PISTONS @ BLAZERS - GAME THREAD - 11/11/13, MONDAY, 7PM

I believe Paul has made every Blazer game this year . . . he seems more into the Blazers this year. Now if he would just give away more free tickets.

(FYI- Spoke to the user who told me things are different with new management. He didn't want to get into too much but said things are running differently)

 

Last year there were a lot of complaints here about his turnovers, and not shooting the ball 'enough'. Growing pains. Also, so many players have forgotten basketball is supposed to be a team game, I guess it's somewhat understandable that so many fans have forgotten that philosophy as well. I love Batum's game and even more his approach to team basketball.

 

Hah! You only beat me by 12 hours. I've heard that great minds think alike. If true, you must have a great mind.

 

They almost beat the Blazers last night. ERGO: They must be a good team.

 

Look at Mr. Sheed, Establishment Fat Cat. I bet he votes Republican!

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

2nd hardest schedule to date. They managed to have a 2-3 record coming to Portland with such a hard schedule. You should give them more credit.

 

More credit than "they have played a really tough schedule"?

 

Well considering they had a better record than Brooklyn with a much harder schedule, I would say yes. I suspect you would have called a win against Brooklyn quality no?

 

I would have because the season ENDING stats should have Brooklyn with a better record than Detroit.

 

Well the trick to SOS is playing teams when they are strong. Phoenix is strong right now, while Brooklyn is very weak. You maybe right down the road, but right now, Phoenix is the better team. Detroit is the better team right now as well.

 

Thank you so much for telling me how SOS worked. I had no idea.

 

I'm here to help

 

Detroit is going to be one of those enigmatic teams that can beat anyone because of their talent, but will struggle because they're so young. They also desperately need a trade, because Smith is not a small forward and Billups is not a starting two guard at this point. Batum for Monroe would make a lot of sense for both teams, but right now we are playing so well, and Nic is playing so well, that I wouldn't even consider it. If things went bad towards the end of the season, and it looked like Aldridge wants out, I would definitely try to make that trade though.

 

Yeah, the Blazers appear to be developing some real chemistry, and Nico is a major ingredient to that. If the thing blows up and goes south, then we'd have to consider every option, and that (if available) would be worth a look.

 

If Monroe was better defensively I'd really want to do that trade, I really like his offensive game. Nic is playing great but I'm not sure Wright is much worse than Nic. We can play Matthews at the 3 especially if CJ is able to contribute anything in a few months at SG. But I just don't see the point of adding an offensive player when we are the #2 offense in the league. If we made a trade it should be for defense. Sometimes I even wonder about Aldridge, I think fans give him a pass on defensive I see him making a number of terrible plays.

 

No no, I'm talking about if we have to trade Aldridge. If things went south, and we miss the playoffs again, I would suspect that Aldridge would probably want out. At that point I'd try to trade LMA for the best deal on the table, and move Batum for Monroe to take his place.