Biggest thing a coach can control with regards to defense is the lineups, and Stotts has always favored offense lineups. We will never be good defensively when Kanter/Melo are sharing the court for 20 minutes a game. Never.
https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/...tland-trail-blazers-trade-deadline-prize.html This just bugs me in the worst way.
Nah, that's nowhere near the worst way. I mean, what if he picks up Meyers next week and says, "with our commitment to Meyers, our frontcourt is pretty well set."?
c'mon there is such a thing called balance. Yeah, the roster has been poorly balanced for years. But there can be a compromise between offense and defense. Currently Blazers are 4.9 points better than the median on offense but 5.8 points worse than the median on defense. They need to make their defense at least a couple of points better while keeping their offense at the same level there aren't a lot of options because of that poor balance I mentioned. One compromise that won't be popular, and Stotts would never do, is move CJ to the 6th man, move Powell to starting SG, and bring Nurkic off the bench. If Powell is the defender many here claim, then the Dame/Powell will improve the Blazer starting defense without dinging the offense much. You'd get CJ's scoring off the bench at the same time you're breaking up the Melo/Kanter vortex Dame/Powell/Jones/RoCo/Kanter CJ/Little/Melo/Nurkic a 9 man mix & match rotation that might bring a little better 48 minute balance. Ant can jump in a lake
Yes, some of us are excited about.... next season. We're dreaming of a healthy Collins and a gone Carmelo. Imagine if all are healthy, and have a full offseason together: Center: Nurk/Collins "Wings": RoCo/DJJ/Nas/Giles Guards: Dame, CJ, Powell Spot minutes for Kanter and CJ2 and Ant New 2nd rounder with potential warming the bench No Carmelo, No Blevins
I like this. Gonna use this from now on. It's a vortex because it sucks the ball into our own basket.
Exactly. That is nothing about the team being better, competing, or improving on their biggest weakness. The #Legacy thing isn't helping this team.
I'll love this 4th qtr lineup: Lillard CJ Norman Melo Nurk for defense or Kanter for offensive rebounds and buckets. We don't win the Miami game without Kanter in the 4th...
We keep trying to plug square holes with round dowels. Losing LaMarshmallow for nothing set this team so far back at the 4, and we've never really recovered. We could have if Collins would have been able to stay healthy, but having to start RoCo at the 4 and play Melo at the 5 tells you all you need to know about how hurting we are in the frontcourt. A healthy Collins who can stay out of foul trouble fixes so many of those problems, but it just hasn't happened. Go into the offseason and try to make a trade for an impact 4. I doubt we'll be able to draft one that can produce out of the box. At the worst, they can play behind Collins, but most likely, Collins will be the backup. If we start being able to play BIG (Nurk/Kanter at the 5, Collins and another true PF at the 4, and Roco, Melo and DJJ at the 3) we start giving teams all kinds of problems with our guards.
I didn't say this is the lineup we should ride all game, just what I thought was our best defensive group. I think it's worth noting that 3 of the 5 players listed have not been avaiable at all or for very few games. I think having only 2 defensive liabilities on the floor gives you a small chance to be ok. Having only one, would significantly raise the teams defensive abilities.
The Melo hate is so ridiculous. Not only is he a great teammate and locker room presence, but how many games has he won us this year? To complain about the 6th/7th man on the roster, who is making the minimum, and putting up 14 points on 40% shooting from 3 is so out of touch. I think a lot of people forger he took less to stay in Portland and has happily accepted his role coming off the bench. Who else is giving you his production at his salary? I'm not saying he's without flaws, but really, who else is giving you what he gives on a minimum deal? I'll GLADLY take another year of Melo as our 6th/7th man if he wants to come back. He was clutch in the Bubble last year and he's been clutch this year as well.
The Melo nonsense is annoying but it's also unequivocally false that we didn't want a big/wing. Nearly every report mentioned we were in pursuit of Gordon, we just didn't have the movable pieces to land him. “We just didn’t have a lot of draft capital,” Olshey said. “We don’t have a second in this year’s draft. So, we were behind the curve a little bit on some of the teams that were shedding high-level players but were prioritizing draft picks over either young players or established players under contract.”
I dont like melos game actually, taking bad long twos, not passing the ball, iso heavy. But he can get you a bucket anytime and he's been clutch and without him we would be worse for sure
Think we're all fine with Melo in the right role (catch and shoot guy who can get ultra hot). But when he's begging for post ups and jacking contested fadeaway 20 footers while not playing an ounce of defense, I just wish he'd get the hook from the coach. But Terry treats him like the 3rd guy, not the 7th and I think that's why Melo gets hate. It's just not necessary. Melo can earn his leash and PT based on his merit, not his resume.
We're 29th in Dtrg (closer to 30th than 28th). Until I find out differently, I'm blaming Melo and Kanter. This may be wrong, but, if so, please set me straight. Why are we so bad at defense?
