Game Thread 2024-25 GAME #14 - BLAZERS VS HAWKS - NOV 17, 2024 - SUNDAY - 3:00 PM - KATU 2.2, BLAZERVISION

I was told last years #1 pick was on the court last night……

 

What were you saying about young players needing time?
The fact that a 19-year-old put up 33 points, 7 rebounds 7 assists, and 3 steals in his 5th NBA game against the Knicks tells me he
could be pretty good in 2 years. He is a good defender as well but needs to add weight.

 

I'm not at all implying that Clingan is a bad player or that one game plus minus is a great indicator. But I do think it has some value, especially when comparing two players playing the same position and with no overlap in minutes and the plus/minus for both at the extremes for the entire team. It just lets us know Clingan still has work to do and it will be interesting to see how he evolves against different opposing centers. I have a lot of faith in him.

 

Oh I don’t think they shouldn’t play him. I think he should start and play a ton….just like our young guys. I just know last years draft sucked and I sure didn’t see #1 talent out on that court last night. I was impressed with the Johnson kid though.

 

+/- depends on the play of 10 players on the court, Clingan is only 10%. So looking at his +/- stats primarily tells us how good or bad his teammates and opposition was in a game, not how good he was himself.

It's a worthless stat to look at for individual games.

 

It's good that he recognized at that time that the offense wasn't working well with Banton. The game before he saw the opposite. I appreciate his flexibility.

 

yeah Johnson was an eye opener for sure. pretty impressive young guy

 

The point is no one said last year's draft class had a superstar. Just a bunch of young players who over time could be very good. Risacher will never be Wemby, but he could very well be as good as Brandon Miller who went #2

 

watched the game, well, parts of it, this morning on the recorder. Weird game; exciting game. Each team took turns looking great and looking awful. 47 combined turnovers.....yeeeeshhh. Seemed like a lot. The team record for turnovers is apparently 45 by the Warriors in 1971. Meaningless trivia: the lowest +/- for a season by a player is -756 by Dean Garrett in 1997-98. That's one way to keep your name in the record books

* is Sharpe truly climbing the ladder? Kind of looks like it. I do cringe a little when he jumps 4 feet in the air in a crowd of players around the rim. It's the landings that get ya you know. What he really needs to improve is that ugly misbegotten goatee.

* Camara can be the Blazer glue guy if they become a contender within the next 5 years. A much bigger Tony Allen/Shane Battier type of player. I wish he was a little younger but then he might not be a 'present' defensively if he was

* can't make up my mind on Banton. His current shooting number are so far above his norms it's easy to be skeptical about the sustainability. And he has way too low an assist/turnover for a player so ball dominant (although assist-rate/turnover-rate is good). But he does have some upside as an unorthodox 6-9 PG/wing (seriously doubt he's all of 6'9)

* record with Simons/Ayton: 3-8; record without Simons/Ayton: 3-0. Still could be meaningless but getting harder to ignore. The entertainment value is much better for sure

 

Hold them out of these next 3 games on the road and let's see what happens.

 

Yeah schedule is going to get very tough. Atlanta at home was always our most winnable game of a dozen, although I have no explanation how we beat Minnesota twice. Maybe they overlooked us the first game then just had an off game their second on the road. Often teams have trouble playing way up in the NW.

But could see us going on a big losing streak the next few weeks - the schedule is very tough until 9 games from now when we play Utah Dec6.

Only one I really want us to win is Friday at Houston for the cup game. Will be super cool if we can at the least have a few games playing for something this season.

 

I'm all for it

 

Right. Can they be just as much fun to watch even if they don't win them all... I can't see how ever playing Simons again on this team can do anyone any good.

 

Right because we have so many shooters coming off the bench as it is.

 

Simons will never be the one coming off the bench. Just nip that in the bud.

 

Yeah if we could acquire Ayton or Simons and they had never played here I'd be more interested in it. The problem is they feel entitled to their Blazers starting positions, Blazers shots they've had, and Blazers roles they've done so they won't be amicable to have any of those lessen even if its for the benefit of the team.

If we were a high level playoff team maybe they'd accept a lesser role. But Ayton accept playing behind a young rookie? No way he would ever go along with that while we're in the lottery.

Similar with Ant, he's not going to accept Banton or Scoot starting ahead of him or taking his shots. He might not even let Sharpe take his shots or minutes even if Sharpe plays at a level he never has. Ant did take a back seat for Dame and CJ, but that was because they were here first.

It's like running a car dealership - you need to clear out the old inventory before promoting the new models.

 

Maybe, maybe not. But it would be good for the team which is what I was responding to.

 

@Chris Craig
This game was also on the main KATU channel. And so will the upcoming games on 11/20, 11/22, and 11/27. Just an FYI for the channel info on the thread titles.
all the info you include in the first post of these game threads is impressive.

 

Not to be that guy, but the team looks way more cohesive without having to cover for Ant on defense 35 minutes per game. Small sample size for sure, but the benefit seems to outweigh any benefits offensively.