Exactly right. Curry - otherwordly Klay - not at all Barnes - a little bit but nothing special Draymond - can facilitate but not a great ball handler Bogut - uh...what?
Yeah. What made them so good was a willingness to make the extra pass. You don’t even necessarily have to be a great passer to play in their system. You just have to be willing to sacrifice a good shot for a better one. Look at the Blazers recent success. There’s a direct correlation with the assists going up. Has very little to do with having two ballhandlers.
Curry, Klay, Barnes and Draymond are all better ball handlers than what we have in our starting lineup other than Lillard and CJ. They are also better passers other than those 2. By adding Durant, it has gotten even better.
I agree with what you and TBpup are saying for the most part, but I do think Green's ball handling was a huge part of their success. He might not be a great ball handler compared to a guard but he was/is good enough to break down the defense when being guarded by a slower PF or center. When they went small at that time and played him at the 5, teams were not prepared for it. He helped them with spacing and also prevented opposing teams from trapping. When teams trap Dame, and they will in the playoffs, I think Jake can help but I would rather have him do it as our a 3rd or 4th ball handler, not as our 2nd best.
Most of draymonds success came as a facilitator in the high post. It dragged the opposing big away from the basket and he had good enough vision/IQ/whatever you want to call it to kill other teams. Nurkic has the same skill set as far as facilitating goes. AD is a plus as well. But this debate is pointless anyway because teams would probably never hedge on Dame with AD on the court.
At the time Green was also making 100 3's per season , so you had to at least cover him out there. Nurk of course does not. (and hopefully will never try)
Watched Prince again last night and was underwhelmed once again. He's a decent player, but I don't see where he would be an upgrade for where we are at. We need to do better at the sf position if we make a deal.
What happened with the Nutcracker's shot? From a high of .388 just 4 seasons ago to a eye-gauging .262. Teams are treating him like Aminu now.
Facilitation from the high post works for the Blazers as well as the Warriors, and can be the key to playoff success when used as a 2 stage process with Nurk and Meyers as alternating Centers. The plan is for the starting team to use screens with PNRs to open Dame, CJ, and Jake for early scores with looks to the arc to further open the paint. When the bench team comes in, the high post will remain the assist facilitation point but with a different floor rotation pattern that favors pick and pop to open Meyers, Seth, and Jake for high % swish3 shooting, with the option for drives through the paint, dunks, and baselines. Switching the emphasis from Nurk close to the rim scoring to the swish3 shooters allows for offensive variety that can put opponents off balance and behind each time the platoon switch is made. Screening and assist passes by both Nurk and Meyers have been excellent and are steadily improving, and this provides a major strength. With 5 or 6 Blazers scoring at least 14 points (Dame, CJ, Nurk, and 2 of the 3 Meyers-Seth-Jake, and perhaps Chief and Mo), with 2 floor rotations that allow featuring in the paint and arc scoring, the Blazers can overcome the swarming of Dame, and will give both Dame and CJ open shots. In the playoffs last season, Meyers played only 8 min total, scored 8 points (4 of 4 FG), and attempted 0 swish3s. This season will be more successful than last if the bench scoring power of our swish3 shooters is used to match or exceed that of the Warriors and other high scoring teams. The Blazers are on the way to playoff success with the existing team and do not need Anthony Davis to do it.
If you define success as winning at least one game you are probably right, as currently constructed I see no realistic hope of being a serious contender.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/moe-harkless-still-valuable-trail-070540084.html (Exceprt) "In any case, Harkless and Layman aren't interchangeable in Stotts' eyes. Harkless brings a defensive presence that Layman can't match, although the gap between them could be narrowing. Five-man-lineup data from NBA.com actually shows that Portland's two most-used groups have one difference, and that's the small forward spot with Layman and Harkless as the variables. While Harkless still has the better individual defensive rating, the lineup with Layman has both a better defensive rating and net rating."
The Playoffs result this year can be much better, and I think the NBA Championship is achievable reviewing the result of the Jan 30 UTA Jazz game. Note what I posted in the Meyers and Jake lead TS%... and more in Meyers Mandate thread.
The Drive, The Floater, The Post Up, The Clean Up, The Corner '3' The Top of the Key dagger '3' The 'Shrug' '3' ......He is scoring in so many ways and didn't even get his traditional lob dunk tonight. 17 points in the last 17 minutes. #FlyingTurtle
Isnt Jakes best strength the constant motion he is in off the ball? He creates so many good shots for himself and others. He could probably score in the post but, posting up usually means less movement too.
