Got to say Zubac was looking like an all-star against Whiteside. And Hassan looked like he was playing underwater.
I mean i don't care really about Whiteside, he's a gap filler until Nurk comes back, i don't see him finnish this season as a Trail Blazer
In my opinion, this has less to do with Whiteside and more to do with the Blazers inept coaching staff. The “flow offence” (aka iso-ball) completely shuts out the center position from being part of the offence. Whiteside has essentially been turned into a “garbage man” out there to collect rebounds and score on put-backs instead of maximizing his strengths which, IMO, are his athleticism and lob catching ability. Get the man some easy looks and watch how engaged he becomes on both ends. This isn’t rocket science... except to Terry Stotts.
While I prefer to have Nurkic back over him, trashing Whiteside here after a 17/19/1/1/2 game with hitting 3/4 ft seem like a new level of pettiness.
Blazers offense is basicly a two man show, no plays, non exist ball movement. It's an ugly offense where players stands and watching dame and CJ
It's how this forum operates. I wonder what posters from other teams think if they come in and read many of these threads. Panic in Portland. The jonnyboy emoticon seems fitting for this.
Zubac had a good first half (11 pts & 9 boards) while Whiteside was pretty ineffective (2 pts & 6 rb). The "inept" coaching staff reviewed video with Whiteside at halftime. Zubac only got 4 pts and 4 rebounds the rest of the way. Whiteside got 15 pts and 13 rb in the second half. I don't know if his sore knee was responsible for the slow start, or if it was something that the Clippers were doing, but it's pretty clear Whiteside won the second half and ultimately contributed more than Zubac.
Not to mention Whiteside was getting hacked with no whistles while being called for ticky tack. Welcome to the Blazers.
I would agree but there is a lot more to it than Lillard and McCollum going iso. We are not getting much from the new guys right now (Bazemore, Hezonja and Tolliver) and we also don't have another facilitator like we did with Turner last year. The new players need to step up their game and become a better fit.
Whiteside is being scapegoated hard. Everyone just sees him getting dunked on by Zubac and blames him entirely. Look at who Whiteside has in front of him on defense: Lillard, CJ, Hood, and Tolliver. These are all average-bad defenders. People are blowing by us every play and Whiteside is expected not just to protect the rim, but then to rip a rebound away from a 7 foot 3 monster who has position. This is where we sorely miss aminu. He was fast enough to play 4, he was a great versatile defender, and he was a good-decent rebounder. On offense Whiteside needs time to figure out how to react in the pick and roll and he will be good.
If HW would run more p&r ‘s effectively, like Nurk learned to do he would be more involved. I still say if they push the ball more it will create needed opportunities. Terry for years has used the first 25 games or so to get a feel for rotations, I don’t think he gets as worried about the end product early on. We need more contributions from the new dudes.
The Blazers were trash for most of the game. Meanwhile the refs were consistently GARBAGE from beginning to end. Not a great combination.
OMG I am way past disappointed in Hezonja. I thought he'd help. So far he's my least favorite player on the team. Every time I look at him I expect him to fuck up. And his defense...crikey. Can we get Meyers back?
I was expecting Whiteside to at least be Kanter caliber, but it ain't even close. This lazy POS can get waived for all I care. Enes played fucking HARD every game and set monster screens. He and Dame had near instant chemistry on the P&R cuz Kanter actually rolled. Get his asshole off my team. Seriously, Neil. Watch the wins start rolling in when we stop playing this lead footed, selfish prick. Can't stand him.