I didn't see this posted, but should bring up some good, heated discussion!! http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/11/road_wrap_a_look_inside_the_nu.html Minutes: Blanky: 158.31 Points: Blanky: 38 Minutes: Bayless: 28.29 Points: Bayless: 16 Minutes: Rudy: 115.52 Points: Rudy: 51
McMillan needs to slowly integrate Rudy into the offense more and let Blake and Bayless split the rest of the minutes. If Blake is going to play this poorly there is no reason not to go with Rudy more, and I think Bayless could provide scoring off the bench, and sort of take over Outlaw's role.
I think they are saying either Fernandez or Blake, with the details of both those players. I don't think we need to bench Blake, but dramatically reduce his minutes. Christ you know who lead last night's game in minutes?!?!?! It wasn't Roy, Aldridge or Oden.
Rudy has got to cut down turnovers and play better D if he ever wants to start for Nate...(which obviously could only happen in this 3 guard lineup anyways). And, just because Blake is ice cold right now, I think he's earned the right to be left in for a while to try and heat up. That said, if Blake continues to shoot horribly, it could easily segway into a 2 guard lineup that didn't include Blake if Roy/Miller continue to improve their on-court chemistry and Webster remembers how to play basketball...
Well, it was only one play, but Rudy's D on Joe Johnson at the end of the game looked pretty solid, stopping him from penetrating, and forcing him into a long fadeaway which he ultimately hit. I think the poor quality of Rudy's D has been ovea bit embelished.
As a SG you aren't being asked to do what a point guard is doing, so I disagree with you. The SG is in to score, and be able to create their own shot while in, and defend the position within the given concept the team uses to defend. So that being said, which of those things does Blanky do? The only thing that Blanky brings is shooting, and he isn't even bringing that right now. He doesn't create his own shot. He doesnt' penetrate the paint. All he is right now is a space maker, and not a good one at that.
Just remember, watching recent history. It takes Nate about 5-6 games before he tries something new. The worst part about Nate that bothers me, is he can't make mid game decisions. He must be mechanical. If something isn't working, he tries to have his team fight through it and figure it out after the game. Not saying he's a terrible coach, but I don't like his subbing, mechanical coaching and inability to think outside the box in the middle of games.
But Nate HATES turnovers! Look at min / ast / to for the road trip: Blake 158 / 22 / 9 Rudy 115 / 6 / 11 I just can't imagine Nate replacing Blake with Rudy until Rudy takes better care of the ball. And that ignores the D thing. I do think Blake is a smarter defender than Rudy...but I'm no expert. You mention penetrating - we already have Roy and Miller in the "uber-guard" lineup...cold shooting comes and goes unless there's something physically wrong we don't know about...Blake will come out of the slump eventually...
If Blake is the reason that Oden is getting into foul trouble (there was a thread on this yesterday), just wait until a backcourt of Miller and Rudy try to "defend" the opposing guards.
Actually I don't think it can get any worse. Rudy actually tends to have more problems guarding "crafty" players than he does fast players. Look folks, if you think Blake is a better player than Rudy, I can't help you. Yea Rudy turns over the ball a little more. But Rudy also makes a hell of a lot more plays than Blake does. Rudy also handles the ball and makes decisions better than Blake does on the break, and Rudy can finish at the Rim where Blake can not. Rudy is shooting better than Blake, and Rudy stole the ball 9 times over the road trip, which somehow gets completely overlooked by the folks looking at defensive effort. If you average near 2 steals a game you are pretty good at stealing the ball. What would have the numbers have been if Rudy had the minutes Blake had? Well he would have been #3 in scoring in the 70's. He would have had about 13 steals where the closest next Blazer had 4. He would have been about tied for fourth in rebounding with Roy. He would have been behind Blake in assist only.
The way Rudy started the year - I had no problems with playing Blake over him. But, given that he seems to be slowly coming out of his slump - I would not mind seeing him replacing Blake for a lot of the minutes Blake plays in the 3 guard line-up.
The Blazers are holding opponents to 41% shooting, tops in the league. So actually, the defense literally can't get any better in terms of making the opponents miss shots, and it can only get worse in terms of stack rankings. Who said that Blake is a better player than Rudy? My take is that if Blake is to be replaced, do it with Webster. Rudy had a very good trip. He seems to be settling into a productive role off of the bench.
Bayless or Rudy (Rudy probably deserves more time than J-Bay). There's no reason to think Blake can't just let Bayless do his thing and get out of the way on the second unit camping out on the corner, where Bayless doesn't have to possess great passing skills to get the pass to him, and both could share playmaking duties if it would make Nate feel better. Starters: Miller 35 minutes Rudy 30+ minutes Roy 35+ minutes LMA 35+ minutes Oden whatever he can get bench: Blake 15 minutes tops Jerryd 15-20 minutes Webster/Cunningham 15 total Joel 15-25 (depending on foul trouble for Greg) It might work? The funny thing is that this would put to bed the whole stupid notion of two units. This basketball, not hockey. Your starters are making the big bucks, time for them to earn their paychecks.
The team won six games in a row with this line-up, and lost the 7th in OT, yet there still has to be a scapegoat. It's boring, and it's predictable.
Who's making anybody a scapegoat. Steve is not turning in a starter's production, there are guys behind him who have been. Nate always talks about playing his most productive players, well now seems like a decent time to back that up.
