I'm sure those that already dislike Nate's system and him as a coach won't be dissuaded from their points of view, but at least you get to stop speculating about what Nate thinks of his team's performance in this facet of the game. http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/01/picking_and_rolling_with_the_b.html I thought this part was particularly interesting. Another interesting point about Oden ... not sure if I fully agree with it, but I guess there is a method to the madness of Greg getting punished with touch fouls on guards.
Yeah, I don't know about that. Maybe I'm crazy and probably because I zero in on Bayless when he's on the defensive end of the court, but it sure seems like Jerryd fights through picks more frequently than Blake.
Actually, I do think Blake does well at fighting through picks. He's not a great defender, but he does do that... that is, unless he's bouncing off a guy because somebody didn't say, "Screen Right!"
Some pretty fascinating insights in that article particularly on the developmental approach Nate's taking on Oden. Thanks. Definitely more newsworthy then a lot of the threads being posted on here recently.
Bah ha ha ha That is total bullshit. The article says we have only started to switch more often recently????? Really Nate????? Does he think we don't watch the games? I went back and watched some games from early in the year. The Blazers switched on all but 2 pick and rolls with Blake and either Oden, Joel or LMA. I went back to the last few games with Bayless, and they switch about 1/2 the time maybe. Blakes better really???? Nice insite to the plan I guess, but the whole article was a big lie.
I plan on watching Blake on defense the next couple of games he plays and counting the number of screens he fights through versus those he does not. It seems to me that Blake switches all the time, but I have no proof. I might be wrong and selling Blake way short on defense. However, 41 trips to the line all year doesn't lie. That is just sad.
Quick likes taking shots at other guys in the media these days. He had dig at the 95.5 Morning Sport Page at a bogus rumor last week and now takes a shot at Dwight Jaynes. I like the fact he's trying to keep other people honest, but he's dead wrong in this one and just seems lazy as he takes Coach Nate's word as empirical evidence. I get the vibe from the Quick chats that he feels too buddy-buddy with Nate to really be truly critical. We need to get all the guards fighting through picks consistently and with toughness. Nate saying "you don't stop" the pick-and-roll is an embarrassing cop out.
I agree with this. We complain about defending the pick and roll, but we are very young and will get better. Like Roy says, we use it a lot and it takes a real good defensive team to consistently slow it down.
That was an interesting read, but: Do we REALLY have that many "emergencies" on the pick-and-roll every game? It seems that we switch at least 50% of the pick-and-rolls. If that really isn't what Nate wants them to be doing, that tells me that we are being extremely lazy on defense, and I'm surprised Nate lets it happen so often.
Steve Blake - 6th season Sergio Rodriguez - 3rd season Brandon Roy - 3rd Season Bayless & Rudy - Rookies I'll cut the rookies slack, but 3 years is plenty of time to learn pick-and-roll defense at the guard spot. There's no excuse for Blake not fighting through picks since he's a legit veteran. Whatever Nate's doing to teach them, it isn't working. Time to try something new in practice.
