I don't care what some of you haters are saying, Sergio's defense is definately stepped up this year, and he's no longer a liability on the "d" end. There's becoming less and less of a reason for him to not get playing time, except for pre-conceived notions which are becoming no longer true.
his defense has improved to mediocre on small guards, and bad to mediocre on bigger guards, but his steals contributions have made him at least an average defender (especially for bench) I would say. Blake's been lit up like a christmas tree this year.
That is your opinion of course but it is not really true according to my opinion. He is much improved and I believe he is just as good or better than Blake. He does get picked off easier than Blake however IMO. g
His defense may be improved, from horrible to merely awful, but it's still bad - as is Blake's. Sergio is still the same terrible shooter he's always been and he still turns the ball over way to much. I know there is this myth that he's cut down on his turnovers this year, but his 3.7 TO/48 is the highest of his career and is still over 2.5x Blake's TO rate of 1.4 TO/48. BNM
3 steals for Sergio tonight. 4 for Blake. That's an awful lot of steals at the PG position. Go Blazers
Sergio looks like he is really trying to keep his man in front of him. That's all you can ask of any player. Some players are simply able to keep their man in front of them is all.
Sergio is trying - and that's great - but as noted - he went from unwatchable to bad. What really drove me nuts last night were the forced passes on the break to GO in traffic that lead to GO's turnovers and us going from +4 at the start of the quarter to -6 when thankfully) Blake and Roy were brought back. Yikes.
At least he is trying to push the ball and get his center involved. The more they do it the better they will be at it. I am of the oppoinion though that in the long run Bayless will be the better player, so why not get to that point sooner by playing him
He is no worse than Blake that is for sure.... Blake made Beno Udrih look like an All-Star last night....Udrih just abused him... The problem I see with Sergio...and IMO I would rather see him start and deal with his deficiencies....Is Sergio's shot consistency and his tendency for turnovers...the turnovers I could live with more (although Nate cannot) as I think Sergio's creative passing leads to more easy baskets than his errant ones detract from the Blazer offense... But I strongly believe that the offense runs better with Sergio at the helm.....Steve may be steady, but he is as creative as vanilla....
I'm in the camp that Sergio's on the ball defense is bad. When at the game, you catch different things (and miss alot of things) . . . with regard to Sergio, one time in the second half, the Sac PG drove right around Sergio and took it to the rim where Joel fouled him and a timeout was called. On the way to the bench Joel was barking at Sergio for a good 30 seconds . I was behind the Sac bench, so I couldn't hear what he was saying, but Joel was not happy and gave Sergio a piece of his mind (probably about forcing the ball to the middle rather than get beat to the outside) Anyways thought I would share . . . intersting exchange during a timeout.
yeah but in Sergio's defense, Beno Udrih did that to Blake...REPEATEDLY...when he was in the game....
This is hypocrisy at it's best. When Jack had turn-overs by trying to force things and he was bad (20% TOV) - it was bad. When Sergio has turn-overs by trying to force things (and he is worse at 30% turn-overs) - at least he is trying... Bah. Time to put up or shut up. These were both bad possessions - Greg was there to try and get an offensive rebound if it comes to it - trying to force feed him the ball in traffic was just a bad decision. We really need to see Bayless more - and if Sergio's Spanish agent whines - so what.
The defensive effort from our point guard seems to be there at times, because they are contesting passes and swiping at the dribbles resulting in some steals. But on the whole, I agree with those who say that the on ball defense is atrocious. It just seems whoever is starting the offense for the other team can dribble to his spot whenever either Blake or Sergio has the assignment. Seems really odd since Nate had a reputation as a great defender. When you look at past champs, the defense was always to a large extent foundation of their success. The 1977 Blazers always had Hollins and Davis putting pressure on the opponents guard making it hard for them to set up the offense. I'm afraid we could be turning into another Dallas or Phoenix, where you sacrifice the defense for the "fun to watch" offense. Again defense wins championships.
I've been pretty impressed with Sergio's defense lately. But, as some of you have pointed out, maybe that's because he was so terrible before, that now, any defense played, regardless of effect, will be welcome. I don't know. I really want to reserve judgement until this team comes together more. I want to see what they can do when everyone is running on most cylinders. I can't shake the feeling that Sergio could be used on a winning ball club and Nate just hasn't figured it out, or has too many players to figure it out.
Sergio is better than last year - there is no way around it - and that is a good thing. He tries to get in front of his man (he did not even bother last year) - he tries to play more under control (works every other game - it was pretty much consistently off last year) and his shot has a chance of going in every once in a while - but he has a lot of growing up to do to become an average PG in this league. I just hope that the Sergio experiment is not like the Iraq war - and we have a definite exit strategy with a defined end-date if it continues to work as poorly as it had so far - so we can try and see how Bayless does with some minutes. Nothing would please me more than seeing Sergio become a better shooter and doing a better job of taking care of the ball and trying better on defense - because his offensive production when he is on and his assists are on the money - are a thing of beauty.
