Not even a healthy Roy is going to consistently beat double\triple teams.... Housten proved that last year...
No, they didn't. Roy consistently beat their double-teaming and had an incredible series. Portland lost that series because they couldn't stop Yao and their other players didn't do much on the offensive end, despite often being open. Had Portland's complementary players knocked down open shots, the Blazers would have won and the story would have been how even double-teams couldn't stop Roy and Houston's gamble cost them the series.
If Roy is healthy, the Suns would have to completely change their defense. You couldn't put Richardson or Hill on Miller without paying a huge price. Nash would have been exposed. Roy also controls the pace of the game better than any player we have. I stand by my statement. And you probably shouldn't compare Houston's defense last year with the Suns' defense this year (or any year).
Your both wrong... What "easy shots" does POR offense create? Or do you really believe that everyone standing around, watching Roy try to go 1v2 and either hoping he converts a tough shot or bailing out to another player and hoping they create a shot with less than 3 seconds left in the shot clock.... It is absolutely a terrible offensive philosophy...if you can even call it that....and you cannot win an NBA championship relying on it...
The other way to look at the situation: The Blazers (as a whole) looked worse while playing against an inferior defense.
Um, Roy was barely functional by Roy standards in that game. Bayless needs to work on his decision making to be sure, but I'm not sure that play is a good example of that.
we definitely have a talented team, it's just that McMillan doesn't extract the best from them. It doesn't matter how talented a player you are; if you stand still on the spot on offense, you 'aint gonna do shit all. Simple.
The question is - which of these players belong on a championship roster? Roy - Yes LMA - NO as the #2 option. Yes as a #3 option. This is the biggest flaw in the game plan IMO Batum - Yes Miller - ?? Camby - yes, but onlly as a backup PF / ctr Oden - TBD Rudy - no Bayless - yes Martelll - yes a as backup 3 So the questions are HUGE - Oden and LMA, 2 of the golden 3, may not be championship material. Troubling.
I agree with this. Oden has had flashes of absolute dominance especially defensively and on the boards. I also think he could be a legit #2 option after Roy. If I knew for sure about Oden I would trade LMA for either a starting PF defensive specialist or a PG of the future/present. We would need to replace LMA at the PF as well obviously. Not sure how this could be accomplished and I wouldn't trade LMA until AFTER at least one full season and post season of a Healthy Oden 72+ regular season games and great showing in playoffs. Until we know about Oden, LMA remains a quandry unless a no brainer comes along.
I'm not so sure. Phoenix really excels at getting easy shots for their big men. Portland does not. Aldridge loves to take the fall-away jumper from 18 feet, and when he's cold, it kills our offense. Nash is a great point guard who knows how to find the open man and create his own shot. We simply have no one like that. Roy, as brilliant as he is, goes for long stretches without contributing much, especially at the beginning of games. Finally, we just don't have enough good shooters, whereas Phoenix has a bunch of them. Our biggest problem is that we are a jump-shooting team without very good jump shooters.
a majority of their core is at most half way through their respective careers. Maybe this comes down to how the individual fan defines young... to the OP, I recall when all you'd post about was how embarrassed you were about the behavior to the team and how great it would be to support a group of guys who you could support. Can't say I'm surprised to see you still complaining after getting what you claimed to want STOMP
Weren't all those guys healthy when we got beat by Houston last season in the playoffs? There's more to the team's dysfunction than injuries.
Greg was "healthy" but he wasn't 2/3rds the guy he was this season... neither was Batum or Bayless. Besides, wasn't Houston beating the eventual world champs when Yao went down? They didn't exactly suck. You are misusing the word disfunction. Life isn't static and guys age and come into and grow out of the prime years of their careers. Portland's core is just starting to enter theirs STOMP
Let me get this straight. Because I once complained about having thugs and criminals on the team, I no longer have the right to point out problems with the current team?? Is that really your argument? I hope not, because that's incredibly weak. The fact is, Oden turned out to be extremely injury prone. He was a great pick for this franchise, and I applaud Pritchard's decision, but he has not had the kind of career we all thought he would. Facts are facts. That's one of the biggest reasons why the bloom is off the rose. Aldridge has also had a somewhat disappointing career. He's a nice player, with a great shooting touch, but not much of a rebounder, and he's too prone to playing outside rather than inside. This has nothing to do with whethere he's a high-character guy, which he certainly is. But again, facts are facts. I won't repeat all of the reasons why the team is falling short, but it's certainly not because Portland is now drafting high-character players instead of thugs. The fact that you still seem to be pining for Rashweed Wallace and Bonzi Wells and every other jerk who ever played for this team says more about you than anything else.
We win the NW division next year with our without Oden. I believe PA's money will have us be active this offseason and we get a player in a sign and trade or just for the MLE that gives us the low post scoring set we need. Roy was banged up so we could not abuse Nash's defense liability. Bayless was wild, but I thought he came along ways and proved to me that he will be a facotr for this team going forward. Rudy on the other hand should be paired with JP expiring contract to bring in a player in a sign and trade.
once? you started a new thread listing the same litany of complaints 2-3 times a week for years. In most every single one you'd talk about how wonderful it would be to have a team of guys you could support. Of course you (and anyone) can complain I just find it funny that you got what you claimed to want in 10,000 threads you started and yet are still complaining. what in the world are you basing this on? I like this team and in fact made multiple posts hoping to acquire each of the 4 best young talents (Roy, LA, Nic, Greg) prior to their respective drafts. With quite a few others, I pined for Miller going into last offseason's Free Agency and cheered the midseason trade for Camby. I predict big things next year if the club enjoys a season of relative health. I'm hoping the team stays relatively pat with the roster because I believe in the current talent. it's pretty clear who Sheed and the glorious feeling of looking down their nose. Bringing up your old punching bag out of the blue when no one else has mentioned him in forever isn't too subtle. Since you asked, I think he's old and mediocre now... I'd be pretty meh about it if the club acquired him. Bonzi has been out of the league for years now with bad knees... thats surely not what I'm pining for. I value current talent that can win STOMP
