Game Thread GAME# 10: RAPTORS @ BLAZERS - JANUARY 11, 2021 - MONDAY, 7:00 PM, NBCSNW

Melo is a tough question, on the one hand i really like him he seems like a great guy for team chemistry and the locker room and i really appreciate that a guy with his name choose to come back to small market Portland. On the other hand in 90% percent of the games he's a minus player and a huge liability on defense. I thought he would get not more than 15 minutes per game, i didn't think that he would play that many minutes

 

Jones has to take more than 3 shots. I wish we would run some plays for him to post up down low more. Probably more auto than Nurk as he can jump over and score or get fouled. Melo imo got Jones's minutes last night which was fine as he scored form and was aggressive on O.

 

We had the same problem with Curry, he was a great shooter and his shot was automatic but he wasn't really involved in the offense.

 

To me it shows a lack of attention to detail and a lack of retrospection. Possibly a reluctance to give up any control. Doesn't a good coach look back and say "Yes, I should have put Jones in there" and then admitting to himself he can't cover everything in the heat of the moment and then assigning an assistant coach to remind him of things like that.

 

You already know that answer big W baby!

 

Interesting to me that every Toronto forward shot over 50% last night and none of their guards did.

I know some will say it because our forwards leave their man to help our guards and that may be true but our guards also leave their man to help the forwards. Either way, it continues to be an issue.

 

What you guys don’t understand is we could’ve been even worse without him during time. You know, -10 with him but -20 during that time without. That’s why +/- means nothing.

 

I do like to look at that stat but I agree that it does not tell the whole story. It is more of a summary of the unit the player is in the game with.

 

Where are these numbers coming from?

They are 8th - 11th in offense in most of calculations I'm looking at. 23rd in defense.

http://www.espn.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/offensive-efficiency
https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2021_ratings.html

NBA.com has them 4th and 23rd respectively:

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1

NBA.com doesn't disclose how they calculate offensive rating, but Hollinger's stat for Offensive efficiency is just points per 100 possessions, which makes the most sense to me. That has us at 10th.

 

Completely correct

 

I think one has to be careful about putting a lot of stock in the plus/minus with our reserves and with Melo in particular.

I expect him and most of those guys to be under water in plus/minus. It's more a matter of how much under water, because of just the overall make-up of the roster and that group. If they are close to break-even, with how our starting unit is capable of building up big advantages, then they are doing fine.

I ask myself if not Melo, who would be in there that I could count on to count on with either CJ or Dame to create shots on that second unit? Was there another FA we could have signed that would be either a good enough scorer or such a great defender that they'd have a better plus/minus? There probably were a handful, but it's hard to think of many. Basically, I'm looking at him to help hold down the fort while the starters recharge and occasionally be in the game when we need another guy who's proven to be a clutch scorer. Right now, he's doing that and probably a little bit more.

 

The problem isn't just Melo. It's the Melo/Kanter combination that makes them both much worse.

 

I think there is something to be said of sleeping on your own bed at home, and having all of the familiar comforts, instead of living thousands of miles away in a city none of the players knew much about prior to “moving” there.

 

I was perusing a Raptor's forum. One fan thought all it would take to get Harden is Van Fleet and Boucher. I guess all teams have delusional fans when it comes to trades.

 

Blazers only had 18 assists tonight, which marked the first time all season they've won when dishing out less than 23 dimes. We did miss a lot of open shots, but there were times when iso-ball was our only offensive strategy. It wasn't a sustainable win, but it's a win. As long as we don't use this game as a blueprint for the remainder of the season and get back to ball movement/player movement (as we saw over the final 4 minutes), we'll be good.

Defensively, the communication and decision-making was abysmal for most of the game. It seemed like not everyone on the floor knew whether we were switching or fighting over screens. We helped off of shooters when it wasn't necessary, and Toronto made us pay. I thought the team dialed in their communication was played much stronger defense down the stretch.

Thankfully we won and it was just game 10 of 72.

 

It's not good, true. I'm just saying you have to weigh that against a hypothetical alternative. Say the Blazers acquired a center that basically played sound positional defense and set screens. Is that really going to make the second unit any better? Or is the plus/minus going to remain the same or get even worse because you added another piece that couldn't create points like Kanter can? I think it's most likely the latter.

Taking that a step further, what if Nurk gets hurt for an extended period, and now you have to put that journeyman big in the starting unit? You're really done.

None of these guys are perfect. Like you, I'd like to have more defense but I'd also like a lot more ball movement. I just don't know what was out there we could have picked up to pay Peter without robbing Paul.

 

We went to the WCF with that journeyman big.

 

You misunderstand me. I put Kanter ABOVE a journeyman big. Kanter is a guy who could start on a respectable or contending game with typical roster makeup. I think he's a notch about a player like Kyle O'Quinn, who I'd classify as a journeyman big ... he's OK if the fit is right in a particular situation, but, if you need him to produce for you every night, you are going to be disappointed.

That's what I'm saying your trade-off is ... a guy like Kanter who is deficient in one area but well above his peers in others, or a guy who is just average in every way.

 

Hence why he was a -10 at half.

Obviously one game is a small sample size but we've been consistently much worse with Melo on the court instead of off.

Melo is a great 4th quarter last might. He was very bad in the first 3.