LAST SEASON LABEL

Charles Barkely said it best "The Blazers are a jump shooting team". With that said, I firmly believe that our focus should be more on the muscle of our core. Come in and completely wear out the other team right off the gate. Outside shooting is important, but not the necessity IMO.

So for the ones that think Blake should start over Miller, just remember that Aldridge, Roy and Batum or Webster are more than capable of hitting a wide open outside shot.

The key to a solid "Starting Unit" is to take a ton of pressure off the bigs and allow Roy to use his energy to get to the line or make something happen for someone else. Too many times teams would lag off our PG, so they can put pressure on Roy on the top of the key. A player like Miller would have to make them stay honest, which frees Roy to control the game.

Also, the second line-up of Blake, Ferndandez, Webster or Batum, Outlaw and Pryzbilla will be much better suited for Ferndandez and Outlaw to carry the majority of scoring off the bench. Blake should be getting a much better look, knowing he will be playing against the other subs in the game.

Just my humble opinion. Any thoughts?

 

Yeah, I think that's what excited me so much about last night's game. Miller and Oden seemed to be standout players, and neither guy is a jump shooter.

I'm curious as to what the label will be this year for the team. I'm guessing "exhausting." They just keep coming at you with big fresh quality bodies at nearly every position, and over the course of a game a lot of teams are just going to get worn out.

That seems to be what happened last night, and we didn't even really play Roy or Aldridge huge minutes. It was a competitive first half, but the Kings pretty much lost hope of really competing in the second.

Look at the box score and just see the difference in +/- between our bench and theirs. I'm expecting to see that happen a lot this year.

 

Yep. That's a great label to have if we could pull it off. I mean how 'exhausting' would it be to play toe to toe with us for 2 quarters, then we pull away in the third? I mean like the other team is huffing and puffing, with their hands gripped to their shorts after each "dead ball", while you see the Blazers standing upright and full of energy?

 

I guess I wasn't the only one thinking about Charles Barkley while I was watching the game. The way our offense is changing is definitely a very good thing!

 

Yeah that label really pissed me off, but was true. I was like "Bull Crap Baldy!" Then whispered to myself, "psst.. We are a jump shooting team...."

Anyways, When Oden finally gets his foot work down and timing, we will have that "Go to guy" down low. Hopefully Aldridge gives us a few post points as well.

 

I hear ya.

Whenever I hear people claim we "need" to start Blake and Webster over more well rounded players, it makes me nuts! We have the tools to diversify our offense and to stop being a predictable, jump shooting team. Let's use them!

 

I think Charles Barkley is frequently wrong, but he's never shy and never sugar coats things; when he said this last year I could find nothing to argue with; the Blazers were a jump shooting team that had tons too much reliance on outside shots and too few players who could get inside and draw fouls.

If the Rockets series showed us anything it's that you can't have one all-star who will drive and initiate offense and a bunch of jump shooters at every other position as your primary means of scoring. Floor spacing is important, but in my opinion (humble as it is ) you really only need something like 2 really good spot up 3 point shooters with a couple of initiators and legit low block presence to be effective.

The local media all seem obsessed over Miller somehow taking up post position and eliminating driving lanes, the fact is Andre can command a double team and if he's doubled that means somebody is wide open and he's got the kind of passing ability and court sense to get it to the open man -- whether that's for an alley-oop, an outside shot or a pass to a player cutting to the hoop.