Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 11:00 am  |  21 responses

The Struggles of one Richard Jefferson

RJ was brought in to inject some life into the Spurs and provide a scoring punch. Thus far, he has failed on both fronts, and the team sits at a somewhat unbelievable .500: “Eighteen games into his first season in San Antonio, Jefferson — a scoring star whose offseason arrival heralded the Spurs’ seriousness about challenging the Lakers in the West — is still struggling to find his niche in a new town. He is averaging 12.8 points per game, little more than Michael Finley provided the Spurs at small forward last season. In his past five games, Jefferson has reached 10 points just once. ‘It’s not about what my numbers should be,’ said Jefferson, who owns a career scoring average of 17.6 points. ‘I’ve been on teams where I’ve averaged 20 points and not made the playoffs. For me to take a step back and find my groove on a team that’s getting wins, I’d much rather have that.’ Right now, Jefferson is getting the worst of both worlds. The Spurs have lost three in a row, spiraling to 9-9 in advance of tonight’s game against Sacramento. And Jefferson is still in search of his elusive groove.”

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  • Sparker Posted: Dec.9 at 11:04 am
    jefferson hasn’t really been good for years, no matter what the numbers say. since he used to play w j kidd, we need to ask: was he ever?

  • Z Posted: Dec.9 at 11:13 am
    i never really respected his skillset. the fact that jkidd reached the finals twice with a whole starting unit that couldn’t create for themselves shows you about how awesome he was in his prime.

  • Clark Posted: Dec.9 at 11:26 am
    It seems like Jefferson is almost taking this defensive thing too seriously. Does he realize the other starter is Keith Bogans, who is obviously not in for his offense. That means that Jefferson has to do something on the offensive end, otherwise you have 2 non-threat wings and no offense.

  • chiqo Posted: Dec.9 at 11:26 am
    if someone would tell rj that he’s not bruce bowen, he’d do a lot better. i can’t count how many times i’ve seen him miss the corner three. take it to the hole, medium-sized man.

  • Rob Posted: Dec.9 at 11:29 am
    LOL, I remember when they said the Spurs were gonna challenge the Lakers this year.Hahahahahaha.
    Spurs are gonna lose tonight by the way. ‘Reke’s gonna play awesome, chec him out!

  • ClydeSays Posted: Dec.9 at 12:39 pm
    RJ would be better off on a team where he was option 1 or 2 with a playmaking PG. He’s option #4 if he’s on the floor with TD, Parker and Manu. Also, he’s expected to play consistent D on the wing. Not sure he’s every been a lockdown defender.

  • ClydeSays Posted: Dec.9 at 12:39 pm
    RJ would be better off on a team where he was option 1 or 2 with a playmaking PG. He’s option #4 if he’s on the floor with TD, Parker and Manu. Also, he’s expected to play consistent D on the wing. Not sure he’s every been a lockdown defender.

  • Tommy Patron Posted: Dec.9 at 12:47 pm
    IMO Jefferson is a lane filler, meaning he is an effective wing on the break, but has never been a very good shooter or able to create offense. I think the problem with the Spurs is a lack of playmaking. Parker is not a playmaker for others, which leaves just TimBot to facilitate.

  • monkeyball Posted: Dec.9 at 12:55 pm
    While I don’t think the Spurs can challenge the Lakers this year, you can be sure they will come back and get a solid seed for the playoffs. It’s not the first time the Spurs get off to a slow start.

  • Anton Posted: Dec.9 at 1:18 pm
    Jefferson needs to settle down with a man

  • larrylegend Posted: Dec.9 at 1:46 pm
    co sign Z to the fullest

  • underdog Posted: Dec.9 at 2:01 pm
    Never sleep on the Spurs.

  • vtrobot Posted: Dec.9 at 2:20 pm
    like k-mart, jkidd made him look much better than he actually ever was. F the spurs.

  • Sarah Posted: Dec.9 at 2:31 pm
    Spurs will challenge.

  • rcbuford Posted: Dec.9 at 2:37 pm
    haha, love how people who dont know crap about the Spurs think that somehow they are finished just because of a 9-9 record. I remember the year we, err, they started 9-10 and won the championship. Keep thinking they’re done NBA fan so when all of a sudden u look up and see them crushing your fav team u can kick urself and say they did it again.

  • Trout Posted: Dec.9 at 4:56 pm
    If there was any team in the whole league that will always confound the critics haters and non believers it’s go to be the spurs. Ever since they drafted Duncan they have been relentless they may not win the chip every year but they don’t make easy for anyone. Jefferson may not be there yet just wait til after all star weekend I reckon it will all click by then.

  • MikeC. Posted: Dec.9 at 11:48 pm
    Everyone writes off the Spurs during the first half of the season when they don’t roar out of the gates and go 17-3 by the quarter pole. The Spurs roll along, doing what they do every year. They always start slow, play around .500 ball for half the year, then rip off a couple 6 or 7 game win streaks in the second half of the season, and go into the playoffs as a 3 or 4 seed, win the road games against higher seeds, and win championships. It’s what they do. Look it up on the Internet with your Google machine.

  • Jukai Posted: Dec.10 at 4:58 am
    Damn, Anton, hysterical

  • gomez Posted: Dec.10 at 5:52 am
    played pretty good against sacramento…

  • matt Posted: Dec.10 at 9:49 am
    jefferson is actually a more than capable defender and his offensive stats on the bucks show he wasn’t just a jason kidd flash in the pan

  • matt Posted: Dec.10 at 9:49 am
    jefferson is actually a more than capable defender and his offensive stats on the bucks show he wasn’t just a jason kidd flash in the pan

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