This is from Jaynes on the MSP. He also said the Blazers as is aren't a playoff team. First he said they are an inside-out team but dont have the players for it. When you think about it, we kinda do need a shooter badly. Rudy just doesnt cut it. Batum is too inconsistent from three. Perhaps they need to find a shooter at this point. I mean if they made even 6 of 22 threes the other night... they might have won. Jaynes has a point here, and he said when we get back pryz.... its our only shot for playoffs.
Even with bad knees, Roy has a sweet shot. I like Aldrdige's mid-range jumper and at 21 years old I think it is very possible Nic goes from inconsistent to consistent as he progresses. Miller's outside jump shot is the only starter that concerns me . . . but he is a smart player who knows when he should shoot and won't shoot the Blazers out of the game.
Who really cares what Jaynes says? According to him the team tuned out Nate weeks ago. Even though they have lost, from the effort I have seen, that doesn't appear to be the case. I could easily make a case that says the Blazers would have won if they had a closer on the floor. Or if Lamarcus Aldridge hadn't turned over the ball 8 times. Maybe what Jaynes should aknowledge is the fact that Utah is a tough team and they have come back form double digit deficits on the road already 5 times this season. Maybe somebody should acknowledge that CJ Miles was shooting the lights out and there wasn't really much you could do to prevent it. When the kid drains multiple shots from over 5 feet outside the 3 point line, there isn't much you can do. In fact, I can live with losing when a player is hitting shots like that. That type of shooting is rare in a game, and when it happens, there isn't much you can do about it.
how do you figure? we have only beaten 1 decent team in denver lakers, jazz, hornets, bulls, okcX2 thats all solid teams we have lost to
http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/playoffodds We figure because we listen to someone like Hollinger that actually bases his predictions on math, not on whatever old-man Jaynes is trying to sell today. This team will be better with Joel and I suspect we will see Roy contribute more as time goes on - so this team is very likely to make the playoffs again, as is, even if all we get is a good but not great Roy back.
Because you still fail to consider the fact that the teams we will be vying with for the 7th and 8th spot stink. Golden State is one of the few teams in the league that can put 125 points on the board and still lose. Houston is struggling badly. Phoenix is struggling. The Clippers can't find a way to win. That is why. Not so much because of what the Blazers are doing. They may be doing little better than treading water, but last I looked that is better than losing 7 in a row.
Prior to the game on Saturday night Miles was shooting under 33% from the 3 point line. Realistically, that is a shot you want him to take. It just so happened that he managed to beat the odds and nail a bunch of shots he normally doesn't hit. I would encourage him to shoot those shots the next time Portland plays Utah since over the long haul he is going to brick way more of those then he will make.
Hollingers rankings played 5000 times?I think that is a pretty good way to do it, but that doesn't take into account injuries. Portland is likely to have more lpayer injuries than any other team down the road. Jaynes is wrong about the insides out play though. Portland rarely goes inside out. They go inside sometimes, and they pass around the perimeter a lot, but rarely do they throw in and throw back out, or attack in and kick out
Anything is possible, I guess. But, of course, Portland does have a rich owner that is willing to take on money and expiring and draft picks and is not exactly a paragon of waiting long at this point - so maybe they are more willing to trade as well. Who knows, but at this point, it is pretty clear who are who in the Western conference, and the Blazers are not likely to become worse than the bad teams in the conference and are very likely to fight for a lower seed in the playoffs. It is not likely, however, that they will become an elite team unless Roy's knees somehow get to 2007-2008 state. The other nice thing is that Portland is playing pretty nice defense at stretches this year - much better than previous years, imho, and getting back Joel is likely to be a big help in this department.
I agree. That's where this team is at this moment. A shame really, we were really hoping for Oden to come back strong and Roy to continue as a super-star.
I think you are right on a lot of points. However, I thin kthe defense that has been much better this year, suffers when Roy comes back, and I'm not sure our offense really gets a lot better. Our clutch shooting certainly does though.
It all depends on how they play him and how he comes back. Roy was really bad on defense this year, but I suspect that the lack of mobility is the main cause for it. He could still get his set-shots off and score, but on defense he was exposed as his ability to get to the rim was. If he comes back as he was earlier in the year, I hope they play him limited minutes. If he can recover somewhat to resemble what he did last year, his defense was not so bad.
The arse end of the lotto, or designated play-off doormat. What a lovely choice! BTW, what is all this about the defense being good/better??? I'm sure as hell not seeing it. Decent defensive teams don't blow double digit leads in the 4th quarter and give up career nights to scrubs.
actually, hollinger's rankings do take into account the injuries that have already happened. so those current playoff predictions are assuming that joel never plays this season and that roy continues missing 3 out of every 14 games.
