Game Thread GAME# 32: BLAZERS @ LAKERS - FEBRUARY 26, 2021 - FRIDAY, 7:00, ESPN & NBCSNW

[PCmor7]

Still might end up there. But you have to admit he does bring energy and works hard every night.

Yeah. I would, too. Doesn't make me an above-average talent, though, which was the context I was responding about ... is he better than we think he is and better than players playing for the Blazers.

There are a lot of guys in the G League now that would bring energy and work hard every night. There are a lot of guys waiting for their agent to call them that a team wants to give them a shot who'd do the same. Tim Frazier did that. Steve Blake did that and actually could generate offense more consistently.

Just making the point that he's an average talent who got a break and he fills a role but it's a role that could be filled by more than dozens of other players and IS filled by dozens of other players in the NBA right now, they just don't get noticed because they aren't playing on the Lakers and next to LeBron.

Put Caruso on the Blazers. Does he fit anywhere? Does he see the floor? Where do you play him? Undersized bulldog two guard with a very inconsistent stroke who jumps well enough to make a highlight dunk every few games but he needs players to draw attention from the defense to open that up for him. The number of fits for him in the NBA where he actually is a contributor is pretty limited, IMO. Great guy to have your rotation practice against, though, because he's a guy that would never let them get lazy. A lot of them would hate him for not letting them dog it in practices. But put him in a game? I'm having trouble thinking of any legitimate contending or near contending team other than the Lakers where he gets significant minutes.

 

[PCmor7]

I agree with this take as well.
Dame needs to set up faster and move the ball a bit quicker. I was thinking on multiple possessions last night he could push up the court quicker and get the ball moving. You can even see Stotts at times waving his arms to get them down the court quicker. This whole crossing mid court at the 17-18 seconds on the shot clock isn't good at all. He tried passing long but of course on both occasions LeBron was sitting there looking for it.

Even the best players sometimes get pig-headed about certain things. Dame's gotten great not by being born a physical abnormality like LeBron or Giannis or KD. He's worked hard to get to this point.

Often that means finding the stuff you can't do and doing it and failing at it until you CAN do it. Maybe Dame takes these traps as a challenge and he feels he has to prove something by beating them on his own. Except there are more efficient and productive ways to beat them and resorting to those in no way diminishes him as a player.

It's great showing you can beat Goliath if you have to, but it's foolish going around picking fights with every Goliath just to make a meaningless point.

 

[wizenheimer]

He’s the same age Lillard was his junior year in the big Sky conference. .

he's also the same age as Luca Doncic, Marvin Bagley, & Jaren Jackson. Trent is only a half-year older. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Michael Porter Jr, Kevin Huerter, & Deandre Ayton are only a year older. All those guys entered the NBA at the same time as Simons

Ja Morant, Keldon Johnson, & Cam Reddish are the same age. Darius Garland is a half-year younger. So are Coby White & Tyler Herro. Zion and RJ Barret are a year younger.

Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman, Lamelo Ball, and Patrick Williams are 2 years younger. Tyrese Haliburton and Cole Anthony are a year younger. Immanuel Quickley is the same age

yes, a lot of those guys were taken higher in the draft so you'd expect their talent to be greater. At the same time it's obvious that even 19 year old first year players can establish their games if the talent is there. A 3rd year player who got consistent minutes in his 2nd season, like Simons did, should not look like a half-dimensional bumbling rookie. Can he still turn things around? Sure, but each week that passes without him starting that turn-around reduces the odds that he will, and those odds aren't very high right now

 

[wizenheimer]

Re: The traps

We keep blaming Stotts, and certainly he has to shoulder a lot of that, but, as someone mentioned above, Dame bears responsibility, too.

Really, a top ballhandler sees a trap coming, he beats it before it gets there with the dribble or he passes to a teammate and they either play 4 on 3 or he relocates and gets the ball back and makes something happen while the defense is scrambling. Waiting for 2 long guys to catch you between the sideline and halfcourt and trying to play Superman is prideful and not smart. Do you think Chris Paul would let that happen? Dame's a better player than Chris Paul, and that's saying something because Chris Paul's record of work speaks for itself. But Chris Paul plays smarter than Dame in the way he lets the game come to him. He doesn't need the ball in his hands all the time. He doesn't need to make flashy passes. He doesn't have to make highlight plays on every pick and roll. He only does what he has to do to get his team a good shot. It's a big part of why he's survived this long.

Dame's great, but the issue with the traps is something he should have learned to deal with by now.

next time Dame gets trapped, try and find an open passing lane to one of the other Blazers. I've seen 6 years of traps and invariably, when Dame's trapped, two Blazers will be stationary behind the arc on either baseline, and another will be circling around, aimlessly in the paint. The only Blazer that may be kind of close is the Blazer that brought the defender that was half of the trap and I've seen those guys repeatedly take bad angles for passing lanes.

this isn't all on Dame, even though he's accountable; he's a 6'2 guard almost always being trapped by two taller players. His teammates have to make themselves available and there needs to be a scheme to get that pass out. That responsibility is shared and the scheme needs to be coached. I never see any of that

besides, if Dame is always giving up the ball when he's attacked by two players, the defense is successful. Portland doesn't win many games if Dame scores 14 points on 11 shots while having 3 assists because the ball isn't in his hands enough.

 

[PCmor7]

next time Dame gets trapped, try and find an open passing lane to one of the other Blazers. I've seen 6 years of traps and invariably, when Dame's trapped, two Blazers will be stationary behind the arc on either baseline, and another will be circling around, aimlessly in the paint. The only Blazer that may be kind of close is the Blazer that brought the defender that was half of the trap and I've seen those guys repeatedly take bad angles for passing lanes.

this isn't all on Dame, even though he's accountable; he's a 6'2 guard almost always being trapped by two taller players. His teammates have to make themselves available and there needs to be a scheme to get that pass out. That responsibility is shared and the scheme needs to be coached. I never see any of that

besides, if Dame is always giving up the ball when he's attacked by two players, the defense is successful. Portland doesn't win many games if Dame scores 14 points on 11 shots while having 3 assists because the ball isn't in his hands enough.

Like I said, Stotts is accountable, too, but there are ways Dame can beat the trap while it's materializing. Or, you know, you can say something like "Hoodie, they're going to run at me as soon as I get across midcourt. Flash to the top of the key and I'll hit you with a pass before they do."

And if you think we can't score enough points to win playing 4 on 3 because Dame isn't one of the four, I'm just going to have to disagree with that. If that's the issue, then you can put most of the blame on Olshey, because most NBA players are competent enough to score when unguarded.

Or, we can look at the other side of things: How successful have the Blazers been when Dame's been trying to beat the trap essentially by himself with the dribble and taking 25 shots a game? I mean, we kind of know that doesn't work because we've been complaining about it ad nauseum.

 

[twobullz]

What I have noticed is a lot of time When Dame calls for a trap he goes towards the sideline giving himself less room. Why not set the screen and go away from the sideline instead of letting the defense use it as a third defender.

 

[kjironman1]

What I have noticed is a lot of time When Dame calls for a trap he goes towards the sideline giving himself less room. Why not set the screen and go away from the sideline instead of letting the defense use it as a third defender.

I think what you are seeing is him trying to create room. Also if he is in the middle of the court he can only travel toward a sideline. When he calls for a screen he needs to be traveling from a sideline toward the center or into a lane so he needs to be off center to start.
I do see what you are seeing and it looks bumbling at times. Nurk does this better with Lillard than Kanter as well as Melo. DJJ seems to set the screen a bit faster and has shown some success doing it.

 

[twobullz]

I think what you are seeing is him trying to create room. Also if he is in the middle of the court he can only travel toward a sideline. When he calls for a screen he needs to be traveling from a sideline toward the center or into a lane so he needs to be off center to start.
I do see what you are seeing and it looks bumbling at times. Nurk does this better with Lillard than Kanter as well as Melo. DJJ seems to set the screen a bit faster and has shown some success doing it.

Yes it seems like if he comes up the right hand side of the court they set a screen so he has to go right into the boundary instead of back towards the center. Part of the issue is a lot of our bigs are not good at setting screens it seems like.

 

[kjironman1]

Yes it seems like if he comes up the right hand side of the court they set a screen so he has to go right into the boundary instead of back towards the center. Part of the issue is a lot of our bigs are not good at setting screens it seems like.

One of the few things Meyers did well with having to think his way through it.

edit- Without!

 

[AldoTrapani]

He’s the same age Lillard was his junior year in the big Sky conference. He’s shown enough glimpses to me, Tripiani.

Haha no he hasn’t he sucks. He can’t even handle the ball past half court anymore without getting ripped

 

[AldoTrapani]

This clown show thinks getting another 7 footer on the court won't help.

Well at least he has his basketball shoes on.

That’s what the blazers look like right now lmao

 

[kjironman1]

That’s what the blazers look like right now lmao

Nah that is you my man. Everyone on the board knows who that is. Funny part is you don't seem to recognize your own picture or the ridicule you receive. Nobody is "LMAO" with you. They are "LMAO" at you.
I been tellin ya.....Kick him in the Tunchi!

 

[James lamphear]

Put Caruso on any average team and does anyone even know who he is? If he doesn't play in LA, does anyone know who Caruso is? TBH, I think Pat Connaughton is better. Either way, both players are easily replaceable. He fills a very limited role on a very good team, but for gosh sakes he's not underrated. He's a guy. Put him in the right situation, he'll be OK. Put him on the Thunder and he's bouncing around the league and playing 8 years in China.

That's true but he is in the right situation with LA he has work hard to get where he is so applaud him for it. Pat is also in the right situation with the Bucks he also plays is ass off so you have respect that players like that can find a place where they can enjoy there dream by never giving up and doesn't matter what team they play for.

 

[AldoTrapani]

Nah that is you my man. Everyone on the board knows who that is. Funny part is you don't seem to recognize your own picture or the ridicule you receive. Nobody is "LMAO" with you. They are "LMAO" at you.
I been tellin ya.....Kick him in the Tunchi!

@Natebishop3 agrees with me

 

[PCmor7]

That's true but he is in the right situation with LA he has work hard to get where he is so applaud him for it. Pat is also in the right situation with the Bucks he also plays is ass off so you have respect that players like that can find a place where they can enjoy there dream by never giving up and doesn't matter what team they play for.

Again, this isn't in dispute.

We were talking about whether Caruso was a better player than what the Blazers had. That was the context of my comments. He's not. No one is saying he didn't play hard or didn't deserve respect for making it. No one. I'm saying that people contending Caruso is anything more than an average player or that he's better than any of the guards the Blazers have (besides Blevins) is wrong.

 

[riverman]

This all started because after the Laker loss I posted that Trent couldn't tie Caruso's shoes tonight.....somehow it became...Caruso is better than our guards? Trent had a bad shooting night and bad defensive night...Caruso hustled his ass off and helped the Lakers win...one contest observation is all it was

 

[PCmor7]

This all started because after the Laker loss I posted that Trent couldn't tie Caruso's shoes tonight.....somehow it became...Caruso is better than our guards? Trent had a bad shooting night and bad defensive night...Caruso hustled his ass off and helped the Lakers win...one contest observation is all it was

So this is your fault? Stop doing that!

 

[riverman]

So this is your fault? Stop doing that!

But it's what I do!

 

[AldoTrapani]

This all started because after the Laker loss I posted that Trent couldn't tie Caruso's shoes tonight.....somehow it became...Caruso is better than our guards? Trent had a bad shooting night and bad defensive night...Caruso hustled his ass off and helped the Lakers win...one contest observation is all it was

Trent is actually not that good of a defender. Is he terrible at it?? Not at all. But he’s extremely overrated despite his reputation says