We have talent, they just arent playing up to their ability and arent showing the heart needed to be a good and mentally tough team. They arent playing as a team, like they did at the start of the season. It's just a mess right now. It's a very frusterating time to be a Blazer fan.
Jesus, was he supposed to score 100 points all by himself, guard all five players, and refuse to go to the bench after picking up ticky tack fouls? At one point he had something like 14 points in 10 minutes. That's a heavy team to be carrying on your back, and I'm not just talking about Felton.
Sorry but we have the talent to at least be a winning ball club. We have the talent to have at least a semi decent road record. We have the talent to kill Washington at home. We have the talent to at least play closer games to teams we got blown out by. Only Aldridge and Batum are playing above their career averages. Everyone else is insanely below their averages. This chemistry experience took a shit and the blob came alive; ripping the souls of all blazer fans. Our players and coach look lost. They look like their heart has been ripped from their body. They aren't playing with a sense of urgency. They look defeated.
I'm not sure how much of Camby's lack of PT is due to the deterioration of his game (where have those tipped rebounds gone?) and how much is due to Nate's decision to play small much of the time despite the fact that we get brutalized on the boards when Aldridge plays the 5 and Wallace plays the 4. Either way, it's not working. Lack of rebounding and defense are the two main factors that have killed the Blazers this season. The fact is that, other than Aldridge, our front-line players are O L D. I think the schedule is having a particularly bad impact on the Blazers because of the age factor. I think it also is having a really bad impact on the defense. Nate likes to play a switching defense and, because of lack of practice and because of old, tired legs, it's not working. At all.
The Blazers don't have the depth to win games like the Pacers do, and they don't have the superstars to win on raw talent. You don't really have a clutch shooter to win games you can keep close enough by playing at a snail's pace. Nate has kept this a winning team - a playoff team - for the past few seasons, but the middling draft picks and having to give up depth for quality players has taken its toll. That's how I see it.
A think a more accurate barometer would be to compare how they were playing early in the season, before the coach lost them and wheels completely fell off. This team started the season very well. They started 7-2 with convincing wins over OKC (on the road) and the Lakers. They also started the season 11-1 at home. So, obviously, there is some talent here. Since then, they are underchieving, both individually, and more importantly, collectively. The 7-2, 11-1 home start may have been overachieving, but this team certainly has a LOT more talent than they have been showing lately. With the right coach, and the right system, this would defintely be a playoff team and given the parity in the west (after OKC), would be in the hunt for HCA in the first round. There is no fucking way that Utah has a more talented roster than the Blazers, yet we are looking up at them in the standings. While ultimately it is the players that win and lose games, I blame ALL of our current problems on the coach. Everything from the team's wildly inconsistent play (large number of blowouts, both for and against), inability to win close games, career worse seasons from players that should be in their primes, horrible road record, poor starts that put the team in a deep hole in way too many games, etc. all come back to Nate. His "system" is a poor match for his roster. The players are not put in positions to maximize their talents, they are disgruntled and confused. I have never seen such a glaring example of a coach losing his team. This team has gone from dominating at home, to being dominated on their home floor by teams like Washington and Minnesota. Did the talent of every single plyer suddenly drop off a cliff mid-season? Hell no, we have the same talent (more actually) now than we had on opening night, with no significant injuries. Yet, the performance of the team has gone totally down the toilet. It's obvious we need a coaching change. There is no reason, that this roster, with the right coach and right system, couldn't go back to performing like they were two months ago. BNM
We have the talent, but it's poorly organized (and old). In a normal season Nate can do his usual "scrap" thing and the team responds. Even with our usual (except for Andre Miller) shitty point guard play. But with so many games so close together, and with older hustle players like Camby/Wallace/Thomas/Przybilla seeming to run on fumes, there just isn't a lot of extra "scrap" to be had. Yeah, Batum and Aldridge could scrap more, but they've never been leaders in that department. Truth is, they aren't really leaders at all. I like them both, but they take their hustle cues from others (much the way guys like Shaq or Amare or Carmello have done.) Nate has always coached to play harder, not smarter. It's a bigger problem this year with so many games compressed into a tighter schedule. We're playing extra stupid after we lost our on-the-court smarts of Andre Miller for a dumbshit like Felton. There's talent. But there's no scrap and no smarts. So there's no winning record.
Just to add--I'm not saying this team couldn't scrap more. They clearly aren't trying their hardest, or even close at times. I'm just saying the guys who usually lead the pack in that department seem tired, and the resulting malaise has spread like an infection throughout the team. I agree it's time to get a new coach. Somebody who can get the team to player smarter, and maybe breathe some life into our hustle guys with a different outlook.
I think our early wins were fool's gold. Every team goes thru hot streaks and that was ours. Since, we have played to our talent level.
I think our early wins support my theory. When guys were fresh, healthy and ready for the season, we had a pretty dominant team. Nate could yell "scrap!" and the guys had another gear they could go into. Felton was playing even worse then than he is now, and yet we were winning. They were like a smallmouth bass that had just swallowed the hook, full of piss and vinegar, jumping out of the water and tugging that line for all they were worth. But most of that fight has been used up, and the season is now reeling in. Nate's on the sidelines yelling "Fight fish fight!" but it's no use. He might get them to tug the line a few times, but it ain't pretty. There's a net hanging out of that boat, and it looks like we're going to be dinner. We need a new coach with some different ideas. Somebody who says, "Fuck that. Let's outsmart this asshole fisherman and wind the line around an underwater snag." Hmm. Suddenly realized I wrote an analogy that probably only Travis Outlaw would understand (if, of course, he weren't an idiot).
I get the fatigue argument, especially this season, but the Blazers had 8 days off at the all-star beark - MUCH more than during a typical season. Guys like Camby, Wallace, etc. had plenty of time to rest and recover. Since the all-star break, they have played 5 games, 3 at home with only one back-to-backsituation. They are 1-4 in those five games and have looked like absolute shit in most of those games. You really can't point to fatigue as the reason for playing like shit when you just had 8 days off. There's a LOT more to this teams' problems than just tired legs. I think most of them have also mentally checked out and resting the legs isn't going to fix that. They NEED a new coach, and unless the goal is to tank, the need him NOW. BNM
Play the season out. Get some good floor time for Williams. See if we can get anything for Failton or Crawful. Work our way to a good draft spot, sign a mid level type fa for PG (Brooks or Augistine...), see if Freeland will come over, draft a big and go from there.
Rock bottom? That will come this summer when Felton, Crawford, Camby, Wallace and possibly even Batum leave for nothing but cap-space, no new talent is brought in, and PA admits he is clearing the decks so he can sell the team. At this point, I won't be shocked if they leave the GM slot vacant, let Nate walk, and just make Bickerstaff the interim crap catcher. Let the new owner spend HIS money on hiring on a real organization.
