CoolBreeze44 wrote:I don't like Jaden punching a wall, but I get it. Three seasons worth of touch fouls that he doesn't get on offense would drive a lot of people to react. I'm surprised he hasn't exploded before this. Just once Finch should have backed him and gotten a technical or thrown out of a game. Do you think he would get all these fouls if he played for the Lakers? Not even close.
But why then? He literally just tossed a dude to the floor and was lucky not to get reviewed for a flagrant 1.
Jaden is a great defender, no doubt. That's why we put him on our opponent's best player. But partly as a result of that and the fact that he is an aggressive defender, he does often make contact with offensive players who have the ball and when that happens, you're going to get called more often for fouls. Does he get a tough whistle? Maybe to some degree. But I don't think it's that bad, and more importantly, he's also young, and after this season, he'll probably get the benefit of the doubt more often because he's older, he's getting better, and his reputation has improved so much.
JJJ used to draw so many fouls, and still kind of does, but that hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the best defenders in the game. He's learned to be a bit better about now drawing fouls, and his defensive reputation helps him earn the benefit of the doubt more often. Jaden could do the same. Forget the whistle, just play the game. Finch does do plenty of complaining to refs, so I don't think he's at fault for not blowing up at the refs after a Jaden foul this year. And besides, Jaden's actually one of our LEAST demonstrably frustrated players about fouls now that I think about it. He generally DOES just play the game. At least outwardly. But today, his frustration boiled way over, and he's responsible for that. No excuses for him. It is also Finch's job to manage his players, and clearly, to that extent, he's responsible for figuring out how to get through to Jaden and today that clearly wasn't happening. What Jaden did today was simultaneously totally surprising and also somewhat unsurprising, honestly. I don't think blowing up at the refs earlier would have changed things, but I'm honestly now sure what would have.
EDIT: Yeah, the more I think about it, Jaden typically seems unfazed when called for fouls. It feels a bit less like mature perspective though and more like a kind of detachment. But clearly, he showed today that he definitely has feelings under that apparent detachment. Now he needs to learn from this how to deal with them better.
