Roy can't fully rely on one talent (driving and getting fouled) while creating for himself, PERIOD. It won't work long term, by him doing that (and subsequently sitting in the corner passively w/o the ball) he marginalizes the talents of everyone else on the team. Roy could make his teammates better, as he did at UW and his first few years with us, but right now he's spending so muhc energy playing iso and scoring he has no energy or desire to play defense or move as a decoy w/o the ball whatsoever! It's hurting the whole rest of the team, it leads to injuries, AND it will not work in the playoffs.
Indeed. We were so dominant on the offensive glass that it gave us multiple shot opportunities on the same possession. Take away the offensive boards and our team would probably have been in the bottom half of the league in terms of efficiency. I wouldn't even suggest that everything needs to be torn down and rebuilt around Miller, but to suggest that we should stick with the Roy on five offense simply because that's what we did the year before seems completely asinine to me. It's not like Rick Adelman dumps (or dumped raterh) it into Yao fifty times a game and says "go to work;" good offenses have multiple moving parts and multiple looks, the whole idea is to confuse the defense and make it easier to get your shot off. I've mostly withheld judgement on Nate in years past until it became apparent to me this pre-season that he's not showing any ability to relinquish control of the game to his players, something I thought he held on to because there were so many youngsters on the floor and the primary playmaker (Brandon) was so young. Now I see that Nate is so stubborn and such a control freak (and Brandon seems equally stubborn about learning to play off the ball just a little ... which might give him easier shots if he let it come to him) that he can't even let an 11 year veteran like Miller, who has widely been regarded as a top ten player at his position for nearly a decade, do his thing. If the Brandon iso offense had gotten us well past the first round (also known as the Mike Brown special for Lebron) then I could see an argument for making Brandon the de facto point guard and letting everyone else adjust to him, but the fact is this team is not going to be a championship contender with an offense that features 1 ball dominant shooting guard, a ton of jump shooters and no low post scoring or easy buckets. People might say "well look at the Lakers" as evidence that this works, the trouble with that comparison is that Odom and Gasol actually get scores in the paint, they have multiple players who draw fouls and get to the line and they generate enough easy points with the triangle offense that employs a lot more movement and players than Nate's offense (such as it is) and distributes playmaking duties between multiple players. I'm not saying Nate needs to go to the triangle, but playing a style that is mostly reliant on consistently cleaning the offensive glass and scoring from the perimeter with no inside-out game and otherwise going one on one or one on five screams first round exit to me.
What are you talking about? Roy's AST% is superb - he does not just create for himself. If you consider the fact that Roy and Blake are our two-headed PG - they created over 50% of the opportunities for the team - and that's one of the reasons our offense was so efficient. Because our "collective PG" created a lot and turned the ball very little. Our problem this year offensively is not because Roy was figured out - it's because the spacing sucks - so it is harder for him to score easily and harder for him to find people open for a shot. It's true for every basketball team in the world. John Wooden always said that great basketball offense starts with proper spacing. We do not seem to have it this year because the defense can sag off some of our perimeter guys. It was the same last year with Sergio - that's why Sergio's offensive rating was as bad as it was - 10 points less than the team average per 100 possessions. Since Miller is being played a lot more now (about twice as much as Sergio was played last year per game) - it is not a surprise that our offensive production is down. The spacing has gone to hell. At this point it is pretty clear that we will have to do one of the following two: 1. Change the offensive scheme so Miller can be effective - and hope that when we do that - we do not marginalize Roy. or 2. Play Miller less. Time will tell.
If Roy did a better (or even average) job of running the pick and roll and actually rewarded the pick setter by giving him the ball on the way to the hoop (be that Joel, LaMarcus, or Greg) then I would have no problem with him dominating the ball and running the offense, as it is, Brandon runs the pick and roll but only to set up his own drive to the hoop or pull up jumper. Hell, at this point I'd even settle for a little inside out game between he and LaMarcus or he and Greg, but that's not happening either. Brandon tends to drive and kick to guys on the wing which when the shots are falling is great, but when guys are cold and not hitting we have no backup plan, except for Brandon or Travis to iso and go one on one. Good defensive teams have this figured out and at this point those are the only teams that matter because those are the teams we're going to see in 7 game series in the playoffs. Roy is very good, but come playoff time this kind of offense is never going to be championship worthy.
Brandon Roy fucking sucks. He's a total douche chucker who only thinks of himself and has completely destroyed our team. The sooner we trade his worthless ass and put our fate entirely in the hands of Andre Miller, the better. (I've decided that rather than respond to fucktarded exaggerations of my earlier posts, I'm just going to live them out. It's surprisingly fun.)
When I watched the Spurs play it was Jefferson who had modified his game to fit in with the Spurs. To be honest, the Spurs have a much better idea of how they intend to play then does Portland. So that transition had to have been easier for R-Jeff then it has for Miller. Also, R-Jeff was a whole lot closer to a Popovich type guy then Miller is to a Nate type guy. We can tell because Blake is a Nate guy.
nate just needs a plan b/c/d to spice things up, we're so freaking predictable on attack and now that teams have seen how we've beaten them before they have adjusted to counter it for the most part. there just doesnt seem to be enough flexibility in the gameplan to allow dynamic changes on the floor. add to that that some the changes that nate has made have been semi-mindboggling on occasion and im beginning to wonder if nate has the ability to adapt as a coach or has his *system* and will run it regardless, the team has changed - he needs to coach to THEIR strengths and potential.
Joel is not a good pick and roll player - his hands are not great - so they minimized that. LMA is again not a good pick and roll player - he is a good pick and pop player and seems to be good at pick and slip - which works very well with Brandon - I think you need to be able to absorb contact good to be the target of a PnR - and LMA just isn't good at that. Last year (and unfortunately so far) - Greg was not a good PnR player as well. The only places where Greg happened to do the PnR well was against bigger, slower players like Shaq and Yao - which surprisingly - Blake got him a couple of times - but I am not surprised that they did not run a lot of PnR with Greg last year - he lost the ball an awful lot of times. The same already happened this year as well. When a quicker defender guards Greg on PnR (like Hayes or Nene) - he is not efficient target. So - to criticize Brandon for him PnR half not being up to snuff is, imho, blaming the wrong guy. There is no Tim Duncan or Shaq or Karl Malone or even Boozer on this roster for Brandon to set on PnR. And while I am certain he is not a great PnR player so far - I doubt this is something he will not be able to develop if there is a good target for the PnR. How is it going to be any different when Miller, who is not as good a decision maker as Roy is will have to do the same with guys that are not good to be on the receiving end of a PnR? The only part of Miller's game that is better than Roy in half-court sets is the alley-oop. I am pretty sure we are not going to build a championship team on that play unless we get a bunch of guys running around like Rudy. Heck - history has shown us that Miller was never able to get out of the first round with this element as well - and he had some great finishers like Melo and Brand on his teams. I am getting back to the point that for this team to be successful this year - one of two things need to happen - Miller has to control the ball more and we hope that Roy's efficiency is not compromised when this happens - or Miller needs to play less. So - I am happy that Nate wants Miller to be more aggressive and wants him to control the ball for 90% of the time - because we will be able to determine if the team is successful when Roy is not the primary ball handler. My gut feeling however is that this is going to fail - because Roy is more efficient with the ball in his hands. So - if this does not help - the only reasonable thing to expect would be to minimize Miller's involvement. The fact is that being a championship team will have to happen around Roy, LMA and Oden, not around Miller...
Exactly... This offense is no better than what Cleveland runs, and unfortunately, Roy isn't LeBron.... I'd like to see Rudy get more burn to help with some of these offensive struggles. I really think he's our second best player (LMA needs to become more than an occasional rebounder and shot blocker to be considered our second best player). And yet he's seeing less than 20 minutes in some of these games. I see no reason why Rudy shouldn't be getting 30+ minutes and averaging about 17 points. I know he's not an elite defender, but he's such a smart player that I have to think that his pluses (shooting, passing, steals) far outweigh any flaws in his game. Start Roy and Rudy and bring in Miller and Bayless as dictated by matchups and the flow of the game.
So why is that when Nick Van Exel and Damon were on the team they'd run the pick and roll to death with Joel and he did pretty good at it? Nate comes in as the coach and all of that stops; none of our bigs gets the ball on rolls to the hoop in any kind of consistent way. As to the larger point, asking Brandon to play off the ball and receive the ball on the move or off of a pass isn't exactly marginalizing him or asking him to take a reduced role in the offense, it's likely getting him the same number of shots but theoretically making them easier. Sure Roy is going to be the primary ball-handler late in games and there will always be times when he can exploit a mismatch with the ball in his hands, but the idea that a shooting guard of Brandon's hoops IQ can't find a way to coexist with a point of Miller's skill seems a little crazy to me. If KP had gone out and signed another ball dominant one on one scorer I can see why there should be a tug of war going on with the ball, instead this seems like a wasted opportunity to get him easier looks. Who knows, maybe Brandon just sucks that badly off the ball that he can't hit open shots off the catch or he can't cut off of screens or make backcuts to the hoop to receive lobs from Miller on the break.
If he's not starting by Thanksgiving, then KP should immediately trade him ASAP. He's not a back-up PG, and if he's playing like he's designed to, he would never have to be back up.
My opinion is that we look at those times through rose colored glasses. Last year Joel's TS% was significantly better than what it was during that time, his TOV% was lower - and it was done with a lower usage%. He was used super efficiently. Sure, he might have had better scoring nights than - but if they were not efficient - why is it good? This year, so far, being on the same unit as Miller - who is trying to incorporate him - Joel's TOV% is at an all time high... last year - it was at an all time low. Any way you look at it - Joel is a high TOV% guy - he is over 20% for his career. Boozer, who is a good PnR target - and is used twice as much by his team as Joel is - is at 12.7% for his career. He can catch a ball on the move, absorb contact, protect the ball doing it and finish. Joel is simply not good doing it. Joel is not a good PnR target - he does not have the hands for it, period, and when he is fouled - he does not convert his free throws efficiently. You want to believe it was done great with the Van Axle/Stoundamire combo - go for it - but the cold, hard data shows us that Joel was most efficient when playing next to Roy. It is marginalizing him if the guy that handles the ball is not better than him running the offense, which Miller is not. The reason it worked so well with CP3 in the all-star game is because CP3 is one of these great point guards that appear once in a generation. Brandon Roy is a better decision maker than Miller. If Miller had the same advantage over opposing point guards that Roy has over opposing small-guards when he controls the ball - it would make sense, since he is not - I suspect this is going to be more of an issue than you want to believe. Brandon is not a motion off the ball kind of guy like Reggie Miller, Rip or Rudy are - his biggest asset is being able to impose his pace on the game. Again - I am sure Brandon can and should get better in these aspects of the game - but you are taking him away from his biggest advantage and forcing him to adjust to a guy that should really be a role-player. These things do not often end well, in my opinion. If you do not believe me - see what happened to Nash when they brought him a big role player in SHAQ that marginalized his advantage. Time will tell.
I was in the game - thank you for asking. Look in at the popcorn machine for Brandon's +/- numbers with and without Miller. Q1 - Brandon played the entire quarter. Miller came in the last 3 minutes. Brandon is +10 for the quarter. Miller is +4. So Roy was + with and without Miller. Q2 - Miller played the entire quarter. Brandon played a little more than half. Brandon is -5 for the Quarter. Miller is -9. Q3 - Brandon played all the quarter and he is -4 for it. Miller played about 1/3 of the quarter and he is -7 for it. This tells you that Roy was +3 for the time he played without Miller - but the time with Miller on the floor killed his production. Q4 - Miller starts, Brandon is out. When Brandon is back - they are _/- 0. Then they are +2 until Miller comes out, and when Miller is back - (and they play together) - they are -3 in the stint they are together. In the 2 minutes brandon was on the court without miller they are na extra -1 if I do my math correctly. The data seems to confirm my observation. Spacing sucks when Miller and Roy are on the court together.
Yes. I am Blaze the Trailcat. I was in the arena watching the game, if that was not obvious... Thanks for catching the grammar mistake.
I was joking, if that was not obvious. However, if your first line was not a joke, and you ARE Blaze, then you suck.
