school player to being a team player who is growing into a star college player. It is a very tall order, and many high school stars fail at this. Jabari won't, and Montgomery will see to that. He will know when to be tough with Jabari, and when to pat him on the back. Montgomery can't allow Jabari Bird to turn into another D.J. Seeley, sulking on the bench and eventually transferring. Jabari Bird is too valuable to him and to the team to allow that to happen.
:Monty