I just wanted to post a quick reaction to something that caught my eye in last night’s mailbag from Dave D’Alessandro. In a response to one question, where a reader asks if Chris Douglas-Roberts could be an effective sixth man, Dave D. suggests that CDR’s recent struggles and lack of aggression may not be the result of a concerted effort by the coaches to keep him from shooting (as some fans keep suggesting with this “Yiki” nonsense), but rather some kind of silly little boycott CDR is trying to orchestrate on the court:
But it’s pretty obvious to me that he is playing to prove that they need him — not being aggressive, not looking for shots, going through the motions — and failing badly. That’s why I’d bench him.
If this is true – and I have to admit, while observing CDR’s rampant immaturity/arrogance via Twitter recently I honestly can’t say I doubt D’Alessandro’s claims here – then that is simply one of the stupidest things a player of CDR’s caliber has ever done.
The “prove my teammates need me by not shooting” strategy may have been most famously employed by Kobe Bryant in Game 7 against the Phoenix Suns in the 2006 playoffs. After scoring 23 points in the first half of the decisive game, Kobe apparently had had enough of teammates/fans/pundits/whoever suggesting he was too selfish with the ball, so he only took three shots for the rest of the game and made some cryptic comments about trying to get “everybody involved” in the second half.
I guess CDR deserves some credit for seemingly pulling a stunt like this during meaningless games in a 4-40 season, rather than a decisive playoff game. However, it is still foolish and potentially career threatening for a guy who has otherwise proven zip in his NBA career. Consider when Kobe pulled this off, he had already won three championships (with Shaq, natch) and was considered by many to be one of the league’s most prolific scorers and defenders. Chris Douglas-Roberts is a guy who struggled to see any time his rookie season, is considered by many critics to be a one-dimensional player who can only score points at the rim and has never been known as anything special on the defensive end.
In other words? CDR, you’re not Kobe Bryant and you’re probably never going to be Kobe Bryant. So, knock it off.
