| Is “Big Snacks” Becoming More Then Just A Big Tease? Authored by Jason Schwisow - May 2, 2005 - 11:09 am
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Sonics C Jerome James’ offensive game is blossoming…and at the right time, no less.
Has any Sonics player in recent memory teased and tantalized his team’s fan base more than C Jerome James?
While other recent playoff contenders have featured the Big Fundamental, the Big Aristotle, and the Big Ticket, the Sonics have just had to make do with a man once nicknamed Big Snacks.
Yet in the first round of the playoffs, James has attacked the post like a man possessed, and it’s paid off to the tune of a 3 games to 1 advantage over the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the playoffs.
The long admonished one has gone right at Brian Skinner and a hobbled Brad Miller with impunity, backing his man down and assaulting him with a bevy of jumpers, baby hooks, dunks, and layups off the glass.
Each game has brought another surprise from the big man, along with new career playoff in three consecutive games.
The result? Over a four game span, Jerome James is averaging 18.7 PPG on 57.1 FG%. Compare that to the recent performance of superstar C Shaquille O’Neal, who during a four game sweep of the New Jersey Nets averaged 18.2 PPG on 50.9 FG%.
To say these performances have come as a bit of a surprise is a bit of an understatement, because while the 7’0 center’s height has always been there, the array of post moves, consistent shooting, and demonstrable basketball intelligence seemed to just come and go on a whim.
But now the one-time Harlem Globetrotter, who once played like a man who wore the weight of the world on his shoulders, seems to sit on top of it…and you’ll excuse Coach Nate McMillan if he’s gleefully whistling “Sweet Georgia Brown” under his breath.
While James’ display is certainly fun to watch, it’s interesting to ponder why, exactly, this turnabout has happened.
At the midpoint of the season, Jerome James kind of emerged in his own little way.
A player who hardly contributed at all became a player capable of impressive streaks and livable slumps from the offensive end, all the while bringing a legitimate shot blocking presence and size to the defensive end.
While for most teams the up and down nature of James’ play would qualify as horrible, for the Sonics and James it’s actually quite tolerable. The streaks and slumps have become rather routine, the points a nice bonus when the team’s shooters are struggling from the perimeter.
Not a center that works as a focal point of the offense, as perhaps demonstrated when late season injuries meant players like James received more attention on offense, James was often able to chip in on the offensive end by being a forgotten man.
Hard to do when you’re the tallest guy wearing green and gold, but when the Sonics field a lineup featuring shooters like Ray Allen, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Rashard Lewis, it’s understandable that James often gets lost in the shuffle. And for a man like James, that’s a definite blessing.
But the reasons for James’ modest turnaround from being a non contributor to a fair contributor to playoff dynamo are more than just being the beneficiary of the Sonics’ depth.
First and foremost, a main part of what made James extra effective this season and eminently effective in the playoffs is a demonstrable increase in his focus and commitment to his team.
In the past, James was too often guilty of making the type of mistakes that demonstrated a wavering level of commitment to the franchise on his part, such as watching film tape with his eyes closed and entering camp in a physical condition that made him look like a man who was one can of green body paint away from being The Hulk for Halloween instead of a professional athlete.
But now, anyone who looks at James and remembers past versions of the man should be able to notice that the man is slimmer, trimmer, and much more prepared to dole out punishment to whoever needs it.
Not only is the body willing, but so is the mind, as the litany of excuses James used in the past has quietly been shelved.
Observers should also notice a player who’s more willing to defer on offense by passing out of the post when he gets the ball and do the little things that make the team successful, like setting a solid screen to get a shooter open and pay more attention to rotating on defense.
Where James once shot nearly every time he got the ball in the post, he’s now willing to pass out of a double team or if he finds his path to the basket similarly stymied, partly because he’s realized he’s more likely to get the ball back if he makes a good decision and doesn’t force things instead of forcing the issue and costing the team a viable offensive possession.
Secondly, another primary difference from the James of yesteryear and the James of this season is that his coach has simply become more comfortable turning to him in a time of need. With James now ready to listen, his coach has been ready to lend his support and show confidence in his big man.
Part of the Sonics early season success was fueled by an offense that simply caught teams off guard. The sloppy, haul ass, he who has the ball leads the break offense used last season was scuttled in favor of what Nate McMillan had wanted all along: a half-court offense that relies on crisp ball movement, offensive efficiency, multiple perimeter marksmen, and a series of picks bent on running defenders ragged.
As opposing defenses began to wise up midseason, those same opposing defenses often decided to zone in on protecting the perimeter at the risk of exposing the interior. After all, if you stopped the Sonics shooters, and who was going to make you pay?
Seeing his team’s numbers from the outside starting to crumble, and his primary scorer Ray Allen being physically hounded each time he touched the ball, coach Nate McMillan countered the opposition’s ploy by trying to involve his big men more around the basket in order to recapture the defenders respect and create more open looks for his shooters on the wing.
As a result, the coach that once cringed when he saw James prepare to hoist a shot has made a point to go to him early in games, a tactic Nate McMillan has tried in seasons’ past but without much success as James was less willing to pass out of the post once he got the ball than he is now.
And the result? During the month of March, James averaged 7.9 PPG on 54.5 FG%, far better than November (3.5 PPG), December (4.2 PPG), January (3.9 PPG), and February (4.5 PPG).
Not surprisingly, James also saw an increase in his minutes to the tune of 22.6 MPG in March, about 7 MPG more than what he’d averaged in the season to that point.
When April rolled around, James came back to Earth pretty hard, averaging only 5.5 PPG on 46.8 FG%. But then again, so did the rest of the Sonics as the team was routinely forced to play without Rashard Lewis, Antonio Daniels, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Danny Fortson due to injuries of varying severity.
While March was a relatively good month for James, it’s one that saw him swing between impressive double-digit performances to games where he was lucky to appear in the scoring column at all.
So, of all the big men Nate turned to as an alternative to his team’s perimeter scorers, why the inconsistent James?
Well, consider the other options. James’ starting frontcourt mate, PF Reggie Evans, sometimes tries to catch defenses off guard by taking it to the hoop, but once at the hoop Evans often looks like he’s caught himself off guard as well. If a defender is able to recover, they can rest easy knowing all it takes is a good solid hack to keep Evans from doing much damage offensively.
While the tireless Evans shot only a 53.4 FT% on the season, James shot 72.3 FT%. Anyone who’s witnessed other players of James height shotput the basketball at the rim with Shaqesque brutality should know that’s a pretty impressive number.
In fact, anyone who’s merely seen James shoot free throws in the past should be impressed, as for his career James typically toiled somewhere in the 50 percentile range from the line with the exception of last year’s 66 FT% from the line.
Off the bench, rookie PF Nick Collison has shown that he’ll likely be a contributor for the Sonics for a long term, but offensively he still has a ways to go to become a legit scoring presence in the NBA.
While a decent shooter in college, Collison has yet to showcase his mid-range jumper with any regularity, whether by personal choice or by coaches’ edict. Neither has he demonstrated much in the way of post moves in game situations, as he gets many of his buckets off of tips or dishes from teammates who are happy to be bailed out by a teammate in the right place at the right time.
Rookie C Robert Swift is the Sonics’ center of the future, but the future isn’t now.
Reserve PF/C Danny Fortson started off the season with a bang, but hasn’t fully rebounded since a two game suspension and myriad other tribulations, which is truly a shame since Fortson can provide a scoring spark from the free throw line when his physically and mentally prepared for a game.
Speaking of big men falling out of favor, there’s also PF/C Vitaly Potapenko, who’s been hard to get a read on since being out of the rotation after a preseason injury cost him his starting job.
Some think Potapenko may be a preferable option to James, which may be true in some respects, but there’s certainly things James brings to the game that Potapenko doesn’t.
For instance, James manages to block 1.39 shots per game in only 16.6 minutes per game. Although per 48 minute stats are inherently flawed, especially for a player like James who lacks the stamina and ability to stop fouling that would allow him to play that many minutes, James does rank #5 in the NBA in Blocks Per 48 Minutes at 3.91.
Meanwhile, Vitaly Potapenko’s never even averaged a full block per game over the span of his nine year career, and that’s not because he hasn’t gotten minutes to adequately showcase any shot blocking skill.
While some remember Potapenko fondly from last season when he played well enough as the Sonics’ starting center for the second half or so of the season, if you’re a believer in on court/off court differential, the team actually did better last season with James on the floor than with Potapenko.
According to 82games.com, last season the Sonics on court differential when James on the floor was +2.3, their off court differential was -1.6, giving the Sonics a net of +3.9 in James favor. Meanwhile, last season the on court differential when Potapenko was on the floor was -2.9, compared to +0.7 when he was off the court, giving him a net -3.6 differential.
The third main reason for James success is tied to one of the most fundamental fundamentals: shooting. While working on his physique and attitude, and having a coach who’s taken notice, James has also either worked on his jumper or at least gained more confidence in it.
According to 82games.com, back in the 2002-03 season James took 47% of his field goal attempts in the form of a jump shot, but he also shot 47.8% from the field in that season.
Perhaps realizing his hoists were hurting his team, James’ jump shot selection dropped to 38% of his attempts, and his FG% raised a couple points to 49.8%, a number undoubtedly helped no by James taking more high percentage shots than the season before.
This season, James sort of put everything together as 50% of the shots James takes are jumpshots, while the other 50% of his attempts are divided among tip-ins, dunks, and close shots.
When you also consider that James shot nearly 51% from the field during the regular season that means a pretty fair share of those jumpers that once brought gasps of horror from each and every person in Key Arena not named Jerome James are now finding more cotton than iron.
No other Sonics big man has come all that close to actually shooting that many of his field goal attempts during this season, as Fortson and Evans wisely avoid jumpers all together.
One of the many benefits of being 7’0 tall, as opposed to 6’8 like Evans or Fortson, is James doesn’t have to worry about seeing his shot come flying back in his face.
Only 5% of the jumpers he attempted this season were blocked by an opponent, a stark contrast to the numbers of the Sonics’ other, albeit shorter, big men.
Meanwhile, Danny Fortson found his jumpers blocked a whopping 40% of the time, perhaps part of the reason only 9% of his shots are jump shots. The similarly short Reggie Evans also had 18% of his jumpers blocked.
While Nick Collison is taller than Fortson and Evans, he founds himself similarly challenged, with 12% of his jumpers finding an opponent’s hand instead of the rim.
Not only does James’ height help prevent his shot from being blocked, but he also fades away from the basket often, which seems ridiculous for a man of his size but worked a fair amount of the time.
While Vitaly Potapenko shoots 51% of his attempts, and doesn’t get his shot blocked any more than 5% of the time, he’s also a bit of a statistical anomaly as he wasn’t been on the floor nearly as much as any of the Sonics other big men. After all, James logged 1,000 minutes more than Potapenko, so trying to predict what Potapenko would have done in James stead is a bit of a fool’s errand.
Still, being the one big man on the roster who can possibly shoot better than James, Potapenko did use his jump shot for 59% of his field goal attempts last season, not a bad number since he sported a 49.8 FG%.
But the problem with Potapenko is that the jumper is really the only offense weapon he has, while James has a mix of capable post moves at his disposal, while also bringing the ability to change shots on the defensive end and clog the lane better than Potapenko does.
So, perhaps by default due to the limited options available to Nate McMillan, James became a player the Sonics have often tried to go to early to see what they’ve got going for them and alleviate the pressure on the team’s shooters. And in the playoffs especially, it’s paid off.
So for all his faults and foibles, Jerome James has finally become a contributor for the Seattle Supersonics. One who can send a shot back in an opponent’s face and lead to a fast break or roll to the cup and catch the opposing big men off guard. One who can drain a jump shot and nail a couple free throws from the charity stripe when his team’s other offensive options struggle.
It may have come a bit later than some were hoping for when the Sonics signed James a few short years ago after hiding him during a summer league, but James’ contributions in the last half of the season and especially in the playoffs are certainly more than it seemed the team was going to get after years of offensive futility and poor decision-making.
Who knows how long it will last? The playoffs are young, and since James is a free agent at the end of the season he may simply be parlaying his post-season performance into a big check from an unwitting suitor in the offseason, but for now we can enjoy the ride and see how far this once disappointing big man can lead us in the against-all-odds quest for a championship. |
