Collins is average at worst. You're underrating C.J. Melo has been surprisingly solid at SF. I was wrong about how effective hed be defensively. What I see is a coach running the worst pick n roll coverage (drop scheme) against players who love to play against it, without making adjustment. And if he's not running drop scheme, he's switching everything with a lineup that features two 7-footers and two guards. If the personnel was as bad as you claim, we wouldnt play so well against the one team we decide not to do those things against.
As bad as the defense has been and as tired as they have looked at times with what is really a 7 man rotation with scraps for Mario, I'd like to see Wenyen get a little run. He is probably the most versatile defender on the Blazer roster now. With all the guys who want to shoot, not sure how he can't get a few minutes a game with as poor as our D is.
McCollum played good defense on that last play. Give credit where credit is due. We win a huge game and all some of you posters can do is complain. That's why this forum can be such a downer at times.
I was more pissed off more at the negativity than the way the game was going. Not used to giving up so easily on a team in the second third quarter. Sure one can be disappointed and bothered but to cry about every play gets old. Must have never played any team sports.
Between Bones and Holybackboard how could anyone still defend Terry? Those two posts are all the evidence you need. God I would love to see this team with a different coach.
We finished the season 27th in defense-- the worst during Terry's 8 yrs here. And 3rd on offense-- the best during Terry's tenure, matching last yea and 2014. Historically, we have been the 17th best defense and the 8th best offense during his time as coach. Even if we were in the middle of the pack on defense, we'd be considered a much better team with how good our offense has been. His lack of flexibility notwithstanding, this year specifically, I think it has more to do with personnel. Having a rangy wing who can switch up and down a position is a must in today's NBA, and we have no one like that.
I think the defense was def. a problem, but Brooklyn was shooting lights out all night. What was it over 50%? Yes some of that was because shots were incredibly good looks but Levert made plenty of tough shots. Portland, on the other hand, had a terrible shooting 3rd. And between Nurk and Zach they must have blown >5 layups. Guys like Ariza, and even Hood, would have helped. Wenyen and Nas need minutes. Why not have them pick up a few fouls in 5 minutes? Better that than multiple starters playing with 5 down the stretch. Fouling is a major issue too. Dumb fouls, a lot of them. Why give Levert an and-one on a layup with time running out? Give him the fucking two and move on.
We can drop on Morant tomorrow though, right? He hasn't been shooting well from 3 (9/40 in the seeding games). Make him beat us there instead of giving him a chance to run to the rim.
Funny you say that: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/pa...l-porter-jr-zion-williamson-power-rising-east
CJ was not the only player that was covering LeVert last night. He took Trent into the paint and finished just as easy. He did the same to Nurk. LeVert did have 6 TO's last night and CJ did have 3 steals. No doubt that CJ is not an elite defender and that Ariza would have been a good option to throw at him late in the game especially when CJ approached the 44-minute mark. But as Dame alluded to in the post-game interview, the game plan was to let him go one on one and take away the 3 ball options for the other players. Not that really worked either.
As you know, all defense starts with players ability to defend 1:1. If you have 5 players who can defend 1:1 you have a lot of schemes that can be successful. If you have 0 who can defend 1:1, you'll have zero schemes that will be effective long term. I know you think talent isn't that big of the deal and coaching makes up 90% of every outcome and I respect your opinion, I just don't agree with it.
I agree. Wing defense is getting hammered because of who we have at those positions, not because Terry and his staff don’t know how to coach. CJ is who he is, an offensive talent and a defensive liability (with a broken back). You can cover for one poor defensive wing, but not two. If Terry has Hood and Ariza available to him instead of Melo and Hezonja, Terry is suddenly a much better defensive coach.
DBPM: Jusuf Nurkić 0.8 Hassan Whiteside 0.7 Trevor Ariza 0.5 Kent Bazemore 0.4 Skal Labissière 0.3 Mario Hezonja 0.2 Caleb Swanigan 0.0 Wenyen Gabriel -0.3 Rodney Hood -0.5 Gary Trent -0.6 Nassir Little -0.6 Damian Lillard -0.8 Anthony Tolliver -0.9 Zach Collins -1.6 CJ McCollum -1.8 Carmelo Anthony -1.8 Anfernee Simons -1.9 yeah, I know..."sample size"....still, this matches the eye test for this season quite well. I'll give Zach a bit of a pass. Last season, he matched Skal's 0,3 this season, and that seems about right as far as where his defensive level is right now. But then, I never said Zach was a bad defender, just that his defense has been overrated by many around here. CJ has always struggled at defense and was always toward the bottom of this ranking. And of course you may be able to argue that the injuries and trades this year bollixed any kind of continuity the Blazers needed to establish...and that's reflected in those numbers. Obviously you have to gauge how much time each player spends guarding 1st unit and 2nd unit players. So then, Hezonja's mark may need downgrading vs CJ's. The good thing for CJ is with Simons on the team, CJ isn't the worst perimeter defender any more and by the way, I think the argument for Stotts being a poor defensive coach is pretty easy to make. You don't have to inflate the defensive ability of certain Blazers in order to make Stotts look worse. He does that on his own
true, to a degree. I mean, Stotts is still the same coach but his perimeter defense was better when he had Matthews and Batum. And better when he had Harkless & Aminu. However, that passive hybrid kinda-ICE PnR defense he used back then, and still does much of the time, drove me bonkers. It gave up the soft mid-range zone and did not force the opponent into difficult mid-range shots like he preached. Further, that passivity conceded initiative to the opposing offense. Portland's defense has never attacked an opposing offense under Stotts. It's the basketball version of 'bend-but-don't-break' but it ends up breaking far too often, and there are too many zone on the floor when it bends into high efficiency shots for the opponent
Not complaining. Just pointing out it probably isn't the best idea to have CJ with a broken back, who is already not a great defender, defending the opponents leading scorer all game and especially on the last possession. Very happy LeVert missed. CJ had a great game on the other end. It is really something that he is literally playing with a broken back to help the Blazers win. Very grateful!
Terry’s coaching style is based on having a top-5 offense and a mid-level defense. That’s where the Blazers were last year and probably would be this year if they'd had Nurk and Collins from the start. Is that style good enough to win a championship? I'd say that the offense would have to tick up to top 3 and the defense had better get closer to top 10.
Have not been a fan of how Zach has looked mobility wise as he's added weight. Doesn't have the same pop around the rim as rim protector either. And not sure if he's that healthy right now. Been on the bike the majority of the time he's not in the game and just watching him run up and down the floor I don't think he's close to being 100% right.
