Leonard tie with Ezeli AND Biedrins? McCollum, who we haven't seen play a second of NBA basketball better than Bazemore?
Mo might be better than Maynor? There's no "might" about it. Robinson might be better than Jeffries? Again, I don't think there's any "might" about it. Maybe he won't be better than Jeffries in his prime, but he'll certainly be better than 12/13 Jeffries. And given that Pav really didn't do anything, I think it's pretty much a lock that CJ WILL BE better than Pavlovic. Even if you disagree with Robinson/CJ, Mo and Wright ALONE make our bench infinitely superior to last year's bench. However, what I think a lot of people are mis-remembering is that we rarely platooned the entire starting unit for the entire bench unit. People seem to be suggesting that we'd put our bench in and just absolutely come to a stand-still. While this happened on occasion, it wasn't something that occurred game-in and game-out. We mitigated our crappy bench by shuffling them in with starters - which is pretty typical. So the difference isn't going to be night and day, more like night and evening.
Yes there is because we have no idea how Mo will do on this team....as a back up. look at the difference in seasons for Crawchuck as an example of this. Jeffries was an exceptional defensive player. Robinson has been on 3 teams in less than a year. Again, saying a player who has never once played an NBA game that wasn't a can't miss prospect coming out of college will be better than someone who is an average at best NBA player is silly.
Meyers was better than those either of those two last year. I figured he would tie with their combo this year. Biedrins- 0.5pts, 2.9rebs, 0.8blks in 53 games Ezeli- 2.4pts, 4.0rebs, 0.9blks in 41 games (Draymond Green)- 2.9pts, 3.3rebs, 0.3blks in 79 games Leonard- 5.5pts, 3.7rebs, 0.6blks in 69 games. Bazemore averaged 2pts, 0.4rebs, 0.4asts. Yes, CJ will be better than that this year. Kinda ridiculous that I actually had to spell this out. Your judgement of our team is so clouded.
I liked Maynor a lot. Call me crazy, but he ran the team well when he was in there. That being said I was impressed watching Mo last year in Utah. A lot of their fans who i talk with liked him as a starter at PG. I would not go that far, but he will be solid as a BU. Wright to me is the biggest factor because he can (almost) get more minutes by himself as our whole bench did last year And he will allow Nic to play some SG when needed against bigger guards. I agree with MM about some of the others being question marks at this point. We are guessing on a few until they play. I do think we will be better at the end of the season then we will be at the beginning. So be prepared for some growing pains at first, or maybe some bigger minutes for our starters early on. But I also expect the starters to be better this year as a whole.
Leonard was a sieve on defense. Literally one of the worst defensive bigs I have ever seen in my life. How was he better than Ezeli? Bazemore played 4.4 MPG. His Per 36 MPG averages of 16/3/3 with an 11.3 PER is what CJ will be measured by. Bazemore also had a defensive rating of 104, which CJ should also have no trouble beating according to you Again, i don't want anyone to think that I believe there is not a chance in hell we won't be better, or even that we probably will be better. But statements like guys like McCollum who haven't played a second will be better than guys that have is dumb. We will probably have a better bench on paper, but who knows if that will make us a better team on the court Adding Strickland made us better on paper too. Adding Cupcake and Crawchuck made us better on paper Adding Ass Clown made us better on paper But none of them really made us better on the court
You're just arguing to argue. "Well if the pH balance of the soil changed we don't KNOW that grass would still be green." By your logic we have no idea how ANY of our players will play - the roster is different, so LMA might become Luke Babbitt and Lillard will grow a third arm and get called for a triple-dribble.
No, this post of yours is to argue for the sake of arguing. We know what Aldridge is. he won't become Luke Babbitt, and to say so is baiting. Lillard won't grow a third arm, and there is no rule violation for a triple dribble....again, baiting You are like the master baiter Now what might happen is teams scheme to stop Lillard and his production goes down. Force him right and funnel him to the side lines for double teams off Lopez. He didn't see that very much last season.
And we also KNOW that Mo is better than anyone we had on our bench last season. Even if he goes "Crawford" on us (no evidence to support such a theory) that would STILL be far better than anything we got out of our bench last season. And we also know that neither Pavlovic nor Jeffries contributed anything meaningful to our season - at all. To suggest that their replacements might not be as good is just arguing for the sake of it. While there's no evidence in CJ's/Robinson's favor (due to them both, essentially, being rookies), there's also no evidence to suggest there's even a remote likelihood that they'll be worse. You're just playing the "all things are possible" game - which while true, doesn't really add to a conversation. If you want to keep suggesting that our bench might not be better than last season's bench there's really no point in engaging any further.
You've been consistent in your posts but I still haven't figured out your point. I'm sure you have a basis for your criticism. What are you trying to say when you say So LBJ was worse than every player in the league the minute before the first game of his rookie season because he hasn't "played a second". This can't be what you are saying.
I think if you re-read that post of mine or the one before it, I mention that McCollum wasn't a sure thing coming out of the draft. So saying any player that hasn't played a second in the league isn't my argument
Remember who was coaching when Crawford was here. Nate tried to make Crawford into Brandon Roy. Something tells me Crwford would have done much better on Stotts' free flowing offense than Nat'es all-ISO-all-the-time system. Exceptional in what way? Exceptionally bad? Definitely. I posted this in another thread a couple days ago: According to 82games.com, Jared Jefferies net production per 48 by position: PF: Own PER = 0.4 Opponents PER = 21.1 Net PER = -20.7 Own PTS/49 = 6.0 Opponents PTS/48 = 24.7 Net PTS/48 = -18.7 C: Own PER = 3.3 Opponents PER = 18.0 Net PER = -14.7 Own PTS/49 = 6.1 Opponents PTS/48 = 21.9 Net PTS/48 = -15.8 Total Production/48: Own = 2.2 Opponents = 18.9 Net = -17.6 Please note all the negative signs in front of the ridiculously large numbers. So? If he manages to step on the court with a pulse, he will be >>>>> Jared Jefferies. Robinson definitely had a disappointing rookie year, getting traded with no clear role on either team. While his rookie PER of 10.9 is nothing to get excited about, it's still over 4x Jared Jefferies PER = 2.4. Jared Jeffries was, by far, the worst player on the worst bench in the 65 year history of the NBA. His net production per 48 was nearly 5 points worse than Luke Babbitt and Ronnie Price (both -12.7). BNM
I'll end the argument. I don't give a fuck what THIS years bench does....... can't be worse than LAST years!
Actually, he did start to see a lot of that once it became clear stopping Lillard was the key to shutting down Portland's offense. And if you look at his monthly splits, you will see declining production during January and February as a result. Then we picked up Eric Maynor, which allowed Lillard to play off the ball for stretches and suddenly Lillard had, by a wide margin, his best month of the season in March. This year, Lillard has a full year of experience and he will be able to play off the ball when paired with Mo Williams - for the entire season, not just after the trade deadline. But, leave it to you to find the cloud in every silver lining. You just predicted that the reigning ROY, with a year's experience and a better supporting cast, will see his production decrease in his second season. Why so damn negative ALL the time? Why even follow the team if all you see is failure? You seem to be bound and determined to negate every positive of season move the Blazers have made. Olshey successfully addressed our two biggest needs, better interior defense and depth. There is no way in hell this year's bench will not result in additional wins. Last year's bench was, by a wide margin, the worst in the entire 65 year history of the NBA. We've added two very solid, proven veterans in Williams and Wright, who alone averaged 4 more PPG than our entire bench last season. Last year, statistically Meyers Leonard was our best bench player. This year, with the added depth, Leonard is widely seen as the weak link in our bench. Think about that - from best bench player to weakest link on the second unit. And not because Leonard got worse, we now have 4 more bench players that are widely viewed to be better (Williams, Wright, Robinson and McCollum). I know in your pessimistic view, they will probably all suck and have career worst years, but I tend to think reality is somewhere a little north of your expectations. BNM
Yup - after a couple months (maybe less?) it became quite clear that defenses viewed him as priority #1 and doubled him hard outside of the 3-point line. I suspect that'll still be the primary point of attack for defenses this season too. I also expect it to be less successful than it was last year.
Yeah they have to make the defense pay for doubling out there. The best way is for one of the wings to take the pass and attack the basket when it happens. And from the starting unit that means Nic.
Last season, even after the wrist injury, Nic was pretty good at being the second distributor. It's great that we have Lillard to run the overall show, but also have someone with Nic's passing ability to act as a "release valve" when defenses put too much pressure on Lillard. It'd be nice to see Nic get the ball and immediately go to the hoop, but his dribbling isn't that good - his passing more than makes up for that though. Also, the coach could help in this area by creating a few sets that give Nic a screen once Lillard passes him the ball so that he has less defensive pressure on his dribble. I mean, with two guys on Lillard going right Lopez could roll to the hoop weak-side and then at the same time LMA could be coming off the baseline to have a screen ready for Nic by the time the ball is in his hands. At that point Nic has the ball with a screen giving him an angle to the hoop. LMA's man has either hedged onto Lopez rolling on the weak-side which gives Nic an open lane, or he stayed with LMA and jumps the screen which means Lopez is practically at the rim with Nic lobbing a pass to him.
Nic averaged between 5 and 6 assists for 4 months of last season. He set career highs for scoring, assists and rebounds last year, and he was only 24. He was also logging 38mpg, which is just too much for a guy as injury prone as he is. I think he lost his "upside" label a little prematurely. In truth he may never average 20 points in this league. But I think he still has a lot of potential to improve.
