I'm convinced Sergio has dirt on Nate

+1

Repped.

 

I got home at half time last night so i immediately went to the stats on ESPN to see what was going on. (becasue I knew coming to this board would not give me an accurate picture. (Not that stats do either) but I did notice that the player with the highest +/- for the first half was..........Sergio+7.

For the record I am a bigger Bayless fan than Sergio. The kid is fun to watch. But I do try to keep an open mind in regards to all our players and IMO it is ridiculous how closed minded some fans are about he and Outlaw. Neither is great nor horrible. They all make good plays and bad plays. That is true about Bayess as well. I have seen the offense become very stagnant with him as the PG. And i have seen him change the game for the good. That is true for Sergio too. Both will get time. Nate knows so much more than you guys about PG's it is not even funny. Right now we just need to win as many as games as possible and that means Blake. As I have said for a year and a half SB is the key. When his outside shot is on we almost always win.

 

I don't think Nate would play Sergio because they that is what they commited to at the beginging of the season or because this is Sergio last chance to show what he can do.

Nate plays Sergio becauase he thinks Sergio is the better player to put in at that time to help the Blazers get a win.

I look at Sergio in there to hold down the fort and give Blake or Roy a rest, and Bayless in there to give the Blazers a needed spark. But really what is the argument here . . . between Sergio and Bayless we are talking a total of 13 minutes.

 

That was my big thing this summer . . . if Blazers don't make a move for another PG (which they didn't), Blake becomes huge this year when it comes to Blazer success (which I think is true).

 

That to me is a bad sign. Because when Blake and Sergio are in the game, Portland is a jump shooting team. Charles Barkley talkes about it all the time. Live by the 3, die by the 3 and you are going to die.

 

I see very little difference between our offense style and the "World Champs" Especially in the 4th when Pierce basically takes over and does what Brandon does. Lot of pull up jumpers mixed in with driving to the basket and getting fouled. Allen (Rudy/Webster) and KG (LMA)basically settle for jump shots.

Now Boston is much better than the Blazers because they are an AWEsome Defensive team. (Especially Rondo) But my point is there is nothing wrong with that philosophy. They won it all with that style. Plus eventually we will have another weapon in Oden.

 

Thank you pinwheel...you hit the nail on the head! Maybe the coaches know more than the " experts " on here. .. and off point a lil is this if you watched Steve Blake play defense last night and still think he is a good defender...oh my!

 

Well, watching Blake play last night was awesome, imo. He is much better than both of our other PGs and he simply fits extremely well with the team and Roy in particular. We are much better with him out there. I really like the guy, and i'm very confident with him on the floor.

I don't have a problem with nate playing Sergio too much, I just wish he'd find at least 10mpg for Bayless, but I understand its not there. In my eyes, Bayless played better than Sergio during Blake's absense and in his first span of consistant minutes played above my expectations with a couple of extremely good games that obviously put the rest of the league on notice and made him a valued commodity league-wide. I think that is a reason we saw SR's name in so many of the trade rumors.

I'm worried with what Sergio would do if Nate gave Bayless his 15mpg and didn't play Sergio much at all. I think he would really take it hard, and possibly become a distraction because he would make it known he was unhappy like last year and at the beginning of this year.

 

Well, since +/- stats are essentially worthless on a per game basis, and some stat hounds argue not that helpful for even an entire season (claiming it takes several seasons worth of numbers to have reasonably accurate comparisons), I wouldn't read too much into it.

 

You are right. But it at least proves that the team was not totally sucking when he was out there. He is what he is and IMO that is a decent back up PG.

 

I read an interesting article a week or two ago (hoopsworld? not sure where) that said that as opposed to
conventional wisdom where young players need PT, what actually happens is that young players earn PT
during practice.

When Bayless shows during practice that he's comfortable running the point, no doubt Bayless will start. However, it's not surprising that a PG coach gives the pure PG the benefit of the doubt when assigning PT.

(This is another reason we should have made a trade. Clearing up the logjam at PG would have IMPROVED team chemistry. But, perhaps I shouldn't get started on that again....)

 

Blake played good defense yesterday, if you were actually watching. I was pleasantly surprised. He was fighting through screens and challenging shots.

 

i was at the game and spent a good portion just watching blakes d and wasn't pleased but thats ok because he hasn't been good all year. each of our PG's have their strengths and each has glaring weaknesses, they are what they are for the season.

 

he's not a good finisher at this point, what he does is make the amazing (or outstanding) finish but he doesn't finish consistantly.

 

i agree nic, he's got 28 games to show the staff what he can do. if he stuggles i'll be the first to admit he should be shown the door. i think some on here are over-zealous in their support/hatred for certain players and it gets a little obnoxious, but that's what a free message board, where no one has to ever own up for their opinions gives you.

 

Well, it was better than his usual defense. I also have a low opinion of Blake's D, but it was nice to see him put effort into trying to stop his man. Bibby is a streaky shooter and got extremely hot.

 

Yes, he does.

 

Man, the team is on a pace to win 9-10 games more than last season, they're sitting in 4th place in the WC, they've won 9 out of their last 12 games despite injuries to Blake and Oden, they convincingly beat a playoff team last night, and we're complaining about a rookie's minutes and Nate's coaching style?

I have no doubt that Bayless will displace Sergio by next year, but for now, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

great re-buttal, you've gone with the popular uh-huh route. you've convinced me.

 

All you said is that he doesn't finish consistently. Nik already provided evidence that he does. You lose.