Believe me, I wished it did happen 12 games ago. Now that he's playing this poorly there's just no excuse anymore. It's ludicrous.
Um actually, the defense literally can get better in terms of making the opponents miss shots by holding them to 40% instead of 41%. In fact, the more Oden is on the floor, the better chance Portland has of holding opponents FG% down.
So if I have a VCR or even a DVD player at home that works, should I not go out and purchase a Blue Ray player if I have the resources to? Portland has the resources to try a better player at that possition.
Anyone that thinks Blake is helping our team currently has lost their minds. His shooting is WAY DOWN, defense? Questionable, playmaking? non factor. Is Blake a shit player? Absolutely not... He is hurting this ball club because his man is letting him shoot while he's doubling Roy.
A sadly common coaching self-defense mechanism. If the coach changes the gameplan, he is admitting he made a mistake. If he sticks to the gameplan and loses, he can blame the players for lousy execution.
I think Blake is helping the team. I guess that means I've lost my mind. At the very least he spreads the floor, which enables LMA and Oden more room to operate. I'd rather see Webster playing Blake's role, but then again, last night Blake had 11 assists and only 2 TOs, and Webster can't do that in a game.
So would you call what he's doing on the court acceptable basketball? 34% from the field is pretty awful for a shooting guard, and you can't even make the argument that he's a wing stopper or a defensive specialist. I don't see the problem with calling a spade a spade.
You only spread the floor if you are hitting your shots ... so by that definition Blake is not getting the job done. But I agree Webster has sucked too. Most I think would rather see Rudy on the floor.
His career numbers show that his shooting will improve. I'm sure he's in an adjustment period as well. Miller is pretty bad as well right now, other than at firing up shots that would be better served coming from Roy's, LMA's, or even Oden's right hand. If the idea is to change the starting line-up every 5-7 games, even with the team winning 6 out of the last 7, then I'm against that. Is Blake playing acceptable basketball right now? No, but playing him at SG has led to wins, regardless of his stats.
You are absolutely correct. There is no way Webs will be able to dish out 11 dimes in a game. But don't you think Fernandez could spread the floor like Blake? Wouldn't it be much better having a shooter, that can and will penetrate be in with Roy during crunch time? I've seen Blake have like 1, maybe 2 games as a Blazer when I saw him on fire for the quarter. I've seen a ton of games with Fernandez scoring 10 or more in a quarter.
Yep, that's what I would rather see as well. If our second unit's offense suffers, then manage the starter's minutes to have at least 2 of them on the floor the entire game. We don't have to have 2 units playing the game.
Blake is still spreading the floor, though. If he shoots 35% from 3 pt for the next few games, he'll continue to spread the floor. If he gets back near the 40% range, which is his career number, he'll continue to spread the floor. If he shoots 35% for the entire season, he won't spread the floor. He's in a shooting slump right now. I'm not saying that Blake should be starting, but rather that he is starting, and for whatever reason, the team is winning games with him starting.
Rudy is most productive getting touches. With Miller, Roy, LMA, and even Oden having the ball more often, Rudy goes from the primary scorer off of the bench to arguably the 5th option starting. I think it would be wasting what Rudy does best, which is be able to handle the ball and not just be a spot-up shooter. Sure, he'd be starting, but do you really want him to be a spot-up shooter? Or does the team yet again revamp the roles of the starting unit? Because in that case, Nate may as well move Roy back to his natural position, since he does what Rudy does, only much better than Rudy.
I'd put Rudy in a 30 minute "Manu" role. Make him the first guy off the bench. It's not about rigid starting roles vs. bench roles because we no longer have two complete units anyway. At any given time I believe you should always have one or two of Greg, LMA or Brandon on the floor.
