Sharpe is legit. Feed him 20 shots a game. Give him the damn rock. Brogdon and Grant need to go. They dominate time of possession and they're not really helping set up their teammates. See what we can get as soon as they're able to be moved. Thybulle is pretty much garbo. I wanted to keep him around because he's a veteran and I thought his contract was cheap, but he's giving us nothing. There are cheaper veterans to be had out there. Camara should be starting. Camara and Walker are the best forwards on the team. I love watching them come in and bring the intensity and the ball movement. Scoot.... I fully admit I thought he'd be ready to kick ass right away. It seems like he's going to be a bit more of a project. It took Shae until the end of the season to really break out last year. I think it could take Scoot 41 games to get a feel. I still think he's going to be good. We need more shooters. Losing Ant has really allowed teams to sag into the middle and Ayton is suffering because of it. Billups sucks. It doesn't feel like there's any plan. The Magic looked a million times more organized than us. If we get blown out by Detroit, he needs to go. I don't think he's doing Scoot any favors.
Things to improve on: Brogdon - stop dribbling the air out of the ball. He holds onto his dribble for too long and he needs to move the ball quicker. Camara - I have noticed a few times that he fumbles the ball often. Gotta work on those butter fingers. Jabari - stop trying to force it on a fast break. Move the ball. Ayton - Demand the ball more. Scoot - start taking more of those middies. Stop deferring so much. The mid rangers are there and he's passing them up. Grant - pass the ball Thybulle - contribute.... do something.... anything. Shaedon - pretty happy so far. Maybe assert yourself more. RGIII - I don't have anything at this point.
I would like to see Scoot dribble the ball through the paint, even if he doesn't score or get an assist (which is the ultimate objective). Is this the same guy who did a hesi on Amen Thompson, then blew by him and put in a reverse layup coming from behind the backboard while being contacted/fouled by two players during the shot? I don't know if it's him or part of the plan on offense. It's also very weird seeing Brogdon be the ball handler when Scoot's on the floor and Scoot in the left corner. That makes no sense. Scoot, or at least the Scoot we knew, was fantastic at throwing dart passes to the corner 3-point shooter. Not so great 3-point shooting himself.
Billups said his challenge is to get the starters playing as hard as the bench guys. laying the groundwork for a mutiny. if the vets thrown in the towel and quit playing hard, just remember Coach's post game presser tonight.
Scoot is getting rid of the ball as quick as humanly possible. It could be Billups, but I think it's Scoot trying not to make mistakes. He needs to assert himself.
Scoot is seeing that G-League to NBA is a big jump, maybe more than the jump from a good college and the NBA
same old stuff, the Blazers were aggressive, played with intensity. You know, play the way Billups likes to see. Then it got a little dicey when the reporters asked about Toumani & Walker. The coach said the starters weren't playing as hard as the youngsters. Billups didn't pull any punches like we're used to seeing. Will this extra kick in the butt work? I have no idea. Remember... starters play against other starters. The bench guys battle with bench guys. The game can look a little different. Something to think about.
oh.. and coach blamed the bad loss was because Anfernee Simons is out for awhile. Did you know Ant scores 25 points with 6-7-8 assists? Billups reminded everyone how difficult things are without "the best player on the team".
Portland isn't a team yet. The sum of the parts is quite a bit less that the whole, and the parts aren't that good to begin with long season ahead
I don't know why so many expect Portland to trade Grant this year. I think there's very little chance it will happen. Brogdon, maybe
My way too early observations are THIS TEAM WOULDA BEEN BETTER IF THEY DIDNT DO THAT JRUE HOLIDAY TRADE... Is this team 0-3 with Jrue Holiday? Camara gets 16 FGA's in game 3... Shaedon Sharpe 15 fga's with 0 ftas in the first half of game 2... N Brogdon plays 26 minutes for our trash team while Jrue plays 36 for the best team in the east..
I have been completely unimpressed by Billups for three years. He is not a good X and O's coach. Last season before the team decided to tank, how many 20+ point leads did they blow? Reportedly the Blazers hired him because he was Dame's choice but Dame is gone and the team has a coach who just can't coach.
