(All stats and records through Jan. 14; for report cards for all 30 teams click here.) Offense: 103.6, 22nd Overall Defense: 103.6, 7th Overall W-L | Pct. | GB 22-21 | .524 | 5 Conf.: 11-12 Div.: 3-3 Home: 10-10 Road: 12-10 FRONTCOURT: B Center Jusuf Nurkic hasn’t performed consistently at the level he displayed late last season that generated so much excitement. Portland likes Al-Farouq Aminu’s 3-point proficiency. Evan Turner has been in the red both offensively and defensively, based on NBA.com's on/off stats. BACKCOURT: A- This is the heart of the Portland team, with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum both worthy of All-Star selection. Lillard is the Blazers’ engine, McCollum is the more lethal scorer. DEFENSE: C- There’s a sense that when Portland goes small, it winds up overmatched defensively and has to resort to fouls against bigger foes. There also is the challenge of not letting the defense sag just because the scoring has picked up lately. BENCH: C+ There’s a sameness or interchangeability to the Blazers’ backup forwards that doesn’t lend itself to a definite pecking order. Shabazz Napier and Pat Connaughton have been good in relief of Lillard and McCollum. COACHING: C+ Terry Stotts is the fourth-winningest coach in Blazers history and has taken them to four consecutive postseasons. But another four – the past four seasons as a Top 10 offensive team -- is in jeopardy. OVERALL GRADE: C- The Trail Blazers have bumped along in an inconsistent first half, playing well enough on the road while working with an imbalanced scoring attack. There’s optimism for what remains, based on a combined post-All Star break mark of 35-19 the past two seasons. But Portland’s 5-9 performance so far within the West's top eight teams argues against that. http://www.nba.com/reportcard/midseason/2018/blazers#/
Never would have guessed going into this season that our defense would be that much better than our offense.
7th in the league in Defense but with a C- grade? I can actually agree with most everything else. Even if you think the D is a mirage that will not stay you have to give them props for the show to this point.
Can't argue much with those assessments. This team so far has been a whole bunch of meh. When they're on, Dame and CJ are good enough to push the team to win against all but the elite teams. When they're not...the Blazers can be painful to watch.
So..... The Ranked 7th Defense is a C+, and rating the Offense is not in the cards? Really Strange. If you rank the Defense, you should rank the Offense - otherwise it looks like you're cherry picking. edit: one more thing: Having several grades, then having the overall be the worst of these grades is also nonsensical. If our frontcourt is a B and our backcourt is an A-, then we can't really be a C- overall.
Horrible analysis. His overall grade is C- although only 1 element out of 5 is graded at that low a level. He's completely wrong with the frontcourt as well. I would give that a D. I'd probably give our backcourt a B as well. Coaching is C-/D+ as well.
I would love to see all the numbers in the original post side by side with the past few years, so they can have some context.
I agree with the overall grade, but his analysis doesn't make sense because the elements he graded don't add up to it.
I get you. It's like the student who showed his work on the math test, did it completely wrong, yet somehow arrived at the right answer. Half credit at best.
If anyone is interested in writing a similar "report", please include expectations. The national media thought we'd finish at under .500, and out of the playoffs. But, if that's what you think, then we're at least a C+. A C- is appropriate if you expected us to finish with the 5th or even 4th seed. That's what me, and several here, were thinking/hoping. Regardless, the author should have stated his expectations before the season. Without that, the grade is based on nothing, and it becomes easy to make common sense mistakes, like the author did.
Here's mine: FRONTCOURT: D Nurk has been a positive defensively, but has been horrible offensively. His TS% of .499 is absolutely terrible for a center who shoots 83% of his shots from within 10 feet of the basket. In TS%, he is currently 125th out of the 129 players that have attempted enough shots to qualify for the leader (or trailer) board in FG%. He also turns the ball over way too much. Of the top 50 in TOVs, only Dwight Howard has fewer assists. For a player who doesn't create for others, he turns the ball over way too much. He's just way to casual and careless with the ball, both with his shooting and his passing. And he's our best front court player. PF by committee is slightly better this year than last. It's still a weak spot, but looks better than it really is because the SF position is such a trainwreck. Moe Harkless is this season's biggest disappointment. He hasn't just regressed, he's fallen off a cliff. Evan Turner continues to be a terrible fit. The only real bright spot in our frontcourt has been the return of the real Ed Davis. Overall, our frontcourt ranks 26th of 30 in Deff (Efficiency Difference). The only frontcourts that are worse are ORL (13-31), CHI (17-27), PHO (16-29) and SAC (13-30). The only reason I didn't give them a D- is Nurk's defensive impact. BACKCOURT: A- For all the talk about Dame and C.J. not being able to coexist, they are the ONLY reason we have a winning record. They may not be perfect, but they are the best two players on the team and it's not close. Because of them, our backcourt is ranked 5th best in Deff, trailing only HOU (30-12), TOR (29-13), GSW (36-9) and WAS (25-19). Shabazz Napier has become an excellent 3rd guard and Pat Connaughton has been a solid rotation piece. Two reasons it's an A- instead of an A: both Dame and especially C.J. are not scoring as efficiently as they did last year, and C.J.'s defense is still hurting us. DEFENSE: B Much improved. A lot of that is a full season of Nurk, but Dame is no longer the matador defender he once was. Kudos to him for putting in the effort to be a more complete player. Would have been an A, but has been slipping recently. Offense: D+ Still no reliable 3rd scorer. Still relying too much on Dame and C.J. for scoring. Aminu's 3-point shooting is a bright spot, and a big reason we are 5th in the league in 3FG%. However, our 2FG% is 26th. Again, this reflects the weakness of our front court. Last in the league in assists is concerning for an offense that relies on ball movement. Would have been a D, but has gotten a little better recently. BENCH: C Ed Davis is back to his usual productive self, Shabazz Napier has been a pleasant surprise and Pat Connaughton has been good enough to earn a spot in the rotation. SF is our biggest weakness, both in the starting lineup and off the bench. We just flat out suck at small forward. COACHING: C- Stotts has a history of experimenting with line ups and playing time during the first half of the season before settling in on the best combination. Hopefully, for the third year in a row, the team will gel during the second half and finish strong. If they do, Stotts' grade will improve. If they don't, he will receive a failing grade. OVERALL GRADE: C Top 5 backcourt combined with a bottom 5 frontcourt == average team. Average team == average grade. BNM
