Game Thread GAME# 48: BUCKS @ BLAZERS - APRIL 2, 2021 - FRIDAY, 7:00, NBATV & NBCSNW

Zach’s impact can’t be measured in stats. Everyone plays better and the bench is deeper and we win when Zach plays. We are a much better team when we have a 7 footer who can block shots and hit 3s on the court. There is no one else on our roster like Zach.

 

When was he limping?

 

Could be top 10 talent? Lmfao. We added RoCo and a 20ppg athletic 3&D forwards to our roster as upgrades over Harkless and Chief and people still want to blame Olshey...

Do you really believe we were getting 3 seeds with a bottom 15 roster? Because those upgrades are massive.

 

you need to get a room with your straw men; have some red herring and whisper lies to each other....just keep the noise down

I want you to go back and find where it was I ever said Portland had a "bottom 15" roster. Let me know when you find it

 

If you think we might not have a top 10 roster, then you seem to believe one of the following:

- That we've barely improved the roster since we had Moe and Chief
- That we were a bottom 15 team and that's why we're still "maybe not top 10" despite our improvement

Because I don't know how you could think we were a top 15 team, then replace Moe and Chief with a 20ppg, athletic, 3&D SF and a Robert Covington shooting a career high from 3 and remain outside the top 10.

Doesnt add up.

 

We were surely top 10 then and we are surely top 10 now. We’ve probably improved but not clear or by how much.

Aminu (still vastly underrated) put up mostly similar stats to Covington in his last year as a Blazer. Roco gets more steals and blocks. Aminu scored slightly more, got more offensive and defensive rebounds, drew more fouls and committed fewer fouls. They were about the same in scoring efficiency. Aminu had slightly higher PER and BPM.

Powell is a great addition but as a starter he’s not a great fit with Dame and CJ as yet another scorer and less of a defender than Hark. There is some duplication there. You also have to compare benches which adds uncertainty to the comparison.

Overall I’d expect us to be somewhat better but it remains to be seen on the floor.

 

RoCo is a far superior defender and 3pt shooter than Aminu, as well as a smarter overall player.

Powell is smaller but pretty equivalent to what Harkless brought defensively. Yet he's a far, far superior offensive player.

Our bench has never been noteworthy. This years is probably our best bench in a while.

 

We look so much better when we play a team with no talent. Sadly, the game against the Bucks tells me more than the blowout against the garbage Thunder.

 

Last season we were only top-15 against awful teams. This season we are top-10.

(I wrote that in the fruitless spirit of the above posters, to prolong the thread. This happens when you read only the last page of a thread.)

 

I don't give a shit about the fucked-up math you used in your head to claim I said Portland had a bottom-15 roster. I never said that, I never implied it, and I'm not going to let you frame the discussion with that kind of dishonest bullshit as the starting point.

I also want to point out I have said more than once I believe there is a difference between talent on paper and how that talent meshes on the floor. Chemistry is actually a real thing and it doesn't all rise or fall on if the players like each other. Dame & CJ have never meshed as well as Dame & Matthews did. We don't know how well Dame-CJ-Powell will mesh over the rest of the season as a starting trio. Can they maximize their talent considering that Dame and CJ have often stepped on each other?....yeah, IMO

so for me, landing on whether or not Portland has a top-10 roster isn't the exercise of the Stotts-hating agenda you engage in. Do they have top-10 talent? yeah, most likely. Do they have a top-10 rotation? Remains to be seen. I'm hopeful, but right now I'd say there are at least 7-8 teams better. And for damn sure they didn't look like a top-10 team two nights ago against Giannis and crew

when Portland starts beating top-4 seeds, like a top10 team should, then I'll rethink my notions

 

I'd say Roco is superior to Aminu on D but not far superior. Aminu rebounds better, which offsets some of RoCo's superiority. DPM for Aminu was about +0.6 as a Blazer and Roco has been +1.3 for the past 4 years. Seems right to me.

Roco is a more versatile 3 point shooter. He can shoot the 3 in more situations under more duress which is a great benefit. Still Aminu got off 5.0 3PA per 36 as a Blazer to Roco's 5.4 this year. Not much difference. Efficiency - Roco's 3 point % for the past 3 years is 36.1% vs 35.3% for Aminu as a Blazer. Yeah, Roco is at nearly 40% right now. That doesn't mean he'll stay there. He was sub 30% not that long ago when many knee-jerkers were calling him worthless. He shot 38% a few seasons ago followed by a 33.5% season. Variance happens. It remains to be seen where his 3-point % will settle as a Blazer. 38% would be great in which case I will agree. But we're not there yet. In spite of Roco's hot 3-point shooting, Aminu's last season had an equal TS% on more volume. Aminu did that by taking the ball to the hoop and getting fouled much than Roco does and then shooting 87% from the line.

I rank Aminu and Roco high in smarts and high in intangibles. I never see either of them take stupid shots. Both turn the ball over at the same rate. Both give 110% effort.

I'd rather have Roco, but I don't see the disparity being as much as you do. Their box scores are about equal, if anything Aminu's is better. Box score does a pretty good job at measuring offense, but mostly neglects defense which is why I put Roco as better. Also, to be fair I'm comparing Aminu's last (best) season as a Blazer and that may not have been sustainable. I think everything Roco is doing is sustainable other than perhaps his 40% 3-point shooting.



I don't believe Powell is as good a defender as Harkless was at SF. Overall he is a much superior player. I just think some his benefit is wasted playing him with CJ and Dame. Only one of them can shoot on a given possession. The way we play (alternating ISO's) it isn't as if we do a great job utilizing our multiple scoring threats to create open looks. I would rather have two of them on the floor at all times and have Powell in when we need added defense (with Kanter). It doesn't matter who starts. It matters that you play your best players the most minutes and that you create lineups that work well together - balanced O and D for one thing.

As far as the bench. Within the non-noteworthy category there is ok, bad, and terrible. Benches play 35-40% of the t0tal minutes. They matter a lot. Not sure where our current bench falls relative to Aminu/Harkless last year bench. When we had Hood I'd say our bench was significantly worse (Hood, Melo, Kanter, Ant line-up up for example). Now, I don't know. I'd say our bench is perhaps equal and should soon be superior as Ant is slowly getting better, Little is playing more and improving, the addition of Powell indirectly boosts our second unit.

Overall though, I agree this team should be better. If that theory holds and everyone stays healthy
1. Our D-rating should be a at least bit above average like the Aminu/Harkless D was with Nurk.
2. We should win around 53+ games next year.

 

Some people don't understand the role Zach provides on this team. Does he foul sure but majority of his fouls is contesting a shot and he there very few games he actually foul out. He also starting set screens that's free up open shots for Dame and CJ. His rebounding has gone up each year and does a pretty good job staying in front of of people he guarding that's includes guards and does make people miss on his contest.

 

What did beating Philly without Dame/CJ/Nurk tell you? What did beating Lakers tell you? What did beating Dallas twice tell you? Anyway, losing to Bucks doesn’t matter. They won’t be in Finals when we’re there in July.

 

So basically its about CJ, and it's not on Stotts for figuring out how to make the phenomenal pieces he's given work? Thank goodness we dont have two Dame's, they'd step on each other.. because having a Trent instead was better offensively..

Having both those guys allows the other to have an off night, since one of them will usually step up and produce. I know you dont want to give CJ credit but he's improved his decision making, passing, and defense this year, two Knicks on him and why some say he wasn't a good fit.

I just sit here wondering what cartwheels Olshey would have to do other than trading CJ thatd get him some approval.

 

you tried to enumerate good wins this team had, and after two you're already reaching for Dallas, a team barely in the play-ins

 

if he'd cartwheel out of Portland permanently I'd approve

 

Blazers have won 4 of 11 games vs top teams -- Sixers, Nets, Bucks, Heat, Jazz, Suns, Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets. Talentwise, without Nurk and CJ I'd put us at the bottom of that pack. With Nurk, CJ, Powell we should be somewhere towards the middle once they all get fully in sync. 4 of 11 seems normal to me. 30 and 19 we are way ahead of schedule.

 

Well he did only play 11 games might be a reason why his stats was low. But he was in there last year 8-3. Two years ago DBPM was 2.7 in the playoffs and he was big reason we went wcf. Yes Dame had big 1st series against OKC and CJ had a big series against Denver.

 

I think that could have easily been 5 of 11. I also think that number will improve over the next couple weeks.

 

Why do you include Miami but not Dallas? We beat Dallas twice.