At least it's a deep draft, so our chances of landing a rotation players is better than in other years. Our depth should improve when Davis is back and if we can deal Meyers for anybody.
Yes, which is a reason we need to change our coaching staff. I'd be looking at the following college coaches if I were Olshey/Allen. Sean Miller - Arizona Tony Bennet - Virginia Shaka Smart - Texas As well as the following assistants: Ime Udoka - Spurs Ettore Messina - Spurs Juwan Howard - Heat Tony Bennett would be the perfect hire in my opinion. A former NBA player who's father invented "Pack Line Defense". He's been an excellent defensive coach at Virginia, and runs a smooth motion offense. He's continually developed good players and good teams despite having no All-American recruits. Malcolm Brogdon is a perfect example of a Tony Bennett type player. Dude would be a great NBA Head Coach.
I wonder what Bennett would do with Nurk. I don't watch Virginia play so I don't know how he uses bigs.
Every competent coach would post up Nurkic, so I'd look at how Nurkic would fit in basic offensive sets. It looks like the big man sets a lot of screens, with guards curling and crossing. This would be a good role for Nurk, who sets great screens. It also looks like good screens from the big man opens up guards, which draws the opposing big man, opening up their center. I think Bennett is a smart coach though, and would tailor his offense to fit Nurkic's strengths.
Going from a long time NBA assistant/head coach to a college coach who hasn't even won at their lower level...what could go wrong?
Crowder kicks Lopez's shoe away, Lopez moves Crowder to where his shoe is, then instead of putting his shoe on, he unties Crowder's shoe, lol. https://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/robin-lopez-unties-reties-jae-crowder-shoe-video/365021
Watching the D league Finals and I love it. It's an entirey different atmosphere and reminds me of when I supported the Blazers as a kid. Guys playing cause they love it. Fans in a band box gym. Players hugging each after the game. If I could improve our chances by making us go down a league, I'd do it in a second. I'm sick of being the "geek" of the Ego League.
We need to do what Utah just did. Play BETTER in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line. At home, we should punch GS in the mouth in the fourth quarter. We can still win this series but it starts with Game 4. Get that one and go from there. Not impressed with Warriors at all. I feel a Crabbe shooting show coming on.
Bennett wouldn't be a good NBA choice. His and his dad's offense have always been low scoring move the ball around a ton to find the open guy. I remember at WSU watching him win games with his team scoring the low 40's. Shit, I remember watching 33 seconds of passing until a shot under Dick Bennett. They are good defensive minds though. I think a guy like Dana Altman would be better suited toward the NBA.
Are you serious when you say that we can still win the series? Like win 4 games in a row against Warriors?
On a coaching change.....I think Terry is fine, but Neil needs to let him know bottom of the league in defense won't cut it again. Maybe change or add a defensive specialist?
I agree that the defense needs to improve. Think it has more to do with personnel. Here's our defense ranks over the last few years: 14-15: 9th 15-16: 13th 16-17: 24th this season after AS game: 10th Clearly personnel has a lot to do with this. The big drop from last year to the beginning of this year is staggering though. Did Gerald make that big of an impact?
I would argue those stats show that personnel is NOT the issue. We can at least be average with the group we have.
Passing has been one of the things that have frustrated me most about the Blazers over the last few years. Blazers are very lackadaisical about passes. One handed hook passes, passes to the knees of a teammate, among other issues. Blazers have a mindset that "if the ball gets to the person, then it's a good pass". Dame is a big offender here. We suck at making precise and crisp passes. When you watch the Warriors play, every pass is crisp and right on target where the next guy can move with the ball. Most of our passes are lethargic and off-target, causing the guy receiving the pass to take an extra 1/2-second to handle it before they can move. When the defensive pressure gets turned up, Blazers can't make a pass - as shown in the 4th quarter.
I am simultaneously amazed and disgusted watching the Warriors pass the ball, because I can't understand why we can't implement something similar. It needs to be a priority, and it clearly isn't.
I think it all goes back to coaching standards. I think Stotts lets a lot of "little things" slide in the name of being a players coach. That can work for a while, but eventually the details do matter!
