Long term replacements for Miller and Camby. A wing who will make Nate's "pray-for-a-trey" tactic work consistently.
Another competent big and a 3 point specialist. Steve Novak would have been great, but of course the Spurs pick him up and he flourishes, as usual.
I don't by any means think that Miller is a top defender, but which quick PGs are abusing him, worse than they do on average? Andre Miller has played against Chris Paul 14 times in his career. Paul has averages of 13.5, 9.4, 4.8, shooting 41.5%, 3.1 steals, 3.3 TOVs. So actually, Chris Paul has performed below his career averages in most categories when going against Miller. Not quite abused. Andre Miller has played Russell Westbrook 8 times in his career. Westbrook has averages of 17.8, 4.5, 5.6, shooting 42%, 1.5 steals, 4.4 TOVS. So Westbrook scores, rebounds and shoots about the same against Miller as anyone else, according to his career averages, but with more TOVs, and less assists. Since Miller's been in Portland, Conley has yet to get over 16 points against Miller, hasn't had over 6 assists, has had only one game where he even managed to shoot over 40%. So if by had his moments, you mean specific plays, and not BIG games, then sure. But otherwise, no. Rondo's numbers are pretty similar to his career numbers. Same with Rose. Same with Nash. Common thing amongst those three is they all turned the ball over at least .5 more per game against Andre than their career norms. Who else? Who exactly is abusing Miller to the tune of more than they do every other night of the week? Which would stand to reason, then, that nobody else is doing anything to stop most of those guys, and with some having worse than their career numbers, some are obviously doing worse. Avery Johnson has a career DRtg of 107. Miller is 108. Miller has more defensive win shares per game than Avery did. And that's ignoring the fact that Avery played a big chunk of his career with Duncan and/or Robinson protecting the paint behind him, to erase some of his mistakes, and help out his overall DRtg. Who did Miller have like that? So...yeah. Not buying that. Sorry.
Perhaps you missed Steve Nash in the playoffs last year? I notice you didn't mention that. There must be a reason that an "elite" PG like Miller has bounced around from mediocre team to mediocre team. Chicken, or egg? I hope he proves me wrong in the playoffs this year.
What about points for others created by penetration? Miller's man may not do the scoring, but I do see PGs getting into the lane and causing rotation chaos all the time against us. Granted, great PGs will do that to anyone, but I do think it's a weakness with Miller logging so many minutes.
Hmmm, lifetime of games, or 6 game sample? Yep. You'll go with the tiny sample to help prove a point unprovable. You see what you want. it's funny how often on here you cite stats over watching game,s but when those fail your point youo turn to a 6 game playoff series. But then, looking at that playoff series. Nash averaged what? 15 ppg. little over 9 assists. over 4 TOs. shot under 50%. 1 total steal. Again, about average. Compared to what he has always done. so again, what the fuck are you talking about? Nash played to his average. worse in some areas. Why don't you back up what you're saying with.....something. I dunno.
Portland opponents this season are well below the league average (1505) in total assists: 1374. We are 3rd in the league in opponent assists, while being average (1517) in our own assists. We out-assist our opposition by 2 full assists per game. Somewhere in all this is good point guard defense by Andre, I'm sure.
The McMillan offense is thoughtful and slow, depending upon set plays, which create assists. Opponents are more opportunistic, jetting in there when they see an opening, so they have fewer assists. Of course, most of our baskets come off of broken plays, which cancels what I just said, so I won't bring up that part.
Andre isn't the greatest PG in the league, but he's easily the best guy running the show in Portland since PIP. I really appreciate having him as a Blazer despite his imperfections. Having pretty much every other guard and forward besides the Johnsons and Crash possess at least passable jumpers hides his lack of a deep ball. It's impossible to guard most ball handlers one on one because they'll just run their man off a screen if thats the D a team is determined to play. Good perimeter D is a team effort and Andre is very smart at team play. He communicates well, knows when to take a foul and can reasonably switch onto either opposing guard. Wesley, Nic, Gerald, LA & Camby are all excellent on switches and above average defenders which also helps mask AM's lack of elite foot speed on D. to the OP, agreed with many that having Greg (or another solid Big) would really help their rotation for when they go up against other big teams... 2/3rds of the league is in the same boat lacking quality depth up front so it's obviously not the easiest role to fill. Maybe Freeland can help? The other thing I'd like to see added is another player who can go at the end of the clock. Brandon of course used to be that guy and Travis & Bayless could do it too (though obviously not as well). Their lack of this sort of player really shows when they're up late in the 4th trying to burn clock and close teams out. It's too easy to double team a Big, it pretty much has to be a perimeter player... Petteri? Elliott? STOMP
We need a healthy Oden next year, but even without him I believe we're on the cusp of being an elite team.
IMO, we need the following things: 1. A consistent outside shooter. We have guys that can light it up from outside, but they're too inconsistent to be counted on game after game. Teams sag on us and dare us to beat them from outside. 2. A rugged widebody backup PF that can defend, rebound and score on putbacks in the low post. I remember when we were dealing with RLEC we were talking with Philly about Miller AND Brand. Elton Brand would have been great--albeit expensive--in that backup PF position. 3. A healthy GO. Man, that would solve so many problems. So. Many. Problems.
Parker was 1-5 in the second half tonight. In the first half, he was primarily covered by Batum. Second half, I was sitting back waiting for him to just abuse Miller. And waited. waited. waited. still waiting.
Miller was the best Blazer tonight. It was almost too bad that Batum took the final glory away from him.
When Miller plays like he did down the stretch last night, shooting, passing, and defending, we're very tough to beat. Unfortunately, that's far outside the norm for his overall game. The assists and steals are always gonna be there, but the shooting was exceptional.
