Blazers last in the league in defense

I think RoCo and DJJ are playing much much better at this point, so the difference between Nurk and Kanter is much more obvious.

 

Nurk is much better than Kanter, no shit. But something people don't mention with Nurk coming back is that even though the defense is much better with Nurk on the floor, having Nurk start actually increases the minutes for the Melo/Kanter vortex. I suspect that actually negates some of the overall defensive improvement. Stotts actually (properly) went away from it last game in the 3rd/4th (after the absolute debacle that was the first half defense), choosing to playing Melo/Covington at center and reducing Kanter's minutes overall. I think that was smart, even though I think it's the wrong player of the Dynamic Defense Duo whose minutes got cut, and our rebounding also suffers significantly in that scenario. But what can you do?

 

We are 29th in rankings, but in reality... Listen. We are probably best defensive team out there. These stats just don't show and fans don't understand that. Look. Millions of fans on the world would love to have our defense.

 

Or play both Melo/Kanter 9th/10th man minutes. But Stotts will never do that.

 

I am reminded, however, of things Nurk does that drive me crazy. The missed bunnies. The "I'm a point guard!" turnovers. Kanter may be a disaster defensively, but he's a joy to watch in the post and makes very few stupid turnovers.

 

The league is getting so small.... do we really need Kanter? Last night the Raps ran Bouche and Baynes. When they have Bouche out there just play RoCo at center, and if they have Baynes you use Nurk.

 

NEVER at any point in god knows how long have I EVER thought we were/are a contender.

 

Sure, but on this team, Nurk's strengths are absolutely required. Kanter's weaknesses are harder to hide because of the personnel. At the end of the day it's about scoring more points right? There are stretches in games where our defense is just in perma-scramble mode and is relying on luck in order to not give up guaranteed points. In the playoffs Kanter will be played off the floor.

 

Not sure last night's game is a compelling reason. Boucher and Baynes playing all the center minutes are a big reason why the Raps suck....in the east.

Let me know if size is important when you're playing against AD, Drummond and LeBron in a 7 game series.

 

The other option is to start Melo and move RoCo to SF. I think I might like that better, since Melo is also less likely to jack up terrible shots when he spends most of his minutes next to Dame/CJ.

Kanter can play with Powell, DJ and Nas who are positive defenders coming off the bench.

 

I believe we can beat the teams circled in yellow in a 7 game series.
I would have chose the same teams back last fall as well. Probably Utah as well, didn’t think they would be this good this year.
I predicted 5th or 6th I believe for us. So we are pretty much right on track.
Side note: Had you told me we would have been without CJ and Nurk the for almost whole season, I would have said we would have finished 10-12th!

 

I think Stotts rotation needs to be completely torn down and rethought. He won't do it though.

 

The suns have pretty much kicked the crap out of us whenever we play them. Why do you think they'd be a team that we could knock off?

 

Fully healthy?

 

Is this team ever full healthy?

 

With our luck, we will move up to the 4th spot....while the Lakers drop to the 5th spot.

 

Just in time for them to get healthy and smash us again.

 

Id rather make Melo a token starter. Or maybe dont play Melo close to 30mpg? But we gotta protect his legacy apparently