Flippin the switch and playin hard in preseason?

When Roy plays over 25 minutes this pre-season, we are 2-1. Games he does not, we are 0-3. .667 versus .000. I expect Roy to play over 25 minutes a night in the regular season. I wonder why Nate wouldn't play him 30 minutes plus, and go all out to get these important victories.

 

One purpose of the pre-season is to give your rookies and younger players some minutes, no doubt about it. But the other teams are also doing this, so it's not like you're shooting yourself in the foot. If everybody plays hard--rookies as well as veterans--you should have a chance to win every game. The point that McMillan made yesterday was that "some of our guys" are mailing it in right now, and it's pretty clear he included Roy in that bunch.

 

If you put yourself in a position to win, and winning is actually important in pre-season, then I would expect the coach to try to win those games. Not having Roy in in a tight game against Utah tells me the coach is mailing this one in as well, as Roy said, trying some things out, as opposed to giving 100% effort towards the cause. If the coach wants to try some things out, I am also fine with my star player trying some things out. I'd rather he be trying different things out in pre-season than the regular season.

 

I am kind of mixed on this one. I see the Blazers as having lost most of their preseason games due to no bigs. The foundation of good defense is good bigs. The foundation of good rebounding is good bigs. The foundation of good offense is good bigs. Portland has no bigs through the pre season. There are so many things on the team that are linked to the big players, you can't just ignore it.

IMO There are 3 things that will make a team good. Efficient scoring. Rebounding. Playing good defense. The thing that sets the best teams over the top from the good teams is the ability for players to make high end plays when it counts. Right now, Portland has no bigs. No scoring in the paint. They lose every rebounding war. Nobody to set a pick. Nobody tall enough to make it hard to see over. That is why they are losing in pre season. Not because Roy has only been averaging some low amount of points per game. Roy represents what I listed above as the guy with the ability to make the high end play when you need it. But unless the other foundational pieces are there to get him to the point where his talent can make a difference, it won't matter.

 

Warm up the buses folks, this seasons over. Memphis just swept the preseason. 8-0!

 

One of the greatest Grizzlies' teams of all time.