With all the guard acquisitions and Livingston on the radar, if I were Blake I wouldn't feel very secure. Of course KP wants to stockpile talent like crazy and never has an idle mind, but Blake doesn't seem to be in the long-term plans. Maybe as the 3rd PG? But even there we've got Koppenen waiting in the wings. Blake will have to turn heads all year to get KP to exercise his team option when it comes due.
Blake doesn't get enough props. He is a team player, has a good basketball IQ, decent to good defender, shows heart and fits the culture of the team. Looking at this team, I get why there is such a strong thought to upgrade at the PG position (the others positions are soild or have potential), but don't underestimate Blake as being a good fit to balance this team and getting them to gel. -your residential Blake homer fan
Considering Blake's hyper-competitive nature I wouldn't be surprised if the acquisition of these other guards only drove him harder; there's two ways to react as an athlete: elevate your game and rise to the challenge, or roll over and pout about it. From the sounds of things Blake chose the former route versus the latter... which is great for him and great for the team. Now we wait and see if this translates to success on the court.
My problem is I think we need more experience on the 2nd unit. Presuming Bayless can hit his shots he's a nice fit with Roy on the starting unit. Bayless can also supply some pressure defense on the first unit something we haven't been able to do in the past. Moving Blake to the 2nd unit gives us someone who can control the offense and settle down the 2nd unit. If Blake stays as starter here's our 2nd unit.....Bayless, Rudy, Travis, Frye and Pryz. Nice lineup but your two guards are rookies. Maybe they'll be alright but I would feel a lot better if they had an experienced guard running the 2nd unit.
The problem is that substitution patterns in the NBA aren't like a hockey line change -- you don't swap out 5 for 5; so there are undoubtedly going to be starters on the floor at all times. The reason Blake is probably a better fit on the starting unit is that he's proven that he knows how to run the offense and set people up and with the potentially dominate frontcourt that we possess you want, need and should be feeding Greg and LaMarcus as often as possible. IF Bayless can show that he's capable of running the offense and setting other people up, then it's possible that in time he'll move into that starter's role, but for all his summer league heroics, he's still just a rookie, and it's almost a given that rookie point guards struggle in the NBA -- look at Chris Paul and Deron Williams rookie seasons; those guys weren't exactly world beaters out of the gate.
I agree, it may not be all five guys out but there are going to be plenty of times that you are sitting both Roy and Blake so Rudy and Bayless will be playing together. Roy is running the show on the 1st unit so Blake will spend most of his time being a spot up shooter. I'm not saying Bayless is better than Blake, I'm just making the argument if Bayless is the better shooter he should be the starter allowing us to move Blake to run the 2nd unit. Also from the sounds of it Bayless is going to be a very good defender so he can concentrate on defense and spot up shooting in the first unit. Just my opinion.
I understand what you're trying to say, but the fact is Roy has never been the team's point guard for the whole game; typically he's slid over to that role in the fourth quarter ... in which case I can see a good argument for Bayless (or Rudy?) to be on the floor with him at the same time. But our "vanilla" starting unit is going to need to be able to get into its half-court sets, protect possessions, and try to convert at a high rate. Don't forget that the second unit guys are frequently going to be paired off against the other teams' bench guys, which means burners like Jerryd, and slashers like Rudy should theoretically be able to get by their man, and will have more opportunities against second string bigs. As for who is the better shooter between Bayless and Blake that remains to be seen, but based on last year's performance Blake's mark of 40% from 3 is going to be pretty tough for Jerryd to top -- he's still going to have to adjust to the NBA line. In any case, I think we'll all agree that the season can't start soon enough so we don't have to keep talking about all this stuff on an academic level, and instead can over-analyze and pick apart game performances and start debating who should get the bulk of PT.
Can you imagine what it must be like for a rookie on the opening night in the NBA? I know Greg has played on the "big stage" before, so I'm sure he'll be OK. But man. Staples Center, Kobe, TNT. That's a lot of pressure. The idea of Blake with the 2nd unit kinda' makes sense. You might see him there by mid-season.
Great point and that only adds to the depth of the Blazers. But I believe Blake's limitations will keep him from seeing the court as much as he likes. We stuggled last year with getting easy buckets because Roy & Jack were the only players that could/would take it to the rack. KP saw this and got Bayless, and Rudy is fearless, so there goes some of Blake's minutes. If he could shoot aroun 45% from three, then he could hold down his spot in the rotation to keep the floor spread.
The Columbian: Blake: 'I feel really comfortable' As you may have read in my column last week, the player who has been cited for being the most impressive during the preseason has been point guard Steve Blake. And when Monday's media day rolled around, that opinion held firm. Several players cited Blake, including Channing Frye, the only Blazer other than Blake who lives in Portland during the offseason. The two worked out together regularly this summer, and spoke glowingly about Blake's progress, and agreed with the assessment Kevin Pritchard gave me last week when he said Blake is treating pickup games like they're the NBA Finals. ***** Blake, as usual, dismissed the glowing reviews of his pick-up play. But he acknowledged that the consistency he has gained in Portland has helped him take his game to a new level. This year will be the first time since his rookie and sophomore years (in Washington) that Blake has been with the same team for consecutive years. And it will also be the first time in his career that he will enter training camp as the clear favorite to be the starting point guard. "All the other teams, going into training camps, what are you going to have to learn about the offense?" Blake said. "What kind of new things are you going to have to figure out. I mean, I may be playing with some new guys, but I know the system. I know what coach Nate wants. So I'll just be able to improve that much faster from day one." *********** "I feel really comfortable right now," Blake said. "Not as much pressure. So I'm a lot more relaxed. I just feel good about the situation I'm in, no matter what it is." So does he feel he has taken his game to a new level? "I feel like I have," he said. "But like I said, I haven't taken it there until I do it in a game. But I just physically feel like I'm in the best shape of my life. Just been working on everything trying to become a better player. And I think I have become a better player."
