If you had to put the likelihood of Portland winning a championship any time soon on the shoulders of two players, those are the two players. Teams should always adjust their talent and their tempo around the stars, and if we're hitching our wagons to Oden and Roy, well, we should plan on playing a crapload of half court basketball. Yeah, I think we could stand to run some more, but I certainly don't think it's a bad plan to play the pace that our most important players want to play at.
I think Batum is going to thrive no matter what type of tempo you play him in. He's quick and graceful and a great finisher, so yeah, he'd do well in a half-court team. But he's also blossoming into an excellent defender and great perimeter shooter, so a slow-down grind-out game works too. Bayless is going to get his fast break points in any offense, because he does it all on his own. He's all about dribble fast and finishing hard. He'd probably do it better in an uptempo team, but I don't see him being stifled. The fact that he's doubled his PER in one season tells me quite the opposite. Rudy I don't know about. He's not finishing the lob anymore (too risky). He's never had a great handle on the break, although he does make great decisions with it. Yeah, I could see him being stifled in our offense. Aldridge is the single guy I think there's an unequivocal argument for being stifled under Nate. That dude is born to run. Of our best four players (Roy, Oden, Batum and Aldridge) I think he's kind of the odd fit here. I'd really love to see him in a package for Bosh. However, even if we keep him, he can still fit in with grinding half court basketball, provided Oden can recover. His awesome jumpshot seems the perfect complement to Oden's bruising interior game.
Andre Miller! Player Coach. But yeah, I completely agree. We need a new coach. I have felt this way for a long time. Nate is a teacher. Not a winner.
Agreed. I've always felt that Aldridge's skillset (shooting, some ability to pass) makes him an ideal high-post complement to Oden in the low post. I think Aldridge would flourish statistically if he played in the system Stoudemire did under D'Antoni...a lot of chances to run, a lot of chances in the half-court to use his athleticism to finish on the receiving end of great ball movement. But I think he'll still possess a lot of value in conjunction with Oden.
