Of course, we also gave up the 4th fewest points, and the 4th fewest FTAs per game. So we're right close to the average on offense, but well above average on defense, which I would say ultimately works out to a net positive. And that's conveniently ignoring the factor of pace.
Why does anyone believe a word about Nate in the press? He says a ton of things that he either changes his mind about or are patently untrue. Seeing is believing. And I believe Oden is going to get 10 shots a game regardless of what Nate says. He is too dangerous a weapon for Portland not to use.
Nate's quote was saying we had no trouble scoring, when in fact we were below average. What we gave up has nothing to do with scoring.
But how does he get those shots? He should get 5 or so shots per game on nothing but offensive rebounds.
We did not have trouble scoring. You are purposefly ignoring facts to support your position, when it is false. We actually had an easy time scoring, based on our points per possession. If we struggled to score, we would not have as good of a points per possession rate.
Well, He is right. We have no problems scoring. By slowing the game, we take a lot of teams out of their comfort zone - trying to force them to adjust and execute in the half-court. Our efficiency shows that we have great scoring. Nate is right on the money here.
It's a good thing that wins and losses are based on individual games, where possessions are equal or within one of each other, not on average scoring - otherwise the Suns would be fighting the GSW for rings every year for a decade... We have no problems scoring.
We got beat in the first round because other than Roy the entire team looked like they were scared to be there. I really do not think they understood how much more vicious and intense playoffs basketball is. I have no doubts they will have the idea this year. I really like to think of it as a first Boston game (last year) vs. 2nd Boston game. In the first game, other than Roy (surprise, surprise) - they all looked dumbstruck and could not handle the trash-talking, the bumping and the physicality. In the 2nd game, LMA started by bumping KG (drawing first blood), Oden pushed Ray Ray and Nate implemented the still impossible to guard 6 on 5 offense - and we won, even without Roy. I am willing to bet that if last year's team had one series of playoff basketball under their belt - the series against the Rockets would have looked a lot different.
Umm, isn't your argument that Oden should get more touches... do you really want to point to the post season in this case? Oden pretty much sucked in the Houston series. I don't know why you've gotten your panties in a twist over this. Nate saying he wants Oden to focus first on defense and Oden being a bigger part of our offense are not mutually exclusive. He's going to get more touches this year.
Well, let's not let facts get in the way of your opinion. We didn't score a lot, but we certainly didn't have trouble scoring.
I think we were 14th in ppg so that's above average actually. And 1st in offensive efficiency. So.......huh?
I am guessing that Portland goes into him early in the game to force teams to pay attention to him. I would figure 5 shots off of offensive rebounds and 5 from assists. I am also going to say that he averages 4 trips to the line a game. He probably won't get the ball in crunch time but I don't think that is a big deal. With a good shooting percentage and free throws, 10 shots should be enough to give him 14+ points per game.
The only thing I'd like to see changed with your guess is him getting it more than 5 times off set plays. Nothin past 10 though. And I agree 100% about him not being a focus at crunch time. Establishing him early will cause the defense to pay attention to him anyway.
