Someone should tweet bleacher (or whatever trash twitter account it was) asking if maybe there's a reason why teams passed on him
Lakers escape with the win. AD 35 and 17 ... if he misses significant time with injury, they're toast. No LeBron tonight. Rest.
LeBron sits and Westbrook has a respectable game. He can't play off the ball; if they are going to share the floor LeBron needs to be the floor spacer from three. Will LeBron accept the Chris Bosh/Kevin Love role he made other all stars sacrifice? Doubtful. Their dynamic might actually work ok if LeBron misses a lot of time throughout the regular season; but I don't see how they can both play big minutes in a playoff game.
Jokic down with a knee injury now. looks to be a contusion and he is back out after half for warm ups.
AD has already accepted that role to an extent. Russ was used a screener with Lebron late vs Memphis with mixed results but I think that's better use of him.
Yeah maybe if AD plays center and the other two players can shoot threes they can have Westbrook set screens for LeBron. Westbrook would basically be playing the role of a non shooting center on offense. Problem for them is you have former all stars DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard who both think they deserve minutes.
Damn AD and Jokic both went down with some knee injuries. Watching Nuggets vs Jazz, I feel so sorry for our Blazers. They are not even close to competing against this two teams.
If that's the case trading our second best player for a flawed all-star in Simmons won't make us a contender either. We need to first see a lot of games to make sure that is the case.... If so it might be time to do a full rebuild and trade everyone.
Definitely would need AD at center, which is what we'll see ending most games (like vs MEM) and especially in the playoffs. AD's jumper has to come back though to make it super effective and even then it's not like Russ is a great contested finisher anymore. You could out AD in dunker spot which is where he was on their one successful try at it. And yes the roster construction around a LeBron/AD team, is about as bad as you can get.
Been watching a lot of the Raptors early on, and although it's a slog offensively they are very fun defensively. Always been an OG is an overrated defender guy, but he's been phenomenal so far. Fred VanVleet continues to be one of the best guard defenders in the league. So good at the point of attack and has the strength to switch across multiple positions. Wonderful at the nail as a help defender. Scottie Barnes has been fun. Not the most flexible guy on the perimeter, has made his fair share of rookie mistakes off the ball and I still worry about his rim protection. But his size, length, motor and anticipation still make him a plus defender as a rookie which is very impressive. His passing in transition is his strength offensively and his shot looks a bit better that most thought it would early on. Delano Banton has also really popped. Hasn't played much so far, but don't think that's going to last. Has made an immediate impact on both ends every time he's entered the game. Another big, long wing who can dribble and pass which makes him a weapon in transition and he's been a joy defensively. Has the fluidity to guard smalls on the ball and seems to have a good feel as on off ball guy too plus add him to the long list of guys on this team that cover an incredible amount of ground on closeouts. They will no doubt lead the league again in blocked jump shots.
