Game Thread GAME# 58: PISTONS @ BLAZERS - FEBRUARY 23, 2020 - SUNDAY, 6:00 PM, NBCSNW

I'm aware of his posting here-- hence me following him. Used to interact with him here and on OLive. Loved his site with contract info.

Wonder if he heard something.

 

Serious question, what would it take for CJ to play like this WITH Dame? Only Dame/Luka/Harden/Trae have put up a line like CJ did last night this season.

I know the whole staggering thing is Terry's solution to maximize their individual talents. Can any other coach come up with a game plan to get this kinda game from him AND Dame in the same night? I don't need 40/10 from each of them, but more the style of play. CJ was so aggressive. He got to the line 8 times, put up 11 threes, and had only 1 turnover with his 12 assists.

Is it spacing? Does Dame need to get off the ball more? Can we run different sets? Or is it more on CJ?

Really wish we could see these dudes with a different coach to see what they could do. Terry is so overrated as a "offensive genius" (as JVG repeated again last game). When a coach can't find synergy with his two best players after 5+ yrs, that's a problem. Terry doesn't deserve this kind of tenure.

 

Yup those guys. Though frankly, Simons is the real disappointment here. Here he was who they hyped all summer, I was hoping by this time of the season he would've formed into an 10-15 points off the bench guy on a consistent basis. I guess there's always next year for him. He was meant to play though.

 

I think some guys just need the ball to do their thing, and I think role plays a part of it. I think when CJ's with Dame he thinks his job is to shoot (and that might be the instructions he's given I don't know). We see WB and Harden seem to kind of take turns have really good nights or weeks, but it seems like you don't usually see both of them having big nights at the same time.

 

Glad you brought up Russ and James. Because it makes my point.

Read this: https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/2/24/21150618/russell-westbrook-houston-rockets-james-harden

They clearly lacked synergy because of spacing issues and Russ' inability to shoot and move effectively without the ball. But in just half a season, their GM and coach realized this and decided to take a radical approach by removing their center altogether to make Russ their point-center. Look at how good HOU looks since their Capela trade. Look at what Russ is doing over this past month. Without a center and shooters all around him, he is back to what he was doing in his MVP year, while still retaining enough possessions for Harden.

Morey/D'Antoni deserve a ton of ridicule, but they at least try different things when they realize shit doesn't work. Both Dame and CJ can shoot and handle the ball. Getting these two to fit should be a lot easier than what it took for Harden/Westbrook. We still haven't seen a single real change from what Terry ran in 2016.

 

I think the coach could design things better. I noticed CJ seemed to do really well shooting threes from the center when he got a pick last night. Don't see that much in games. Also, when CJ is in the game with Lillard, it seems to be his role to just try to score himself. Is this by design? Does he get the ball too late in the shot clock? Wouldn't Blazers be harder to defend if CJ acted more as a true PG and Lillard the offguard at times in the game?

 

We run literally the exact same sets that we did three years ago. Hardly any weakside action, no change in pace to increase possessions, etc etc.

We fall back on our offense being generally in the top 10 as a crutch to NOT change, but why not use the rest of this season as an experiment to do something different?

Don't even want to get started on the defense.

 

Look. I have tried to put two balls into play so they can both have the ball in their hands. But the dang rule book doesn't allow it! What more do you want from me?

 

I think the last two games - especially last night against Detroit - shows everyone what needs to happen for CJ to shine; he needs to run the point and let Lillard serve as the 2. They can even take turns, but what is clear is CJ can distribute and he can create his own shots when bringing the ball up the court. Quite frankly, it gets too routine watching Dame bring it up every single time.

Mix things up (letting Dame and CJ take turns serving as PG) and I'll bet this will enhance the tandem! Not to mention, add problems to the opposing team's defensive strategies!

 

That's it! TRADE NURK!

 

They already do this quite often.

 

Was any of the hype from Olshey for this season?

 

That's what you took away from my post?

 

CJ's usage rate last night was 37.4% and the ball was in his hands most of the game. If you check CJ's games without Dame his average usage rate is in the 34-35% range. Usage that high can create big production numbers, but it's not sustainable when a team has other players, like Dame, who are much more efficient with the ball in their hands. CJ defers to the better player in Dame, as he should. He can dominate a box score when he's allowed to dominate the ball and use possessions. But he doesn't have the talent of a Dame, or Giannis, or Harden or Doncic to warrant that kind of ball dominance

that said, he shouldn't morph into MeJ when his usage drops, but he inevitably does. Some of that is on CJ. But I think some of that is on the coaches for not requiring accountability, and for not putting CJ in a role he's more suited too than the one he falls into playing 2nd fiddle in the my-turn-your-turn iso offense Stotts has built

 

Obviously.

 

I don't really care TBH... Whether it was for this year or a decade from now they positioned their roster in a way that meant they needed production from him -NOW - that's better then they have gotten. So why does it matter if the hype was for the future or now? - The organization is the one who built the roster with no other alternatives if he needed more time. I'm not at all saying his career is done or that he can't get better next year and consecutive years after that, but I imagine even the Blazers are disappointed in his lack of meaningful production. Maybe this will just be the year of growth he needs and that's ok I suppose but so far it hasn't been very good.

edit: What is interesting to me is at Little's press conference they were building up how talented Simons is, and Honestly Little looks better to me than Simons does. During training camp, reporters and the media were talking about Simons, and asking GTJr about how good Simons is and GTJr seems to be ahead of Simons too. I still don't get why NO was out there talking up Simons so much, let him play and see what he's got. Hopefully, next year is his year to pop.

 

In my opinion, we've yet to see if letting him sink this year will allow him to swim in future years. If he does get a lot better in the future then I could absolutely justify letting him take his lumps this season in a year when they knew they wouldn't have Nurk going in and where Collins got hurt in the 3rd game. If Simons never develops into a rotational player then yeah it's a massive failure. You say he should be averaging 10-15 points per game by now (9 obviously isn't good enough?) but the likely rookie of the year Ja Morant only averages 17.

He's obviously been pretty bad most of the year. Sure, he's shown some flashes and had some good games but I just don't get why people thought he would be dominate this season. Just because Olshey says he has the most talent out of anyone he's drafted doesn't mean he's ready to realize that talent this season.

 

I basically agree. I'm ok with him taking his lumps this year too especially if that pays off later. I never thought he'd dominate this year but I'm notoriously slow to jump on to the "train" with young players who I don't think have proven much.
In Simons's case though what I'm mostly disappointed with is that I don't think we've seen much growth from him throughout the season. Trent and GTJr I feel like you can see parts of their games that have gotten better as the years progressed. I kind of thought with the role they were 'forcing' Simons into that by about this time whether it was efficient or not he'd be consistently up around double figures.

 

I'm not sure that people thought he would dominate.... I certainly didn't.

But based on the hype coming from NO, I also didn't anticipate him being this terrible. If he was playing 'rotational level' player basketball, I think most of us would be fine with what he's doing.

Right now, he's significantly below "bad" at both ends.