Another team that couldn't shoot.... Duckworth Williams Kersey Drexler Porter Porter was solid and Duck was okay in the mid range. Kersey was always an inconsistant work in progress and Drexler's frog-legged jumper....you wouldn't teach that to your worst enemy's kid. And Buck Williams....forget it outside of 4' for reliability of any kind. Dame/CJ are or should be better than anyone on that roster so the top 2 shooters are on this current roster when comparing starting 5's. Nurkic is more talented than Duck, so why such a disparity in results? The answers are somewhat obvious but lack of shooting was an even worse issue on that former team.
And I still don't believe that Crabbe is what made our offense work the past two seasons. Our rotation is EXACTLY the same, with the only difference being +Pat/-Crabbe. I think it's the simple fact of a rotten foundation. The longer you go before replacing the foundation, the shakier the house becomes until it all falls down. Basically: the league knows how to guard this pathetic offense since we've been running the same, elementary scheme for 7 years now.
We're not just looking at outside shooting as a difference between the current squad and that team. Duck, Buck and Jerome could all finish around the rim with the best of them. Can you say that about any of the bigs on this team? Nurk is the best and he's still an adventure when he gets the ball near the rim. Our current SFs are as likely to dribble the ball off their foot as they are to be able to finish a fast break. Kersey was a killer running the break.
Duck didn't finish around the rim very well and Kersey couldn't dribble either. The difference was, that team ran and Drexler/Porter would get Kersey the ball on the break in the right spot at the right time to where he didn't have to dribble. Kersey finished well around the rim on the break but had somewhat smaller, dry hands and didn't finish in traffic in the half court very well. Buck had huge hands and finished great on the break and pretty well in the half-court. The biggest difference is, that team ran and created easier opportunities for players who weren't good shooters and not as good in the half court. They also played better defense and created turnovers. Turnovers let to more easy baskets. This teams seems to avoid trying to get easy baskets at all costs.
You're not going to get any argument from me about running. I have no doubt that the current Blazers need to run more than they do. I don't know if Stotts keeps a tight rein on things because of fear of turnovers or something, but getting out on the break seems to me to be the only possible solution to getting some better offensive production out of this roster.
They were also an elite rebounding team, played defense, and without trying to look up stats, I seem to remember they ran a lot and racked up a decent amount of assists. At least, a lot more than the current team.
E.) All the Above Paul Allen has allowed himself to be pushed aside by Vulcan. The Blazers are no longer a franchise. They are no longer a brand. They are no longer the team that the fans were so passionate about. All of that is gone. The Blazers are now a corporation. An entity that is about making money and thats it. Not about putting a winning team on the floor. The Blazers have the seond or third most expensive roster in the league. And for what? If Allen is going to spend his money he should spend it right. Spending that money wisely is Allen's responsibility. Apparently he is letting Neil Olshey make all the calls. Bad fucking move. Olshey screwed the pooch by signing Turner to such an expensive contract, then resigning Crabbe, Leonard, and Harkless. Moe at least showed some merit then. Neil set the Blazers back years. Listening to Terry Stotts post game conferences after losses is an earache. Could he be any more vague with his answers? During the game he is mostly sitting, spectating instead of coaching. Waiting for teams to build heavy leads before taking time outs, his inability to adapt to the opponents. He has had 7 years with little to show for it. Dude is gone. The players themselves don't escape fault. Their play is lackluster and unspirited. They have no energy. Leadership is poor. No consistency or chemistry. Its like this team just suddenly forgot the fundamentals of basketball. Pass the ball. Keep the offense moving. Don't stand around. If it looked they were putting in effort I might give them the benefit of the doubt, but its like they are paid and they don't care. Or they are just that bad....maybe its a little bit of both. Maybe there is a middleground. But, one thing is for sure, there is enough fault to go around.
To me we've seen this team beat good teams and play good defense this season...defense has come at the expense of offense....shots coming up short...to me from the small sample size I've seen over the last 3 losses....it's on Mo, CJ and Nurk......not finishing layups and throwing up bricks ...takes 4-5 guys scoring in double figures to win and we're lucky recently to have 2-3 guys score...the bench has had some drop off but that's somewhat due to our guards not getting them touches...season is early...3 losses in a row always riles the board....I don't blame Stotts, Olshey or Dame for the recent slack
They look like cheesy Halloween costumes with caution..extremely flammable warning stickers on the label