36 Minutes? I mean, Vonleh is nigh useless when he's playing. But hey, he's 20 and a former lotto pick, so maybe he becomes something.
I did the math in my very first post here- I'll see if I can link it, but the crux of it is this- the 8th seed looks like it's going to be ~39 wins (the exact math was somewhere around 39.2) Unless some pretty serious regression takes place or other mitigating factors arise- I'm pretty certain that holds up. When you get into that 35 win territory, at that point I feel you're just sacrificing lottery position.
20, has yet to play 60 games....and yet shows signs of ability that few have. He had very good handles for a PF, can shoot with either hand in the post, has a nice shot from the outside and before this year, hit that shot quite well. He is lacking confidence to start with and the Blazers offense isn't set up to get the 'Bigs' many looks, development or increased confidence. Most of the time they run around setting picks and when they do get the ball, are looking to get it back to Dame/CJ as fast as possible. I'd like to see him with 6-8 good looks a game for several games in a row and see what happens. As of now, he gets 1 look early and that's it for the rest of the game unless he puts back an offensive rebound.
Yeah which is why I'm okay with him playing at all. Vonleh wouldn't get any minutes on an actual playoff team.
It'll be interesting to see what the late season injury bug does to the older teams currently in play off spots above the young Blazers (Dallas, Memphis, Houston).
It will also be interesting to see how the quality teams start to ramp up and play with more focus as playoff seeding comes down to the end after the All-Star break.
Thing about the Blazers is they are an anomaly when it comes to the stats. Expect them to have a better second half of the season then the first half....when are people/ teams going to learn not to underestimate them?
This and point diff are great indicators of where we'll end up at season's end. And then you think about UTA getting healthier with Favors and Burks returning, I think we can rest easy about our lottery chances. Maybe... I just don't want a situation where we're still waffling on our strategy come trade deadline because we're still in limbo. If we're hovering around .500, then go for it and see what we can get to improve our team. If we're around where we are now (5-8 games below .500), get more picks, and give extended PT to Leonard, Harkless, and Noah for a serious eval. What really sucks this year is that 36 wins might be enough for the 8th seed in the west. A shitty team with that record NEEDS a lottery pick-- not a sweep in the first round. Just hope that Neil realizes that and can execute a clear strategy for long term, sustained success.
The Mavs can ramp up and focus all they want but if Dirk goes down for any length of time they are done.
I just don't see what is so special about him. He has some tools, but I'm not optimistic about them translating into the NBA. There are plenty of bigs in the league with shaky handles, doesn't mean they know how to use them. Freaking 7'2 Salah Mejri has handles at 1:05: . Vonleh is nothing special in that regard. He can shoot with either hand, great, but he can't actually make any of his shots. Every move he makes on the post is so telegraphed, I don't know how many times this year the defender just waits and blocks him before he can even make it to the rim. He looked great in college and in summer league, but he was shooting over guys that aren't even 15th men on actual NBA rosters. From what I've seen, he's not nearly quick enough or athletic enough to get shots over actual NBA quality rim protectors. He has trouble securing rebounds against taller players because he's so grounded to the floor, and he doesn't have the brains or the technique like ZBO for example to position himself or move guys out of the way. He's got to change the way he approaches the game. I'm not too optimistic on him because it looks like his struggles stem from his athletic ability. His game did not translate well from prep --> pro and I suspect that's also part of the reason he dropped on draft night. He's got pretty good defensive instincts though, which for such a young player is impressive. Gives me hope that he's actually a smart guy and will figure out how to be effective/find his niche eventually. But I don't project him to be a starter on a playoff team, much less a star.
Blazers declined significantly in the 2nd halves of both of the most recent seasons. They feasted on a weak East and then stumbled against a quality West loaded schedule. This season, the West has a lot of beatable teams in it so they may pick up more wins that way in the 2nd half.
