Much like prognosticating that the sun will come up in the morning, the Blazer media homers were in rare form tonight. Antonio Harvey was actually on the post game show saying it should just be about making the playoffs. Such high goals.....while teams with real goals will be dancing on our playoff graves with that attitude. Barrett, Wheels, Jay Allen, Antonio Harvey....it was a parade of excuses that could only come from local broadcaster/Blazer employee myopia. The Spurs were missing potentially the greatest PF to ever play the games, a NBA Finals MVP who lives in the paint, and their do-it-all SF....the equivalent would be to have Lillard and Batum join Aldridge on the bench in street clothes. Add to that, the Spurs played last night so were on the 2nd of a back-to-back, on the road, with a starting lineup that looked only slightly better than a D-League refugee list. Be happy with making the playoffs? Harvey had the 'extremely questionable' opinion that the Thunder got ahead of themselves by making the Finals too quickly and look what happened the next year. Yeah, Westbrook got hurt in the playoffs or they likely go back to the Finals again you basketball genius! Enough about that...being happy just making the playoffs speaks for itself and any player that is happy with that, I don't want on my roster. As for the Disappearing Man? Hello Nicolas Batum. Did you perhaps notice that LaMarcus Aldridge was out tonight? 6 of your teammates did and stepped up in a big fashion. Dame with 31, Mo with a 'Good-Mo' 19, Lopez with a double-double and T-Rob just 1 rebound short of his own. Matthews with 18 on a tough shooting night but at least he was trying and even the cob-webbed Dorell Wright had 10. Nicolas blessed us with 2 buckets. 2! 1 more than CJ and 2 more than Victor Claver who played in his first game all season. Another passive, non-appearance when they need him most. Yeah yeah, 5 rebounds and 5 assist but this team needs aggressiveness from him. Even when they do get a good game you can count on him like a continuous mattress sale that he won't show up the next game. If the Blazers are needing Nic to be a consistent contributor for them to be successful, it is going to be a long wait. This team played over their skis in the first 1/3 of the season and I never expected them to continue anywhere near where they were early on. However, listening to the neophytes and the overly predictable plethora of excuses just gets old. ....and waiting for Nic to show up is on a consistent basis is now to the point that the it is probably on us fans just to accept the reality that he just doesn't have it in him more than occasionally. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
IIRC, This was Clavers' 4th game of the season. Other than that, Yeah... I agree with all this. It was fun while it lasted, but expectations have to get severely tempered now.
I know there are a lot of you disappointed in the coach. One thing I found interesting, three weeks ago when Allen made himself available to the meda. He made it known how happy he was Pete Carroll and had only thing to say about Stotts. Not sure if that meant anything but I think this coach is the right guy for the job. The team even with the amount of losses in the last 15 games has seriously overachieved and his scheme is a reason for it. When we were winning he was a genius, when we are losing he is a bum. I think we all need to keep it in perspective. Unless Aldridge's injury is serious. I expect this team to get back to winning again. And really soon.
As for Nic. Fans are pinning this losing on fatigue. I think the team has gotten complacent. I think they found out early on just how good they can be. I think they are a group feels they can turn it off and on. This team goes as far as Nic and LA take them. They are in the gm's words pillars. When LA starts to get serious again not only on the court but off the court in a leadership role. Nic will follow.
Yes, this was the first game i was really really disappointed with Batum. Another thing, I was thinking while watching that the Spurs like to use their bench on a regular basis so when they are needed for extended minutes they seem ready for it. And they play young guys who can improve; it's hard to imagine them using a space on their roster for a guy like earl watson or even Dorell Wright, who doesn't seem like the kind of guy striving to improve. they do have Bonner but I guess he does what he does so well.
The only thing consistent about Batum, is the inconsistency. This guys isn't going to take it to the "next level." He's a role player with a 15 PER getting paid way too much. The sooner management realizes it, the better.
Nic is talented but woefully inconsistent. He always will be. But until a better player comes along, he's it. But let us not forget he is a good defender. Every team needs a couple defenders. As to developing our bench players, there's a fine line between minutes to lose games "developing" and playing to win. Overall, I think Stotts does a pretty good job. And most players are developed in practice and the off season. My only bitch is defensively. We need new coaching (assistants) to teach this team how to play better defense.
I'm not expecting him to be LeBron or Durant but when he starts yapping his gums about being the 2nd best SF, that sounds like he things he has arrived. 12 ppg with 33% shooting from '3' isn't cutting it. And his nonchalant way he approaches the game makes it worse. Even when he does have a good game, it is often a blow up quarter surrounded by 3 other quarters of invisible-man like disappearance. With Duncan, Parker, Leonard and Aldridge out, there were still 12 players in that game that scored more points than Batum....12! When they needed him most, he stepped up like a wet noodle. It makes me appreciate the heart that Dame has that much more.
Nic's on the ball defense has been just a inconsistent as the rest of his game over the last couple years. I think think by most advanced metrics he's average.
From the eye test, that seems true as well. It feels like he used to be better. He is able to switch over to a lot of people but in most cases, it doesn't seem like he is slowing them down much. Maybe so in comparison to anyone else on the team but that is a pretty low bar at this point.
interesting. what happened to all the batum lovers? when I posted something similar to this on the previous forums they all defended him. jumping all over me much like on this forum when people post inaccurate things and they get pointed out. curious, very curious.
The team overachieved early in the season when they were playing seriously inferior competition, and against good teams that were slow out of the gate. Let's not forget that we barely beat DET and CLE prior to getting stomped by the Wolves. Sure, those games went into the W column rather than the L column, but all that did was disguise the fact that we weren't playing as good as our record suggested. We peaked during the stretch of games in Nov/Dec where we beat GS, IND, and OKC. Since then our play leveled off, and recently has steadily declined. The offense that was hailed as "genius" has been scouted and it doesn't work anymore. If Stotts was truly an offensive genius he'd have 4 or 5 other offensive schemes to throw at defenses. But whenever we go into a scoring drought what do we see? Guys running from spot to spot, a lot of heavily defended dribbling, and long contested jumpers. I like Stotts a heck of a lot more than I liked Nate. But I don't think he's the right coach by any stretch of the imagination. Both he and the players have talked about how he doesn't really draft up plays, but instead trusts his players to make plays. That's essentially what Mo Cheeks did when he was here! Sure, Stotts gave them a loose framework for how to space the floor, which is far more than Mo could hope to do, but now that the spacing has been figured out by the entire league he doesn't have a rebuttal. Watching him try to coach a 7-game series is going to be brutal.
My People it is good to see people talking truth about Batum. I think there is a deal out there to be found, lets find it.
Ever since the glorious series where we blew HCA and got curb-stomped by the Rockets, my mantra has been "NO MORE EXCUSES!" Just win - or STFU. I was so happy with this team 2 months ago, it makes the current disappointment even harder to swallow. Don't say "wait till next year"....this IS next year's team. What we have seen the last month is all we can expect for the forseeable future: indifference and mediocrity.
