Well, in his hugely limited action, he looked better than Howard has looked at any time this year. He has more hustle and more talent at this point, and he should be out there instead of Howard.
I was at the game. Cunningham is actually better than I thought he would be. quicker, smarter on D and looked perfectly comfortable taking his 18 foot shots. Will he play well against front-line NBA 3s and 4s? Who knows, but there's no way he should be behind Howard in the rotation. Juwan's a helluva nice guy and was once a good player, but he really is done.
He looked like he had a little gas left in the preseason games, but has looked completely washed up since. Since DC has a jumper, I'd like to see him get some of those minutes, but he's got to show some rebounding (at least being able to box out back up 4's), too.
He was actually chasing around small forwards tonight more than 4s so he tended to be away from the boards. As for his ability to box out I didn't really watch that too much, but he's very smart about the way he plays defense in the post and at the elbows ... he's a player.
I don't even know how you can play worse than Howard. Maybe, just stand still on defense and create 3 in the key violations over and over on offense?
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/11/portland_minnesota.html Some concerning things in the postgame wrap up... Continued I don't really know what to think of this...
Yeah, i just read that and it definitely raised my eyebrows. So this means that Roy (and in extension, Miller) cannot play with another ball-dominant player? He can't change or alter his style of play? Really?? And Roy feels that when he was trying to sacrifice for the good of the team, he was in actuality hurting the team? I don't know about that. We won quite a few games (including probably the most impressive win of this young season so far against the Spurs) with Roy starting at the 3 spot. And if playing the SF role was what was hurting Roy's game, then why did tonight's game, where he was back to his SG role, look statistically like he was playing the SF position again. Is there that big of a difference in his impact whether he is playing the 3 or the 2? I honestly don't know what to think about Roy's quotes. Is he being a bit selfish or is he correct in his assumptions? I don't want to hate on the guy- he's been a class act ever since he's arrived and has been a fantastic player for us, giving us hope when we were the dregs of the NBA. This is the first time I have questioned his motives. IMHO, the quotes in the article make him look kind of selfish, or maybe I'm just inferring too much. Maybe the quotes were taken out of context. And maybe Roy is correct- our team will be better off in the long run with the ball back in Roy's hand and Roy back at the SG spot.
I do. It means that in three weeks KP will probably be fielding offers for Miller so he can find him a new home. I'm not saying this signing couldn't have worked, I'm not saying Miller is a bad guy, or that Roy is being selfish. What I am saying is that the signing of Miller has worked out kind of like that blind date hookup where the girl was actually kind of hot, but you realized that for whatever reason you have zero chemistry and she kisses weird. "No hard feelings, it's not you, it's me." Move on. For better or worse, Brandon is this team's star player and he has looked increasingly uncomfortable on the court (and ineffective) and no matter what Miller might have been able to do for LaMarcus, Greg and the rest of the team if he can't make it work with the team's best player and the guy making 75 million bucks it's probably best to cut your losses and do something different. Miller isn't making an extremely bloated contract given his past production,so he should be somewhat easy to move and if he goes to the right kind of team (one that wants to run) he'll probably have himself a very nice year or two left in the league. As for being worried about the backup point guard spot behind Brandon if/when Miller is traded, after watching Bayless in person I can say that he's almost starting to look like a real point when he's on the floor. He had some errant passes off of dribble penetration, but watching them develop they tended to look like he had completely caught his teammates flat-footed because they were expecting him to finish and not to pass. Guys also clanked a couple of shots off the rim that were wide open after receiving passes from Jerryd that would have otherwise been registered as assists. By the end of the year I think he's got a shot at being a regular contributor.
That's the only part I support actually. Him playing the SF position in the long run is not good for him or the team. BUT, the fact that he and Nate basically shot down playing with Miller is concerning. I don't know, but it seems like this team is gearing for a trade that ships Andre Miller out, assuming though, that KP is willing to make a midseason trade.
I wonder who we could get for Andre? Or rather, what does the team WANT for Andre? A good backup 4 would be nice, but it's probably not worth Andre. You could bring in a star SF who uses the ball a lot, although that might piss off Roy. As much as I hate his contract, (and him), I still think Hedo would have worked on this team, although we wouldn't trade to get him for obvious reasons.
Wow. I didn't think Roy's ego was this inflated. Instead of even trying out a backcourt of Miller and Roy without Nate's loverboy Blake in there, both Roy and Nate are giving up. Didn't we see this "Roy at point" garbage fail miserably in the playoffs? Wasn't the whole point of signing Miller about getting Roy some respite from handling the ball so much? Miller is a FAR, FAR better PG than Blake will ever be, and Roy want to compromise the talent difference, because he thinks his ego not being satisfied will have an adverse impact on the rest of the team. That is just mind boggling to me. And what's worse, Nate doesn't have the balls to get that ego in check even if it would ultimately result in the betterment of the team. This is a slap in the face of an accomplished PG in Miller, and also in the face of KP who bent backwards trying to convince us that Miller was the right guy. The most telling quote from that piece: "We went 7-2," Miller said. "So I don't think that's a problem. And over half of the games were on the road. I'm not going to look at it that way. We won games." And yet, Roy didn't approve. So much from that article rubs me the wrong way, and leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth even after a good win.
I think it's ridiculous for people to be concerned about Roy after this. IMO, he handled this exactly as it should. At least to me, it was obvious that the team was being hurt by Brandon playing out of position, and the addition of Miller into the starting lineup wasn't enough to offset it. Miller just hasn't been playing that well. Honestly, I wouldn't bat an eye if Miller was traded.
I do understand your point, but as the teams only star, I also see Roy's point. For gods sakes he has a 25.7 USG% whereas most of the stars in the league are 30+. Melo is at 35.7!
There are two issues here, and I'm not sure they're related that much with one another. Roy being played out of position is all on Nate. He was too scared to play Roy with Miller in the backcourt, like he should have from the beginning of preseason. Roy handling the ball for less than the majority of the time is an adjustment Roy should have made before giving up so quickly.
