With no more Aminu, Harkless, Turner (Thank god), do you guys think opponent team will stil trap Lillard anytime he has the ball or will they defend him 1on1?
Don't want to sound dumb, but... They'll trap until we show them trapping is a bad idea. Hopefully, that'll happen early.
How much of the problem was having the wrong players, and how much of it was having the wrong scheme? While I like the roster changes, I am not convinced Stotts will adapt to take best advantage.
lol, we just flipped two players we've wanted to get rid of, and received one of the best centers in the league for them in return, and you're still grouchy
In order to avoid traps we needed a PLAYMAKING PF, just like LOVE or GRIFFIN. As of now we have not addressed that problem given that Whiteside doesn't have playmaking ability.
Grouchy? I thought his post was well thought out and delivered calmly. I think you need to better compartmentalize the 2 subjects. One is "hey are you happy with how the off season has gone? The other is "can Terry coach his way out of a trap". You can be excited about the former, and nervous about the latter.
I think this is the best Blazers team assembled in quite a long time. If you trap Dame or CJ, Rodney will hurt you and Hassan can too. You can mix it up and throw Simons out there as well. I think our biggest x-factor is going to be Zach Collins. If he takes that big next step like we hope he will, we will have a fantastic season. I do believe in him but am worried about foul trouble. With the roster as if, Skal has a very big opportunity to come in and contribute right away.
Yep it has to become a matter of punishing a team that traps with and rapid ball movement leading to an easy layup. After a couple of those, nobody is going to maintain the traps unless they are desperate by being down by a size-able margin with time expiring. But it starts with Dame IMHO: gotta get rid of that ball! No more dribbling between a double-team; that's four hands and feet to get past and it doesn't work. Maybe it's because he doesn't think his options are good but it starts with Dame.
Hey now, the last few days I have been as complimentary towards Olshey as I have ever been. Now you want me to be nice to Stotts as well? Baby steps!
I can't really see the new roster being a lot better dealing with the 'stop-Dame' defenses than the old roster. Last season, Portland had CJ and Hood and Curry and Turner as the secondary ball-handlers and it did no good. None of those guys could take the ball, break down a defense, and consistently run the offense. CJ can break down a defense for the sake of his own offense, especially one focused on Lillard, but he can't run the offense. Turner could run the offense in a fashion, but no defense respected his scoring ability enough to alter any scheme. Curry, just like Napier, didn't have the talent Bazemore and Hood are better shooters than Turner and Mo, but they can't run an offense sans Lillard. Whiteside may be able to punish some teams in the paint, but he's averaged 0.6 assists for his career. That's insane in a bad way to get a team out of trapping Dame, the ball has to go to at least one player with the talent to consistently punish that same defense for it's off-ball focus on Dame. I don't see that kind of talent on the team. They don't have a Paul George or a Kawhi. And they don't have a Rondo or a Rubio who can penetrate and distribute the ball using great court vision. the overall shooting should be better, but good shooting results from good ball movement and we've seen over and over again, especially in the playoffs, when Dame is taken out of the center of the offense, it breaks down and becomes inefficient. I really don't see the solution to that on the roster yet. Maybe I'm near-sighted
Having guys who can score, though, does help in dealing with double-teams and traps. Rodney, Bazemore, Herzonja ... all are aggressive guys who look to attack, look to score. Get them the ball, you have an attacking 4-on-3 situation. When did opponents ever have to be concerned about that with Mo or Chief?
Huh? Not sure how getting the ball into the hands of a guy who either is geared to shoot a 3 or attack the basket with numbers is being interpreted as iso ball.
Maybe an example will make this more clear. Dame gets trapped at the logo. He deals the ball to Mo a couple of feet behind the arc. The Blazers have four players facing three defenders. Is Mo going to shoot and make his wide-open 3? Is Mo going to take the ball to the basket, draw defense and either dish to the open player or dunk if he's not picked up? Or is Mo going to freeze and wait for Dame to come back and get the ball from him? That's the difference now. That's not iso ball.
you mentioned 3 guys: Hood, Bazemore, & Hezonja, as the solution to what playoff teams have done to Dame because they "are aggressive guys who look to attack, look to score." That sounds like some iso, or at least starting out as such. More than that though, Hood was there in May when the Warriors swarmed Lillard and it didn't help. Bazemore may be aggressive, but so was Evan Turner. They both were under 51% in TS last season, and Turner is a better facilitator. That doesn't look like an answer to me. Bazemore is definitely a better shooter, but to take advantage of that, Portland needs somebody, other than Dame, who can consistently run the offense with enough court vision to find open shooter like Bazemore...or Hood. They haven't had that. And Hezonja as the solution to a 4 year problem Portland has had in the playoffs, seems well beyond a longshot at this point. I'm not saying Portland is not going to be better next season (although 53 wins and the WCF is a high bar). I'm just saying I don't see any obvious solution to the Dame-centric defenses we've seen for 4 years on the new roster
