That's help defense, and I like it too. I'm talking about when he gets iso'ed, he's pretty much defensless.

Jermaine and Duncan are both 4s, that's why I had them together. Sorry, I should have been more clear. yes, I wouldn't expect someone to shut down Duncan and Shaq consistently. I guess what I was getting at is can JMax defend 4s consistently. I don't think we know this. But the length of his arms tell me "yes."

Ben Wallace wasn't Bruce Bowen on man defense either.

Play the kid to his strengths, and hope he becomes an average man defender to go with his help D.

Let's not forget that many people expected this guy to be a second rounder, and possibly never start a game.

He's shown much more than people expect, and as time goes on, I have a feeling that will continue because he has the right attitude about the game.

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

based on what? The cases of Max getting lit up by ANY PF are severely limited. Granted, I'm not going to throw him one on one against a HOF guy like Duncan if I don't have to, but still. He can hold his own.

He's miles better on D than the guys we paired with sheed last year.

He played 14 plus minutes a game last year. As his defense improved he got more minutes in certain situations.

However it is like you say a chicken and egg thing. He needs to get the minutes to improve but how can he get the minutes unless he improves and earns them.

I think his minutes will go up again this year, maybe closer to 18 or more. I however, think he can play small forward as long as he can continue to improve his foot work and anticipation (experience should help there) which will allow him a better chance of staying in front of small forwards. He certainly doesn't have a height disadvantage there, especially with his hops and reach.

He has developed a really nice post up game, which is more effective against 3s vs 4s.

Exactly right! Everything depends on how a player is used.

Can the coach play him in the right matchups to maximize his strengths, or does he set the player up to fail.

JMax has a lot of strengths, can Flip use them to OUR best advantage? I honestly don't know.

He also doesn't rebound anywhere near well enough to play the #4. A lot of posters here see him as a #4 and AJ as a #3. I have never understood that. AJ at this point is not much small than KG and AJ will get bigger. Maybe not taller at this point but bigger to where he will eventually be about where KG is except maybe 1" shorter and 10 lbs lighter at the most..

Based on the Cleveland series. Early he got some respect from Verajo, but once it became clear that most PF are generally 6'10/6'11, it becomes clear that it's time to post a 6'6 chump up.

Sure he has the wing span, but it's pretty much usless if the opposing PF can jump at least 1 feet off the ground.

any examples of this? I recall JO going to work on him for a few possessions one game. Al Jefferson scored some buckets on him during the last few games of the year. Nothing else really stands out as him being abused repeatedly. Maybe a few mistakes here and there, but nothing to call him "Defenseless" over. It's not like Sheed or Ben haven't been taken behind the woodshed countless times in their day. Bosh (then career high), Diogu (Career high), Brand, JO, Dirk, etc. All have lit up our defensive stalwarts in the past.

Exactly