| Is It Time To Bounce Boykins? Authored by Luke Layne - July 21, 2005 - 12:06 am
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Every player should try to prove that he belongs in the NBA every game by trying his hardest. But it isn’t just about trying; it’s also about playing smart. This can indeed be a difficult balance. While Earl consistently tries hard, he does not consistently play smart and thus hurts his team.
This happens in two ways. First, he forces shots up even when his shot isn’t falling. This is excusable because he is a scoring point guard and one of the few scores on the team.
However, the larger problem is that Boykins does not do a good job of involving his teammates into the offense because he controls the ball too much. For example, against the Spurs, Boykins came on the court with about five minutes left in the game. Instead of passing to Carmelo Anthony who was playing well and scoring, Boykins would often dribble the ball until the shot clock was about to expire and with little time remaining he chose to drive to the hoop and force ill advised shots.
Boykins should have been involving his teammates and getting Melo the ball where he wanted it, or driving and dishing.
Perhaps the Nuggets should have tried to trade Boykins instead of Jarrett Jack to the Portland Trial Blazers. While Jack is not a proven NBA commodity, he proved in college he was a true point guard who get his teammates the ball where they wanted.
Unfortunately, the NBA is a business and Boykins brings not only talent and heart to the court, but people to the games. Many fans would be extremely upset, and the Nuggets might lose some of their fan base if Boykins were dealt. But winning is all that counts and if the Nuggets continue to win, they wouldn’t lose too many fans. So, the Nuggets should not let the business side interfere with the basketball side and should trade Boykins.
If the Nuggets don’t trade Boykins then they should surround him with a lineup of players who can’t create by themselves, say K-Mart, Camby, Najera and DeMarr Johnson, but who can be finishers and can rebound well. This would be an ideal fit to Boykins tendency to not pass to his teammates.
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