Al will be fine. Right now, he's averagin 16 and 9. He's had some pretty good games (27 pts on 60% shootin vs. Toronto, and 15 boards with 16 pts against the Warriors). He had 15 pts (7-15), 10 rebounds, and 5 assists in the close come-back win over Atlanta a week ago. He's had 3 blocks in two different games. He's had 5 games with 0 turnovers, and is only averagin 1.5 to/game. He's capable, how quick summa yawl forgets, eh? The first two happened to be the first two games of the season. So what happened since?
He's been tenative, that's what. Both Sloan and Deron (and Al himself) have noted that he's a perfectionist, afraid to make a mistake. He's wants desperately to please the coaches, the fans, and his teammates, and doesn't want to let them down. He's thinkin too much, exacerbated by the lack of familiarity with the Jazz system, in particular, and any real kinda system at all, in general. He's puttin more pressure on himself than he should, and is missin shots he would make without a second thought, if he wasn't always havin second thoughts while on the floor.
Give the boy some time. He'll relax eventually, kick *** and take names.
