Celtics17
03-16-2010, 02:25 PM
I was among those who were on Ray's case earlier in the season. Not only wasn't his jumper falling consistently, but he looked like he was forcing things and trying to be a playmaker too often. In addition to his offensive woes, his defensive effort often looked atrocious.
Since the all-star break, however, he's looked great. Thankfully, Doc seems to have stopped asking him to be the primary ball-handler and playmaker for stretches of games, and he seems to have accepted that his role on this team is as a shooter and a scorer.
A quick look at some of his stats show that he's shooting 55% from the field, and 40% from deep with less than one turnover per game (he's gone the last 6 games without a single TO) since the break. From an eyeball perspective, it seems to me that he has been digging in more on the defensive end, as well.
I'm sure the argument will continue to be made that Danny and the ownership cooked this team for the future by not making a trade of his large expiring contract for younger talent. I was certainly on that bandwagon. However, now that he's still in Boston, I'm thrilled to see this turnaround in his play and am pulling for it to continue.
Who knows? If he keeps it up, maybe he'll even have trade value this off-season or next season as an actual valuable player, rather than just as an expiring contract.
Since the all-star break, however, he's looked great. Thankfully, Doc seems to have stopped asking him to be the primary ball-handler and playmaker for stretches of games, and he seems to have accepted that his role on this team is as a shooter and a scorer.
A quick look at some of his stats show that he's shooting 55% from the field, and 40% from deep with less than one turnover per game (he's gone the last 6 games without a single TO) since the break. From an eyeball perspective, it seems to me that he has been digging in more on the defensive end, as well.
I'm sure the argument will continue to be made that Danny and the ownership cooked this team for the future by not making a trade of his large expiring contract for younger talent. I was certainly on that bandwagon. However, now that he's still in Boston, I'm thrilled to see this turnaround in his play and am pulling for it to continue.
Who knows? If he keeps it up, maybe he'll even have trade value this off-season or next season as an actual valuable player, rather than just as an expiring contract.