I've always felt that Howard loved being a star more than he loved working to improve his game. If he's the best Olshey can do this summer, then okay. But I really hope it isn't.
If we get Dwight, and he plays well, Vonleh will be sufficient at PF. I'm not on the Vonleh bandwagon, but I wouldn't have any problems with him starting if we got a C like Dwight, Cousins, Towns, Drummond, etc. Dame/CJ CJ/Crabbe Harkless/Aminu Vonleh/Plumlee Howard/Meyers
That's definitely NOT true. They didn't play long stretches together, but I often saw them on the court at the same time.
Where is Ed Davis? I would think it would be more like: Dame/CJ CJ/Crabbe Harkless/Aminu Aminu/Plumlee/Vonleh Howard/Davis Meyers gets phased out, plus he's coming back from injury.
Aminu has been our third best player in the post season, especially when you consider both sides of the ball. He's shooting 39% on close to 7 3PT attempts per game. Crazy. I'm coming around to Aminu being starter quality, but I think it has to be at the 4.
Yep. Harkless is better at the 3 than Aminu and a better option there yet Aminu is the better overall player (that might change in the very near future) but you have to play him at the 4 to get that benefit. Not sure Aminu can start at that 4 position long-term and night in and night out though.
Enter Meyers as the PF who can stretch the floor Plums cant stretch the floor, but we do have a big already on the roster that can and might end up with MIL
I agree with all of this. You play these games to see who responds, and unexpectedly performs above and beyond. That's why this is more important than a late lotto pick.
Until Harkless develops a reliable three point shot, he has no argument over being a more effective player than Aminu, regardless of position. Only thing you can say is that Aminu makes more brain-dead decisions (Harkless does at times as well) but that isn't enough when you consider that Aminu plays better overall defense and spaces the floor. But I'm glad we have both.
I agree Aminu is better overall player. He does not play better than Harkless at the 3 though so we will just have to agree to disagree there. I was really hoping people wouldn't only respond to one half of the post. I would like people's thoughts on Aminu being able to survive long-term in the NBA at the 4 position. Can he battle with some guys like Griffin, Millsap and Love over the course of the season? One nice thing is the only one he would see more than twice a year is Griffin.
He really doesn't though. Aminu does play the 4 in our starting lineup, but they routinely switch on the perimeter and fill a similar role on defense. Part of Aminu's seeming ineffectiveness at the 3 is because he played next to Vonleh and another non-floor spacer in Davis/Plumlee. Harkless looked even more ineffective in the limited minutes he played at the 3 next to two non-spacers, hence why Stotts rarely if ever went to that lineup. If the Blazers had another proper floor spacer at the 4, Aminu would be a better compliment than Harkless to play next to said player. So yeah, I maintain that until Harkless develops a 3 point shot, he really has no argument over Aminu, especially in Stott's offense.
with that post you seriously need to consider changing your name to Str3nnus, re-edit it and change it to 10-12 swish3s
also, after seeing the games vs. the warriors and how much of a bowl of spaghetti our picks n screens are on the perimeter, and considering where meyers likes to play on attack + his overwhelmingly clueless nature of reading the game, he'd either massively be in the way and/or be riddled with fouls very quickly. tbh id love it if ed davis was 7'1" and another 20-30lbs heavier - he's so mobile, scrappy, gets cheap under the hoops conversions and loves being in the warzone. I'm not sure if Dwight is the guy we need, but he's along the lines of what we need. Hopefully our performance this year will sway some potential new players into giving us a chance and legitimately want to build something special. BUT - we need a consistent fix to the GSW and the clones that will no doubt follow their plan. One question i had was in that OT - where the fuck as the hard foul on Curry at any point? I mean he was getting offensive boards, layups - all kindsa shit. I hate to use the time machine, but old school guys like charles oakley esque players would never have let that 5mins go with that type of performance without chinchecking him at some point.
You're crazy. Those guys are our two best value contracts on the team. Davis is one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA and Aminu is showing that his playoff jump in Dallas wasn't a fluke. He's a clutch playoff performer. You don't trade those guys.
No, Aminu is far too dumb to be a starter. I don't care that he's (finally) playing well - dumb players should not be starters. Also, Aminu's defense is overrated. He's not bad by any means, but there isn't a player in the league that thinks to himself "Oh no, I have to go up against Aminu tonight." Except for his penchant for losing his man (which, thankfully, he hasn't been doing in the POs) and committing stupid fouls, he's a slightly above average defender - nothing special. The only thing that's good is the fact he can switch on screens. As much as I'm NOT on the Vonleh wagon, I prefer starting Vonleh at PF if we're able to get a C like Howard/Cousins/Drummond/etc. Vonleh doesn't have 1/10th of Aminu's confidence, but he's a smarter player - and if he ever gets confidence he'll be a better player. Unless we pull off a miracle Harkless is our starting SF next season. I'd LOVE to get a star SF, but there really aren't that many, and the few that exist aren't donning a Blazers jersey anytime soon. But if Harkless is our starting SF then we need a new starting C and PF. We can't start Harkless/Aminu/Plumlee or Harkless/Vonleh/Plumlee, or even Harkless/Vonleh/Howard...well, not unless either Vonleh or Harkless make an unbelievable jump over the summer. If either Harkless or Vonleh become a reliable outside shooter then Harkless/Vonleh/Howard could work.
