Eating Crow on Teague

[benhillboy]

I'll be the first to say I didn't care for Teague before this season. The Chicago series was just a flash in the pan. Whether he stayed or went wasnt of any consequence to me. But I did expect him to at least compete for MIP, and if the voters are paying attention, he'll get some strong consideration. You got guys like Larry Sanders, Greivis Vasquez, Omer Asik, Nikola Vucevic, Jrue, and OJ on bad or lesser teams than the Hawks who are worthy. I saw where Curry is a candidate, but he had shooting, passing, and dribbling pretty much mastered early on like Irving. I saw where The King was a nominee, and I really couldnt argue, although 4th MVP has MIP kinda built in already. There's only Paul George on a respectable playoff team more deserving than Lil Jeff right now.He's beaten Jrue tonight (underrated defender), Westbrook, and Paul head-to-head. The challenges ahead now are the defensive bulldog in Bradley Friday and Irving coming up in 3 weeks, so he'll have to get Curry and Parker next season, unless you want to somehow gauge him by three meetings with Jennings before the season ends, which I'm sure he'll get the best of. You could run off his numbers, but the only one that really matters for me is his shooting percentages which more times than not lately have been off the chart, correlating to almost wire-to-wire wins. Theres a sneaky, assassin-like quality to his game when another handler is beside him. With the option to play on or off the ball, he pretty much does exactly what he wants and the defense has no say because most bigs today rotate a step slow, while Teague drives a step fast and has developed that deadly scoop. With his jumper falling, yall know he's unstoppable with the confidence he's built. Now, I strongly desire Jeff to be here long-term. 27 and 11 to start off the stretch run of the Dog Days got me officially eating crow, no matter what team it's against.

Edited March 7, 2013 by benhillboy

[benhillboy]

Forgot to mention he's played every damn game yet doesn't seem to break a sweat. Sign him up.

[Atlantaholic]

Teague can play. He's gotten to the point where the only thing holding him back is his consistency. Sure he looked amazing today, but he also had an abomination of a game against Phoenix, and was pretty damn bad against the Lakers and Nuggets. Fair enough, that was a tail end of a rough road trip, but still, the truly great ones rise up in those occasions and Teague fell flat. He's been a real surprise overall though, reaching levels in his play that I think most people didn't think he could reach before the year began. Loads of potential IMO.

[buckeye242424]

Let's not forget, the dude is only 24 years old. I think a priority of DF this off-season is to re-sign him at a fair and considerable price. His glaring improvement to me is obvious, his shooting. It's apparent to me that he's put time in and worked hard, especially on his three's..

[bird_dirt]

I am 95% with you on this. I know I've given him a lot of ish, not feeling he's capable of leading a championship caliber team. As much crap as I wrote about him, I always would prefer for him to prove me wrong, which he's doing a good job at. I still feel he could work more on stepping up running/leading a team from the back court and not disappear when his shot isn't falling, but overall his play has really picked up this season much more than I ever expected, so I can only hope that that progression will come with time too.

Overall I'm more optimistic with him than I was a few months ago, so I won't feel so doomed if we resign him. I just hope his seemingly fragile psyche toughens up and he learns to plow through adversity. Maybe as he becomes more of a veteran, he will defer less to other teammates. Go Teague!

[LastDon]

Let's not forget, the dude is only 24 years old. I think a priority of DF this off-season is to re-sign him at a fair and considerable price. His glaring improvement to me is obvious, his shooting. It's apparent to me that he's put time in and worked hard, especially on his three's..

He could always hit the trey..the improvement has come with that mid range J..it was inconsistent last season this season it has been much improved..

[Peoriabird]

Always though Teague never got a fair shot. Woodson and Drew would yank the guy around constantly with DNP's coaches decision after great games while players like Smith had long leashes. Even Smith and Johnson had a role in somewhat retarding Jeff's development but Teague persevered! I use to chuckle at the Chris Paul talk here but thank God its has stopped. If you all haven't realized that Jeff is the point guard of the future here then you haven't been watching.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Peoriabird

[tonegully]

I've always been pro-Teague. I think LD and Woodson can't develop players. My example is mike Scott. He should be getting at least 15 minutes a night. This organization doesn't do good job at working and developing the players we have.

[Guest]

Talk about stunting Teague's development - LD admitted that Teague's role even when he started last year was to bring the ball over halfcourt and pass it to Joe. You can't develop PG skills and running a team doing that.

I see the same thing with Jenkins, don't do anything else but shoot if open.

Teague still is improving but I can see the steps in his development.- just gotta try and stay consistent especially in big games.

Edited March 7, 2013 by JayBirdHawk

[frosgrim]

I've been a Teague detractor for a while now. I just didn't think he had the leadership skills to be a PG.What has really improved is his willingness to take the ball to the hole and score. I do like that aggressiveness. His next step has to be around leadership. RIght now he still defers to Smith and that just has to stop. Jeff needs to take control of the floor when he's out there. Once he does that, then I completely bought in on him.

I do think he's probably worth re-signing in the offseason as there aren't any better options, and he can still grow those leadership skills (esp with a new coach).

[Guest]

I've been a Teague detractor for a while now. I just didn't think he had the leadership skills to be a PG.What has really improved is his willingness to take the ball to the hole and score. I do like that aggressiveness. His next step has to be around leadership. RIght now he still defers to Smith and that just has to stop. Jeff needs to take control of the floor when he's out there. Once he does that, then I completely bought in on him.

I do think he's probably worth re-signing in the offseason as there aren't any better options, and he can still grow those leadership skills (esp with a new coach).

Is he still deferring to Josh because of LD?

[Admin]

I've always been pro-Teague. I think LD and Woodson can't develop players. My example is mike Scott. He should be getting at least 15 minutes a night. This organization doesn't do good job at working and developing the players we have.

I would like to see Scott getting more minutes as well, but there are only so many to go around in that front court rotation. We should just be happy that they're finally allowing our players to get meaningful playing time in the D-League and that's going to pay off for Scott down the line. And Jenkins is starting to get more consistent minutes and he's looking better and better so historically I'd agree with you that we've been bad but this year we've done a pretty good job with the kids.

[Wretch]

Y'know...

I'm just going to reiterate what I said from day one... This is not the kind of talent that you tack on the end of a trade for "a serviceable big man." He's also not the kind of player that you want to bury on the bench. Players need room to FAIL and you're not going to give a guy that when you nail him to the pine.

One thing that I will say and will continue to say...we have to turn him loose. We have to stop worrying about his playmaking and just let him do what he excels at. We also need to move guys out of his way so he can shoot. By that, I don't mean physically...I mean by the way of priority in the offense.

Specifically, Teague should not be (and should have never been) deferring to people who can't shoot.

[Admin]

Y'know...

I'm just going to reiterate what I said from day one... This is not the kind of talent that you tack on the end of a trade for "a serviceable big man." He's also not the kind of player that you want to bury on the bench. Players need room to FAIL and you're not going to give a guy that when you nail him to the pine.

One thing that I will say and will continue to say...we have to turn him loose. We have to stop worrying about his playmaking and just let him do what he excels at. We also need to move guys out of his way so he can shoot. By that, I don't mean physically...I mean by the way of priority in the offense.

Specifically, Teague should not be (and should have never been) deferring to people who can't shoot.

Jeff said in the post-game interview last night that the players and coaches ALWAYS tell him to be more selfish, be more aggressive, etc. and he knows that is on him to do Doesn't sound like anyone but Teague is holding himself back.

[Wretch]

Jeff said in the post-game interview last night that the players and coaches ALWAYS tell him to be more selfish, be more aggressive, etc. and he knows that is on him to do Doesn't sound like anyone but Teague is holding himself back.

Well Dol...they probably have. I don't question that. But saying and doing are two different things. Moreover...with actions and words and how loud they speak and such...and heat of the moment decisions...and certain people who think they're the face of the fran...

[gurpilo]

I've always supported Jeff, you always could see the talent, speed, scoring instincts even some passing skills, I wanted so bad him to start ahead of Bibby and Hinrich... he must be our PG for years to come and I doubt we can get better quality/price on the FA market.

Having said that some of his performances are exceeding my best expectations, sure he has some inconsistency issues, if not he would be Russell Westbrook.... but I think he will end the season at 15,5ppg, 7,8 apg, 1,5 spg, shooting 0,45%...

Now let's go back three years, would you dream on that numbers from our starting PG???? Enough said.

I've always supported Jeff, you always could see the talent, speed, scoring instincts even some passing skills, I wanted so bad him to start ahead of Bibby and Hinrich... he must be our PG for years to come and I doubt we can get better quality/price on the FA market.

Having said that some of his performances are exceeding my best expectations, sure he has some inconsistency issues, if not he would be Russell Westbrook.... but I think he will end the season at 15,5ppg, 7,8 apg, 1,5 spg, shooting 0,45%...

Now let's go back three years, would you dream on that numbers from our starting PG???? Enough said.

[Guest]

Jump Pass.

[Bahamut]

Jump Pass.

What's taking the NBA so long to create a stat for this?

[GameTime]

Games like this kindly remind me that he will be better suited on a bench role. He just isn't consistent enough for us to rely on him as a key contributor to our team.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Games like this prove that he's still a young kid, who has great talent . . . when focused. When he's not focused, the talent doesn't show up.

Just have to keep him focused on a nightly basis. But I think the only way to do that, is to give him COMPLETE CONTROL of the team. And I don't know if the coach is willing to do that yet. And we know a certain teammate definitely isn't ready to do that yet.

Maybe Teague was sulking for not having enough touches in the OT last night vs Boston.

Edited March 10, 2013 by northcyde