yeah but one isnt known for defense, one was never gonna see time and was never factored into the defense and s third has never been good at defense. The defensive “improvements” we made have been on the court the bulk of the season. I hope we do get better with them back but i see more offensive improvement than defensive. And if they do improve, then what. No longer last but still bottom third? I mean i think they will add improvement but vault us to a top ten? Doubtful.
sorry forgot about zach. I meant cj not good. But giles was never factored in. So nurk and Collins vault us to top ten? ill eat whatever crow you cook up if im wrong but i dont see it. And ill happily eat that crow too.
I don't know if this is posted somewhere else: "Following Sunday’s loss to the Timberwolves, Quick cited an unnamed source when highlighting the behind-the-scenes defensive concerns from ownership. It has created a tense backdrop to Stotts’ future in Portland. He is under contract through the 2021-22 season, and while he has made seven consecutive playoff appearances and is well-liked by his players, a source says the Blazers’ lack of defense throughout his tenure has become a topic with ownership in Seattle." https://www.blazersedge.com/2021/3/...coach-concerns-ownership-topic-defensive-woes
Bottom 20 is definitely expected given the talent he has, but 29th shows that the very least, Stotts isn't contributing to a solution. Our rating actually went down like .6 in the last two games against the Wolves. The 26th ranked offense Wolves. About time someone started paying attention.
It is a little bit crazy that we are significantly worse than we were last year. I mean, last year, we had no perimeter defense whatsoever (Before Ariza). We had a rim protector that was overrated but still a deterrent. This year we have two wing defenders, but everyone else is useless defensively, and no rim protection, and our defense is a whole 3 points worse per 100. I mean, fucking ouch.
Scoring on us in the paint is basically automatic right now. Either that or they get a foul call. The refs have zero respect for our defenders in the post. They call fouls automatically on any contact. Meanwhile, on the other end.....
Blazers, Pelicans and Kings are in a league of their own. The difference between us (29) and Brooklyn (24) is the difference between Brooklyn (24) and Phoenix (5). That is actually nuts.
That list is depressing. Now imagine how much better this team would be with only one of Dame/CJ and no Melo or Kanter? Dame Norm DJ Roco Nurk That lineup could actually D someone up. Or if my wet dream happened and we were able to deal CJ for Simmons..... Dame Norm Simmons Roco Nurk That team could win a championship.
Need a massive missile for Terry as well. Hell, that should be the overarching point here. It should be feasible to hide bad defenders, but impossible when you play 3 of them at once. Our roster construction is not unusual w/ the number of bad defenders on it. But our coach does very little to mitigate the bad to balance in the good-- both from a teaching or a decision-making perspective.
Sometimes more than three. Dame Ant Melo Kanter Or CJ Ant Melo Kanter or Dame CJ Melo Kanter I have seen all of those linups out there.
