Id rather they have a taller SF, but shitty team defensive schemes is what killed the team, not their height. Wait, are you including Donovan Mitchell? he's 6'1"...
tempting karma considering the two Blazer bigs have combined to miss 200 games over the last 3 seasons. That's like 67 games a year....yikes! Fortunately, Nance has only missed 70 games in the last 3 seasons...much better
didn't help. Every western team has at least 1 LONG defensive wing who they can stick on opposing perimeter scorers. Roco is a great help defender but is fairly average on the ball. Utah-- O'Neale/Ingles (was surprisingly a good defender) Phoenix-- Bridges/Crowder Denver -- Gordon/Green Clippers -- George/Batum/Kawhi Dallas -- Finney Smith/Ntilikina POR -- ?? Roco ?? Lakers --Ariza/Bazemore Memphis -- Brooks GSW -- Klay/Wiggins/Porter/Iggy Spurs -- Johnson/ Aminu Our best hope as is is for Nas to assume this role because only Roco ain't gonna cut it.
think this is oversimplifying it. other teams have guys who can stop PGs/SGs. we don't. most starting wings are above average, versatile defenders.
sure, let's pick two guys out of like the 20 guys i listed to make a point. what is the argument here? that Powell is going to lock guys down, or that we simply don't need one? Our coach literally said "it's going to get difficult" to play a 3 guard lineup in the playoffs today.
didn't Billups say that while a 6'3 SF would work, most time, in the regular season it was going to be problem in the playoffs? Not every team can take advantage of Powell's defense at SF but a primary defensive issue is still there: teams can hide one bad perimeter defender. Teams can't hide 2 bad perimeter defends, and that's the cross Portland has to bear the much bigger regular season problem with a 6'3 SF, with this particular 6'3 SF, is rebounding. Powell had a terrible 5.1% rebounding rate in Portland last season. That was worse than Dame & CJ. The Blazers are already at a rebounding deficit at PF with RoCo. Having the 11% of RoCo and 5% of Powell has to be about the lowest combined rebounding rates for forwards in the league. That puts lots of pressure on Nurkic and Zeller to control the glass
ya i figured he would. still would like to add a long/rangy wing, though. i know he was super inconsistent but having harkless around to throw at these guys was a weapon in the past. he actually did a terrific job on PG in the OKC series that often went unnoticed.
They all look great in the practice clips I saw today...last two seasons we had hobbled bigs which was my point....I'm happy about the roster..tempting karma is saying injuries to those guys has not been corrected...they put Nurks leg back on you know? Zach is the Spurs problem...I don't think Nance broke the same foot three times in a row though...
You can make these types of arguments against every team in the league. How will the Lakers defend. How will Utah play when teams go small. Yes the Blazers have weaknesses. The job of Billups is to maximize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses. The Blazers have good defenders in Nurk Rolo Nance Powell. They have great shooting and scoring. These other teams with defenders like Ntilika will have other problems when hes on the floor. The Blazers don't need to be a top5 defense, if they can be average or a bit better with their offense they are very dangerous. If rebounding is needed maybe we see more of Nance NAS Snell and less of Powell at SF. This will be Billups job to get the right balance in all the various areas, or wisely choose the right areas to disregard.
I won't be surprised if Dennis Smith takes Ant's spot in the rotation. He is a bad shooter, but better playmaker and way better defender.
