We have all read what Nate is planning regarding the starting unit, but many of us feel there are better options. I thought this could be a thread to discuss several things. Assume everyone is healthy and in shape. 1) what is your starting unit 2) reasons for your selections 3) 6th, 7th and 8th man 4) Players that should not be on the same unit 5) anything else regarding major minute player rotations Starting Unit C - Oden PF - LMA SF - Batum SG - Roy PG - Miller I know there will be no dissagreements on PF or SG, so lets move on. Center I have Oden for a couple of reasons. I want him to get used to playing as many minutes as possible. He is the future of our franchise and needs to learn how to play without committing fouls. If we shorten his game by bringing him off the bench then it makes it too easy for him to not change and remain a fouling machine. Also, he is the best defender we have and that will allow Roy and LMA to concentrate more at the get go on getting the offense going. SF I have Batum for two main reasons. 1) I think he is a little better than Web/Tlaw right now, and 2) I think he will be far superior at SF in the future if we continue to get him minutes, especially playing D against the other teams top guys. PG I really want Miller. First, I am not high on Blake/Bayless at the moment, however I think both can help the team. Second, I think we need to get LMA and Oden the ball on the high and low blocks and Miller is the best person for this. We will certainly miss the 3ball from Blake, but Roy and Batum should be able to carry the long distance till reserves come in. 6th man - Rudy (bring him in for the 1, 2 or 3 depending on who is crappy that night. He is perhaps the 3rd/4th best Blazer at the moment and deserves playing time.) 7th man - Przybilla (gives oden a chance to sit and examine his performance so far) 8th man - Webster (this was a hard choice between Web and Law, but I decided on Web because I want LMA to play as many minutes as possible and would be happy to see him end up with 40mpg this season. I would like to see Bayless get some burn this season, and hopefully alongside Roy, so we can see if that group will work. I am not a big fan of the twin towers of Oden and Joel. Neither is good enough offensively at the moment to make this a good combo unless the Blazers are already up by 15 points and we just want to protect our lead.
Before anyone has a chance to see how players work together will be tough, but here is mine. Starting 5 PG: Miller SG: Roy SF: Batum PF: Aldridge C: Oden This is our most talented unit, and I think they would play well off of each other. Miller will make everyone on the floor better. Roy and Batum will get wide open looks because of Miller's penetration, and Aldridge and Oden should get a lot of easy baskets because of him as well. I would start Batum as well because I think he makes everyone better. He is also our best defender. I would start Oden over Joel for no other reason than he gives us a little more offense. Teams are forced to double team Oden because of his size, and that should create easy looks for others. Oden was also the number one pick in the draft, and a supposed once in a decade center. He put up good numbers for the playing time he got, so it's not like Joel is really better. 6th man: Rudy 7th man: Joel 8th man: one of Blake, Outlaw or Webster Players that shouldn't be on the same unit is a tough one. Portland has an extremely interchangable roster. I guess Pendergragh and Cunningham??? I thought the twin towers worked really well last year in the few minutes Nate gave it as well, so I'd like to see that a little more often. Joel or Oden at the 4 is better than out other options right now. Somehow finding more minutes for Batum would be great. I'd like to see Bayless get some consistant minutes to see what he coulf do, but that probably won't happen. Assuming everyone is healthy and not in foul trouble, I'd like to see the minutes go like this...... I am a big believer in a shorter rotation Miller 32 Roy 35 Batum 25 Aldridge 35 Oden 32 Rudy 28 Joel 18 Blake, Outlaw and Webster can fight over the last 32 minutes, depending on matchups.
I think the only real question is the 3 spot. Somehow I think Webster will give Batum a good run for his money, but Batum should edge him out with better athleticism and defense. Best starting unit: Andre Miller Brandon Roy Batum Aldridge Oden with the following being the first off the bench 6) Rudy 7) Outlaw 8) Pryzbilla I think Roy and Miller often stay on the floor for a bit with these guys. 9) Blake 10) Webster 11) Bayless Everyone else gets garbage time.
I think it's a lil early. I really want to see what happens at the three. With the reports that came in on Batum. He may be a bigger challenge to Martell than I once thought. Center the same thing. What I really want to see is for these guys to earn it. But If I had to go by want my gut is telling me, here are my starters. PG Andre Miller SG Brandon Roy C Greg Oden SF Martell Webster PF LaMarcus Aldridge How we improve this year depends on how Nate uses the resources he has at his disposal. He feels that starting Blake and benching Miller is the right move. I feel he is being dishonest to his offense by doing this. For the reason, Miller is the best point guard this team has had since Rod Strickland. What he will do for this team and every player on it will have a huge return. He is going to open up this offense so much. He will create opportunities for every guy on the floor. If Martell is wide open. He won't miss that. If Greg has an advantage inside, he won't miss that. He will place the ball accurately where LMA likes it more times than not. As fore the three, I have said this many times. I think Martell is ready. His time has come and in training camp and preseason I really believe he will show this if he stays healthy. I think he will be too much for Nic to deal with. This year. I concur with you at center. Greg is your future. He is your guy. Where this team goes depends on him. I think everthing you do and how do it should depend on this thinking. That means you start him. Period.
I'm really torn on this. On one hand I like: Blake Roy Oden Aldridge Webster Bench: Miller, Rudy, Joel, Batum, Outlaw/Cunningham, This allows the second unit to be a running group, with Joel rebounding and outletting. OTOH Miller Roy Oden Aldridge Batum Bench: Blake, Rudy, Joel, Webster, O/C This allows the starters to run or play half court. It also gets Oden and Aldridge more easy shots off assists from Miller. But, Miller can still run with Batum and Aldridge (and Roy?). The down side is the bench isn't as vibrant. Can Blake and Rudy really do well in the back court together?
Oden LMA Batum Roy Miller I still have lots of love for Oden, but it is hard for me to start him over Joel at this point. But I would.
i like how (4.5)/6 of these posts say the same line up. I agree those are the best players, but I think Andre and Oden will help create offense on the second unit.
Miller Roy Batum Aldridge Oden Bench: Przybilla Fernandez Blake Outlaw Tablescraps: Webster Bayless People keep talking up Webster and worrying over Outlaw getting too many minutes, but the truth is Blake is going to play a bigger role than either guy. Nate likes his two point guard lineups, and Blake provides better defense and three point shooting than either Outlaw or Webster. Blake has spent his whole career being overlooked yet still finding his place, and it's happening again. We'll probably go a little more Twin Towers this year (Oden/Pryz), which will put a premium on getting offense going through the post to force the issue on the mismatch. Outlaw and Webster are useless in this regard, while Blake won't be.
PG: Andre Miller- Experience, ball movement SG: Brandon Roy- no brainer SF: Martell Webster- I think he's a fine defender and offensively he should have upped his game. I've always been a webster homer too. probably the controversial selection but I think he can spread the floor better and take defensive pressure off Oden. PF: LaMarcus Aldridge- no brainer C: Greg Oden- Love Pryz but Oden needs to start now. 6th: Rudy for the SG/SF 7th: Blakey for the PG 8th: Pryz for G.O. (probably first because of foul trouble though) Players that should not be on the same unit: doesn't matter. Anything else regarding major minute player rotations: nope i'll edit later
I am looking ahead with this team. I want to start as soon as possible with the guys I anticipate being the best starting five during the playoffs. Who do I think the best players on the team will be by the end of this season (assume full health for all)? Brandon | LaMarcus Oden | Miller Rudy | Pryzbilla Batum | Blake Outlaw | Webster Bayless That is my estimated player impact order. Roy will stay the best player. Aldridge the clear 2nd banana. Oden will be improved and play more minutes, increasing his impact significantly. Batum will be improved by a fair amount. Rudy will be improved a bit. Miller will fit in just fine and be nearly as good as his last two season, but stats will be down being around so many weapons. Blake and Pryz just had career years - they will not be better. Outlaw will not be better. Webster won't be much better than 2 seasons ago, which is far from enough to beat out the others. Bayless will be improved, but is so far off Blake/Rudy that he will still be behind. Start with the top 3. They play different positions. That is easy. They all start. Next two. Both guards. One a pure point, with no range. One who seems unlikely to be able to handle the PG duties at this time in his career, though he may develop into that later in his career. That pushes Rudy to the bench, as our 6th man. Next two. Batum and Pryz. Open slot at the 3 for Batum, and Pryz goes to the bench as our main backup big. Blake and Outlaw are in my next group and slot in nicely to round out the bench rotation with another guard and a forward. Webster and Bayless are left on the outside looking in when the team is 100% healthy. I think in order to win big in the playoffs we need a healthy and impactful Greg Oden and we need a 2nd creator and we need a wing to help slow the opposition's leading scorer. That means we need Oden, Miller and Batum to start (and finish) and play well. Might as well start early on making it work. This is the short rotation. Miller/Blake Roy/Rudy Batum/ LaMarcus/Outlaw Oden/Pryz
Starting unit PG Miller Most experienced player, still very effective, runs an offense very well. SG Roy No brainer. SF Batum I think he's the future at this position, and he's already the best wing defender on the team. Has a good basketball IQ, and will probably be significantly better in his sophomore season. PF Aldridge Another no brainer, and no true back up that could compete for this job. C Oden He'll can only improve. Keep him out of foul trouble, and his presence will be effective. 6th, 7th and 8th man Fernadez - great year last year, he'll only get better Przybilla - a pain in every opponent's ass Outlaw - as long as he's on the team, he'll have to be in the rotation Players that should not be on the same unit I'm not closed to any rotations right now. There are enough good players on this team two deep for me to be happy with any of them on the floor. As long as one center is on the floor at any given moment except maybe for end game situations on offense, I'm happy. Anything else regarding major minute player rotations There are ten players that deserve minutes, so this is going to be interesting. Reminds me of the 2000 team depthwise. I'm going to wait and see how they're divided up, but I wouldn't be surprised to see eight of those guys (outside Roy and Aldridge) split time rather evenly.
My playing rotation: Code: PG SG SF PF C Total [U]Miller[/U] 30 30 [U]Roy[/U] 3 28 3 34 [U]Batum[/U] 25 25 [U]Aldridg[/U] 34 3 37 [U]Oden[/U] 30 30 Blake 15 15 Rudy 20 7 27 Webster 13 13 Outlaw 14 14 Joel 15 15 Total 48 48 48 48 48 240 Starters are underlined.
