I agree lots of teams are struggling arguably this is most competitive start in nba ever almost no team is a scrub easy victory. The east and west both got much stronger. We did have toughest schedule to start. But i need to see different line ups from stotts. I want to see Dame CJ Giles Rocco Trent jr. have melo and DJ come off the bench . Try this line up lets see what we got?!?
I agree with what you are saying about Nurk but it stands to reason that Nurk has a chance to get much, much better than he has been so far this season. Can you say the same about Melo?
It’s funny actually. This place goes round and round on Carmelo, refs, and Harry Giles. Nurkic is a disaster so far. If he had no history and we judged based on this year only, Nurk might not be starting. It’s hard to watch him at times. Lazy passes, zero toughness finishing, it’s a mess. Hopefully he figures it out. Covington is next. Total non factor on offense.
Of course not, but Melo is exactly who we thought he would be at the beginning of the season: a proven ball-dominant scorer who can help the second unit score, but has the same defensive lapses as he’s had throughout his career. Olshey and Stotts knew what they were getting when they resigned him. Does Nurk look anything like what we were expecting him to be? I’m more disappointed in a guy who isn’t living up to his potential than I am in a guy who is doing exactly what was expected, even if there are weaknesses in that. Apparently, Nurk had family matters to attend to at home and it hurt his prep for the season. Let’s hope he can pull it together quickly.
I am more disappointed in Nurk too. But the bitching is because playing Nurk is not a mistake and playing Melo is.
I’m not so sure about that. If you’re talking in general, I really don’t have a problem with him getting 15-20 mpg at backup PF. The second unit needs scorers and Melo provides that. If you’re talking about last night when he played in the 4th quarter, the Blazers were down 12-14 points and needed to score quickly in order to have a chance. RoCo wasn’t doing jack on the offensive end. Players were able to cheat off him and double Dame. I’m sure Stotts’ thought process was that having Melo in there provided another scorer and took pressure off Dame. It didn’t work because Curry was thermonuclear hot, but I don’t think that the thought process was wrong.
Perhaps an alternate adjustment would be to start Kanter (weak defensively but bordered by a couple of good wing defenders) and play Nurk with the second unit (even if that includes Melo). Perhaps Nurk would help compensate for some of the defensive deficiencies on the second unit. Just a thought.
I'd be totally fine with giving an adjustment like that a shot. Probably a non-starter with Stotts though, if history is any indicator.
RoCo is who he is and this offense isn't designed to take advantage of his strengths....similar with DJJ. It is an Iso-centric offense with everyone else left to mostly stand at the 3-point line. That doesn't benefit RoCo and even moreso, hurts DJJ who was the #1 slasher in the NBA in some rankings last year and has PLUMMETED this year in that area. That is not due to the player, that is due to the style of offense we run. They get so few opportunities...which in turn, makes it tough to get in any type of rhythm.
I don’t consider Melo a scorer because his post-up game is extremely inefficient compared to the Blazers offense as a whole. He can shoot threes efficiently but that’s about it. RoCo, in theory at least, can also shoot threes and he can play defense on top of it. If I want to make a comeback that’s likely to happen through O and D combined. I would have played Dame, CJ, Gary, RoCo, and Giles for a good balance of O and D and maybe some fire from Harry.
Melo has been getting closer to the basket on his postups in the last couple of games, which is a good sign. Of course, it could be false hope....
That's good... if I remember correctly his efficiency is ok from 24+ and from 0-3 ft but from 4-23 it’s hideous.
Throwing away a season to help Melo go further on the all time scorers leaderboard. That is the Blazer's legacy.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/2021/on-off/ Seriously go take a look at these on/off numbers and tell me that if Melo was any other player he would have been CUT from the team already.
