His hunger and approach have tailed off since CWebb arrived. Simple as that. He spent all of last year on the bench and had no trouble shaking that "rust" off.

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No doubt true. But also true that other teams know who he is now and what he can do, and are prepared to stop that. It's easy (relatively speaking of course) for a skilled unknown player to come into games and make a difference. The key for Max is to be able to add something else to his game to continue to force the opposition to adjust. Right now, if he isn't getting dunks on broken plays, he just isn't very effective.

That little cross the lane jumper was a nice wrinkle, but I can't tell if he isn't getting that because defenses have adjusted or because CB/LH isn't calling that play.

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No, his minutes have been reduced, plain and simple. You can't show a thing if you are not out there playing. Shaking off rust? Maxiell always seems to need about five minutes to get going in a game, which lately is all Saunders gives him. Saunders does not want Maxiell to succeed is the only conclusion I can draw.

How many minutes exactly does it take to box out? After a 4 year collegiate career, in his second year as a Pro, when does he exactly start boxing out his man and cleaning the glass?

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i agree he hasn't been rebounding that great. he wasn't rebounding before webber got here. i will give you that though. but i think he was an offensive force before. i just can't believe he lost that because webber came. i think he was missing a few shots that were money in the preseason but now that flip has made his minutes inconsistent he is becoming inconsistent.

i don't know lee. i've seen him come in and score about 10 in 2 minutes. his minutes have been reduced but i think it may be his skills are rusty from not using them as much.

My theory is that CWebb came and changed the dynamic of the team. It impacted Jmax's position quite a bit and the guy hasn't been given time to adjust. He's been learning how to play in the pre-Webber Pistons now he needs to switch gears with very little time.

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There is a fundamental change from Webber coming to the team. All the sudden, JMAX is getting easy looks from pretty close in, perhaps a range he is not use to. They say those 4 to 8 footers can be tough. JMAX just needs a lot of practice making the easier shots. (Which would mean actual playing time, which only the coach can give him. Making the shots in practice does help, but without validation from a real game, practice can't do that much.)

Er... good question. Come to think of it, when Sheed is playing to his potential, nobody can really STOP him. I was thinking maybe JO, Duncan or Zo can SLOW him down somewhat in the paint, but when his inside-outside game is on, that's another story.

i still think the thing thats gonna get us is Saunders' terrible knack of playing to the other team instead of letting us just bully them to victory...