https://www.nba.com/blazers/forward...ard-asks-his-teammates-which-cannot-be-bought I love the stuff I am hearing about this team's focus and drive.
A roster with three future hall of famers got off to a hot start and fell on its face mid-season, as did Carmelo. Saying he did fine is a bit of a stretch. https://bleacherreport.com/articles...ty-thunder-better-off-without-carmelo-anthony https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/5/1/17308112/carmelo-anthony-oklahoma-city-thunder-playoff-legacy
Absolutely love this. Also loved hearing Jerami Grant's interview yesterday where he ended each answer by saying Breonna Taylor's name.
All you need is that first step on offense. Paul Pierce was still very effective at 36 because of that first step. Brandon Roy was too for spurts with basically defective knees. First step in basketball and craftiness goes a long ass way
Blazers looking forward to first scrimmage: "Just get into a rhythm. I think it’s going to be nice to go against guys that don’t necessarily know the sets you’re running or calling every play. In practice everybody knows where everybody is going offensively, so it’s easy to kind of cheat a little bit on defense. So, to go in and play news guys, it’s gonna be a lot of fun and it’s definitely gonna get us ready for these eight games that are must wins for us." -- Trail Blazers big man Zach Collins "Just to play the game. I have no restrictions, so I’m feeling great, excited to play the game. I don’t know about that scrimmage, I think it’s more preseason style. We’re going to have jerseys on, so I don’t know why they call a scrimmage that. We televise it too, so I’m not sure about that. I think it’s just excitement… I’m really looking forward to playing." -- Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest...lity-practice-time-ahead-preseason-scrimmages
“Yes, it will be good to go against somebody else, but I think the quality of our practices really have served their purpose as far as Zach and Nurk are concerned,” coach Terry Stotts said. Collins, Nurkic and Whiteside also are becoming more comfortable with one another’s spots on the floor and their spacing on the offensive end, Collins said. “I think looking for each other is the biggest thing,” Collins said. “I think that high-low action, whether it’s me-Nurk, Hassan-Nurk, me and Hassan, I think that could be pretty lethal. As long as we look for each other and we communicate, I think there’s a lot of things we can do offensively as far as playing big to big. It’s going to really help us out when it comes game time.” https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/...-blazers-frontcourt-continues-to-develop.html
Nothing that wasn’t covered in that interview he did a week or so ago. He’s really improved his shot, Tibbets says he’s improved his shooting percentage by 6%-7% since March, according to the Noah system they use to track them. Also mentioned he’s taken more three point shots since lockdown than anyone on the team. 11,000 to be exact. Stotts also has him focusing solely on small forward instead of the three and the four which Nas says frees him up mentally. Stotts, Tibbets, and Dame have taken notice of his improvement. Hopefully this means he plays and Mario sits.
That's good. I like him in the SF position much better. He's a bit too small to be playing the 4 outside of a few spot minutes here & there.
Makes sense for him to focus on one position as a young player. But moving forward him I want him playing both in this positionless NBA. There is just too many stretch 4's out there that our other PF's can't stay with on the perimeter.
