Time To Drop Jamario Moon?

I’ve been thinking about this for some time, since the 9-10 game mark for the Raptors, that team should consider dropping Jamario Moon from his starting spot and possibily the rotation. However at that point, the situation changed with Andrea Bargnani moving into the starting lineup as a small forward. The new lineup coincided with a couple of quality performances off the bench from Moon, so I let the thought move to stand by.

The recent short term injury to Jermaine O’Neal has seen the Raptors revert back to Moon as the starting lineup, and after another lackluster performance it seems time to revisit the initial thought.

Is it time to drop Jamario Moon from the starting lineup?

The Raptors have been disappointing to start the season, but nobody on their roster has been as disappointing as Jamario Moon.

• One of Jamario’s best strengths last season was the easy baskets he got in the paint. A third of total attempts came on the inside and he hit 68.4% of them. This season he’s down to just 10%, replacing all those easy baskets with long jumpshots. This has played a hand in the Raptors finishing last in points in the paint.
• Jamario hasn’t looked to run the floor as much as last season either – where he got some of the above attempts – which has played a hand in the Raptors finishing dead last in fastbreak points.
• A lack of easy baskets has been a killer blow for the Raptors team this season and Jamario is one of the reasons why they’re failing in this regard. Since he’s not getting the team easy baskets anymore an increased onus has fallen on his other two strengths – Rebounding and Defense.
• Jamario’s rebounding has been shockingly poor and big problem for the Raptors. He’s gone from being a terrific rebounding small forward (6.2rpg in 27.8mpg) to a poor rebounding small forward (2.8rpg in 22mpg).
• The Raptors perimeter defense has been very poor this season, much worse than I anticipated, and the two main reasons for that have been the contributions of Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker.

It’s amazing how much Jamario Moon’s performances have fallen off and it’s a huge problem for Toronto. This is a team that lacks depth and options, they need their best role players to contribute at high level. So far this season Jamario Moon simply has not done that.

Before the season I was backing a three man wing rotation of Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, and Jason Kapono. Moon’s poor performances have made that impossible, the Raptors have to change up.

Who should start in his place?

Hassan Adams is out because he’s very bad. Jason Kapono is out because he’s not good enough to do the job. Anthony Parker has his hands full at the two guard slot … so the Raptors are left with two options:

1. Andrea Bargnani
2. Joey Graham

The Bargnani small forward experiment should continue when Jermaine O’Neal returns. The answers from that lineup are pivotal to the Raptors future (how Bargnani+Bosh fit together). I haven’t been overly optimistic about the lineup and would say there’s a good chance it won’t last the season so the Raptors need both (a) Short term option while Jermaine is out (b) A backup option should the Bargnani experiment fail.

Since everyone is failing ahead of him, Joey Graham is deserving of an opportunity. His performances have been uneven as usual this season, but so have his minutes so one shouldn’t make a premature judgement on that. He deserves about three weeks of consistent minutes, preferably in the starting lineup, however the Bargnani experiment will likely get in the way of that ….. so I’d like to see Joey start until Jermaine returns and play 20-25 minutes a night off the bench.

There’s simply no reason why Jamario Moon should be playing ahead of Joey Graham.

The Raptors need at least one of - Jamario Moon or Joey Graham - in the rotation. They need that rebounding, the athleticism, someone who can score a couple of easy baskets, and the defense. If Jamario doesn’t play, Graham has to play.