Some very concerning statements by Roy

Funny thing is, I bet we would be going through this same discussion if we had signed Hedo and not Miller. Roy would be complaining about Hedo dominating the ball.

 

Trade for Collison and Thornton!!!

 

I think this is good, b/c when Blake gets shitty, Bayless can come take his place. and keep Andre kickin ass in the 2nd unit

 

And what from Bayless' game does he need to improve so drastically? Is his 20+ PER indicative of a need for fine-tuning? Granted, with more playing time you are very likely to see that PER drop, but you'd also benefit from the obvious deduction that Bayless helps the team far more than he hurts it. Besides, what does Bayless have to do with this argument at all? He's been given barely chance to do anything and you are expecting more than a 20+ PER? What exactly are you expecting from Bayless that would warrant playing time? I get the feeling it's quite unreasonable.

 

Dude. You completely misread that post ... Maybe B-Roy will take the time to explain it to you, but that wasn't a dig on Bayless.

 

I would give my left nut for them to just go to a 3 guard rotation of Roy, Rudy and Bayless. All 3 can score. 2 can definitly create. Rudy leads the team in steals. The other 2 are good man defenders. Everybody can shoot from the outside. Plus I would really like to have a guy like Bayless on the floor to bring some fire to the team. I sit back and watch other teams rookies put up huge numbers, and I wonder what the fuck we are missing while watching Blake burn those minutes.

 

... and there is your guide to the Blazers offensive efficiency taking an upswing, right there.

Roy is one of the best players in the league getting to the paint with the dribble. You do whatever you can to enable him to do it.

 

Roy is one of the best players in the league, period. I'm not saying you completely let him run the show. I do think you maximize what you can get out of him, and hopefully build the right pieces around him to increase his effectiveness.

I still think the Miller-Roy combo can work. And we'll see that lineup at times, and we'll be alright, IMO. Maybe not as starters, but during the game. And maybe they'll show enough to play together just fine. If not, so be it. I am upset we have not had the opportunity to see them start, with Webster as well, in a more conventional lineup. But, such is life. We'll be fine.

 

I think it can work fine, as long as you do not have it all the time.

You start the first quarter with the normal game plan - going to LMA and Greg in the post and pounding the ball.

You run a large portion of the 2nd quarter with the fast break system, with Miller running the show, and you add Roy to end the quarter and see how he and Miller click with Miller dominating the ball.

Then - in the 2nd half you adjust based on how they click or not.

Last game, they had a miserable time together in the 2nd quarter - so Nate played Roy/Blake in the 3rd quarter and Miller/Fast unit in the 4th.

This way, they both can do what they know to do best and play to their strength - and when they work well, you play them together, and when they do not - you don't.

 

I don't think anyone can shoot, let alone score without the ball. It's a known prerequisite.

I'm all for this being Roy's team, it's not like no one else will ever touch the ball. It will simply look more like last year which isn't a bad thing - as long as they get Oden involved. Teams need to use their strengths, and a major strength is Roy. You shouldn't make your stars adapt to role players, you make role players adapt to your stars.

With the injuries to Batum/Outlaw, I like Andre coming off the bench to give us more firepower, and Webster is clearly better at starting than coming off the bench. Plus I think Webster fits better with the starters by spreading the floor, letting Roy be a SG, and allowing Blake/Roy to handle the ball most of the time and find a rhythm.

 

Agreed. Of course, my issue with Miller not starting is, we tend to pound the post with oden and Aldridge early in games. Miller is a much better passer into the post, and better at getting easy buckets for big men than Blake is. So wouldn't it make sense, if this was the general game plan, to start Miller with that unit? Allow them to try to establish themselves inside, have him, Roy and Oden all drawing fouls, get the opponents in foul trouble and then you have shooters to bring in when a lead is established. I dunno. Maybe, instead of LMA playing the whole first quarter, and part of the second, essentially starting the first 14 minutes, maybe that needs to be Roy's spot, and you flip him and Aldridge. Run Miller out there to start. Take Aldridge and Miller out at the 10 minute mark or so. Have Blake-Rudy-Roy-Howard-Przybilla out there end of first, beginning of second. Then work Oden back in. Swap Roy and Miller, Then Aldridge back in. etc.

 

There is just too much overthinking in this ball club and less natural playing. Too many questions have hurt the chemistry of this ball club. If Nate just came out and said "Listen I am giving this team back to Roy if you like it or not, but our #1 focus is to develop Oden's offensive game" Everyone will understand what needs to be done. Give Oden 15 shots a game and you will see a newly reformed and dominating team.

 

We have been dumping it to LMA to start the game since, like, forever, a lot of times it is a pick and pop - but we have done it last year and to a degree this year as well where he gets the ball with his back to the basket, dribbles to the middle and takes a hook shot or a fade-away shot close to the basket. Roy has always been able to pass to LMA to do it - his problem was that when giving Oden the ball this way - leads to a lot of turn-overs, so they go away from it.

I think LMA is much better at getting it (the ball) and moving by himself to take the shot. Where, with Oden - you either give him a "step and dunk" or you give it to him, let him dribble and move his man off his back and take a shot - where he is as likely to turn it over as he is to shooting a hook-shot. I think that with Roy starting to get the idea that it's better to go into the paint, and dump it to Oden for a flush instead of giving him the ball when he is stationary and expecting him to dribble and take a shot like LMA does.

The problem with Blake in the 2nd unit is that he not good at running fast as Miller is, and the problem with Miller on the first unit is that the spacing is not there for Roy to attack the rim and drop to Oden - so we are back to the "dump the ball to Oden and let him dribble" - which is just as likely to end in a turn-over, as not.

 

Wow... BRoy comes out and directly confirms what some on the board here already spotted... something was wrong with BRoy.

 

There were two things wrong with Brandon: He was forced to guard/be guarded by bigger and/or stronger players at the 3, and when he did handle the ball, whoever was on Miller was able to clog the lanes because Miller couldn't hit the ocean if he was floating on an inner tube six miles out to sea.

 

Maybe from three point range, but Miller is actually a very effective mid-range shooter.

 

Mid range is much easier to recover from, than the three. A defender only needs to take a step or two to get back to his man.

 

Yeah, but Wook was saying he couldn't shoot at all.

 

Personally I believe some of Roy's problem was between his ears. What I saw was him half-assing it and blaming it on Miller. Granted... he is still a young man... but after his 'all about the team' speech to see him jogging on offense because he didn't like the lineup was lame... and it points to what some teams have already figured out... the best way to beat Roy is nudge his mind in a direction that is a little unconfortable for him and let him beat himself.
Roy is an amazing player... and if wants to be among the all-time greats I think it all starts with his head. If Nate coddles him too much he may never get there.