Jock is one of the best backup centers in the league, he’s not going to be a whipping boy. I’m hopeful of all our rotation players playing well this year, but if there was to be one scapegoat, well, people aren’t going to be happy about who it is.
Firstly, I acknowledge the insanely small sample size but in his 3 games, he seems like a total bust to me. 20% FG% 16% 3pt% https://www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3146557/jock-landale He doesnt block many shots and/or protect the rim. What does he do well?
And he can’t hold onto the ball and is terrible finishing around the rim. He looks nothing like what I remember in Phoenix. Absolutely awful.
If you are concerned about sample size why don't you simply look at his performances over a whole season last season? FFS. He is a proven backup centre on a below average salary, on a team that desperately needs real size. Not only that, but the salary is non guaranteed for future years.
he sets good screens and boxes out well. that's about it. he's not going to lose you games but far from contributing to them. my dream backup big is Robert Williams.
I have watched him miss wide open 3's in every game he has played. Why is he wide open? Because defenses arent guarding him and instead, sagging into the middle to help clog the driving lanes. That WILL help you lose games.
What I have liked about Landale is that he moves around well. Seems to get to his spots. He is active and involved. Not the traits I would usually assign to guy playing hurt or recovering from such.
I'd say he was pretty anonymous to me in Phoenix likely meaning he wasn't great or this bad. The stats suggests he is playing much much worse than last season...a trait of an injured player.
As soon as hit shots start going in, opposing players will pay attention. I am not yet to write him off, his hasn't made threes and just an unfortunate way of getting hurt...
It's too early to judge him because of the ankle injury and that concussion after the first game, but man he's looking underwhelming so far. We don't need him to do much, just be active and clean up the glass, and he's not even doing that. He's looking like Theis did when he played for us, which is not what We want... In any case, his contract is team friendly, and therefore tradeable. If he doesn't show improvement by the end of the year, I would look to package him with some picks and get Robert Williams or someone like him.
