I didn't see the game, but Crawford was one make away from shooting 50% for the night. He drew no fouls, so his points/shot was near 1; the 3 3pt shots did help. 23 points in 29 minutes is close to a point a minute, which I think is quite good. Felton 6-10 with 7 assists and 4 turnovers. The turnovers really hurt, but he's still close to 2:1 assist/turnover ratio, which is pretty good. On the other hand, LMA shot about 33% and scored about 7 points less than his season average. Between him, Joel, and Batum - three of your starters - you got 27 points, or one point less than Westbrook.
Aldridge is the laziest, saddest excuse for a "best player of the team" that I've ever seen. He's the opposite of Noah in energy and drive. He just stands straight up like a statue and waits for teammates to wait on him like waiters. If only we could hire our new permanent coach now, we could re-measure and re-evaluate all players, to decide whom to keep this summer. There would be surprises. We might like the guards more and dislike the forwards more.
You're failing to see the fact that we don't want them to do well.... we want to lose. We want a higher pick. They're both gone after this season, so who cares how well they do.
Heh. I think you want guys to do well so you keep them next year, but you want to lose. Like you did.
Jonny's mentality is that of a shooter not a PG. But with less then a 2-1 assist to TO ratio and a career shooting percentage of 40% he sucks at either backcourt role. His predraft measurements in height, length & weight were pretty much the same as Felton's. The Blazers are his 3rd team in 3 years and his contract is up at the end of this year... I've seen JF plenty & view him as an expiring contract STOMP
Okay, so the Blazers tried DESPERATELY to move Felton and nobody wanted him. We're stuck with him. On the other hand, supposedly they found a deal for Crawford, but the Wolves owner killed it. I wonder if Crawford would agree to waive his option for next year if we released him now so that he could latch on with a (real) contender? I bet this would've happened if Elliot hadn't injured his shoulder...
I agree, although it could be argued that Felton gives the team the best chance to lose, which should be the goal at this point of the season.
I didn't watch the game, so I can't say. They did put up nice numbers, but I think we went on a run when Nolan replaced Felton. And I think there's a serious problem if we get reliant on Crawford hitting a bunch of threes in the fourth as everyone else stands around and watches if he's gone next season. I suppose one scenario is that we fall in love with him and he with us, and he comes back. But I never liked his game, and so would not be happy if that happened. As it is, what good does him playing well really do us? At this point, with Phoenix playing so well and Utah picking up its game, the chances of us making the playoffs are looking vanishingly small, and if you miss the playoffs there's no advantage in just missing them. Get rid of them, on the other hand, and Batum HAS to take more shots and get more involved in the offense. Nolan HAS to run the offense through Aldridge and get better.
To give you a serious answer to your question, we have to play them. We don't have enough players to not play them. Add to that the league will take a dim view if we intentionally tank and that could come back to bite us. Also, if Crawful opts to play again next year we have to trade him so it's important to, uh, um, to showcase his talents- such as they are.
Crawford has been pretty much what I expected from him, except he showed a willingness to pass the ball at times this year. A 17 PER bench player who creates offense for $5 million is a bargain. I'm not sure what else people expected from Crawford, given his role. He is what he is, and the Blazers did get value from him. Felton has been an unmitigated disaster, though. No doubt about that.
Early in the season, Felton played like a comedian, but he's a lot better now, my 2nd-favorite player after Joel.
I like Nolan Smith, I really do. His defense last night and the night before really impressed me. He's really good at staying in front of his man. Felton has played very well the last two games. The shots he was making were pretty impressive. But I will say this again. I do not like him at all. I'm pissed that he came in out of shape and looked like shit for most the year. After this season, I want our team to stay as far away from him as we can. As far as Crawford is concerned. He had a terrible first 15 games. Since then, he's been pretty good. I actually wouldn't mind if he kept that Jersey and played for our team. He loves our fans and wants to win. Too bad he had a bad rap and had to play PG too long under Nate.
