Free Agent Derrick Jones to Portland

Making it through the times...Looking forward to the distraction of Blazer's basketball to carry me through. Dropped in to check out the excitement level of the recent additions. Looking forward to seeing what these guys put together.

 

We play zone. We suck at it though. Every time we go zone the other team scores.

 

I used to coach D2 basketball in Southern California. I was young and would get frustrated with a guy who was 6’9’ but a total puss. Finally our head coach said “if he wasn’t a puss, he’d be playing at UCLA, not here”. So when a team gets a guy like Derrick Jones, who is 23 and far from perfect I immediately think about the kid I coached who was not perfect but if he was we wouldn’t have him. If Jones was great offensively guess what we’d have no shot. You have to have guys who are imperfect. Might as well be a 23 year old freak athlete who likes playing defense.

 

what's funny is you're spending a lot of time complaining about people complaining about this signing. Seems like you're also going out of your way to be upset about something

again, I'm not saying this will be a bad signing because I don't know much about Jones, But what I do know of him kind of matches several recent Blazers that simply didn't fit into the Stotts offense

 

I suppose its possible people think it's as easy as playing MyTeam NBA2k.

 

If he doesn’t work out this season I don’t think it would be impossible to trade him, especially if we added another asset(Simons) or expiring(Hood is basically one). I don’t think anyone thinks he has a bad contract and I doubt we were the only ones trying to sign him(espn #9 FA) so let’s hold off on the punch bowl party, if Neil can turn Bazemore into Ariza I think if the fit just isn’t there with DJJ he won’t be here long.

 

There is this impression that some people think Neil turns down other/better options and signs/acquires who he does. This isn’t a garage sale where whoever shows up first gets what they want. And it’s funny that forever people have wanted more defense on the perimeter and want to run more and Neil adds a 23 year old athlete who defends and within minutes people are upset.

 

Finding things to be upset about? Many of us had the rather modest hope we could sign someone who could start opposite Covington (EG Milsap or Crowder). Not sure why that would offends you?

 

Just since I started seeing people up in arms within three mins of the signing having all the answers.

 

I called the contract a potential overpay, but it wouldn't be by a lot. But it is a very trade-able deal so that offsets the worry about overpay

 

Aminu was actually a 35% 3pt shooter. No use in his athleticism if he's stuck in a halfcourt offense sitting in the corner. I dont want him stuck in the corner. It's as much about how I think Stotts will (mis)use him as it is about DJJ himself.

 

We have arguably the best point guard in the league and nobody wants to play with him.

 

The offseason isn’t over. Till then, they added a nice young defensive minded athlete. But he shoots 28% so people are unhappy.

 

He’ll be a fine pickup.

I think the initial nitpick is that after the RoCo and Kanter pickups, folks expected NO to come with a bomb to blow our minds, so this is a bit of a letdown in that scenario. But it’s a solid but unspectacular pickup.

 

It will be interesting to see how he fits.

• He is great on lobs. We don't really do that.
• He is great in transition. We don't really do that.
• He is good in a zone defense. Uh, we rarely do that
• He is not good shooting '3's. We do a LOT of that.

 

We do. But it’s still Portland. And we’re talking MLE type dudes.

I think our off-season was great nonetheless

 

I hope so.

 

because Dame is at the very top of his prime. The moves we have made are supplemental moves. The problem is that many of us feel we have a foundational problem. We are still rolling with the Dame/CJ/Stotts show and I’m sick of it.