Miller is nice, but his lack of outside shooting still kills the Blazers and he isn't great at pushing the tempo. Also getting old, will only get worse. Camby....gives you absolutely 0 on offense. I mean this guy doesn't even dunk and his FG% shows it. He's also old and wearing down and his best days are behind him.
2nd half of the season Camby's FG% was 30%. THIRTY FUCKING PERCENT. He's best used as a backup at this point in his career.
He's just a complimentary player so it isn't a huge deal if you have the right players around him. What the team really needs is an upgrade at PG. The PG is going to be the one to run the show on this team with Roy being done as a franchise player.
I hope Greg looks great this summer in his recovery so we could package him for a legit PG. Oh, thanks for absolutely murdering your trade value Rudy! It went from throw in to can't give him away.
The team just really needs a dynamic ball handler that can get into the lane at will and make the defense react. Oh, and a little defense on the perimeter would be nice.
I think their issue is inconsistency from Nic, Wesley and really bad shooting from pretty much everyone. No backup PF, no backup PG, players who can't create their own shots AND players who pretty much can't (or won't) do anything if their shots aren't falling. All in all, one of the BIGGEST things that helped Dallas look as good as they did was having players who actually can hit shots from more than 2 feet out. Jason Terry is wide open? 9 times out of 10, it's going in. Wesley Matthews wide open? 4 times out of 10 it's going in. If Portland had their own Jason Terry, instead of their own Derek Anderson, they could've won the series. But they don't, so they didn't. And won't. Get some shooters. And by shooters I mean guys who actually already shoot good, and not players who will become decent shooters like Travis Outlaw. Oh and make up your mind on Brandon Roy. I love what he's done for the franchise, but the dude needs to either be a spot up shooter off (ala Peja, etc) or just quit playing ball. 2 good games, even if one of them was a "holy shit" game, does not justify the playing time he gets. And just let Rudy go. Dude was a waste of a roster spot once Roy came back. At least he gave effort, but I suspect that's because he wanted to be a good teammate and knows that'll help his came far more than pouting and whining.
This isn't about positions. What the playoffs have shown year after year is that star players and closers win. We don't really have one anymore. It was just fitting to watch Aldridge walk up to the line late in the fourth with the team down 4, shivering and nervous, and then eventually bricking two.
Yeah, not really convinced Aldridge has what it takes to be a true star. It's generally not something you just become after 5 years in the NBA. And as true as it may be, he sure had to make it known just how tired he was this whole playoff series. We get that you've been overworked a little bit, but come on dude, no one wants to hear that in the playoffs. Makes it easy to perceive you as weak.
Look, Dallas has two future hall of famers and a former allstar, we have two sorta allstars. Game, set match Dallas.
I really don't think Miller was the problem. Wallace took too long to get going in the series. Aldridge didn't have the production that we had counted on, and our shooting guards were bordering on terrible. Roy had one really good game, Wes had one really good game, and Rudy stunk up the entire series. Mostly I think we got pounded at the center position. Camby just can't get it done anymore. If we'd had a healthy Oden, or hell, a healthy Joel would have been a huge difference.
I think we learned one important lesson against Dallas--We're just not that good. Batum, Matthews, and Fernandez are very inconsistent. Aldridge, despite his great talent, is still too soft. Roy is not the old Roy. Camby is probably over the hill. And so on. We need a serious infusion of talent to take it to the next level.
I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but the topic is spot on. Portland really needs someone who can bring down the defense and hit open shots. They also need another big guy they can put in with Aldridge that is an offensive threat. The free agent list doesn't have many guys that meets entire criteria. Jamal Crawford, Delonte West, and Carl Landry are all free agents. Not sure any of them are perfect fits, but we can't sign an all-star.
Whomever is out there I sure hope he's a PG and not a combo guard. When Miller wasn't on the floor, and maybe even Roy, the offense was out-of-sync and frantic. I'm done with Bayless types running the offense. Take a chance at Rubio? Augustin? Sessions? Btw, do we pick up Miller's option? We would then have two expiring contracts this coming deadline with Miller and Camby to pony up.
