I'm not trying to take the ball out of Roy's hands. Roy didn't create every single possesion for us. I'm looking to give him a tiny bit more rest early in the games, and when it's not in his hands, to put it in someone's hands other than Steve Blake. To allow Miller to create for Oden and Aldridge, as opposed to them creating for themselves.
Its a myth that our offense was good last year. It was predictable, and the good teams shut us down because of that. Houston shut us down in the playoffs and Brandon was asking for help. Well, now he has help, but he is too spoiled to give up control to someone with a track record of 11 years of success. He needs to shut his fucking ego down and let Andre do what he does and learn to play with him.
I will try to say this without sounding too much like an arse. But I feel Kp was desperate there for a stretch in late July. Unable to sign a top free agent. Unable to close the deal on trades. I think he went through a period where he lost all control and forgot about the kind of players he wanted to add to this roster. He says he is all about finding the right fit, piece? How exactly did Andre fit in here? It appeared a bit shady when they did sign him. And it's looking more and more shady now. I don't know, maybe the real problem with this team isn't McMillan. Maybe it's Pritchard. Unable orchestrate a deal to thin out a roster. Unable to recruit a big name free agent. Losing his mind due to it and signing players that have no business being on this roster. It's what it looks like from here.
What does Andre do? 11 years of success, but no one pursued him in the off season, not even Philly his old team(and many teams were looking for PGs). Miller is quoted as saying he came to the Blazers becuase it was either the Blazer or the Knicks, they were the only two teams interested. And really if teh Blazers got Hedo, it probably would have only been the Knicks . . . and I wonder how interested they really were?
I got to run . . . I'm not anti-Miller. I'm just disappointed that in the Blazer stuggles, posters point to Miller as being the savior and Nate holding back the savior of the team. Go Blazers!
The problem is that you can only get so far with Roy being the focus of the offense. He's not a LeBron James. He can't single-handedly will a team to 60 wins and a Finals appearance. There's only so far he can take us with the offense running through him. Portland needs a more balanced approach. We need to get 20-22 ppg out of Aldridge, and 12-16 ppg out of Oden. And we need Roy to focus much, much more on the defensive end. We need better offensive productivity out of guys like Webster and even Joel. Those things just don't seem to be happening with Roy as the primary ball handler, but they could with Miller.
The Knicks was probably a better fit for him - but he is only 1/2 of what D'Antoni likes - D'Antoni likes PGs that excel in fast pace (Plus for Andre) but can also knock the long-distance shot (Not so much).
Apparently so. The entire offensive should be molded around a 33 year-old PG on a 3 year contract who can't shoot and doesn't defend.
I think there's a legit reason to be excited about both. I think we'll see that if he's given the chance to start. I think, ultimaetly, it will make things easier on Roy. I want the ball in Roy's hands. But he's not going to have the ball in his hands on every possession. And he shouldn't HAVE to. Especially early in the games, he shouldn't have to look to go into attack mode. He had to often last season if Aldridge's shot wasn't falling. With easier shots for Aldridge and Oden, and even Roy, he won't have to attack early. As for integrating pieces into the team, good teams adjust to new players, and new players adjust to their teams. The Lakers have adjusted to Bynum being in the starting lineup, as well as adjusting to the addition of Pau Gasol. Should they have utilized Pau the exact same way they used Lamar, because that's whose spot he was taking in the starting lineup? Should teams only look to bring in players that duplicate the exact skills the previous player had, but with improvements? I'm not saying Miller is on that level, and as I said before, I don't expect us to say ok, we're going to a brand new scheme to fit one guy. I do expect EVERYONE to make slight adjustments, however.
Well then, it's a good thing that LMA averaged 18 ppg last year on 15.3 fga/per, isn't it? I am simply floored that people are trashing Roy in favor of a 33 year-old PG on his 5th team.
Yep, and nobody is suggesting that, but hyperbole is fun, and goes a long way to furthering discussion on a message board, as opposed to just turning it into a sounding board for your whining.
I just replied to a post in which the case was made for Miller to be the primary ball handler instead of Roy. If that isn't changing the offense for him, I don't know what is. It isn't hyperbole when somebody posted it.
[video=youtube;uj31p0sJBOc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj31p0sJBOc[/video] [video=youtube;3ORIgQPoLXY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ORIgQPoLXY[/video] [video=youtube;GX4YvQeBhGg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX4YvQeBhGg[/video] ....and he would do it here if Nate and Brandon would quit micromanaging his game.
The case was made? Reading comprehension FTW! What "case was made"? Where he said "Yes, but do you change the whole offensive scheme and go away from the success the Blazers had last year for Miller?" And has been opposed to adjusting the offense for Miller, that was the case being made to adjust the offense?
Maybe. But I think people doubt Roy as well. To think that he will never develop the chemistry with Oden is a mistake in my opinion. If Nate and Roy figure that involving Oden on offense is a priority - I doubt he would not be able to add this to his game. They probably shut him out of the offense last year for a reason - to make the transition easy for him. Again - Roy is a superb decision maker - you surround him with shooters, rebounders and good defenders - and he will take a team very far. I do not think that Roy as the one running the offense is a problem - once his team-mates step up (which none of them did last year in the playoffs) - he is not selfish unless he needs to be. I am just not buying this. Joel was never a big offense guy - so we do not really care about that - but it should be noted that Joel had his most efficient offensive year last year - with Roy running the ball. His 2nd most efficient year scoring? The year before that - when Roy was running the ball. Joel does not get big offensive numbers in this scheme - but he gets awfully efficient numbers. Webster's most efficient offensive year? His 3rd, with Roy running the ball. So far, as a starter playing a lot of minutes with Roy - he is further up. Travis? Same story. And finally, LMA? LMA has been playing with Roy all his life and he is the #1 outlet for Roy's assists. He averaged 18 PPG last year on one of the slowest teams in the league. In most teams - that would come to 20-22 PPG that you want. The biggest change we needed to do this year was add post-entry to Roy's offensive directing arsenal. I am just not buying that he is incapable of doing that - he has shown the ability to add many facets to his game. What this team needed before and still does - is someone to contain the small, fast point guards. Miller is not and was not the answer there. Roy's defensive issues are magnified this year because Nic is out - but the answer for the defensive woes we have do not go through Roy. They go through containing fast point guards (still a problem) and containing bigger, stronger perimeter guys that create (Melo, Joe Johnson) - which Batum does better than Webster (despite Webster's obvious good intentions). If we went for Capt. Kirk instead of Miller - we would have got the upgrade defense against smaller, quicker guys, and we could tell Roy to work on post-entry passes and setting up the big guy as his next big thing to work on. Instead, we have to make Roy work better without the ball in his hands (which may or may not work), marginalizing his biggest advantage - in order to integrate a point guard who does not make better decisions than Roy.
Teams have figured out Portland's offense...It is Brandon Roy and a bunch of jump shooters. Particularly late in the game when the team NEEDS a basket, everyone in the frickin building knows who it is going to. You pass the ball to Brandon Roy with 8-10 seconds left and watch while he either creates a shot for himself or drives and kicks to one of the other 4 players...STANDING AROUND...for a jumpshot. Wow, what a brilliant offense. It is amazing to me, not only how Nate\Roy, but many fans here as well, think that the same exact lineup and offensive philosophy that worked last year (in the regular season I remind you), will magically work again THIS year as well. Teams have figured this out, they double Roy, they attack him defensively and try to either force him to give up the ball or try and make a difficult shot often over 2 or more defenders, and guess what? It is NOT working.... So in the game against Atlanta for instance, you have Roy either taking a tough shot, or having to give up the ball to guys like Blake & Outlaw with little time (5 or fewer seconds) and give ATL credit, they closed out on our shooters very effectively, suddenly forcing a guy like Blake to have to CREATE a shot, which is nowhere near his forte....Or instead we get to watch Travis dribble the ball for 5-8 seconds while he figures out what type of shot he wants and will inevitably take.... The offensive problem isn't with Miller, or Rudy or Oden per se (it is in part a lack of offense from them, not entirely of thier doing though). It is with Roy (learn to play off the ball man!, you will still get your shots and be "the man" when the team needs a bucket, having someone else create and kick TO you is good for YOU and the team), Outlaw (could he be anymore of a black hole when he gets the ball? and fadeaway jumpers, really?), Blake (inability to take anything other open jumpshot nine times out of ten) and to a little extent Aldridge (too reliant on taking jumpshots instead of getting into the post where he can create easier scores or gets fouled). Oden only 5 shot attempts? Where is Rudy's involvement, as a creator of offensive or in shot attempts, are we really going to make him a 3pt shooter again? I have seen enough games to know that if you put the ball in Miller's hands, he will create good offensive opportunities for his teamates. Those 11 assists against Atlanta weren't a fluke and many lead to "easy" baskets. Sorry if some of you don't like to hear it, but it is pretty blatant and obvious to see.
People can speculate all they want, but really the facts are we need to start him and see if it works out. If it doesn't work out start working the trade phones before the deadline.
So what? We also know the sun is coming in the morning - this still does not help the night creatures from stopping it. The results were pretty much in favor of doing it. Yeah, how strange - assuming that past experience will be predictive for future success... It's not working this year because our spacing sucks. They closed on the shooters very well because they knew that Miller can't shoot from a distance - so they could clog the middle to force Roy to let go of the ball - and when he swung it to a shooter - whoever was guarding Miller could swing over to cover him without worrying that Miller will get the ball and shoot it from a distance.
That's logical. I feel the same way. Miller needs to be starting. Otherwise, his signing is a waste IMO.
