You're saying Hasheem Thabeet got a raw deal as a Blazer I guess...but actually it was Victor Claver who really got no love. Stotts is using his rotations better than I can remember...the third string isn't going to see any court time unless it's a blowout and they're playing another third string roster..sorry. Kaman is going to play long before Cliff will
Alexander will get his chance, probably sometime next season. Alexander is not NBA ready. Roberts is NBA ready. His DNPCD was about his lack of familiarity with Stotts system. How many practices did Roberts have with the Blazers before the Utah game? In a tight game, why place a new player in the position of being the reason for losing the game? Stotts did the right thing in the Utah game. The Blazers won, and Roberts got a close up look at how the roster plays. Win-win. Roberts will get more minutes as this season plays out.
From Kansas and high school. I agree we haven't been able to watch him this year. I would imagine he is not worse than he was at Kansas.
Roberts will enter the rotation as the season continues; otherwise why bother picking him up? I think that he'll probably play 8 minutes tonight, in fact; he needs to be able to run the offense, though, and that does take some training first. Brooklyn isn't so amazing that we can't give Roberts a milk run. If he succeeds, keep him in the rotation and let CJ & Dame both sit a few more minutes. Especially with the 4-in-5 coming up, we'll need Dame and CJ as fresh as possible. Alexander is more unproven, but you never know.
Level of competition is vastly different. I'd love to see what he can do, but we have absolutely no idea if he can do anything worthwhile at an NBA level against NBA competition.
I think with Alexander it's sort of like TRob....might not be the quickest study on the roster...I doubt it's talent but more likely BBIQ...he's really young and I think Montero and Alexander are being coached now for the future..if he was better than Vonleh...he'd be playing. Vonleh isn't getting huge minutes either
Agreed, but the assumption was he did not have any post game. He only has post game. But, certainly it needs to be developed and refined at the NBA level. And I would not play him this year either. Give him practice time this year and then see if there are minutes available next year.
I think, going back to the OP, that I was more focused on the claim that "Alexander is a better interior scoring option than anyone we have at PF". We don't know if anything that he's shown in high school/college is translatable at the NBA level yet, so it's ridiculously premature for the OP to make that claim. Not having a mid-range game is not equivalent to being an interior scorer. IMO, until he actually demonstrates the ability to execute post moves against NBA competition, we can't really legitimately call him an interior scorer...yet.
Roberts' minutes shouldn't come just at the expanse of CJ's or Dame's, I think he'd be more effective playing some of the minutes one of them sits anyway, when we're sometimes left with say CJ, Henderson and Harkless in the backcourt and the offense isn't running well. If we play just one of CJ and Dame then I think at least Crabbe or Roberts should play. I like Henderson and Harkless at the 3 or even at the 2 with Crabbe on the floor but having either one as the secondary ball-handler isn't enough IMO
Roberts is a pt guard, we might want to get him familiar with the playbook before he gets big minutes
This is a ridiculous post. So your saying Stotts isnt coaching well? So lets look at what your asking. Lets get Alexander in there.... for who? Vonleh? okay... then he doesnt grow. For Harkless? Okay then he doesnt grow. You can only have 5 guys on the court at once and I for one wojuld not want all 5 to be growth players. There isnt enough time or room for all three of these young guys, and Alexander is the odd man out. It may change next year, but its obvious that Stott's favors both Harkless and Vonleh over Alexander. Im not questioning Stotts. Who am I to say I think Alexander should get more minutes and Vonleh/Harkless should get less. But if you think you are a better coach than Stotts... submit your resume to an NBA team.... I'M sorry, but this is frustrating. I guess the blazers could win 10 rings in a row and there would still be a few negative people who think we suck, or should do something better, whatever...
If anyone is going to lose minutes for Roberts (which I don't think necessarily happens period) then it will be 1 minute a game from CJ, 1 minute a game from Dame and 4-5 minutes from Henderson.
Vonleh will play again as well most likely but there is plenty of time for both. Montero will also show flashes I am sure.
Hopefully tonight is a case of that. Get a big lead early and maintain it. Then let the subs carry it home. As for developing Roberts....he is 30 years old. Might be a bit late in the game for that although I do think he is better than Frazier and will come in handy at some point before the season ends.
Most minutes played per game for entire league Dame is ranked #10 @ 36 MPG CJ is ranked #21 @ 35 MPG The next Blazer on that list is Aminu @ approx 29 MPG. My thoughts are, give both Dame & CJ more rest in the first half. Give those minutes to Roberts keeping both Dame & CJ rested to finish the game strong. If the game is a blowout in the Blazers favor, play Roberts more in the second half to keep both Dame & CJ fresher for the next game. Both Dame & CJ play much more efficient when rested. Roberts can give them that rest without hurting the team. Roberts will eventually get Fraziers 8 MPG, plus a few additional minutes when the game favors resting Dame or CJ. Coach adjusted as needed.
If you're playing players because of a particular skill or ability that is a strength, you're also conceding particular weaknesses. That's why those guys aren't getting the time you'd like. If it were as simple as putting a player on who's going to contribute only a strength, coaching would be a lot easier and they'd have already seen that in practices. Every personnel decision is multi-layered based off of strengths, weaknesses, fits, rhythms, health, and a number of other factors.
Roberts is basically a young version of Earl Watson...Earl was a good pt guard...even better mentor for CJ and Dame..Stotts knows he can play Roberts anytime we need him. He's still not going to crack the 9 man rotation unless someone goes down with injury.
