Okay so it's fun to see the team hit 3's. open/contested it doesn't matter. it's fun to watch them go down. however more and more the blazers are starting to remind me of the Celtics when walker and pierce where the main guys. around the early 2000's. I understand the NBA schedule is 82 games and jacking up a three saves energy instead of working to get to the rim. I did say when they first hired Terry Stots on a MB blog. That it would be hard for me to watch a team play like the 01-02 Celtics who jacked up three after three... Or like the Suns when they were 5 seconds or less. While it hasn't turned into the Suns yet(still have the best PF in the league) It is looking more and more like the Celtics. Basically I'll always be a Blazer fan. Have been for 13 years now... But It's getting harder and harder to watch the 3 ball being launched 25.9 times a game like it stays on average on ESPN. However I've seen it launched 30+ recently. Not good basketball. Not fun to watch clanks. There's a problem. Is fun to watch them go in. But instead of taking the 30+ threes why not get to the rim/foul line? get some rhythm in the offense. make the defense defend. (oh and btw. every game i see 1 starter in at 1 point in the game. i hate stats. nice try tho stat lovers)
Any player that can hit threes at a 40% clip should shoot any damned time he pleases. Any TEAM that can hit at that clip (we shoot .396) should too. You'll lose a few games when the threes aren't falling, but at a 40% rate it won't be often.
Wes (.431) and Damian (.436) in particular. It's crazy how good those two are now. Wes because he was this undrafted guy who wasn't known as a lights out 3 pt shooter after 4 years in college, and Damian because he takes so many of them under pressure and 4 or 5 feet behind the line.
I can understand your point if we were just running and gunning. That is hard to watch. But we are not. The passing on the perimeter is excellent. I think this is a pretty fun team to watch. I would like to see more fast break baskets, but I love watching shooters shoot. I hate watching teams pound the ball inside over and over. That to me is boring.
The best of those Celtics teams shot 36% from three, and aside from Pierce they were really pretty bad at it (Antoine Walker was launching 8/game at a 34% clip.) The Suns, IMO, are a much better comparison. They shot the three at nearly 40%. But they also had a couple seasons where they won 60 games, and made it to the WCF's three times. If that's all we get out of this team, it's a damned sight better than I was hoping for at the start of the year.
Both those guys have great shot selection. Matthews knows when his outside shot is off, and will take it down low more. Lillard passes more until he's needed then comes up big because he isn't gassed in the fourth. And the crazy part is, even with those amazing percentages, they're shooting plenty of threes: I think Lillard is one or two in the league in made 3s. EDIT: Lillard is #1 with 102, and Wessy is #4 with 85. Batum is #11 with 67. We don't really have a crazy gunner on the team save for Wright and I don't know if you can do too much gunning in 12 minutes a game.
Check out the 02-03 Celtics. 4 players who made over 100 threes, and 5 with over 90. Their best three point shooter % wise, was Tony Delk at 39%. Pierce and Walker both shot under 34% from three (30% and 32%), and shot a TON of them. Compared to this years Blazer team, they'll have 3 players over 100, and maybe 2 others at or around 80. Their top 3 shooters (Batum, Wes and Damian) shot 43, 44 and 37%. Just crazy stats.
Umm... When you have two starters shooting 43% and a third shooting almost 37%, and all three are maintaining those percentages at a pretty damned high volume, and you have a guy who can shoot over anyone in the league at a 48% clip, your offense has rhythm AND you're making the defense defend. Once the defense is chasing shooters, that's when you attack the rim. And I can't even begin to fathom the concept of any human being, Blazer fan or other, thinking this team is not fun to watch...
I think I guessed it. Not a fan of the double standard, myself. Love your Mr. Socks avatar. It's enchanting.
This is the first year I purchased league pass and I'm at a point where I feel it was the the best decision of my life.
As I posted in another thread the Blazers shoot threes on their possessions less often than 5 other NBA teams.
Damian shoots a higher percentage from three than at the rim. I'm all for our guys shooting quality threes. However I do think they could reduce the super deep looks, or closely contested threes, or attempts where they don't have time to get properly set and are drifting. Especially when those attempts are early in the shot clock. But if our team has an open look they should shoot it all day every day.
Off the top of my head, IIRC, LaMarcus leads the league in mid-range shots. There's your balance right there.
Pretty sure I guessed it too. Is there some type of regulation or rule with regard to your moniker? The rookie OP poster has a weird one. For the record, this team plays nothing like that Celitcs team. Much more ball and player movement. That team also had no post player.
I totally get the point of this thread. I'm actually a little nervous about our success this year because it is based so heavily on 3-point shooting. I keep worrying that the magic is going to end any day now, that everybody is going to forget how to shoot the 3, and that we will go back to being a very ordinary team. Please, God, don't let it happen.
