MM should get a kick out of this quote: http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/felton-has-bright-trail-blazers-future-eventually/
Hilarious. Assuming the author knows more about Felton than he does about Nate, I guess the point is that Felton isn't good unless he has better players on his team to pass the ball to?
I'm not that optimistic about Felton, but I have to say I'm at least excited to have a PG come in who can teach Aldridge a thing or two. Miller fundamentally changed Aldridge's game by exposing him to how lethal he can be on the lob. LMA (and really the whole team) now know how to look for it. I think we should be able to retain some of that. That dye is cast. What this team doesn't really know how to do is run an effective pick-and-roll to get the big man scoring at the rim. Aldridge has almost always popped, because Roy or Miller were always the main threat to pull off a crafty shot at the rim or dish it to a perimeter player who is open because of the space created on the drive. The point of the play was to get the guard the close-in shot, or the big man an open midrange shot. With Roy and Miller, if Aldridge rolled he only dragged his own player into the middle, breaking down the play. Felton is not a huge threat at the rim. His greatest success has been playing next to Stoudemire, the best pick-and-roll (not pop!) big man in the league. Felton's job there was to create confusion on the defense on the pick, and then deliver it to the big man rolling to the hoop. If that wasn't available, he didn't penetrate most of the time but instead took the midrange jumper, or passed it out and re-set. Felton is a nice opportunity for Aldridge, and really the whole team, to add a new bag of tricks in half court sets. Aldridge has never really played with a true traditional pick-and-roll guard. The closest was probably Blake, and that guy was worthless at creating shots for anybody. Also, by adding a guard who doesn't really play in the paint, it's going to make that much more space for Aldridge to work there in the post. This coming year post ups will go through Aldridge, then Aldridge, then Aldridge some more. There's no temptation to put Felton on the block (and leave LMA wandering on the weak side) like we did Andre. When he's not running pick-and-rolls, Felton's main duty will be to spread the floor for LMA. All that said, I'm still not that thrilled that Felton seems to be our major off-season move. He's a better fit for our team in terms of getting Aldridge to work in the paint, but he's also a less talented player than Andre. I'm pretty concerned that the net benefits don't really outweigh the net losses.
An interesting thought mook. Our post guys do learn from our PGs; I hadn't thought of it that way before.
That's why I'm the anti-Pritchard. Very young players learn from experienced teammates, not from other very young guys. Food doesn't season unless you add an aged culture. I define experience as how many coaching systems a player has played under, but I guess a secondary definition is how many experienced players he has played with. Each one requires adjustments, learning, and expanding one's game, so Felton will be good for young guys like Aldridge, Batum, and Matthews.
And that is why I always found the LMA bashing ridiculous. Good PG's are a huge part of the success of post players. Great Pg's can make them allstars. I do think there is a good chance LMA' s game will suffer with Miller gone and if Greg plays. But that doesn't mean the TEAM will be worse off. Felton offers other advantages. Aldridge just may not benefit from them. His scoring will go down 6 pts a game.
Pritchard brought in Miller after trying to get Hedo, and he also traded for Marcus Camby. Yeah, that's Pritchard, refusing to bring in veterans...
Offense is not Nate's problem. He consistently has gotten the most out of his players and is a guy that does a good job of recognizing what players do well and what they don't do well and putting them in positions to succeed. He completely changed how the half-court offense operated because of Andre's unique skill set, I have no doubt he'll do the same with Felton.
Sounds good/about right to me! Can't wait to see LMA take his post game to yet another level with some new moves.
That was the tail end of his time here, when he was forced to go against his grain. Shouldn't judge a man's life by what he says on his death bed.
felton did really good for me on nba 2k11 after i switched his speed rating to 99, and his 3 rating to 80 something
