Well, at least I think they are astute and pretty much on the money: http://www.blazersedge.com/2012/2/12/2794473/fundamental-issues "The Blazers are falling apart in three fundamental areas which may look insignificant on any given play but which, when aggregated, are costing the Blazers points they dearly need in some of these narrow losses. We'll start with the area most-mentioned so far and, sadly, least correctable. The Blazers have dribbling issues up and down the roster." (There is a lot more to this point; worth reading the original) "Portland's second fundamental-level issue is related to the first. They are lousy passers when trying to set up their teammates anywhere outside of dunking range. Portland's outside shooters are inconsistent but some of that isn't their fault. They're not getting the ball where they need in order to fire cleanly. Sometimes they're not seen and the ball comes too late. But even when delivered on time it's seldom right on target." "the third fundamental weakness. Even when they've got time the Trail Blazer gunners don't shoot the same way twice in a row. Feet and body position are awful. Blazers fire with one foot ahead of the other. They fire with their body pointed towards the stands. Their arm angle varies nightly. Pushing the ball instead of shooting is a common sight." For me the problem that we don't have people on the roster who can dribble and look to pass off the dribble; this has to be laid at the feet of our previous and present GM's. The other problems might also be laid at the feet of management because we lost Monte Williams (who used to work on skill development with the players) without a suitable replacement; we lost that assistant coach who used to always work individual players and did not find a suitable replacement for him; and they fired the shooting coach without replacing him. I have always felt the team had poor defensive fundamentals and it seems also offensive. I have suggested hiring some coach (even a guy like Larry Brown) who specializes in teaching; just hire him to teach, not to coach. There must be others out there also that i don't know about. Find the best and pay him well!
I know what you mean; i always feel a little reticent about quoting them; but I have seen a lot of this myself. I actually tried to get HCP to chime in once as to whether someone works with the players anymore, bumping them with pads as they try to finish a layup; because this team also seems to have a lot of problems finishing layups.
IMO, BE, Jaynes and even Quick are usually spot on when they talk about the good and bad of the team. None of them are talking heads for the organization, and all have seen enough basketball over the years to know what is good and bad about any NBA.
Sorry, you are right. Let me try that again. IMO, MB, Rice and even Wheels are usually spot on when they talk about the good and bad of the team. All of them are unbiased knowledgeable basketball minds for the organization, and all have seen enough basketball over the years to know what is good and bad about any NBA.
Its all true. I have never seen a NBA team that was so bad on the fast break. They look like a chicken with its head cut off rushing down the court...
Your right on about the failure of management to have a skills coach on the Roster, huge missing IMO as well. Passing is the #1 fundamental issue in my book, and IMO we do have people on the roster who can pass off the dribble, simply Nate has failed to Coach them to do so. Virtually all of our guards and small forwards can break down the defense/their first man, however none of them seem to know what to do afterwords. Their teammates are WIDE open half the time and the ball rarely moves quick enough. The blame goes on the Lockout, and Coaching staff.
It's honestly a minor miracle that the blazers have won as many games as they have with zero PG play. Even during our hot start, I was pointing out that Felton very rarely puts the ball where it allows an easy catch and shoot.
I agree with alot of the article. I've witnessed them fail in person, and notice alot of this stuf, specifically Wes's shot, and Felton's non-existent eyes.
I listen to the coaches on the pre game shows and frankly they all sound sorta dumb. A guy does not have to be well spoken, but these guys really do not impress me at all when they talk about Bball. and when I compare them to Monty it's like night and day
Skills coach, schmills coach. Who needs one? We don't even have a fucking GM, for christ's sake. Where the hell are we going to find a skills coach, and who's going to hire him when we do? Has any NBA team ever gone an entire season without a GM? We have a college scout (who, by the way, has FAILED FUCKING MISERABLY IN THE LAST SEVERAL DRAFTS) as our so-called acting GM. Fuck that shit. First we need to hire a real GM, then we need a real coaching staff. Until then be prepared to see this team constantly fuck up and lose every close game they play. They have a piss poor offense and piss poor execution - a rather unpromising combo. Oh well, at least we get the occasional 30 - 40 point home court blowout of the dregs of the league to make out point differential look good. Too bad that doesn't do jack shit to help us win close games. BNM
