Courtside tidbit (Re: Coach)

But he was already drafted a few years ago.

 

Good one. I always think that if Portland hadn't "won" the lottery that year we would have drafted Noah.

 

Kevin Love had Drtg of 104 under Adelman. We need to bring in Ol' Ricky!

 

It's always seemed to me that Drtg is a totally goofy stat to try to apply to individual players. I'll admit that I don't fully understand the stat, but isn't it basically a calculation of points allowed per 100 possessions when a given player is on the court? If so, then I don't get the validity of downgrading Player A's defense when defensive dolt Player B has allowed his man to blow by him and score.

 

I like the idea of Stan VanGundy. He doesn't put up with bullshit and will put the smack down on someone like Quick. I wonder how fast he'd try to run Stan out of town after the first bad encounter.

 

I found this discussion of Drtg that I thought was interesting:

http://www.deuce2sports.com/2012/01/project-defensive-score-sheet-michigan.html

The Blazers have been a below-average defensive team for the past decade or so, with this year's team DRtg of 106.4 being the best since the 2003-2004 season. Nic's 107 figure is about average on the team. That said, we've all seen the difference he can make on defense when he erases a fast break layup with a block or he cools off an opponent's best player when he gets switched to cover him. It seems to me that this stat isn't of much use in evaluating Nic's defensive prowess except to say that in the context of the Blazers' generally crappy defense, he doesn't individually transform the Blazers into a better defensive team when he's on the court. Put him in a Celtics uniform and I suspect his DRtg would look much better since the Celtics play much better defense than the Blazers do.

I friggin' detest stat geek-speak.

 

Preach it brotha

 

It makes you think, doesn't it?

Boozer, who can't guard a chair, has DRtg's (under Thibs) of 99 and 95.

o0

 

Is that the chair the Blazers tried to trade Damon for?

 

Ahhh... yes. The chair of a midget!

 

Based on SVG's history with All-Star players, it would be a race between LMA and Quick to see who wanted SVG out of town first.

 

I'd think that to make the claim that Nic was a better defensive player under Monty, that there should at least be some supporting evidence. If it's just your opinion, that's fine, but is it really worth arguing? I see no difference in Nic's defense post-Monty.

Plus, what does any of the above have to do with Nic's performance on the Blazers?

 

I was just recalling an episode where Monty emphasized to Nic that defense was where he should be putting his primary efforts, not trying to be the team's scoring leader. I don't think that Nic's defense overall was better or worse when Monty was here, but I do think that Monty was seen by most players as being a positive influence on developing their games. I think Monty is a solid coach who got stuck with a crappy team in New Orleans. I'd be happy with him as a choice for the Blazers, but I'm not particularly advocating him, especially since we don't even know if he's going to be available.

My rant on DRtg is simply a statement in general about a stat like this being used to try to show more than they really do. I think this stat is a weak indicator of a player's defensive abilities and is totally worthless when people try to compare the defense of players on different teams. That may not have been what you intended in your post, but I took your statement that Nic had a 107 DRtg as indicative that he wasn't a very good defensive player. If you intended to show that his defense has been essentially the same throughout his career then that's fair enough, but I'd say that it's more indicative that the Blazers overall have been a poor to mediocre defensive team throughout his career here.

 

That's a pretty good summary of my views. I wasn't saying that Nic wasn't better under Monty, because I don't know that answer to that one.

I do know that Monty's New Orleans team this year made Nate look like Paul Westhead in terms of coaching an offense.

 

Rick Carlisle has been rumored as the main target for Paul Allen and the Vulcans.

Looking at what he's done in Dallas I think he'd be great, mainly because he has developed young talent really well: Barea, Wright, Mahinmi, Beaubois, etc.

These players were either end of the bench players or D-Leaguers before they arrived in Dallas and developed into real solid contributers. Coach Rick seems very San Antonio-esque in this area.

Maybe he could be a lure to bring DWill to Portland to play alongside LMA? Oh, and he'd be able to turn DeMarcus into a beast

 

I wonder how the fucking GM they should hire first feels about Carlisle?

 

DeMarcus or LaMarcus, Fez? Or both?

 

Imagine the pure joy it would be listening to Mike Rice if we LaMarcus and DeMarcus on our team?


I vote for a roster overhaul

DeMarcus Cousins
LaMarcus Aldridge
DeJuan Blair
Marshon Brooks
DeMarre Carroll
Daequan Cook
DeMar DeRosen
DeSagana Diop
Lazar Heyward
Lebron James
DeAndre Jordon
DeAndre Liggins
JaVale McGee
DeShawn Stevenson



It has to be that or everyone with a foreign name like Bismack Byombo.

It's not like we will compete anyway? Let the fans have some fun

 

I remember when the Blazers had 3 Robinsons. Or when Harvey played Horace and the announcers kept mixing them up. But best of all was when Blazers and Lakers each had a Clifford Robinson, Schonz was going nuts, kept having to say "Clifford Robinson of the Blazers" or "Clifford Robinson of the Lakers" each play.

Also on your list: Lamar Odom. And the never tp be forgotten LaRue Martin.

 

That's my little pipedream for the summer -- Blazers making a push for DeMarcus Cousins!