It's Time to Play Nurkic With the Bench

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by BonesJones, Dec 4, 2018.

  1. oldmangrouch

    oldmangrouch persona non grata

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    RoLo was the ideal Stotts center. He neither needed or even wanted the ball. I seriously wonder if Stotts just doesn't know how to get the ball inside effectively - or if he just won't do it for fear of offending his *star!* backcourt.
     
  2. Gronk Brady

    Gronk Brady Well-Known Member

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    It’s because he has to get CJ his touches to justify paying him 28 mil per year
     
  3. hoopsjock

    hoopsjock Well-Known Member

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    Gronk, your post doesn't hold up when Collins plays without CJ in the game. If Collins only played when CJ was in then maybe you'd have a point.
     
  4. TBpup

    TBpup Writing Team

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    The more that description went on, the less it sounded like Stotts.
     
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  5. hoopsjock

    hoopsjock Well-Known Member

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    CJ makes $25,759,766, for the millionth time you don't have to exaggerate to prove your point.
     
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  6. hoopsjock

    hoopsjock Well-Known Member

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    This is a good point and is exactly why some feel it is a coaching issue and not a talent issue.
     
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  7. Boob-No-More

    Boob-No-More Why you no hire big man coach?

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    You're not the only one I've seen blaming Collins' regression on being paired with Meyers. I'm not 100% sure if this is really the case, or perhaps Zach just got off to a really quick start, took the rest of the league by surprise, got scouted and now we are seeing the real Zach. Fuck, that would be depressing.

    In any case, if your theory is true (and I am not disagreeing with you), how will playing Nurk with the second unit make things better for Zach? In theory (my theory, this time), if playing next to Meyers make Zach a shitty, foul prone stretch 4, won't playing him next to Nurk make things even worse. I mean, at least Meyers, with his swish3 scoring ability can, in theory, create some space for Zach to operate down low. Nurk can't. Plus, Zach will still need to guard opposing 4s, which seems to be the cause of his astronomical rate of racking up fouls.

    So, maybe Meyers needs to sit, which sucks for him, because he's actually playing better than Zach and has proven to (finally) be a solid back up center.

    The real problem is we have multiple players who can ONLY play center (Nurk, Meyers, apparently Zach and Biggie), but only one player who is really a power forward (Aminu). So, unless we make a trade, we either bench Meyers, or go with a 3-man rotation at center and play Aminu 48 MPG at the 4 (or give Harkless minutes at the 4, where he is ineffective and a weak rebounder).

    The whole point of letting Ed Davis walk was to allow Zach to play more in the low post. In which case, playing him next to Nurk doesn't help. Offensively, he should be fine playing next to Meyers, but isn't. But put him next to any of Nurk, Meyers of Biggie and he's stuck guarding opposing 4s and racking up fouls.

    My only hope is Meyers has increased his trade value sufficiently that we can trade him for a solid back-up 4 so Zach can move to the back up center role he seems best suited to play (in theory).

    BNM
     
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  8. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    Solid backup 4???

    I'd settle for a salary dump without having to throw assets in as incentive. Hell, that open roster spot would be pretty damn valuable.
     
  9. Boob-No-More

    Boob-No-More Why you no hire big man coach?

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    Well, if we're going to dump Meyers to play Zach at back up center, we need someone, anyone, who can play the 4 next to him. We can't play Aminu 48 minutes and we can't depend on Harkless (for anything, ever).

    BNM
     
  10. UKRAINEFAN

    UKRAINEFAN Well-Known Member

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    This is also coaching.
     
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  11. Gronk Brady

    Gronk Brady Well-Known Member

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    I love how you as a 22 year old child have seen enough over the years to know Terry Stotts is the problem for sure... you have a lot to learn kid... Dame and CJ ain’t changing for nobody... this is who they are
     
  12. blue9

    blue9 Well-Known Member

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    1 - In the limited time they played together Nurk/Vonleh paired well together, despite neither of them camping at the arc to "create space" for the other. Nurk on the left block gets doubled, passes to an open Vonleh on the right block for an easy 10' shot. No reason you can't replace Vonleh with Collins in this scenario.

    2 - But what really gets my goat is this idea that you need four players to "create space" for your post player. How is it that the 80s/90s had so many players who dominated in the post despite the fact that hardly anybody was shooting 3-pointers back then?

    Screen Shot 2018-12-05 at 12.19.27 PM.png

    Jeezus - look at that! Back in the early '80s teams were averaging 108 PPG while only taking 2 - TWO - 3-pointers per game. Now we're averaging 2 - TWO - PPG more, but on TWENTY-NINE more 3-point attempts. If that doesn't prove Pop's point that the 3-pointer has utterly ruined the NBA I don't know what else to say. Fuck this garbage ass game played by talentless hacks.
     
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  13. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    That was funny.
     
  14. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    To be fair, Bones has probably played a lot more organized basketball at 22--and at a higher level--than most of us have at whatever age we are. On the whole, I certainly trust his evaluation of a player or coach a lot more than my own. Seems foolish to denounce him based on his age; he's demonstrated repeatedly that he sees detail and intricacy in the game at a level most don't.
     
  15. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

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    I just want to add that while Vonleh and Connaughton are making strides...Crabbe, Rolo, Davis, Bazz and even Plumlee and Batum seem by the eye test to have dropped off since leaving. Crabbe has been absolute dogshit in Brooklyn...
     
  16. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

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    We're clearly missing the vocal leadership of Ed Davis and before him Gerald Henderson or Earl Watson, even Chris Kaman or Mo Williams...seems that Pat Connaughton had that energy ….ET seems to be the vocal guy...Chief is at times...Nurk, not so much nor Dame or CJ
     
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  17. TBpup

    TBpup Writing Team

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    Very good point. I'd submit thought that Crabbe got plenty of opportunity here as well as did Davis, Rolo Bazz, Plumlee and Batum. Vonleh and Pat didn't get near the time, reps or opportunities many of those players did. Bazz was allowed to go full CJ at times and Batum was just inherently either lazy at times or just unnervingly uninspired despite very good ability. Once he got paid, it was no surprise at all that he got worse.
     
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  18. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    6 fewer FTAs now too. I'd rather see more threes than free throws.
     
  19. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

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    Yes Zach does foul so does every other player in the league. Majority of Zach foul is contesting shots at the rim and usually he doesn't give up the 3 point play. So if he fouls challenging a shot I can live with that. I am not saying he doesn't pick up some stupid fouls because he does. But so does other players on this team. His scoring is down from earlier this year and a lot to do with not a lot of opportunitys lately. Last he shot the ball twice. But he has been improving his rebounding thou.
     
  20. Boob-No-More

    Boob-No-More Why you no hire big man coach?

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    He commits a LOT of stupid fouls, both on the perimeter and in the paint. He is constantly bailing out players who are forcing up shots they have zero chance to make. This often happens as a team is trying to get off a shot before the 24-second clock expires. It turns an otherwise good defensive stop into two easy points for the opponent.

    BNM
     

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