KP is playing games like Radar and Klinger in MASH -- trading up in tiny amounts until suddenly they have the bottle of whiskey or whatever it was they needed. The Pritchslap of a Thousand Tiny Cuts.
Chad Ford has had Claver attached to Portland off and on, as well (including in his latest Mock 7.1). I think he'd be a good get in the second round. Ed O.
To me Lawson is the worst pick of the PG's.....for us. He is an uptempo player, who thrived in his offense only because it got up and down. What in the world does Portland need that for?
I think he's a good and smart pick. Fast, tough, can pass, can get into the lane and break down a defense... On the other hand, I see him as a very solid PG, but no future any higher than that.
The best half-court PG after Rubio, IMO, is Eric Maynor. Flynn, whom I like a lot, Lawson, Jennings, Teague, are all up-tempo guards. But I don't get this unless it's a smokescreen. Why bring in another PG when Bayless is here? Could Bayless be part of another package?
McMillan has preached that he wants the Blazers to push the ball more, but had to settle with Steve Blake trying to do that. Fail. Lawson could really help out in pushing the ball better.
As has been discussed like a million times, Nate McMillan has been a head coach in the NBA for 9 years and all of his teams have been near or at the bottom of the league in Pace. NATE DOES NOT WANT TO PUSH THE BALL.
Their offense revolves around a big badass center, an offensive-minded SG, a bunch of interchangeable SFs, and speedy PGs... looks like we're only missing one of those.
That's complete bs. During the games you can hear McMillan telling his players to push it push it push it. Aldridge takes off down the middle of the floor and beats a lot of players every single time. If Steve Blake wasn't such a mediocre player maybe it'd work a little better.
How many years (YEARS!!) have we been reading that Nate wants to push the ball? I think pretty much every year. And yet each and every season his teams both in Seattle and Portland have been amongst the most plodding in the NBA (save, I believe, for one year with the Sonics where they were middle of the pack). Is it strategy? Or an inability to communicate and coach? Either way, Nate's teams always have been--and seemingly always will be--slow tempo. Ed O.
As has been discussed here: there was a four second rule put in by Nate to get the ball across mid-court more quickly; there is video of Nate at timeouts in the second half of the season emploring Blake to push the ball. I don't care what his teams did in the past, he is clearly trying to get this team to be oportunistic in attacking early, and the holding for a good shot if that doesn't work out. Come on MM, give the poor coach a chance. Personally, I think this is a good strategy. Push the ball up fast and take it if it is there. If not, then slow it down for a good shot. This would have you still in the bottom half in terms of pace, but let you break when it makes sense.
So is it cherry kool-aid you are drinking, or grape? I know what Nate says, but 9 years speaks louder than push it guys. Maybe Nate doesn't have the ability to communicate with his players? Maybe his players have tuned him out?
We know the Blazers requested a last minute work out from Ty and the agent was convinced enough that Ptd would be in a postion to draft Ty that he scheduled the last minute work out. I wouldn't be surprised if the Blazers went after Lawson.
