...some home games! With a day off in between each! Anyone here not predicting the Blazers to go 3-0? Kings 24th Heat 26th Hornets 28th
2-1 im thinkin right now...New Orleans loss. Might change my mind when that game comes up depending on how each team is doing.
No reason not to think 3-0, and while I would be disapointed, the Blazers could easily lose some or all of their games because of the offense they run. Live by the three, die by the three. Statistics show 3 point shooting teams don't succeed long term.
Let's face it - while we shot the 3 almost exclusively against the Suns - it was because of the tiehr very big and physical bigs. I expect Greg and Joe to shoot more against the Kings, Heat and to a lesser degree - the Hornets. Brandon will also have to work less to get to the rim against these teams. We do not need to be limited to shooting the 3 against them.
I agree with you. I just think that's the offense Nate has decided to go with. We shoot a lot of 3's. We shot a ton against the Suns, but only 8 less against the Kings. 8 might seem like a lot less, but when it's 34 compared to 26 it's really not. In one of the games, I forget which one, we ran some form of the triangle. It was beautiful to see cutting and moving with an easy pass and dunk.
We shot the 3 against the Kings because it went in. They shot the 3 against the Suns because they had to... Shaq and Amare took Greg, Joel and Aldridge out of their comfort zone in the post. It happens. Yes, this team shoots a lot of 3s - but it has got a lot more production from the center position than before and LaMarcus seems more intent on going down into the paint than he did last year. The thing we are really missing is a 2nd rim attacker. We had Jack (with all of his issues) in this role last year - and it helped us a lot. The idea was that Bayless will be a JJ on steroids - but unfortunately, we do not see him much. I love Rudy - but he is not a guy who can attack the rim off the dribble - at least no yet - so we basically have Roy (who will get to the rim against pretty much any team with possible exception of the Lakers and the Celtics), the bigs who will get to the rim against most teams but are not good enough, yet, to do it against the elite bigs in the league and a rookie who might be able to do it but does not get minutes. We need a 2nd slasher that can go to the rim. How many times have we already seen Blake or Sergio dribble into the paint and go the other side of the basket on the baseline because they can not shoot from there? An awful lot. The team is too dependent on Roy to slash to the rim and attack it off the dribble. Until this imbalance is fixed - we are going to continue and have problems with the better interior defense teams.
Don't you think that's on the coach? We have Bayless, but he never plays. We have players like Travis and Rudy, but they never slash. If I were coaching I would sit them next to me so they could see others slash to the basket. If Nate wants them to slash and they aren't then he doesn't have the team, and shoul dbe fired.
I REALLY don't think anyone told Rudy to only shoot 3s... But Rudy plays with Roy and Roy is the main playmaker and the one that gets inside and kicks it out for open threes. I think Rudy has the ability to drive, but i don't think he will ever be a great slasher. His biggest strength is shooting, imo.
No, I do not really think he should be fired - and I do not think that we are where we are going to be. Travis could not really attack the rim until this year - his handle was not good enough. I think his handle is a lot better this year than it was before - he still does not attack the rim as he should - and that's not a big surprise to me - Travis needs a little bit more time to get things and I am sure you will see him going hard all the way to rim a little bit more as we move along. Rudy does not have the handles and the speed when dribbling to attack the rim consistently in the NBA. Roy's handle is much better than him and Roy is much stronger - so he can absorb blows when going to the rim - Rudy would need to be much stronger or much faster dribbling to be effective doing that in the NBA - and quite frankly - I doubt he will ever be an elite rim attacker in the NBA. He can and I expect him to get better - but that's about it. He does not have CP3 or Parker's speed with the ball nor does he have Roy, Joe Johnson or Kobe's strength. I really see Rudy as Portland's version of Rip Hamilton/Reggie Miller. He can not handle the ball to be a Ray Allen type of player. This brings us to the Bayless question - this, in my opinion, is going to be an issue of play time - who do you sit in order to give him the minutes? Not Roy, clearly. Not Rudy who was promised he will be a big part of the team and works well as a long distance shooter and more than a decent defender and creator with his passing. It comes down to Blake or Sergio. Blake shoots the ball better than Sergio and his defense is a little better. He also makes less mistakes. Sergio is quicker, passes better (but has more turn-overs) and is probably getting some burn because he helps Rudy's transition. My opinion is that the goals for this year are to get to the playoffs, establish the team's interior / post play while integrating Greg and helping Rudy's transition - while evaluating the pieces around the team. My guess is that Bayless is still the team's long-term back-court mate to Roy - he can attack the rim, he can shoot, he is a better perimeter defender than either Blake or Sergio - but he is not ready to be a play-maker instead of either Blake or Sergio. At some point - I expect either Sergio or Blake to lose time to Bayless - via either a contract not extended or more likely, a trade - but Nate has to work with the players he has. Roy is the only one that is ready for big minutes and can attack the rim off the dribble. The best we can do is ... the best we can do. Like everything else - there is a set of compromises that need to taken - and Bayless being a rookie, Sergio's bigger minute load and the loss of Jack means that we get our easy buckets through Roy or the Post players. When the opposite team takes one of these away - we are going to be in trouble - and that is to be expected - this is a young team, the only player than is consistently good (night in, night out) on it is Roy. Being better than average but not dominant is what we should expect of this team.
Since when are we a team that lives by the 3 and dies by the 3? lol, Get a grip. We're currently 4th in the NBA in 3 point attempts per game at (21.1), but that's okay with me when you have as many capable 3 pt shooters as we do. If you look at last year, the Lakers averaged even more 3pt attempts per game (21.4) than we do this season, and I'd say they had a pretty decent year. In fact if you placed us last year, we would've finished 7th in the league in 3PA per game. Upper echelon? Yes. Living by the 3? Not even close. Watch some games of the 2006 Oregon Ducks Elite Eight team. Now THAT is a team that lived and died by the 3...and though they had some great success, it ultimately did come back to bite them. If you're looking for reasons we lost to Phoenix, try these: horrible shooting night (in all 3 categories, FGs, 3FGs, and FTs), decent defensive effort by Phoenix, second night of a back-to-back against a well-rested Suns team, and I'm sure I could find more good reasons too if I felt like bringing up the box score.
I am no offensive guru, and I agree with your assesment but.... Nate must integrate a new big into an offense and try to get our other center to improve his offensive production. Since our new center is a very young rusty rookie we are expecting way too much of the player and too much of the coaching staff to teach and implement any real form of offensive execution. (And our big-guy coach is/has been in the hospital) In addition the team played last year without Oden and Rudy and had Webster in the offense. Even Boston who had added two new major pecies to their team last year took a while to get the team playing together. Pheonix also changed their team by adding Shack which nearly derailed them. Our team was playing very well last year without all these changes and are striving to get the style and newness of each players is to them all. This team will get much better soon, and is doing remarkably well considering. g
