Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:26 pm
The Globe and Mail had an interesting article last week on childhood bipolar disorder. Seems like there's been an epidemic over the last 10 years, with 20,000 kids diagnosed in 1994 in the U.S. and the number skyrocketing to 800,000 in 2004. As an aside, I sometimes get the feeling that most of these newly diagnosed cases are currently posting on the Raptors board on RealGM.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The article got me thinking about Bargs. Now, I'm not saying in any form or fashion that Bargs is bipolar but his game certainy shows such a disconcerting tendency. Right now, it seems that every aspect of Bargs' game is relying on the simple fact of whether his shot is falling or not. If he hits a couple of early shots, all other parts of his game rise accordingly - rebounding effort, running the floor, setting picks, etc. Conversely, when the jumpers aren't falling, you can almost sense the air coming out of the balloon. Everything in his game goes south and he get's the early hook. This type of mindset is most problematic and I'm certain coaches have repeatedly told him there are other ways he can contribute on the floor when he's not scoring but it doesn't seem to be registering. Still, I'm willing to cut him some slack because his off-season development time so far has been a big zero. Hopefully, he'll spend the summer with John Lucas who has such a great reputation of developing both the skillset and mindset of young players.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The article got me thinking about Bargs. Now, I'm not saying in any form or fashion that Bargs is bipolar but his game certainy shows such a disconcerting tendency. Right now, it seems that every aspect of Bargs' game is relying on the simple fact of whether his shot is falling or not. If he hits a couple of early shots, all other parts of his game rise accordingly - rebounding effort, running the floor, setting picks, etc. Conversely, when the jumpers aren't falling, you can almost sense the air coming out of the balloon. Everything in his game goes south and he get's the early hook. This type of mindset is most problematic and I'm certain coaches have repeatedly told him there are other ways he can contribute on the floor when he's not scoring but it doesn't seem to be registering. Still, I'm willing to cut him some slack because his off-season development time so far has been a big zero. Hopefully, he'll spend the summer with John Lucas who has such a great reputation of developing both the skillset and mindset of young players.