This is what I and others here been saying about Whiteside's bloated numbers. We will be better after we trade him as long as we get a somewhat serviceable 7 footer back (Dieng would be fine). I wonder if our coaching staff break down film like this for the players, though. Can't wait for Nurk to come back. Saw this from Game 1 against Denver how lazy this dude is, was hoping he'd get better. He has but not enough to warrant keeping him. Honestly feel like we'd be better simply by letting him go.
Addition by subtraction... I thought you were talking about CJ. What about his bloated numbers??! He doesn’t play defense or pass, and kills the flow of offense with his ISO ball. Oh, and he is making 30+ mil for the next 4 years while entering his 30’s.
The first part about defensive ability /IQi know that Hassan cannot be like Gobert anyway, some things you cannot teach. The effort part though gets on my nerves, it's like he chooses to give up sometimes. Maybe that helps to stay fresh to stat pad when opportunity is presented. I also read some articles about why his blocks don't really translate to elite D and how he hurts team rebounding as well with his positions. Something like if he doesn't get the rebound he leaves the team too exposed for the Oreb. I cannot find the link right now though.
Nobody says he is as good as Gobert. Selective editing makes him look worse than he is. I don't think he is lazy; just his processing speed is slower. A center has to make some really difficult choices when playing defense on Blazers. BTW, I am not arguing to keep him, have always says he has to go. Just I think he is overall doing a good job and doing the best he can.
The numbers still show him as a positive, it just says he’s not as good as His numbers suggest, or that he’s better than Gobert. Sure, everyone knew that already. There’s only been one or two people that have implied he may be as good or better than Nurkic, so it’s not like people don’t recognize how much better Nurk is.
The Nurk comp was never a question. I'm thinking more of if he's an upgrade over someone like Kanter. On defense, especially.
There’s probably no one in the league that suffers more from confirmation bias than Whiteside. He’s not as good as Gobert or Nurkic? Well...no shit. He’s still a good player and Portland doesn’t win any games without him. Better off without him? Maybe if your objective is the first pick in the draft.
okay fine, but acting as if losing him would be addition by subtraction is ludacris to me. Kanter is not really a comparison. He’s here partially because Kanter couldn’t make up his damn mind.
Let's see what happens in Feb when we get rid of him. Bam's explosion in Miami, their current record, and their desperation to get rid of him mean something, right? I think we'll be just as good if it were Skal getting 30 mpg instead of Whiteside right now. Unfortunately, we lost even our backup's backup. I mean, they took Meyers Leonard for him.
I feel like you’re putting a nice spin on the situation. They didn’t just take Meyers for him, the move was also made to make room for Jimmy Butler.
I think there is also something to be said about how he looks on this team specifically. He would look much better on last years team without starting forwards that give up straight drives to the rim all game.
I like how people will use his #'s as some kind of proof he's not lazy/undisciplined on defense. Box score watching doesn't mean much when you look at the overall scope and impact on the team his play has. Some of the stuff I don't mind, but it's the lack of hands up on defense that bugs me. It's similar to how Aldridge used to play passive defense. It's not a knock on him, that's just his style, but it's a type of defense that comes off looking lazy and undisciplined.
He's just now getting the hang of screening and sprinting off them. Dame is the best P&R guard in the league, and I legit think Whiteside's play hindered Dame earlier in the year on offense.
He's the kind of player, imho, that would be the perfect bench player. Whiteside as a starter (and anchor on defense) will never be as good as Nurk as a starter (and anchor on defense and facilitator on offense).
Well I don’t like seeing a guy that leads the league in blocks, 4th in rebounds, and top 10 in PER being accused of empty stats when CJ is the epitome of empty stats... and it’s not just stats for Whiteside... I’ve watched him make big plays in games we had no business winning... he is a difference maker
True, but the truest sign of maturity is knowing that while you have the right to respond, you don't actually *have* to respond.