Game Thread Game #24 - BLAZERS VS CELTICS - DECEMBER 4, 2021 - SATURDAY - 7:00 PM (PDT) ROOT SPORTS

It always surprised me the starters thing in NBA. Players are so fascinated with being a starter. It is a pride thing, like they unlocked the next level or something. In Europe it means almost nothing.
Some of the best players in Europe are coming off the bench because it's better for their teams to do that. Like Clyburn in CSKA Moscow for example who is arguably top3 player. He never complained about it and he is actually great off the bench.
My greek team is Olympiacos and we have a player called Sloukas who is the top paid guy with the second best getting half the money. So you can understand he is by far the highest contract. We are bringing him off the bench because 2nd unit is weak in offense so he brings balance to that. This is the best for the team and never complained.
Same goes with other top Euroleague players over the years like Sergio Rodriguez and Teo Papaloukas. Papaloukas destroyed team USA when Greece beat them in 2005 if anyone remembers.
In Europe i guess it's less a pride thing and more what's best for the team.

 

Billups deserves a fresh start with a group of guys who will atleast show up and give effort. This season is a wash.

 

nurk had 18 pts on 6/9 shooting in 20 minutes

not really his fault, with more minutes and more shots, hed have those 30 pts for sure

 

Yeah and what’s infuriating is without Dame we still have over $103m playing and they can’t even show effort or pride. I guess if we want those attributes we need to pay them more money.

 

Just now checking the score - I went to bed early in the third and I was wondering maybe we had a comeback win, but the extent of our blowout loss genuinely surprised me! I didn't think this team could surprise me any more.

But the #1 most important thing I see: BLEVINS SCORED A BASKET!!!! Is that his first NBA points?

 

Billups was brought in to change things up and hold players accountable. That is very difficult to do when for so long the leaders have been badly iso oriented, offense first, hero ball type players who don't play much defense and have already got massive contracts signed.

They have little motivating to change (CJ), or it's going to take a bit (Dame), but he has to be healthy first.

Put the two of them together attempting to do this and it was route for failure. The pieces have to be changed.

The players know this isn't going anywhere so they show that on the court with their lack of giving a crap. Then the 2nd unit comes in, plays hard, gives effort, and shows they don't have the entitled mentality that CJ shows and RoCo exudes.

Olshey put this together, left it way too long, and now that injuries have set in, the hope is gone and you see true nature.

Time to clean house.

 

New Blazers anthem:

 

It's never his fault...

The Blazers were -15 in Nurk's 20 minutes, they were -4 in Zeller's 16 minutes... and Zeller got 3 more rebounds than Nurk during this time. Hard to think he was worth the extra minutes in this game.

I hate to harp on this - and it feels as if I am a Nurk hater, but I am not, I just hate it when people get this idea that he is more than he is and put crap about how good he. He is a good defensive player, if not consistent in his effort - and a sub-par offensive player. He is a role player that might have have been a star if he played in a different era of the NBA, but he is not. He is a complementary player.

 

And then he rolls out the same starting line up.

 

Mirage for the week.

 

He can't hold Nurk/CJ/RoCo accountable in a benching as it will tank their trade value.

Then again, Dame was at the 2nd/3rd unit in the 4th quarter to take some pride....but I haven't seen him getting on CJ in nearly the same manner when the 2nd unit gives way more effort than our local wine celeb.

 

I made a joke about Portland's defensive rating in this game.I just checked...are you ready for this: Portland's DRating was 147.9 last night. That pushed they season rating to 114.o, and surprise!...Blazers are now in sole possession of the 30th ranked defensive rating in the NBA. Last season they were 29th

I'm neutral on Billups. I saw no reason to expect him to be a good coach this season. He has no experience as a coach. he might not be a good coach for 2 or 3 years; maybe not ever. He very well may be guilty of trying to jam a square peg into a round hole; on both ends of the floor. The defense sure as hell ain't working and his idea of playing Dame off the ball was not a good one. Both instances seem to be schemes that don't fit the roster...

but he was give a broken roster. And that breakage has been so fucking obvious for a long fucking time. I'm rambling now but when I think how that stinking narcissistic pus-pile Olshey was allowed to waste so many years of dame's prime in service to his own goddamn ego I start to unravel.

 

Its a combination of things, yeah all the scuttle starting last summer with Stotts, Dame, and for the last month the NO crap. Bring in a new soft spoken, new coach that wants to teach from the ground up and hold players accountable sure does change the synergy versus a coach that said just go out and play, have fun and play to your strengths, no accountability. Got to get tougher in the back court and bigger in the front court.

 

I believe we are in for 5-10 years of less than mediocre play. I'll still watch and root as I love the game.

 

The priority for the Paul Allen trust niw, is to control cost, and allow the franchise to increase value each year. Im not convinced they care about being an elite team? We are a satellite profit center for a conglomerate thats all about bottom line.

 

I'd rather see him going to individual players and saying "It looks like you aren't trying out there. What's going on? What can I do to help?" If that isn't productive, then he just needs to cut minutes and let the GM know he wouldn't be adverse to trading him.