Ben Golliver, Kicking ass and taking names

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I think Steve Blake would make a fine backup PG.

 

He would be fine as our version of Steve Kerr. He's a very limited passer, but he is also unselfish and doesn't kill you with TOs. When his shot is falling, he can also spread the floor.

 

concur. Whether that's for this team or another remains to be seen, but I agree he could be a serviceable, if not great, backup.

 

Boom goes the dynamite. You're right, Ben pulled no punches in that assessment, and I hope KP is reading.

 

I think Blake would make a great backup PG - way better than Danny Young ever was.

 

Totally disagree. Blake can run if you give him the surrounding parts. Why do you think Denver wanted him back so badly?

In his role, Blake was rarely asked to run. He almost always played on the same unit with Brandon, and the team adapted to Brandon's pace.

-Pop

 

How many breakouts did you see Steve leading this year? I'm wracking my brain to even recall one (which doesn't prove it didn't happen, I just can't remember).

I agree that Brandon is no great fast break player, but blaming Blake's own deficiencies in this area on Brandon rings a little hollow.

 

I don't really disagree with Ben, but he started stretching here:

Does he really think that the talent level of the Heat (without Wade) is even near the talent level of the Blazers (without Roy)? Come on. The Heat can't make it out of the first round because the rest of their team is garbage. LMA, Rudy, and probably even Outlaw would be the 2nd scoring option on that team.

Ben wants a 40%+ three point shooter to pass up on open threes to get Greg the ball? The same Greg Oden who proved he could really only be effective off of offensive rebounds and sometimes off of the pick and roll. As I attempted to document throughout the end of the regular season and the post season, the teams field goal percentage when we got the ball to Greg in the post was staggering low.

A shooter knocking down outside shots is what gets low post players the space they need to operate. LMA isn't the stronger player in the post, so the space helps him, and Greg needs all the space and time he can get if we're going to be splitting up the 328 possessions where Blake shot a 3 and give anywhere near half to him.

Ben has some good points, but he lost a lot of credibility when he stretched to fill up an article and didn't really think some of these things through.

 

Shooters spread the floor, but not when there's no ball movement in and out of the paint. The only time we saw LaMarcus and Greg work the paint was in an iso on the mid post, it was almost never off of quick passes or Steve driving into the lane, collapsing the defense and dishing to an open big cutting to the hoop and there was very little inside-out game between the post and the wing aside from Brandon and LMA working a two man game.

I'm not saying Oden was any great shakes offensively, but how many times did people bemoan the fact that our guard's seemed unwilling or incapable of of making a decent post entry pass. Watch the way Billups gets Nene and Martin involved, or the way Paul get the ball to Chandler and West, they draw defenders not so much with outside shooting, but becuase they are so good at driving to the cup and/or hitting jumpers from the elbows. (albeit Chauncey is a good three point shooter at 39% and Paul is decent at 34%).

For what it's worth I'll take a big like Greg or LaMarcus hitting 60% of his shots from five feet in or less and potentially getting fouled while doing so, rather than a guard or wing taking threes and hitting at 42% as a main component of the offense.

 

Great article. All of it correct. I voted for him to go, but really only as a starter.

 

This is why Andre Miller would be a better bet than Blake, he gets to the foul line consistently and/or finsishes at the rim with a pretty high draw foul rate. I'll take a 47% FG player who gets 41% of his attempts at or around the hoop and draws fouls on 14% of his attempts over a spot up shooting starting point guard. Let Rudy or Martell take those shots.

 

You guys are missing my point. I don't think Blake is the answer at the starting point because he isn't the best at creating or defending, and everything else listed in the article.

I don't know where anyone is pulling that Greg hits 60% of his 5ft shots. I would venture a guess it's below 40%. Greg's field goal percentage is only as high as it is because a decent percentage of his shots are dunks. Blake's 3's usually come from Roy creating or a kick-out from the post. That means a team has to decided do they want to double LMA or give Blake an open 3. If Blake is hitting 42% of his threes, then teams won't leave him to double team, which is a good thing. There is no way giving Greg an extra 150+ possessions in the post would result in more points or more wins for this team.

If Andre Miller or a PG who can drive AND finish comes in, then I expect Greg to get a lot more looks. However, remember the Miller isn't the best defender and won't be able to space out the floor near as well as Blake did. Unless we get someone like Deron Williams or Chris Paul, there is going to be some serious trade-offs no matter who we bring in.

 

Quite a few, actually. He had some lobs to Aldridge on the primary break even as recently as the Houston series. He found an open Rudy on the break for some uncontested threes. Threw some lobs to Batum. Had a play where he faked a timeout and drove the lane and got a layup against Houston in Game 1 I believe.

There were plenty of occasions where Blake led a fast break. We weren't a fast breaking team with the first unit, though, so you can't lay the blame at Blake's feet for the times he didn't push the ball.

And yes, I think part of the reason for that is because Brandon is the leader and best player, and he plays at a calm pace, and I think Nate preferred to involve Brandon in the offense, which meant Blake had to slow a bit and wait for the half-court offense to set up. That's not a knock on Brandon, that's just the truth.

-Pop

 

Nobody is talking about Greg's atrocious hook from 8+ feet, we're talking about looks in the immediate basket area where Greg took the vast majority of his shots http://www.82games.com/0809/08POR15.HTM there's the numbers if you don't believe me. 90% of Greg's shots were in the 'inside' category and he hit 59% of them.

 

This is the best part:

 

Steve Blake plays PG but all he offers you is a shooter. Like the article said, his passing ability and vision are average at best. He has trouble just feeding the post.

I like you Blake, but on a championship contender you just don't fit in well. You don't make many plays and all you're good for is 3pt shooting. Rudy can do that off the bench for the Blazers.