Game Thread GAME# 26: BLAZERS @ NUGGETS - DECEMBER 12, 2019 - THURSDAY, 7:30 PM, TNT

Look above your post and see that Dame does draw fouls, CJ really does need to improve on that, you're right.

 

To my way of thinking, breaking up a team is when you are jettisoning corps guys and using the resources you acquire to get young, cheap talent.

Who exactly did we let go that we didn't replace with someone as good or better? And who did we let go that we weren't forced to let go because of cap constraints -- that's another part of that equation.

 

In your opinion. You are just going by stats that support you and ignoring stats you don't like while also leaving out any context. THAT'S nonsense.

Have a nice night.

 

Totally agree. I seen numerous times they were playing way off of him at the 3 pt line when the ball was in his hands and he never once looked at the basket. I feel like he has a decent shooting touch and could be running a pick and pop to try and help the non-existent bench scoring.

 

Not sure what your point is ... will Herzonja or Tolliver be missed? Is Whiteside being counted upon once Nurk is back healthy? Is Bazemore irreplaceable?

If those are the only changes ... I mean, how many teams in the NBA do you think will have four or fewer roster changes next year? I bet almost every team will have at least that. And two rotation guys? I bet almost every other team in the league will have more than that.

I'm sorry, but a post like this just seems like "OK, I am PO'd at the Blazers so I am going to take frustrations out on other posters even though I know exactly what he was saying."

 

ok...then you show me some numbers, any numbers, that support your argument. Where are they?

And since you made an accusation, please point out the stats I'm "ignoring", and what relevant "context" I'm leaving out.

 

My thought was that Barkley had to mean trading CJ. (In before @hoopsjock telling me we can't until January 31st)

But with how stupid I think Barkley is, he might not even remember that we lost 7 players.

 

So theres been a lot of conversations about this @bobf and @wizenheimer have said most of the summer that they thought who we brought in was worse for the most part then the guys leaving. I kind of jokingly say that Bobf loves Harkless / Aminu. The injuries to Hood and Zach are unfortunate in a lot of ways but in this argument its makes it even harder to judge how right they are. To me the Blazers summer put a ton of pressure on Zach and Simons, Simons appears not ready and Zach got hurt.

 

So, what change do you think this team can make this year that's going to make us better than the Lakers, Clippers, Rockets, or Nuggets?

You are talking about upgrading the bench when -- if a couple of guys hadn't gotten hurt -- our bench would look great. So what, now we're going to trade somebody to shore up our bench for a run to the first round of the playoffs and then stunt our potential for next year? Doesn't make sense to me to do that.

The caveat being that who knows ... if you get a real sweetheart deal that makes sense for now and next year, then, by all means, you do it. But if you are just trading looking at something for this season, I think that's kind of foolish.

 

The injuries had so much to do with this that I don't think you really can judge it.

I don't think Harkless or Aminu playing on this team makes it any better this season. To be honest, Aminu really wasn't our choice; he was a free agent, and we were a little strapped there.

So here's what you have: You either keep Harkless and don't have Whiteside, or you trade for Hassan and give up Mo. To me, that's a no-brainer, especially when you don't have precognition to know that Zach's shoulder is going to be dislocated and that Rodney's going to tear his Achilles.

 

I think it would be a huge mistake to make a short sighted trade for this year. I think if they dont trade Baze/WS or both for someone who has years on their contract they’re in a lot of trouble, if those guys leave they have almost no somethjng like 10-12M in space, and they historically dont get much in FA.

 

I addressed this. Dame draws fouls, but Dame also plays more minutes than almost anyone in the league, has the ball in his hands almost all the time, and goes through a lot of stretches where he doesn't draw fouls when he could.

I literally addressed the post you are talking about and quoted it. Good lord, guys.

But, yes, Dame all good, CJ all bad. I get the narrative.

Look, when I coached, I had a kid who scored nearly 2,000 points in his HS career. That's really good. Except he probably scored seven-eighths of those points in the first three quarters of his games. The numbers looks terrific until you put them into context.

Saying, "Hey, he did this, it's really good" but missing that he could be maximizing his talent and opportunities ... I mean, if a guy scores 8 in a quarter, it's good ... until you look at things and realize he should have scored 12-15.

 

Yes, but the injuries impacted the bench and the roles guys are playing. Two of the three guys you mentioned have been in an NBA rotations for 25 games and the third has never played for a team with meaningful aspirations. And they aren't playing for a coach who really trusts young players.

If Zach and Rodney are healthy, Bazemore's coming off the bench, and that also gives us another vet playing with those guys. I think that changes things a lot.

 

even before the injuries to Zach and Hood, it was glaringly obvious the Blazers downgraded their perimeter defense, and the reality is that a team needs at least decent perimeter defense to be successful.

* Start with the PF position: last year the rotation was Aminu and Zach. This season, the rotation at the beginning was Zach and Tolliver/Hezonja. That's a major downgrade. Making it worse, is that while Zach is fine at defense in the paint and at help defense, he's not nearly as good on the perimeter as Aminu

* then you are replacing Harkless, Turner, & Curry with Hood, Bazemore, and Simons. Harkless was much better than Hood at defense, and more versatile. Turner/Bazemore is probably a push; and Curry is quite a bit better than Simons

obviously, the Blazers were gambling that an upgrade in offense would offset the downgrade of defense. It was a bad bet though, because the offense isn't better, and may be worse; but the defense has been atrocious.

to be clear, I wasn't really upset at any of the departures even though I thought there were too many. What pissed me off, and this was in July, were the replacements and the obvious holes in the roster....along with the transparent decisions Olshey was making in order to force Stotts into playing 'his' guys. This roster was driven out onto thin ice and the ice broke

 

He's easily been the second best player on this team

 

stop with the Dame-good/CJ-bad narrative junk. That's just deflection. You're the one that lumped them together in FT prowess and the FACTS are that they couldn't be more different in that area. Dame is one of the NBA's best while CJ is one of the NBA's worst...again, we're talking drawing fouls and getting to the FT line

as to your other criticisms: you need to prove that Dame is the only player in the league with a high usage rate that goes stretches when he doesn't draw fouls. I don't have a clue what you mean when you imply he could do better

now here are the top 7 players in the NBA in made FT's, with their average AND their usage rates:

James Harden HOU - 12.3 FT's - 38.2%
Jimmy Butler MIA - 12.3 FT's - 25.1%
Luka Doncic DAL - 7.6 - 36.7%
Anthony Davis LAL - 7.1 - 30.8%
Damian Lillard POR - 6.9 - 28.3%
Joel Embiid PHI - 6.9 - 31.7%
Giannis Antetokounmpo MIL - 6.4 - 37.6%

notice how Lillard has the 2nd lowest usage rate there? In other words, he's not the only player that has the ball a lot. All of the volume FT shooters have the ball a lot so that seems like a meaningless criticism

yes, he plays a lot of minutes, but there really isn't that significant minutes difference in those top players, except for maybe Embiid at 30.4. But look at it from another angle, an important angle IMO: Harden is 6'5 and 220. Butler and Doncic are in the 6'7 and 230 range. The other three guys are are in the 6'10-7'0 and 240-250 range. Lillard is 6'2 and 195. That he's in that group of 7 is impressive because he doesn't have the physical advantages they do, and thinking he should be even better is wildly unrealistic

now, after those 7 guys you start seeing more guards show up, but Dame is at the top of that pyramid

 

Its not the stars fault, theyre the last reason why were losing on a regular basis. Watch a postgame stream and get educated.

 

Itd make sense tonight if our starting C didnt go for 33pts, 11reb, and 4 blks on 15-21 shooting and our starting PF went for 20pts and 9reb on 8-16 shooting.

We have a great starting backcourt, a spacing PF that can drop an efficient 20, and a really good starting C.

Were not doing fundamental things, like box out, move the ball, cut. Were struggling with fandemental defensive concepts like having proper defensive positioning or proper defensive rotations.

Thats the problem right there. Take care of those things and we win by 10 instead of losing by 10.

 

Guys played a lot better than I thought they would.

 

Guys, we just suck and we need to accept it. There’s not one damn thing this collection of guys can do to right the ship. This season is a lost cause, and 80% of it is due to injury. Shit happens.

I’m not even mad anymore, I expect nothing other than for the FO to appease Dame, make him as comfortable as possible.