Game Thread GAME# 37: BLAZERS @ HEAT - JANUARY 5, 2020 - SUNDAY, 3:00 PM, NBCSNW

They have had a few. But they never keep them around.

 

Same thing that will happen to 1M in a year. He will go to another team unless they find a way to get rid of CJ? Not sure that will happen or if that would even be the best thing? But i don't see 1M staying here if he cannot get a starting position?

 

I think you're significantly overstating things and are wrong when you say he did it "single-handedly" Blazer defensive rating & ranks under Stotts

2012-13 109.2 - 26th (Stotts 1st year; JJ Hickson C
2013-14 107.4 - 16th (Lopez + Aldridge + Batum/Matthews)
2014-15 103.7 - 10th (Lopez & Kaman)
2015-16 108.0 - 20th (Big Roster Change; Plumlee + Davis + Aminu/Harkless)
2016-17 110.8 - 24th (Plumlee traded for Nurkic BUT Ed Davis hurt plays half a season)
2017-18 106.4 - 8th (Nurkic PLUS healthy Ed Davis & Aminu/Harkless/Turner/Napier +Zach)
2018-19 110.5 - 16th (Ed Davis gone; Curry for Napier; Nurkic + 2nd year Zach)
2019-20 111.9 - 20th (Whiteside & all the 7 dwarves)

if Nurkic was so transformative on defense, the Blazers wouldn't have give up 4.1 more points/100 and dropped from 8th to 16th last year. Everything else was the same...except no Ed Davis. I'm seeing that just one time was Portland not in the bottom half of the league in defense. And that one season was when everything was firing on all cylinders. They had Nurkic, Aminu, and Harkless on the front line as starters. And they had the tag team of Ed Davis and Zach as the 2nd unit. That was good defense. But they only had that one year

in other words, I think you're giving too much credit to Nurkic for that defensive success. Last year, with Nurkic and Zach, two guys a lot of people here say are great defenders, Portland had it's 3rd worst defensive rating in Stotts' tenure. Yeah, the NBA is changing, but just 4 years earlier Portland allowed almost 7 less points per 100 possessions.

don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Nurkic isn't good defensively. I am saying there's some exaggeration about how good his defense is

 

Really hated losing Ed Davis. To me that was a terrible move.

 

Bad team versus bad talent. Late last season the Blazers seemed to reach that stage when the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. Now, the whole is less than the sum of the talent.

 

WTF???

Dragic makes his 7th three with 6 minutes left in the 4th Q, and because he was 0-1 after that, you're crediting Stotts with an adjustment?

 

I'm probably forgetting someone... Who would you say has been our best lockdown backup PG since we've got Dame?

 

Don't you think of Dragic was 1/7 throughout the game and then hit a late 3 people would be all over Stotts for leaving him open at the end?

 

Very solid points here on Nurk and otherwise.

 

Late to the party. Did I miss any conspiracy theories about CJ being held out because of a trade?

 

You did miss those. He cant be traded for a few weeks though. I believe Kevin Love didnt play today too.

 

One problem Zach and Nurk hardly play together and when they did in short that actually shut down few teams and we went on a run on offense.

 

I think the question with Love is more when he DOES play as compared to when he doesn't play.

 

Good grief. CJ for Love? Is that the best we could come up with? That trade might lead me to valet park Olshey’s car in the Willamette.

 

That would be an awful trade, but the second part would be an interesting news story!

 

"Lockdown" is the key word there now isn't it? My statement was more about having a quality backup in general that could play defense. You can go a ways back even before dame and say Patty Mills, Steve Blake did play decent defense. Crabbe played fairly good defense but he was more SF. Of course we all know Wesley Mathews but he has never really recovered the same way. Gerald Henderson could play a bit. I was a Pat Con fan myself and he has done well since leaving. Napier did plap defense but he was better on offense in my opinion. Where the heck did Wade Baldwin go? Wasn't Tim Quarterman supposed to be the next big thing? Wish there was a way to keep Curry. Dude was solid all over the court.
Didn't the Blazers have a chance at Gary Payton II??? I thought they traded him or something?

 

I try to be creative with my revenge.

 

Right now i'd do it. It's pretty obvious Dame/CJ isn't gonna work out. Pull in Love and keep playing 1M. Then move Whiteside and Bazemore for some real defensive help. Get Nurk back and play Little as much as possible. Get Collins back next year and see what happens?

 

Wade Baldwin, that's that one! Seemed like he had a lot of tools, thought we got a steal, then I figured he would do really well in Cleveland. That guy could defend!

 

"Beats my 6 month long toothache."
~Derek Anderson