Do you guys realize how many 3s we are going to be shooting this year. With the squad we have, I would bet we set a record this season with attempts and makes! Random Fact: over the past 3 seasons only 11 players in the NBA have made more than 100 3s each of those years.......and we have 3 on our roster.......Nic, Wright, Wes! From Downtown Bang! Sent from my baller ass iPhone 5 FAMS!
It will be interesting to see if the offense has enough player movement and ball movement to facilitate taking a lot of 3s without hands in da face.
With LMA down low and Lillard (hopefully) cutting to the hoop, I would imagine our guys will get some open looks.
Add Mo (career 39%, Top 100 all-time in makes), Lillard (rookie record 185 makes on 37%), CJ (shot 5/game in college at 40% for his career), Crabbe (5.5/game at 38% for career) to Nic/Wes/Wright. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.
With all these stats coming out showing how important the 3 is and having 3 people shoot over 400 of them, it should come as no surprise that the Blazers broke the record for both Attempts and Makes. We shot a below average % on those 3's compared to the rest of the league. When we set the attempts and makes record, that was broken last year, was in 08-09 the year we won 54 games and were one of the league leaders in %. 08: Attempts-1553 13th NBA, Makes-596 9th NBA, .389% 4th NBA 12: Attempts-1904 4th NBA, Makes-673 6th NBA, .353% 20th NBA We are already shooting a ton of 3's, a lot more then just 4 years ago. The amount of 3's we shoot is already very high so shooting more shouldn't really be what we want to do but instead make a higher % of the ones we already shoot. Is Lillard in his second year, a more healthy Wes/Batum and the bringing in Mo/Wright enough for us to raise that 3 % is a better question then if we are going to break 2k 3's shot next year. I think we will be significantly better as a whole in 3 % and if thats true and we shoot close to the same amount per game then we are going to win a lot of games by simply out shooting the other team.
I think Rhal has a good point: over the summer we have replaced a bunch of our three point shooters (Nolan, Luke, et al) with three point makers (Wright, Williams, et al). We probably won't shoot any more than we did, but we'll definitely make more!
Funny you mention that; while I was at the game Sunday night, during the second half, my dad complained, "Why are we shooting threes? Get a closer shot....." I followed with, "Well, you know, that's our strategy. We have all these guys that can hit them." "Yeah, but there was still 18 left on the shot clock." "We also attack early. That's our playbook." It's going to be a huge factor in how far we go this year.
The thing that was missing is Mags most important stat of the season (sic: week): Good rebounding. In combination with high volume shooting, it can overcome some of that bad percentages.
I think most teams would sacrifice rebounding for the three; but if you have good three point shooters; even misses don't have long rebounds. So the opportunities to get rebounds are higher than teams with shitty shooters. So I agree with your take. We can still be a solid rebounding and three point volume team.
I'm just going off the build from the Orlando Magic with D. HO on the team. Four shooters and one big man gobbling rebounds and putbacks.
Last night I dreamt I was watching a game - the only part I remember was Calderon was on the team and nailed a deep 3. Then I woke up, a little excited that Calderon was our back-up PG, only to realize he wasn't. Still happy with Mo, though.
I've thought that many times this summer, but the difference is that we don't have a Howard/Rodman/(hell, even Reggie Evans)-type rebounder. I think that RoLo could be, if he focused on it rather than getting back on D. RoLo had a top-10 ORB% last year (min 2000 minutes played), and he was the 4th-youngest to do so (Faried, Vucevic and Tristan Thompson were younger, JJ Hickson slightly older). I can't imagine a scenario where taking LMA off the floor would be good for our offense, but having Lillard/Mo (or Wes)/Batum/Wright/RoLo would be pretty darn lights-out.
Wow...... I dreamt about giving it to your sister while I was wearing a Calderon jersey, imagine that. Sent from my baller ass iPhone 5 FAMS!
Because of this Robinson could average 10+ boards coming off the bench. Sent from my baller ass iPhone 5 FAMS!
The key to all this is Dame's newfound ability to effectively get to and finish at the rim. I recall last year he had some serious troubles getting around guys first, and when he got to the rim, he'd miss badly. He just looks a lot better at that in preseason this year. Putting three 3pt shooters, and LA's pick and pop threat next to him will open up a lot of lanes for Lillard. I expect a lot more single coverage, and a lot less trapping 25' away from the hoop. Anything less than 45% FG this year for Dame will be a disappointment.
Anytime there is change, the natural reaction is to resist it. We will play a different style of ball this year and I look forward to it. As you said, we can now take 3's early in the shot clock since we have depth to run up and down the floor as well as hit them at a good percentage. That should also decrease our turnover percentage since there are less passes per possession.
When Derrick Rose won the MVP award he shot under 45% for the year. I realize Rose does other things better than Damian, but at the same time I do not expect Lillard to be the MVP. My point is PG's are forced to take a lot of tough shots. Lowering their percentages. Especially when the offense revolves around them. I personally am not concerned with his shooting percentage as long as we are winning. He is the only player on the team that can consistently create his own shot. They are going to heavily rely on him in the 2nd half of games.
