Do we really have one? When Miller goes to the bench the team is manic with Bayless running the point. I like Bayless as instant offense, like Jason Terry, off the bench as a SG. Anyone agree?
Nope we don't. I'm surprised that Nate hasn't tried the second unit with Diener yet. At least Diener is active and Mills is on the practice squad.
I don't even think Bayless is a good option as "instant offense" anymore. Dude just looks terrible out there to me. And Rudy has sucked it up bad this year too..
I agree. Bayless is not a point guard. He had a bad turnover against Denver. I think Bayless's defense is worse than Blakes. Am I wrong?
As i have posted earlier, I think this was KP's only big mistake, using his ammunition in 2008 (he decided to go for Bayless) instead of saving assets to move up in the PG rich class of 2009. Although maybe he had always planned on somehow moving up to get Westbrook in 2008; if so, once he saw that wasn't working he should have had a better plan B, e.g. trading our 2008 pick for another 2009 pick. I don't know what we would have to give up to get Ty Lawson, Darren Collison or Devin Harris; but I hope we have a plan in place. Maybe the new Russian owner of the Nets would be interested in Euros like Rudy and Victor Claver plus Bayless, but if Thorn is still in there, i don't think so, he's too smart for that.
If thats the case, Nate didn't have a plan for Roy being double teamed against Denver and Roy couldn't get his game going. Miller can't do everything out there as PG and Bayless sucked.
With Nates offense, I can hardly blame the players.... It's a throw it into the post, or it's a kick it out to a 3-pointer shooter, or it's a iso-pick and drive. those three plays are getting quite played out.
We suffer when he plays PG. Just suffer. I think our best backup PG may very well be Fernandez. Not that he's a PG, but he handles the ball better than anyone outside of Miller.
They have added more sets to the offense these days for sure. But they do tend to revert back to bad habits when things get tough. I have to agree with the people who wonder why Portland kept trying to isolate B-Roy against the Denver defense all night long. Those plays didn't pan out, but they kept it up more and more as the game went along. That contributed to the team playing worse and worse in the second half. I have come to realize it isn't Nate, since you can hear him pleading with his team to pass the ball and move. I just wonder at what point the coach takes the blame for his team not implementing his game plan? Or how you can actually resolve the issue without a coaching change?
I think you bring up some very good points. I'm sure you know this, but assistant coaches often make the game plans, and in Portland's case, they usually rotate the responsibility. However, ultimately it's up to Nate to approve the game plan so he has to take ownership of it. Early in last night game you saw Batum was flustered, could barely dribble the ball and then turn it over. I noticed he wasn't the only one that seemed to play a little scared. I'm not sure if that was a game plan issue or not. Overall, I think this team buys into the game plans the coaching staff provides, but there certainly are games where they either don't buy into them or they don't execute it very well. There is no doubt every team goes to their bread and butter down the stretch, and in the NBA, that is offen isolation or pick and roll. When you see guys like Batum, Bayless and Roy fail to reverse the ball in our motion offense, and LMA make poor reads out of the double team, I think dumbing down the offense may have saved us turnovers. However, it certainly didn't help us score. At that point we were taking a lower percentage shot to reduce the turnover and easy fast break points we had been giving them all night. Portland has had way too much success lately for me to think it's time to ship out one or two of the players who aren't following the game plan. Likewise, I don't think you move a coach who has taken one of the most injury depleted teams and put them in a position to win 50 games. Portland isn't the first time to lose at Denver this season, they are the 3rd best home team in the league. Coming off a back to back, Denver needing to get back on stride, I think most of us saw this coming.
Not only am I not joking, I'm sure of it. I log games for a scouting service and break down the plays team run. Portland runs more "advanced" plays than any average NBA team. I'm sure if you watched the game with some objectivity you would notice that Denver ran a lot more ISO's and P&R's than Portland last night. If you are only capable of noticing those two plays or (more than likely) that's all you want to see, then there isn't much I can do to help you.
There not going for round three with Blake.... I agree the offensive philosophy\sets of this team flat out suck and that relies almost entirely on the coaching staff..... Other teams have figured out the Roy iso play....Are you listening Nate?
Its amazing to me that Bayless is getting singled out when in fact Bayless, Rudy and Batum for that matter, made a ton of mistakes. All 3 made a ton of bad turnovers. But the difference is, I expect that. I expect the young players to struggle, and struggle the most against good teams who put the pressure on them. All I can ask is they learn and move forward. Fuck man for all the folks talking about Collison, the real difference between him and our young players is that he plays a bulk of the minutes per game right now. Most nights he is on the losing end of the stick too. If our young guys had got 40 minutes a night for half the season, they might look a hell of a lot better too.
