Game Thread PLAYOFFS: ROUND 1, GAME 1: BLAZERS @ LAKERS - AUGUST 18, 2020, TUESDAY, 6:00, TNT & NBCSNW

This game / series will be determined by Portland 3 point shooting.

 

My man, he’s getting a chance EVERYDAY in practice. You honestly think Stotts is playing a LESS talented player on purpose?

 

Are you saying I didn’t watch the Bubble games?

 

So, you asked your question and provided the answer - 18 months vs. 7.

Nurk was better before and he still is better, but the extra time Nurk had allowed him to get back to where he was - where Zach has not yet.

 

Fuck Chairman Peking James
Fuck the unibrow having motherfucker
Fuck “I’d shoot on Jesus” Kuzma
Fuck Dwight Howard and his suspect ass injury
Fuck JR Smith and his slow self
Fuck Mr. Shaqtin a Fool MVP
FUCK LOS ANGELES
FUCK THE LAKERS

 

Meyers was a gimmick, the guy never had a clue on defense and never had potential much beyond Matt Bonner. He has the offense of a SG without handles or drives, and the defense of a bad SG at that.

I agree with many of your sentiments on Zach. Maybe instead of awesome last year in the playoffs I should have said "useful rotational player" and that if he improved as normally expected from a second year player he could become a great bench player or acceptable but below average starter someday... I do rate his defense greater than you. But offense is extremely important, and in general much more than defense. Zach had about as bad as a 3rd year as was possible, so I'm happy to get a better option if Neil is able to in the offseason. I do think there have been many young players at Zach level that eventually become useful rotational players later in their career. Robin Lopez, Joel Pryzbilla, Aminu, Ed Davis, Steve Blake, etc. Zach needs to be compared to the potential of those level players and not average to above average NBA starters. Finally, Zach position may ultimately be best as the backup C, which with Nurkic injury history is important, and only have small stretches of his play at PF.

 

He also fouls at the same extraordinarily high rate!

 

yep you missed them....you don't know how to wear that mask properly

 

An elite 2 way wing is the hardest position to fill in the NBA. Doubly so when we have near max salary in one guard spot, super max at the other spot, along with our C getting a raise after next season.

Trent is fine at SF next season in 2020... the problem for him is he doesnt have the handle to play SG unless we had a Batum style SF. So now we would need to find an elite two way wing that is the hardest to position to fill, but also have that wing handle the ball and setup offense?

Now in 2005 Trent would have trouble at SF, but hell this year OKC played 3 PG's around 6' for half the game together. Trent will be fine at SF next year. Sure Trent will have trouble with LeBron or Kawhi at SF, but we will have trouble no mater what with them. If Trent is at SF we do need a bigger defensive PF that can rebound and a bigger wing defensive option on the bench.

 

What Nurkic has done is special and an exception. To hold Zach’s rust against him is idiotic, but also not surprising considering the amount of dumb dumbs on here.

Oh, and Zach’s defense will be missed...big time. Maybe Wenyen replaces some of that, but no one else will, so even in a best case scenario, there will be pockets of time where the Blazers are gonna get steamrolled.

 

I agree

my biggest 'complaint' about Zach isn't that he's not useful or that he doesn't do a few things well. Both of those are true

it's that he's seemingly been pegged in as the PFOTF, and nothing he's done on the floor, or promised to do, has earned that distinction. Aminu and Harkless were starters by default because the Blazer FO couldn't find a way to upgrade role players into legitimate starting forwards. Sure seems like the Blazers are settling for a repeat of that

 

There are two ways to respond to a reasonable argument - one of them is to post a meme.

 

Zach never got back to "where he was" because he was never anywhere.
The guy is simply NOT an Impactful NBA player. Period.
He is big, and clogs things up on defense. That is about it.

 

His hands are the opposite of soft, just to be clear. With the exception of that, Zach was a really solid contributor during the bubble. He is definitely our fifth best (or in other words wosrst) starter but he's a valuable rotational player. He doesn't hold onto rebounds or inside passes well enough... that's a big problem. He fouls too much which isn't that big of a problem. He does defend really well, uses his athleticism to get himself in good positions on both ends, his spot up jumper looks really nice as far as mechanics and he's hit some nice shots from outside. He's far better than an average defender. He has to work on his hands and if his role is going to be what it looks like it will be he needs to work on his upper body strength (which would actually help him a little with holding onto rebounds and passes). It makes sense that his footwork, foot speed and explosiveness from his legs look light years ahead of his upper body strength and hands given what his injury was. Him being out definitely does not help us because he's been a net positive in general and statistically in the bubble, not to mention we just need minutes with a bench this weak. The fact is we will go further with Zach than we would without him. We can get into if he needs to be upgraded or just dumped in the off season but for now he's our best option in the post next to Nurk.

 

LOL...c'mon man

do you think that meme was the only post I've made in the last couple of days about Zach? You responded to one.

 

He’s playing a top 10 pick over an undrafted rookie. It’s a business. The same reason Trent wasn’t getting run over Simons before injuries left Stotts no choice to give Trent time. And you see how that turned out

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/le-bron-vs-carmelo-the-story-of-their-epic-first-battle-174734566.html

LeBron vs. Carmelo: The story of their epic first battle

 

Wenyen is a rookie who has played for 2 teams. I wouldn’t call him a journeyman.

 

Its odd there's been all sorts of stories either flat saying or somewhat implying LeBron and Melo never played each other in the NBA playoffs.

However thats wrong; the Heat beat the Knicks 4-1 in the first round of 2012, eventually winning LeBron's first title. LeBron averaged 27.8/6.2/5.6 shooting 47.8%/35%
Melo averaged 27.8/8.2/2.2 shooting 41.9%/22.2%