headliner Posted September 27, 2009 Report Share Posted September 27, 2009 (edited) "I couldn't play defence for the last part of the season. On offence, I was just settling for jumpers because I couldn't go one-on-one with my man. "Last year, my numbers were better, but I was playing at 50%," he continued. "So, this has to be my year. I just want to win this year, forget about last year and work at getting this team into the playoffs and being a contender." A sore hamstring suffered part-way through the 2008-09 season limited Calderon's ability to pivot or cut on the court. The 28-year-old posted career numbers for points (12.8 per game), assists (8.9) and rebounds (2.9), but never felt right. In essence, the personable point guard felt that he let the team down, and is out to prove this season that he can play defence. Calderon is considered one of the best ball distributors in the NBA, but he defence has been questioned. "The defence starts with me," he said. "I'm the point guard and I'm the first one who has to play defence. "I was embarrassed last year because of my leg. I couldn't go right or left. I'm the first (line of defence) and I'm going to start playing defence." I’m going on the record by saying that Calderon will be huge this season. Edited September 27, 2009 by headliner1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Posted September 27, 2009 Report Share Posted September 27, 2009 Yea, it would be huge for the Raptors if he could improve his "defence". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted September 27, 2009 Report Share Posted September 27, 2009 You could tell that it hampered him a bit both offensively and defensively as he simply couldn't move laterally quick enough, but its not like he was a good defensive player or anything even at 100%. He is still going to be a below average defender and that won't change most likely. All I can ask is that he is not the point guard equivalent to a pylon out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erick Blasco Posted September 28, 2009 Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 It's nice to see his candor. Hopefully for his sake, he'll back up his words and improve his defense, because he isn't a good defender at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headliner Posted September 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2009 Calderon has to improve. This team within itself should be more competitive during practice and I believe it Calderon is not on top of his game Jack will take his minutes. You can’t expect a guy who was playing mostly on one leg to have great lateral movement to play defense. When Sam was the coach his defensive schemes when take your man baseline so I think we really haven’t seen how good Calderon could be on defense but it’s true that what we’ve seen hasn’t been good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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