I hope CJ is the 6 man and I don't want him alongside Dame anymore than possible. We have longer, taller, defensive guys who can play the 2..Henderson is way better next to Dame than CJ. We added a lot of defenders with this roster and I expect a lot of offensive rebounds and putbacks, transition buckets..we have guys who can finish a fast break for a change and more alley oops and pick and roll schemes. Dame, CJ, Crabbe, Leonard, Henderson (from the corner only)and Connaughton can shoot the deep ball
Maybe. It's hard to imagine he and Dame and CJ starting duo. OTOH, Dame: 6' 3" great offense, mediocre defense CJ: 6' 4" (according to wiki) good offense, pretty good defense, from a very small school reminds me of Mr X: 6' 1" great offense, mediocre defense Mr Y: 6' 3" good offense, very good defense, from a very small school Mr X and Mr Y won championships together, and are both in the hall of fame. So, while it isn't common, it is doable. I know some of you are going to say that CJ is no Mr. Y, but neither was Mr. Y. He was the 18th draft pick from a small school. Mr Y. averaged 9.4 and 11.8 PPG his first 2 years, and didn't average 18 or more until his 6th year, and only average 20 or more 3 years of his 14 years with a career average of 16.1 PPG.
I don't know who told you CJ plays good D, but they were lying. He and Dame both really struggle on the pick and roll. I love the idea of starting a freaking huge line up with CJ anchoring the scoring off the bench. We could start Aminu at the 3, and any combo of Davis/Plumlee/Kaman that can get points up front. Kaman has the best post moves, but the Plumlee Lillard alley-oop connection is going to be real. Then with one sub we shift Aminu to the 4, get Kaman off the court as quickly as possible and then run hard with the second unit. We have a lot of young athletes with a lot of different skillsets so it's tempting to play small all the time, but I think if we start small were gonna get run out of the building half the time. Best turn it into a wrestling match, keep it close and then let Dame and CJ go for it in the 4th quarter.
sniff, sniff. I've been lied to. Hopefully, you are wrong, but it's not obvious that you are. One of the problems with the CJ/Dame starting lineup is that I truly think it best to have one in the game at all time.
I think for 5 minute spurts it could be dynamic. I think for 10 minute spurts it could be disastrous.
One minor niggle, Damian's defense isn't mediocre, it's bad - like "6 points per 100 possessions worse" kind of bad. Pairing him with a smallish shooting guard who is just OK on defense isn't a great idea. That's my only point I was trying to make when I replied to Mags comment above - the team needs a guy on the wing who compliments Damian IMO and helps cover up some of his deficiencies (and hopefully Dame improves at that end of the court).
Not to mention that "Mr. X" also wasn't mediocre defensively--he was actually quite good. For his career, his DWS is only 1.7 lower than his OWS. Statistically, he was much better defensively than Mr. Y was.
I think Dame's D is getting a lot better, he blocks a high percentage of jump shots and overall he does a good job of contesting anything near him but man, does he struggle on the pick and roll. One more summer with the Glove ought to do it
Ah, but, his offense is better than his defense is bad. The ORtg - DRtg differential is +5.1 when he was on the court, and +2.2 when he was off the court, for an overall benefit of +2.9. Also, how much of his on/off court spread is due to backup point guards generally sucking across the league, and everyone's offense looking worse while the starting point guard is gone?
I'll make a general reply to the replies above, not necessarily specific to you, Nik. I think there is temptation to compare CJ/Dame to Mr X/Mr Y when the latter were in their primes. CJ and Dames stories are not close to being written. A typical NBA player's peak is at around 29 year old. Dame just turned 24, CJ will turn 24 in 2 more months. So the question isn't what are they, but what will they become. I'm an admitted Blazer homer so I think/hope that they fully realize their potentials which in the same neighborhood (maybe even higher!) than Mr. X and Mr. Y.
Using the same stat: http://www.82games.com/1415/14POR4.HTM CJ is a good defender (101.1 on, 105.8 off).
Man, screw the stats., use your eyes. CJ runs into screens like they're Goddamn magnets. He and Dame both have a lot of potential to improve and I think they will. Also, Pat Connaughton might just seal the show this year. I have zero qualms about starting him and playing him 20-25. Dude plays the right way
That is indeed part of my "screw the stats" opinion. Also that number sounds overwhelmingly average, is that supposed to be good or bad?
