Iggy was phenomenal all season. He lead their bench offense just as CJ did last night. Two years ago Iggy got Denver to 57 wins and when he left they were one of the worst teams in the league. He's been an allstar. His resume is far more than one playoff series. Totally disagree with your opinion of Golden State. They have one of the deepest teams in NBA history. The Blazers have one proven starter and a vegas line of 26 wins.
The Blazers second highest ranked player on ESPN player rating was Mason Plumlee at #128. The Warriors have these players ahead of Mason: 16. Klay Thompson (one spot behind Dame) 19. Draymond Green 56. Andre Iguodala 66. Andrew Bogut 80. Harrison Barnes 117. Shaun Livingston The Warriors also have additional veterans who know their role but can create offense if they need to; Jason Thompson, Marressee Speights, Leandro Barbosa. They have all been double digit scorers in the NBA.
Are they seriously saying that Barnes and Livingston are better than anyone on our team not named Dame? Think CJ and Meyers will change this pretty quickly.
Great post. Yeah its not ideal to have Dame creating the offense every trip down the floor. We won't win a playoff series with such an unbalanced offense. But if his teammates don't help create offense a decent defense will force him into that role. There were times last night Blazer teammates had the ball and didn't look to score at all they passed right back to Dame and CJ.
No argument comparing Green to Harkless, but that is a bit of cherry picking. 5-10 on both teams look very similar. And, the point of this season is to develop the players. Pretty sure Green, Iggy, and most of the rest (except Barnes) don't need much development. The general point is that GSW have two high volume guards who share the ball successfully. Another example is Wall and Beal, who both average under 15 shots/game. I just want to make sure Dame and CJ don't start falling in love with 50+ shots as a duo.
Yes, but you singled out 20+ points and MVP. He was not season MVP nor was he a 20 pt. scorer. He averaged 8 pts/game and had a PER of 12.
Here are my original thoughts. Do people really disagree with this? So Draco and others, are you really okay with: Dame+CJ combining for 50 attempts, while shooting <50% Dame+CJ taking 60% of the teams shots? Believing Dame+CJ averaging 45 attempts/game will lead to more wins than losses?
Obviously there was a lot that needs to be improved on from the Clippers game. Nobody is saying start to finish its a blueprint for sustainable success. But there have been other games with a very different shot distribution. Heck up to halfway through the second quarter the Blazers were playing some textbook team basketball. But its a fine balance that is very hard for young players to hit. Not enough aggression and the shot clock runs out. Too much and a player is selfish. I think Dame and CJ will figure this out. But you characterize it as individuals selfishly playing hero ball, a failure of the coaching staff, and a team you have potentially no interest in watching. All while you didn't actually watch any of the game? If that's your attitude then don't watch the team; they will struggle many times throughout this year. This isn't the last game we'll see Dame and CJ take a bunch of poor shots when the offense isn't clicking. Some of us are interested in how this plays out and will enjoy watching improvements even if there are periods of terrible play. Your beloved Warriors wins increased from 23 and five years of the lottery to 47 wins, 51, 67 and the title so these processes take many years. If you watched that 23 win Warriors team there would've been tons of terrible "hero" ball being played.
I missed the game so cant speak first hand, so I have a question that might not easily be answered before we just judge on the shot attempts. Did they dribble the ball around 15 seconds and then shoot every other possession? did the ball leaves their hands and then come back to them and they shot? How much time was the ball in other players hands and they couldn't get open or didn't shoot? I think these are valid questions that might offset the reason why so many shots came from those two. With that said. I agree with this post. But at the same time, I want our best shooters taking the most shots. Who wouldn't?
No one else can create any offense whatsoever. Lillard and CJ bring in ultimate attack mode is what draws the defense, getting those other players shots. Sometimes games like that well be a byproduct.
Yes, and sometimes the point guards need to try a bit harder get get others involved, and sometimes the coaches need to yell at players or yank their a$$ for passing on shots they should have taken.
Both very true. And this is why I question whether its just Dame and CJ. Coach needs to have plays for the others. Yes the PG needs to look for them more, but its also on them to get to the open spot. To shake off the defender... TO TAKE THE SHOT WHEN ITS THERE... (Hello Nic)...
CJ is 7th in scoring at 18.3. They are #1 and 2 in MPG while Aminu is 4th and Crabbe is 10th. Lillard is 8th in FGA per 48minutes; behind Steph Curry.
Preseason leaders in shot attempts per game: 1) Dame 21.0 2) Anthony Davis 17.4 (that's 3.6 behind the leader) 3) CJ 16.9 4) Blake G. 15.3 ... 6) Hardin 14.6 ... Westbrook 13.0 ... Curry 11.3 Keep telling me this is okay.
Overall number of shots taken: #4 Paul George 95 (7 games) #3 Drummond 98 (7 games) #2 Dame 105 (5 games) #1 CJ 118 (7 games) The green light brothers? I'm actually not bothered by it as much as surprised. CJ took 20 more shots than anyone else? Wow. Hard to believe he and Dame are the top two and the Dame did it in only 5 games.
