As long as Nate is going away from the motion offense that we used for two games, Webster would be better. If he decides he actually wants more easy baskets like in the SA and first Minny game, then Rudy makes more sense.
During different times in the ball game, there will be different roles. There should be times he will be on the floor without Oden, Aldridge or Roy. At some point, he maybe the #2 option. I think giving a little more minutes to the starters, and have some over-lap with the bench. Even possibly have Fernandez and Bayless together. Tinker with it like that. But having the best players have the majority of the minutes is best for the team. Do you know Blake is getting 30 minutes a game in the last 6 games?
We're in agreement, then. I know what you're saying about having two of the "Big Three" on the court, but I still think Rudy's minutes would be wasted as a starter, and his impact on the game dulled, simply due to playing with the "Big Three" as well as Miller, who has the ball more than anyone else.
That's a good point. Even if Rudy provides more offense, it still leaves Roy getting worn down defending bigger, stronger players.
That's what I've envisioned for Rudy to have the most success in the NBA. I'm not sure with his body type that he can withstand the pounding at the SG spot as a starter and be counted on for 82 games, playing 37-40 mins a game. But if he can be a super sub, get 25-30 mins a game like Manu.. I think that'd be a perfect role for him.
I don't think Roy's problem is the position (SF vs SG) - it's how much (not enough) he handles the ball. I would love to see what a Blake/Rudy/Roy/LMA/Greg unit will do. Last year, the Blake/Rudy/Roy/LMA/Joel unit was fantastic. Roy handled the ball, we had rebounding and we had two good 3 point shooters on the wing. This year, if Roy handles the ball - we have only one good 3pt shooter you need to cover on the wings, and if Miller handles the ball - we reduce Roy to a jump-shooter role. Since I think Greg is a better offensive player than Joel and just as good on defense - that unit could be the bee's knees, the dog's bollocks, the cat's pj's - you get the idea.
Of course, if he changes the gameplan all the time - he is a flip-flopper and no one knows their role... There is a fine line there between too much and too little. Nate made 1 change after 5 games. We have since had 7 more games with a record of 6-1 - I do not think it was very unwise to be patient with it. Were it my team, I will continue to monitor it and try to think about reducing some of Blake's minutes for Rudy - and if Rudy continues to get in the groove - I will also reduce some of Miller's minutes for Rudy.
That would be interesting. Keeping Blake in the line-up instead of Miller would help Rudy get more touches, and as a selfish entertainment bonus, some posters' heads would figuratively explode.
Honestly, we have 2 issues with Miller - he seems to increase Greg's value and he seems to decrease Roy's value. I honestly think that Miller and Roy and the coaching staff will figure out a way to play them both together more efficiently as time goes on - but until this happens, I would not mind seeing them try some of these things. Also - I think that a Miller/JB 2nd unit will be a much better running the break than a Miller/Rudy unit seems to be. I would also not mind seeing some of Greg's minutes with the 2nd unit with Miller/JB - with Miller and Greg being the focus of the offense - we could help Greg's growth as an offensive player when we are not minimizing his touches because we want LMA and Roy to shoot a lot. Greg does not have to spend all his time in the game with Roy/LMA - just some of it, and if it means that we might have to run a Blake/Rudy/Roy/LMA/Joel a little more - I am OK with it as well - it worked very well last year...
Man, as bad as Blake has been, Martell has been much much worse. He is literally bringing nothing to the table right now. I hate to say it but replacing Blake with Martell would be a horrible move.
I don't think it's Webster outperforming Blake, but more to do with Roy being able to play his natural position at SF. I think Blake should score more coming off the bench as well, since he's not competing with players like Roy, Aldridge, Oden and Miller.
I don't really disagree with what you are saying. I was speaking more to the issue of in game adjustments. Nate has a weird habit of sticking with people who are cold, and going away from guys who are on a roll. He sometimes seems oblivious to the ebb and flow of the game.
!!??? You do realize that over that 12 games we have one of the best records IN THE NBA, and perhaps THE best defense? What do you want? Are you sure you wouldn't be happier watching the Warriors? Is it just magic that we have such a good defense while Blake gets so many minutes (and has one of the best +/- ratings on the team)? Perhaps you think that if only we'd played Bayless we'd be 12-0?
Blake was here last year and we weren't a lockdown defense, so I think it's maybe a little weird to start thinking that he's "the straw that stirs the drink" on that end of the court. I think there's a serious case of autocorrelation going on with Steve's defense, in that he's benefitting from having two erasers like Oden and Joel behind him, and for whatever reason Andre (while not a great individual defender) seems to help our team defense too. But whatever, Nate's a loyal guy and he's probably going to ride Steve for a quarter of the season before he'll reduce his role. C'est la vie.
There is something to be said about that. But, there is also something to be said about the fact that Blake was playing hurt for a large portion of last year's campaign and, to my eyes at least, he seems like he does a much better job of staying in front of his man and trying to funnel him away from the post. Great defender? Not even close - but noticeably better defense than last year, imho. The place where Andre seems to help us is by understanding where and when to switch - something Webster was not very good, at the start of the year as a starter. He is clearly slower than Blake is on defense, but he seems to be doing a nice job on most small-guards. If we continue to win at the pace we had so far - not a big deal - but I really think we will start to see more Rudy and a little less Blake (not talking huge reduction) - now that Rudy seems to be back in basketball mode.
You know the more I think about it, it may not be Nate having a "man-crush" with Blake, but a possibility of Nate trying to Ween last year's starters to this season's starters. Maybe taking a more gradual approach so all the players aren't put in an awkward position. Yeah it would be nice to see Blake slowly have his playing time slowly reducing, while we see Fernandez increase. Also, could it be that Fernandez was very tired and possibly injured? Maybe the Blazers didn't want to injure him seriously and bring him back slowly. None of these don't sound so far fetched IMO.
