mayjay said:
@justanotherfan I appreciate both your experience and your knowledge, but how are you so sure it is a problem of trying to avoid mistakes? It seems equally likely to me that he is perhaps not trying hard enough to avoid mistakes. He has been as likely to drive with nowhere to go as he has been to be too tentative, and some of his shots–feet not set, not squared to the basket–do not show signs of being cautious. Likewise, a few passes to places where his teammates are not.
I’ve spent most of the last two games watching Grimes exclusively when he has been on the floor. He’s incredibly indecisive with everything. He seems to decide to do one thing, then change his mind halfway into the move.
He will drive to nowhere rather than looking to attack his man off the dribble. If he confronts even the slightest defensive resistance, he will either dribble back out or pick up his dribble.
He will sometimes shoot as an afterthought. There have been moments where he has been looking to pass and then shot as sort of a last resort.
He needs to simplify the game for himself right now by doing two things.
Make it his goal to play harder than everyone else on defense. Completely lock in on that end. If that produces some transition opportunities, all the better.
Hit the offensive glass. Grimes hasn’t had more than 4 rebounds in any game this season. With his athleticism, that should not be the case. He needs to look to crash the offensive boards more.
Those are both “effort” things rather than skill things. Sometimes, when the skill stuff isn’t happening, you can get thrown off, but effort doesn’t get into slumps.
