Game Thread Preseason Game #4 Blazers @ Warriors - October 15th 2021 - Friday - 7PM - RootTV- NBA TV

So are you going on record saying this team, as constructed, is talent rich? If so, you’re delusional, man.

 

Go watch their video. It's worse than you think? He's all about 2nd or 3rd seed and a contender?

 

Preseason absolutely didn't look great.
But boy is there some meltdown going on.

Might have to pull up the old "MELTDOWN" thread.

 

is it a lack of effort or is it confused hesitancy?

if one doesn't know their assignment they must think about it. This thinking causes a delay in reaction time which could look like slow, lazy play?

That is about the only counter i have on that. Lol.

 

It’s gonna take 20 games with healthy players to learn anything about this team. I will TRY not to read much into preseason games. Need Zeller at 100 percent

 

Because our backups have been trash. Nurkic has has good points, obviously, while his backups don't even have those. The constant complaints about the "drop coverage" and how Portland gets destroyed from three-point territory seem to not understand that with Nurkic, there's really not a lot of choice, since Nurkic can't switch on the perimeter, nor is he adept at hedging (and hedging brings its own negatives). A more mobile, switchable center would do significantly more for Portland's defense, IMO.

 

This was in response to TBpups post; not sure how I fucked it up:

This is a concern for me also. Sure, Lillard and CJ saying the right things. But nobody talking about the new coach and system with enthusiasm. Nobody saying: I'm so glad we have a fresh voice and system. I love and enjoy playing this style so much. I think we will come out of this a much better team, on defense and offense.
Hopefully some of the guys who aren't quoted by the press as much are thinking this way. But we really need more zest from our leaders, L:illard and McCollum, and even Nurkic needs to come out and say: This is tough but I know it's making me better. I love the new coach.

 

They're not talent rich, but not talent poor either. They played guys Brown III & Watford who need at least 3 years of development. Not NBA talent right now at all IMO. McLemore doesn't look like a good pickup. They played with mostly a summer league lineup. The starters and key backups hardly played due to rest & injuries making for cautious usage. I feel tired legs from camp with all the extra defensive work led to poor shooting .

 

lol … question answered in that case! I love the optimism, but man, you gotta be at least somewhat realistic in your expectations. I certainly hope I’m wrong but the body language of the team speaks volumes. Hopefully that improves over the course of the season but I’m still wholly in the “this team needs a second star” camp… and maybe a third. CJ and Nurkic, unfortunately, are not close to being stars.

 

I kinda feel for the folks who were always banging the "coaching is holding back this talented roster" drum. Now they're trying to to find this sweet spot where they maintain that the roster is good, the scheme is good, but the (early) results just are the polar opposites of what we were told they would be. While I love the 180 from ultra negative to blindly positive, the spin has to be taxing.

I do believe Billups is doing an ok job and we're going to be fine in the regular season, but there has been almost nothing to celebrate at this point.

 

It was a brutal preseason , for sure. The worst in a long time IMO. But i never saw the team play their starters less. And so many key backups banged up. But i like what i'm seeing from Nurk, other than his piss poor shooting. But i see that improving during the season. But he looks as agile and in shape as i've ever seen.

 

but that's the problem...that's where they have been for the entire Stolshey era....they have averaged a 6th seed, 45.8 wins for the 11th best record, and have been 22-40 in the playoffs. They have had a desperate need for more high end talent but it seems there is an institutional willingness to settle for the kind of mediocrity that generates those numbers

if the Blazers have 'tired legs' after a 4 game pre-season with one easy road trip and limited minutes for key players they are in deep trouble. Billups didn't run a boot camp with daily doubles, as far as I know. He's been there himself as a player. I guess we'll file tired legs in the excuse drawer right behind injured legs

 

I agree with everything but the Nurk part.

While Nurk was allowed to do more this preseason, I think it confirmed why it was probably wise not to run a lot of our offense through him in the past. While he makes some great plays, he also makes a high rate of costly plays that appear to net out as a negative. I've always believed we need Nurk to be an all-star level player for us to being a real contender, but this preseason has pointed to that this is highly unlikely.

Edit: This doesn't mean I think Nurk is a pile of garbage, far from it.

 

If you go hard in camp, which i believe they have been, especially with all the focus on defense, you can get tired legs. The Blazers starters are much better shooters than they've shown this preseason.

 

We've draft and traded for high end talent here, just not under the last 8 years with Olshey.

 

Not sure what this means? Well,well,well?

 

ok....but I haven't read any stuff about the Blazers going harder or longer at practices this year than other years. The season itself will certainly be a more taxing time than a pre-season with only 4 games. Dame shot 58% of FG's by the way; CJ shot 43%.

And, speaking of CJ, people were hoping that Billups would be imposing some discipline on CJ this year. The early results: whenever I tuned into the games I saw more MeJ than CJ. He averaged 25 shots per36 when he has averaged about 19 per36 over the last 4 seasons. In the two games he played with Dame he had 5 fewer minutes but 5 more FGA's. If Billups is going to put a damper on MeJ, it hasn't been installed yet