Yup. This is pretty common. Kobe is often talked about as a "great defender for any one possession" because he does have the ability to play lock-down defense...he just can't do it all game because he's burning so much energy on the offense end. McGrady's first claim to fame was as a defender, in Toronto. As he became a top offensive player, his defense dropped off. In my viewing lifetime, Jordan is the only perimeter player I've seen who had the endurance to be both the first option on offense and play tough defense all game long. My hope is that Roy can improve on defense as more of the offensive duties are distributed onto Aldridge and Oden.
hollinger's computer thinks we're effectively tied for 4th best chance to win it all right now - 1. 29.2% cavs 2. 20% fakers 3. 15.2% magic 4. 9.8% celts 5. 9.7% blazers 6. 5% nuggets 7. 4.6% rockets everyone else <2% http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/playoffodds?column=champs&sort=false
I am not sure the numbers agree with you. Roy's defensive rating is identical this year to last year. He still gives 110 points per 100 positions (of course, he also scores 123 per the same 100 possessions). I think that what you think you notice is the fact that Roy did not improve on defense as he improved on offense - so the fact that he is only pretty good there compared to his ability to be "are you kidding me" on the other end. The nice thing is that I am pretty sure that as soon as Aldridge can be consistent night in, night out - and Rudy, Oden and the rest of the gang can take a bigger slice of the offensive pie - he will be better on the defensive end as well - because we see some stellar defensive plays from him in crunch time. We have already noticed some very good defensive plays in recent games when Aldridge was killing it on the offensive side. He did a fantastic job on Kobe - when he matched with LeBron he also did a very nice job - we have seen some very impressive blocks from him recently.
Yes, if we play like we have the last 10 games! From NBA.com's team stats: #1 in point differential #1 in rebound differential #1 in block differential #3 in steal differential #4 in assist differential #1 in least opponents' assists/game (tie) #4 in lowest opponents' 3 pt % These show great strength in both offensive and defensive stats. We've know we have a good offensive team, but these show that we've evolved into a good defensive team as well.
I don't think we can answer this right now, and that in my mind, is because we don't know yet how guys perform in the playoffs. When players get to the playoffs, sometimes some players raise their game to another level. We don't know if we have any of those players yet. We also don't know if we have some guys who tend to fold under playoff pressure. We know a little about Steve Blake. Pryzbilla was a backup when he was in the playoffs in Milwaukee.
My #1 Key is: Greg Oden must outperform Joel every game in the playoffs. If he does this the Blazers will win in Rebs and Blocks every night which in turn will help limit our opponents asts. If the Blazers loose I'll be dissapointed but give the Blazers a 75% of beating anyone they play in the first roundthe Blazers aren't in the second round this year in the playoffs.
I agree with this post. Until we know what kind of players we have, it's impossible to know how we'll perform in the playoffs. Clifford Robinson had a great career.... during the regular season. Once playoff time rolled around, he was a ghost. We have no way of knowing how our guys will produce during the postseason until we finally reach that moment.
Actually, that furthers my point. Last season we started Webster, who isn't nearly as good a defender as Batum. And we had nobody decent on defense at backup center. By adding just Batum and Oden, Roy's defense per 100 possessions should look much better because he's got better defenders to play beside. That he doesn't demonstrates empiracly what I've seen with my own eyes: He's a much better player offensively, but it's cost him a little on the defensive end.
