A prediction that nobody will second

We're going to miss Steve Blake.

Okay, not actually in the sense of wishing he came back, but we're going to be bitching a lot about wildly inconsistent guard play and getting torched by every single halfway decent PG. We don't have a single PG who can play defense worth a damn any more, and every PG (except possibly Mills, but we'll never know) left is very turnover-prone. I would feel a lot happier if Pritchard could turn Martell Webster into a lockdown guard defender who can bring the ball upcourt against pressure before the trade deadline.

 

umm jerryd can play better defense me thinks. also, probably about the same as a spot up shooter. he is better at most other things.

 

WTF are you talking about. Bayless has been a better defender than Blake since he put on an NBA uniform.

 

Better at staying with his man maybe, but Jerryd's understanding of team defense has been pretty up and down, and he fouls a ton. He's got decent physical potential (short arms aside) but he's not there yet.

 

No he hasn't. He should be, but he isn't.

 

I'm a bit worried about giving Bayless the backup spot. I haven't seen a lot this season to think he's anything but an undersized SG.

 

That's the problem. Who are the good backcourt defenders these days? The Eric Snows of yesteryear. (And I mean someone like Snow who plays fundamental defense rather than someone like Rajon Rondo who looks flashy but gambles a lot.)

Does Lindsey Hunter even play in the NBA any more? I wouldn't mind renting him for the rest of the year, just for spot duty.

 

Bayless is a better individual defender, no doubts - but not as good a team defender in my opinion.

I think Blake was underrated by many here - but the need just made this deal very very reasonable. With Roy coming back soon (hopefully) - we can get by with 2 good ball handlers and JB. Giving consistent time to JB is not that bad as well. If he works - great, if not - well, there is knowledge there as well and less of a question mark.

If we fizzle down the stretch expect fireworks this upcoming draft day with 2 larger expiring contracts (Miller, Joel).

Again - I think that Blake is a much better player than people think and the constant bitching about him is absurd - but the circumstances made trading him the right decision, generally speaking.

 

Well, he has been asked to play shooting guard a ton with Brandon hobbled.

 

How is that calculated?

 

Yea that is why when Tony Parker was going off on the Blazers recently Bayless came in and put an end to it. Amazingly enough it started again when Blake came back in the game in the second half, and it ended again, when Bayless was brought back in. This has happened repeatedly this season. There was a reason our bigs were always in foul trouble. It's name was Blake.

 

With voodoo.

 

Really? I have doubts. He plays the part - gets into a stance, moves fairly quickly - but I've never noticed much effect unless he actually fouls (which he does a lot.) It was particularly glaring in the last game, when Blake was a much better individual and team defender - and he was defending Steve Nash.

Y'think?

Fair enough.

 

Ridiculous. Yes, Blake would have trouble with very quick players. But if you're asking me to believe that Bayless can actually guard Tony Parker worth a damn, you'll have to provide video evidence. And what about the Phoenix game, and the OKC game, where amazingly enough the Blazers went on runs with Blake in the game, and got outscored massively with Bayless in?

 

Ooh, sounds a bit +/- ish. I thought you were a PER man?

And according to adjusted +/-, Blake has a better score than Camby:

 

Hmm. I think that had less to do with Brandon being hobbled and more to do with him being much more suited to SG.

 

Defensive rating is the number of points per 100 possessions the other team scores when the player is on the court. Of course, since Blake and Bayless have been playing a lot together this year in the 2nd unit - it only makes sense that their defensive rating is similar.

On the other hand, if you look at individual on/off stats from 82games.com - it seems that the the Blazers lose more (defensively) when Bayless is on the court than they do when Blake is on the court (neither is a good defender, however). (They calculate it per 48 minutes).

So, overall, I think it is pretty clear that Blake's better team defense trumps Bayless's better individual defense, at least in this stage of their career.