Blake plays with Brandon in Nate's system because he fills the role of a perimeter shooter that is needed when Roy initiates the offense. Admittedly, he hasn't been doing it very efficiently of late, but he's been solid in the past. Blake, Outlaw, and Rudy are the only guys on this roster who seem to be able to hit from distance in pressure situations. Webster has the physical tools to fill the role, but the mental aspects seem to elude him. With Outlaw out, I don't see there being any chance that Blake's minutes are reduced or that he's moved to the second unit. IMO, that only happens if there's a coaching change...something which MM and others would be happy to see, but which is NOT happening unless this year is a total disaster.
Let's not forget: Blake is a better defender at BOTH GUARD SPOTS than Brandon Roy. This is mildly depressing, but appears to be true. (Maybe moving Roy to SF is a not-so-subtle dig at Roy to improve his D.) Blake is to us this year as Delonte West was to Cleveland last year. They're about the same size, about the same skill set and both playing "out of position" at SG. Let's hope we can win as many games as Cleveland. Our overall talent level (when averaged out - obviously most of their's is concentrated in LBJ) is certainly comparable.
This is not a criticism about Nate, but I think it might be more the way he is used, than he himself. Blake is a role player, and should play those minutes. I honestly think Blake is being asked to do things he is not capable of doing. I think the same could be said of Travis. It's not his fault that his coach overuses him.
Maybe I should start a "That Whole Nate McMillan Thing" thread. McMillan's record as a coach of the Blazers has exceeded what we had a right to hope for. If he does things that we don't get, the rational thing to conclude is "his years of playing in the NBA have probably given him a feel for the game that we don't have, and this is borne out by his record". But oh no, it's FUCK YOU MCMORON! CAN'T YOU SEE BAYLESS>>>>>>>BLAKE!!!??? I hope to Christ nobody connected with Blake OR McMillan reads this board. Thankfully, it's very likely that they don't.
I have noticed that I have voiced my support for Blake and Nate more than I usually would because of the posts you are talking about. Everyone talks like Nate is an idiot for starting and using Blake (and Outlaw) as much as he does. I'm not saying a coach is always right, and maybe Nate is making mistakes here and there (I don't know) . . . but I do know he isn't an idiot who isn't watching the games . . . or incapable of understanding Bayless' value vs. Blake's value.
I don't see any evidence of this. Blake is not a good defender at all as far as I can see. His defensive rating is 103, which is the exact same as Roy and Miller this year and worse than six other Blazers that play regularly. This is better than last year (110) but I don't see the improvement as evidence that he's suddenly a good defender. Ed O.
What is this "defensive rating" of which you speak? Why should I believe that individual defense is easily or accurately quantifiable when multiple switches occur all the time and better defenders are called on to "help" off their man when worse defenders are beaten?
All-Star SG Brandon Roy is being forced to play out of position at SF, to accomodate Steve Blake. If that doesn't disturb you, you aren't drinking the Kool-Aid, you are drowning in it.
Defensive rating is a stat you can find on any player at basketball-reference.com, in short it measures a simple points per 100 possessions allowed for his counterpart for when that player is on the floor, thus it is highly suspect to collinearity and autocorrelation effects (basically Blake benefits from the fact that he's typically on the court when the team has it's best interior defenders on the court in Joel and Oden who rank near the top of the league in defensive rating). With my eye I can see that Oden clogging the lane makes drivers more tentative and typically teams (minus the Hawks) have been more reliant on jump shots to score on us versus drives or post-ups, which means a lower shooting percentage and with Oden and Joel those teams usually don't get a lot of second chance points which depresses an opponents points per possession. The fact that Oden has been fouling guards at the rate he does also tells me that his having to cover for his guards and it's taking a toll (Joel's fouling a lot too and so is LMA). This doesn't mean Blake is a terrible defender; mostly I think he does an above average job of rotating, reading and funneling players to certain spots, but he absolutely cannot cut off dribble penetration and stronger guards overpower him. There is a reason our three bigs (LMA, Oden, Przy) are league leaders in fouls. Fuck it, I just hope Steve starts hitting some goddamn shots, because clearly Nate seems to have no intention of reducing his role or minutes.
That's pretty much spot on, except Blake actually does a bit better on bigger guards for some reason. Too bad neither Miller nor Bayless are any better though...
I'm not really blaming anyone, am I? I merely offered another explanation to counter why Roy is at SF right now; at least, that was my intention by mentioning Roy's success last year at SG.
So far in this thread, Blake has been described as our "Derek Fisher" and our "Delonte West." I've also seen him described as our "Steve Kerr/John Paxson" in previous posts... Well, when Roy reaches the level of Kobe, LeBron, or Jordan, then maybe Blake can fill the role those players played on those teams. Fine. But Roy's not at that level. Not now, probably not ever. Thus, we need a better, more dynamic starting point guard. We have one on the roster, and we're not playing him. It's that simple. I don't mind Blake as a reliable vet. He's awesome in that role. But our coach has to figure out a way to tailor his system to the new talent we have. If the whole thing, his entire scheme and philosophy on offense and defense, only works one way -- with only the same set of players we had last year -- and it's not going to be a championship caliber result, then something has to give. Bottom line is, we should play our best players the most minutes. That means more Miller, more Rudy, and maybe a bit more Bayless here and there. But Blake shouldn't really get 35 minutes unless something unusual has happened. Heck, he didn't warrant that many minutes when he was on the freaking Wizards. Love Steve Blake, just not 30+ minutes worth.
I don't believe it one bit. Roy is definitely able to get to that type of level, with the exception of Jordan because his talent alone far exceeds others. He works hard in the off season, never satisfied with the game he has. And remember he's still young. Jordan didn't even win his first ring until he was in his late 20's.
If Martell Webster "doesn't have to score a point" then we need to place him on waivers! If he can ONLY SCORE if he starts; then he is a spoiled baby! If Webster remains with this team (which I'm going to predict he's traded sooner, than later), he "could" potentially be a "6th man of the year" type! Only if he adjusted his attitude and accepted this as a key and important role. Having Webster start, for starting-sake - doesn't make great sense to me. Back to Blake. I dont' hate on Blake at all. I think he could be one of the premier back-up points in the league........I said "back-up" PG's. He's no different than Outlaw, really. Both have good skills, and both have limitations. All good teams need good depth. Blake and Outlaw (pre-injury) provide good depth. Wait until Mills developes! This kid looks like a Tony Park-style player....and I think this is why KP signed him. My question is: "What's this whole Bayless thing?"
Webster gets no pass, but all I'm saying is he's about the "truest" healthy SF we have on our team right now. Instead of playing Blake and Roy out of position, just start Webster and have Blake be a scorer off the bench. Hey if a deal comes up that uses pieces like Blake, Webster and Outlaw for some SF stud, I would be all for it. The sooner we solidify our starters and have a tighter 8-9 man rotation, the better.
Steve Blake wasn't playing SG last year either. This year he is, and it's forcing Roy to play a different position. Blake needs to go to the bench. It's that simple.
