Anybody else concerned about where our 3 point shooting is going to come from this coming year now that Blake, Outlaw, Webster and most likely Rudy are gone? I'm concerned about our ability to spread the court.
Luke Babbitt, Wesley Matthews, Nic Batum? Can Armon Johnson hit a three? Maybe LMA has extended his range as far outward as he has inward.
It could be a problem, but really all Webster gave us last year was a really hot month in January then a whole lot of streak shooting before and after and Rudy was a mess, period. The biggest voids are left by Outlaw and Blake on offense IMO, but the theory is Nic and Matthews will be able to pick up that slack (and maybe Babbitt eventually) -- I'm not super confident that everything is going to go according to plan, but we'll see
This team relied too heavily on the three anyway. I'd much rather see some aggressive basketball, driving to the hoop and taking mid-range jumpers.
Clearly this is a major concern. The way I look at it is that Nate has had to make a choice between a team that plays top notch defense at all times or a team that can spread the floor and shoot. Sadly, he can't have it both ways and trying to play it the middle is a classic fail. I mean, to be sure every team has a few players that can shoot the '3', but it's not going to be our stock in trade. And there are other offensive options- pick & roll, isolation, pick & pop... sometimes just being efficient is all a team really needs.
BP raises an interesting point about style of play. From what I know about Matthews (very little) what I've seen of Babbitt, and Nic getting a more prominent role as an initiator and distributor in FIBA play these past couple of years, it appears on the surface that we have more capable ball handlers on the wing than we've had in awhile. If this team could set picks that were worth a damn it seems like it would be a pretty good candidate to run a version of the flex offense.
You try to make it seem like we just lost those guys, when they have been gone for a long time when we really already turned that corner last year. Outlaw and Blake have been gone for a long time and we did fine. Rudy never shot worth a fuck last year except in a handful of games. The Blazers have already seen what the team looks like with them gone, and moved on.
Confirmation: McMillan told management team shooting was hurting, so they traded up to draft Babbitt.
I do think it is an issue, but I agree with Nik that it won't be too different from last year. The starters and their minutes will be the same. Webster and Rudy were not in during crunch time. Matthews can match one of those guys off the bench. the other has to be made up by Bayless. Hopefully he has worked on it. As for the starters, Nic will be just fine, but what we really need is for Roy to extend his game more to spread the floor for LMA and Oden. We know he has the range, he just needs to shoot it more.
Wesley Matthews: 38% Nicolas Batum: 41% Rudy Fernandez: 37% Martell Webster: 37% Whatever the team gets from Babbitt is gravy. Shooting is his forte.
It's a big part of our offense (at least it has been). When teams double B-Roy or throw a zone at us, we have to be able to make them pay. Batum is a solid shooter, Matthews is average, Bayless is below average, 'Dre is awful. Johnson & Williams have no shooting range, and the scouting report on Babbitt is that his stroke is pretty good, but he's not a catch-and-shoot guy (more of an off the dribble/rhythm guy) Rudy is the closest thing to a "pure shooter" we have (or "had" may be more apropo) I'm concerned about it.
Was just going to post this, but see Fuzzy Fiddlesticks beat me to it. I think we'll be fine. Actually, we're more than fine. We're better. Roy, Batum, LA and company will be fine at spreading the court.
Shooting is my biggest concern with this team. Bayless and Miller are horrid. Roy is average. Wesley was good but only for one season, it is not certain he can sustain that accuracy. The rookies have not shown they will be ready for any minutes this season. I hope we hang on to Rudy if the best offer we can get is a late first round pick. If we get rid of him then have a single game missed by a player such as Batum this team will be very vulnerable to zone defenses where the opposition packs defenders inside. Also, this is a reason I would consider having Patty on the roster over Armon.
driving to pass the ball for open 3s is better than passing the ball out for mid range jumpers. and portland doesn't take too many 3s(or rely too heavily on the three). 21.5% of the blazers shot attempts were 3s last season. compare that to the top teams in the league. the cavs were at 24.8%. the lakers were at 22.7%. the celtics at 22.8%. and the magic were pretty successful taking 35% threes. the only problem the blazers really have in 3s is that they were only middle of the pack last year in 3 point percentage. but it's hard to expect anything more than that from a team that starts andre miller.
