Game Thread GAME# 40: BUCKS @ BLAZERS - JANUARY 11, 2020 - SATURDAY, 7:00 PM, NBCSNW

I've been told assists = ball movement = good offense, so with our assist rate being higher than the Bucks, I would think you would be praising the offense tonight, no?

 

The Blazers played the best team in the league without a single player taller than 6’8”. Was anyone expecting a win?

 

You may be right - and that is soul crushing! Some of us actually thought Little was going to be good.

 

There are fans who are calling for sweeping changes. Do you think the roster needs tweaking or significant changes?

“The same people that wanted sweeping changes last year?”

(Questioner responds: I don't know. I don't know them personally. I just hear from them all the time)

"Right. Great. Well, last year was going to take sweeping changes because we got swept by Golden State in the first round and all the alarmists overreacted.
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"But this idea that (we need) sweeping changes. Where were all these people that wanted sweeping changes 10 days ago? Where were they? They were the ones bouncing off the walls in the Moda Center when we got the third seed .
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Relative to people back in December who were complaining that we weren't going to make the playoffs and we were in purgatory because we weren't going to make the playoffs and we weren't going to pick high enough. Right? That was the rallying cry. Then it was, 'Oh my God. They're going to blow the third seed because they're going to lose all these games. They're not even going to get home court advantage.' They overreacted to that.”

Man, the disdain this guy has for the fans in Portland. He thinks we are all beneath him. I will never forget that exit interview.

 

You win. Let it go.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to offend you. I thought if others can piss and moan about the same 3 things every day I could joke around about this.

 

Not offended. We just see the issue very differently. I believe in the old (fasioned) idea that the goal is a possesion where the ball never touches the hardwood. IMHO, Roy was better at the ISO than anyone on the current roster and I wasn't fond of it even then.

 

I totally respect that as I've had coaches who felt the exact same way. Since the people who taught me how to play said more passing was better, I believed that it was the truth. It wasn't until I gained a better understanding of statisics and correlation that I realized assists and ball movement don't really have that great of an impact on winning. Maybe at the high school level this isn't the case, I don't have information to confirm or deny it.

For the record, I don't love ISO ball, I like efficient offenses, in any form. Now, if a roster is made up of players where ISO is more efficient then I'm ok with it because my main goal is for the Blazers to win.

 

Better than getting smacked as an 8th seed

 

You shouldn't listen to those people. Blazers can get assists with almost no ball movement after an ISO for 20 seconds and then a bail out pass to someone who hits a shot at the buzzer.

 

To be fair i don't either. But he seemed like a decent guy. Did not get the feel he disdained the fans at all.

 

Yep at this point they are in desperate need of wins to even become a playoff team. Couple weeks ago you could see a chance at getting back in the race but it's pretty bleak now.

 

At the end of the day, the fans are the customers, and the customers are the ones that pay the bills... Neil knows what his job entails and that he should always be looking to make the team better, and if not then fans will be vocal about it. His job is not to just sign his guys to big contracts and then sit on his hands... the anger Neil showed towards the fans at that exit interview after the sweep, I will never forget.

 

Little sucks and is worthless. Now i can see why nobody wanted him. Someone had to say it

 

Again you seem to be a bit touchy but you still don't know anything.

You did however use the obligatory "At the end of the day" quote that Neil always uses. So you got that going for you.

 

Little and Simons are 2-year projects. They get minutes now only because we have no depth. They will emerge in their 3rd years like all other Olshey draftees (except Lillard). Like the others, they will be dumped by Olshey after our assistant coaches have labored for 3 years, and help other NBA teams.

 

Instead of his personality, why don't you find fault with his lethargy in finding trades, and his eternal inability to stock any forwards on the imbalanced roster due to his talent misevaluations.

 

More than disdain, I think it reflects his insecurity and sensitivity to criticism.

 

Yeah, cause all players are defined by their performance halfway through their first season and 19 years old. Imagine if Toronto felt that way about Siakam and dumped him after 2 seasons.

https://www.basketball-reference.co...ttle&y2=2020&player_id2=littlna01&idx=players

 

He seems to have lost his spark; I liked his previous haircut better. Maybe it was the Samson effect?