will the departure of this summers free agents provide a silver lining in an increased pace and a more exciting brand of blazer basketball. don't get me wrong, I certainly expect to lose a lot more games with Aldridge,lopez,batum and Wesley's departure, but I would venture that we have potentially gotten a whole lot more athletic. over the last two seasons I have often caught myself admiring the quickness and accuracy of Lenard's outlet passes only to watch the team slow it down to allow Aldridge to make his way up court before the team started into its offensive sets. was this by design or only to be sure he got his touches before firing up a shot? batum's loss as a look ahead passer/finisher will be missed if we up the pace but I think plumlee and Meyers are more fleet of foot than LA or robin. extending the rotation with atheletes like plumlee and davis should help keep fresher and need I mention younger legs on the floor pushing the pace. henderson and cj are both built for the open court too. the need for a reliable back up pg is a glaring weakness in this scenario though, frazier is without a doubt built for speed. yes less victories but perhaps but more excitement as the players develop and we wait for future personel moves aloha
Having players who can run is less important than having a coach who wants to run. Stotts has shown his chops as a half-court coach - but is he willing to embrace a drastic change?
his most drastic change is the personel loss of four of his starers and and a decidedly lower number of players who's claim to fame is mostly 3pt range
It would be fun to watch the Blazers as an uptempo, fast-breaking team. Under the McMillan era, we were atrocious on the break. And even under Stotts, our execution on the break leaves much to be desired. Now with the flood of young and athletic players, Stotts should definitely look into getting our guys in up and down games to take advantage of our athleticism. But I feel like we still need at least one more guard, who can run the break proficiently, has good court vision and can throw lobs. Sergio Rodriguez might be an option, but maybe a little too old for the direction Olshey is going. Kendall Marshall is a great passer, but does little else well, not to mention he just came back from an ACL injury. I think Jeremy Lin is an underrated passer, but Dallas has their sights on him, so I'm don't think he would choose us. Whatever the case, I'm excited to watch more Blazer dunks this year.
andre miller and a time machine? (he is still my wife's all time favorite player to watch) ps. I really like both Sergio and or marshall too
Lol. Yeah, that would work also. But if I had a time machine, why the heck would I be messing with Miller? Instead, I would go back to 1984 and tell the Blazers to pick Jordan instead of Bowie, forever changing the course of destiny for the Blazers!
bucks have too many players under contract. mayo nah, bayless nah maybe mayo if they included a 2nd rounder or something
second wouldn't be enough still kind of gagging after typing. Norris cole seems expendable in neworleans and mccallum in sacramento would work as back ups. if the ego thing could get solved for a running team that is looking to part ways with their current personel ,ty Lawson would certainly look like a promising point guard 2.0. of course he views himself as a borderline allstar.
shane larkin struggled with the nuances of the triangle inNYC but might prove a fine back up to lillard if we are running. pretty attainable if rumors are to be believed edit looks like he just signed with the nets. does this mean Jarrett jack is ripe for a return to his portland roots? thoughts of him leading our fast breaks are kind of cringe worthy though.
Bowie was good in his debut. That second season was his crutch. The Blazers knew aboout the leg,wanted a big man no matter what but were attracted to his size and abilities before he put on a Blazer jersey.
I'm not sure if running is going to be our best option. Those Brandon Roy teams played slow for a reason, and it's cause they were a little over matched but could always rely on a slow game and some Brandon Roy magic at the end. I think a similar model could be used for this Lillard led squad, although I think using Aminu at the 4 in certain situations could be a game changer.
our current team is considerably more athletic than the roy aldrridge teams. its about entertainment value just as much as wins. jaun Dixon and steve blake started as did Zach Randolph and Jamaal magliore not any one there fleet enough of foot to be a fast break team. ime udoka was the starting small forward. not much of a comparison atheltically
I like Stotts, and I think he will adjust fine, but John Calipari would look really good on the sideline coaching a team of young athletic high motor guys.
I'm not sure if Stotts can coach an uptempo team. One thing that drove me nuts last year was his inability to adjust. We played the same way whether it was vs. GS or Mem. In the series against the Grizz it was the perfect opportunity to play uptempo & press Calathes + banged up Udrih after Conley went down. Gasol & Randolph are beasts in the post, but they can't get up & down the floor. What do we do? We let Calathes walk it up every time with zero pressure & dump it into the post, playing right into their strengths. We didn't pressure their backcourt or try to force an up & down style, even when that is the blueprint for beating Memphis. So it's hard to imagine Stotts running a D'Antoni like offense. That said, how are we going to play? We don't have many shooters or post up players, & we don't have anyone who can get their own shot. I'm curious to find out if Stotts is revamping his style at all. Last in the league in steals 3 seasons in row. Are we going to be more aggressive trying to plug passing lanes/create turnovers defensively? Seems like we need to. Why go young/athletic if you're not? I think he hinted that they were changing the offense at the press conference intro for our new guys. I want to believe Stotts is versatile enough to implement a new style on both sides of the ball. At least we should find out if he's the right coach or not this season.
Is Nolan Richardson still around? I alluded to it a few days ago in another thread, but with all the athleticism we've added, we need to go "Forty (eight) minutes of Hell". Anyone remember how Dame was a defensive menace in his team USA tryouts because he didn't have to carry the offensive burden like he does here? Well, EVERYONE who isn't Dame should be willing/able to do the same this upcoming season. I'd love to see players being switched in/out every few minutes like in a hockey game because they're playing so hard. That would be insanely fun to watch!
I've had the same concerns. We would chase players over the top of a screen 25' from the basket to prevent the '3' which was all well and good against guys and teams that could shoot. But teams like Memphis who were among the teams who shot the least amount of '3's in the league, there we were going over the top when they would live in the mid-range and in the paint. It played into their scheme perfectly. We played them 9 times and played it the same way every time and got beat 8 of 9 times. Adjust!
