Yea part of the problem was though, when he would start going, the rest of the team would stop, literally. Lots of standing around and bad Ju-Ju. I think there are 2 guys that have been chomping at the bit for this to happen, both of them happen to be guards who would love to score. The other being Dante Cunningham, who I believe will endear himself to Nate once he gets time, because he does all the things that Travis does not. I expect him to take some lumps, but IMO Dante already is defensivly sound, he doesn't shoot 3's, he plays within himself. He rebounds. He isn't afraid to rotate over to a bigger player and challenge on the boards them when Greg/Pryz have to go block shots. I know he hasn't played much, but he showed all that in pre season, and he showed it when he was at school in Villenova, which had one of the highest quality defenses in college ball.
Season is far from over to come at us with that. Let him develop into the system and work through it. If he's even worse, you got a point, if he gets better than you don't. I think using those "ratings" like you post in here a lot shouldn't apply until the season ends. So much happens in between "Good or Bad".
It is a small sample and I'm not saying he can't or won't turn things around (at least a little) but expecting him to and riding his cold hand in the meantime seems kind of detrimental to the success of the team; there's no way he should be logging the 28 minutes a game he's getting.
Blake is so one dimensional. I feel the team would be better off if they just went with a Miller/Bayless point guard rotation and called it a day.
Yeah it seriously floors me how much Nate allows Blake to get away with. He will yank players like Bayless for a turn-over or bad shot, yet he will allow Blake to stay in after bad turn over, after bad turn over. Reminds me a lot of Jack when he was a Blazer. Nate had a serious crush on him.
Holy shit. He's shooting 36% from the field and is averaging 7.6 points only. And he's playing 29 minutes? I didn't think it was this bad. Sorry, ABM. But this guy needs to either hit the pine or find his shot, because he brings no tangible facet to the team other than bringing the ball up the floor and handing it off to BRoy.
That name works on so many levels: he's a security blanket, he's shooting blanks ... he's got a blank expression on his face most of the time. Absolutely love it
Very well played. Best way to ween a child from their blanky is to gradually hide it from him until he becomes disinterested in it.
Hey, I too think Blake has more value than posers give him credit for and does not weigh down the team. Kudos on the thread . . . I'll go back into hiding with my thoughts on Blake.
After reading your first line, I thought the second line said "Playing hide the sausage with Blake". But I guess it was just a froidian slip.
I know . . . most posts are clever (or harsh) statements against Blake, so it's easy to assume the next post is piling it on. I've got to come out of the woodwork to stick up for Blake, but I'm done so carry on with the Blake bashing.
First, Blake is close to 41% from the field over his career. He's in a slump of massive proportions, but he'll come out of it. Second, he's smart, plays well with Roy, and doesn't make many mistakes. Third, Chris Paul's not available.
I don't agree with that. I think you can say his decision making in certain parts of the game is ok. But to say Blake is smart, and then watch him run a fast break will bring that to an end. Blake is good at certain things. Running a fast break, finishing/penetrating the paint are not in that list. He is pretty good at looking at Greg Oden wide open under neath the hoop and not throwing him the ball though....
I'm actually a long-time Blake-hater (it reached boiling point in the playoffs last year) who has warmed to him since the three-guard lineup. Basically he's being asked to be a 6'3" Hedo Turkoglu on offense (i.e., he plays SF, for which he has above average skills) and guard the PG on defense (because Miller is big enough to guard the SG but also too slow to guard the PG). He's doing fine at both. I used to think Rudy would be better than him at everything, but Blake is actually a better ball-handler and (shockingly enough) penetrator. Blake is like the physician's credo: first, do no harm. Of course, he never really gets to "second".
This will take some of you back. Blake reminds me of Danny Young from the old days. He was that guy that should be about the 4th guard on the team, and his role is to come in and not make mistakes during the few minutes he is in, and leave the game without blowing the whole Blazer lead.
Why are the only choice Blake or CP3? Isn't that sort of like saying we can't bench Damien Wilkins because DWade is not available? How about Miller instead of Blake. How about Bayless instead of Blake. Or Rudy. Or any guard on the team not named Blake.
I like Blake, I think he's a good enough player. But when it's crunch time and he has to the ball in his hands I get very nervous. He's anti-clutch.
