The other day Brandon came out and said So now, with Roy out of the line up we are running more and everyone is having fun. I wonder if Brandon now realized what an ass he sounded like when he made those comments
Sort of. he apologized for calling out his teammates, but I'm not sure he took back the comments. Brandon truly believes that Andre miller is making him slow.
I am not, nor have I ever been a huge Brandon Roy fan, but to be fair to him our record without him of 5-1 has come against. Milwaukee W Golden State W Minnesota W @ Utah L Denver W @ Memphis W LA on the season Without roy 25.5 ppg 11 rpg With Roy 17.4 ppg 7.8 rpg Also interesting of note is our team numbers. I got busy at work while doing these, but I think they are right Offense 98.1 ppg without Roy 94.1 ppg with Roy Defense 93.6 ppg without Roy 94.9 ppg with Roy Offense 22.2 apg without Roy 20.8 apg with Roy
So do you still blame Nate for slowing it up? I think that the problem has more to do with players deferring to Roy and the "Pecking Order" more than anything. The last several games have all been looser, Rudy has been more effective (possibly the best stretch played in his career), team effort is up, and Lamarcus is being used more like he should have been being used all along. It started in the 2nd half of the Dallas game when Roy left the floor. I don't think it is a coincidence. I think that when Roy is on the floor all the players worry too much about deferring to him and getting him the ball, which in turn, slows the team up and leads to bad decision making.
The pecking order is determined by the coach. The coach is in charge and ulitmately responsible for what the team does. If the coach has given up some of that authority to a player that is ON HIM. Not on anyone else.
It's true that Roy and Miller would both be slow in a 40 yard dash. But Roy is only comfortable in a slow paced game, whereas Miller is comfortable in a faster paced game. Maybe Roy is saying he would like a fast partner to cover for him on defense, and that is one way for the Blazers to go, find a fast defender who can shoot threes. and if Roy was 100% healthy, maybe that would be a good idea, but it looks to me like the vast majority of the team would like to play faster than roy.
Yes it can be. It can also be channled out of social fears of angering those who are in a more important position in your organization, and deferring to them. Nate gives Roy a lot of rope, which to other players, must indeed look like playing favorites. Those same players would fear angering Roy for fear of angering Nate. There may or may not be a pecking order. But it sure appears to me that there is an effect of one when he is on the court.
Everyone wants to point to these last three games as being WEAK opponents, yet when we had Roy in the lineup, we lost to Phili, NJ, and Wash..... thats pretty bad
I was just thinking about that. Nate's offensive sets are horrible, but when the team plays fast they can avoid them because the defense isn't set up yet. I will need to give it more looks.
I agree with you, but playing devils advocate, all three on the road, Milwaukee was missing any good players they might have outside Bogut, GS was missing their best player too.
It is what it is. Even most poor teams in the NBA have a winning streak during the year where they play well for a stretch. The only teams that don't are usually the one's that are so bad they win like 12 wins for the year. The only way we will know if it is more than that is if some sort of continuity is developed by the team out of it.
I think Michael Holton brought up a good point last night. We are comparing numbers with Brandon Roy at 70%. To get to the next level, we are still going to need someone to close out big ball games. A Brandon Roy at 100% is our best candidate. Whether he can get their is a huge question. If Brandon is out for a significant amount of time, it will also be more upon him to fit in with the group instead of the group fitting around Brandon. It is possible we still maintain our current style of play as well as having someone on the floor that can be the closer.
