Spaceman Spiff wrote:From the outside perspective, PJC seems to have a huge thing with confidence tied to his shots going down. When he makes jumpers, he is far more aggressive and makes things happen.
This is spot on with my observations, too. And after watching that documentary on him in high school and watching his stock decline player ranking update after player ranking update, and how his dad would jump him about his game, I think he is constantly looking over his shoulder. It is more than just shot confidence...it seems to be overall confidence, though certainly, that squares with what you observe that his whole game gets better when he makes a couple.
Take away the threat of the bench, or even the threat of criticism like when he came back with a still injured foot and started dropping dimes to Dusan like an old pro, and he becomes a different player.
The thing I see with him is he is scared of losing time and making a mistake, but if you just give him the keys with no competition, like when Kadeem was sick last year, he starts trying to do too much. It seems difficult to find that middle ground, between him doing everything tight as a tourniquet fearing a benching and him trying to shine when he has the floor unabated.
And both behaviors are typically associated with self-esteem issues. The fear of rejection, and the swagger when accepted. He has gotten over his issues playing in foreign environments without crowd adulation, so he has shown ability to grow. Consistency is a huge ongoing issue with his play, and I would bet that, beyond the actual playing deficiencies that come with being 5'8" and not possessing otherworldly speed or hops, self-confidence is at the root of much of his uneven play.
