Are we really gonna stick with Blake-Miller-Roy combo all season?

I think it depends on who we lose to, and how badly.

 

Short answer to both questions is emphatically no. Although I don't think winning a championship is really in the cards this season regardless of who is in the lineup.

There's no way this team will be able to get over on the Lakers with Miller, Blake and Roy when they trot out Artest, Kobe, Odom, Bynum and Gasol. Somebody's got to guard Artest and Kobe and do you really think B-Roy and Blake can manage that?

 

The not funny barfo.

 

I think the meltdown that would have occurred if we had lost to the Wolves, as opposed to losing to the Hawks, would have been much worse.

 

I must admit, I wasn't even considering this lineup before it happened, but I've definitely grown to like it.
If it's Blake or Rudy, it doesn't really matter. both can hit the three and make the pass which makes them better than either Batum or Webster on offense. on defense, they're quicker and can stay in-front of their man, if he's trying to post them up we have two of the best shot-blocking centers in the game behind them. Am I saying we're never gonna get burned by this? no, but it's worth it.

I didn't see the 1st quarter in tonight's game and maybe that's why I'm not sharing the gloom, but having two point-guards and one Roy in the lineup makes our offense very hard to stop. Ball movement, cutters, passes inside and out. What I saw from Martel when he was playing is mostly standing in the corner, not moving not nothing and looking angry on the bench. I'm sorry, but you don't get your un-deserved starting spot back just by whining. he did get his points in the end and he is best-suited to playing with Rudy, if he likes it or not doesn't really matter to me.
Don't believe me, think of Greg Oden, how much better offensively he's been since the swap? it seems like there's no connection but there is, the team just plays better.

Will it be enough to win the championship? after 4 wins in a row, I say it might, after the next loss, i'd probably say it might not. But the Blazers have looked very good lately. Granted, it's against mostly below-average competition but we do have a unique look, something that isn't easy to defend and not easy to scout, something most teams are not used to seeing. Blake is a point-guard, you really can't say that he isn't and playing with two PGs is something you don't see everyday. And so far, so good.

 

Two things:

I really like our help defense right now. Our guys seem to be rotating much better.

We seem to be playing the passing lanes better. Rudy is a steals machine.

 

I think when Nicolas gets back and shown he's healthy, he'll probably get back that starting spot. And Martell hasn't been that much of a scrub this season. I like the energy he's brought, he's not the same stand-in-the-corner player anymore. He's flying in, trying to get some rebounds, and he's been playing some defense and getting deflections and blocks.
And tonight, he had 16 pts in 25 mins, albeit against a bad team, but he's looked pretty good so far for a guy who was off for a whole year.

 

There's meltdowns everyday, even when we win!

 

I'm still interested in Webs being our true "6th man" - and start with Miller/Roy/Rudy/LA/Oden

Then Webs comes in for added momentum (replacing Rudy) with Blake spelling either Roy or Miller.

Outlaw has to be the one who comes in for LA for the time being - which raises the red flag as to our biggest weakness - back-up PF banger-type. I suppose Pendergraph was to be that player...but with his injury, we seriously need a back-up PF banger on this team.

 

Yeah let's wait until we face some of the Western Conference contenders. So far, we are 1-1 with the ones from last season. Should have been 2-0 (If we didn't miss those last 3 free-throws)

 

Interesting stat. Rudy is among the league leaders in steals. The more I think about it, the more he would fit better in the "3-guard" line-up.

 

his rebounding rate is actually well behind his career average

My point wasn't that Martell has looked terrible (he's been meh IMO), but that there is hardly some great upswell around here expecting him to be starting again in the near future. Maybe he returns to the starting lineup sometime but it's not like his play is demanding it. I'd guess that Blake retaining his starting spot or Rudy sliding in rate at least as high on the list of possibilities.

STOMP

 

But do you know what the great thing is? I don't have a doubt in my mind Webs would complain about coming off the bench. As much as people hate on him, I think he is all "Pro-team" and no "I". A great role player to have on your squad.

 

I'll be real interested to see what happens on Monday when we play Atlanta. They're a good big team that's already beat us once this season. I don't see how we have a chance against them with the little lineup.

 

The best thing I can say about Martell is that he looks active and he's at least attacking on offense. So despite the fact that he's repeating his sophomore season in a lot of ways with regards to his shooting percentages, he's nearly doubled his free throw rate and he's hitting from 90% when he gets there. The true bright spot is the way he's getting steals and blocks and generally putting in some very nice defensive efforts, it's still a work in progress and I'm not sure he's fully comfortable with all of Nate's team defense schemes, but he's making the loss of Nic a little easier to take.

For him to get into the starting lineup over Steve he's got to raise his shooting percentages, especially from the perimeter, it's too easy for teams to clog the middle with Brandon having a down year so far from the perimeter and Miller never having been a threat from deep. Steve misfiring last night so badly in the 1st quarter last night against the wolves made that painfully obvious, as they sagged back and basically dare Blake, Miller and Roy to shoot.

 

I think a big factor whether you can win with 3 guards has a lot to do with who you have at PF and C and your depth. I like who we have at PF and C a ton, however Blake as the third guard IMO could be improved dramatically.

 

I liked Rudy's play until late in the 4th when he tried to many STUPID passes that lead to turnover's and negated much of his otherwise good play. He has too temper his tendency to get too fancy IMO.