how do you know they weren't supposed to be watching aNd learning/listening to the coach off cam saying what to or what not to do? just saying. It looks like they are all keyed in on the court. Not gooffing off.
It should be Chriss or Patterson, purely on positional needs of the roster. We have plenty of guys who can play guard; Dame CJ Powell Simons McLemore Snell (few minutes at SG) Little (few minutes at SG) Our position options for bigs are; Nurk Zeller Nance Roco Little (few minutes at PF) So we have 5 bigs, all whom have major injury history, while we have 7 guards, whom have very little injury history. Chriss or Patterson can step in fine for 10-15 minutes as a backup PF if we have two bigs miss a few games. Even if we have 2 guards missing games I'm not sure Dennis Smith Jr would see the court at all. Sign Chriss or Patterson!
This is all true and I tend to agree with you. However, if Dame goes down for a month, we only have 2 SGs (and zero true PGs) who can handle the ball well enough to run the team. I guess the question is are there GLeague players available to sign if that scenario were to happen?
CJ Elleby just turned 21 over the summer. He only played two years in College. I don't think he's a superstar but this is his last year on the contract. Second round pick drafted like 46 or 47 or something? Blazers are not letting him go just yet.
CJ could start at PG with one of Simons/McLemore/Norm backing him up fine for a month. Of course the team would be worse without Dame, but they'd be worse with whoever is in this 14th roster spot. Even if we signed DSJ or another GLeague guard; would he play in the scenario of Dame missing time? I very much doubt it. Without Dame, we'd go with the top10 options already on the roster and slide guys over a position if need be. We'd really need two injuries to these groups of guard players which seems far more unlikely with their history of good health. The bigs aren't as capable of playing long minutes as our guards, have much more injury history, and we have less of them on the current roster. So it seems obvious to go with an option there.
I agree that they seem to be invested in him. But watching him in SL was pretty dispiriting. He cannot shoot AT ALL, and he's fairly unathletic. Plus his handle is sloppy and he doesn't have much faith in it. So... what's his selling point? Maybe he has a really good BBIQ, but I'd like somebody to give me evidence.
Now if coaches and management believe Chriss and Patterson look like total replaceable G League scrubs, while DSJ or Cook look like a possible rotational player, that is the type of scenario where maybe you just keep the best guard player and if need be later on sign a big or play ultra small. Assuming Chriss and Patterson are better than options that will be available in the future the team should sign one of them.
Until the trade deadline there is zero chance the team cuts Elleby. They have a chance to move under the luxury tax with trades and will want to keep that flexibility. After the trade deadline when the luxury tax is finalized we could possibly see the team cut him and sign someone for the end of the season and playoffs.
Can we release blevins from his two way in order to make room for a real nba player should we need one?
His first year at WSU seemed to be his best by far. He took a lot less threes but made a lot more of them (.414%), but also had a lot more assists than his sophomore year. I'm guessing in his second year he was the only scorer on the team so he had to do it all and his efficiency dropped sharply. So, it would seem he should have done better with the Blazers when he didn't have much responsibility. But he didn't. I don't know where I am going with this but I still think he has the capability of being a big PG who can play defense, which would be very valuable. However he may be the kind of guy who needs big minutes to get into a shooting rhythm and since he will never get that with the Blazers, well........
Right now I think Patterson will be the 14th player. If I was olshey I would waive Elleby and pickup Smith.
I'd certainly imagine yes. My hope is we are allowing Blevins to temporarily use that spot until we need it for someone else. There is no on the court reason for him to be there.
