Game Thread GAME# 4: BLAZERS @ CLIPPERS - DECEMBER 30, 2020 - WEDNESDAY, 7:00 PM, NBATV & NBCSNW

Gary Trent out and Melo in
What could go wrong?

 

Harkless and Leonard started and played 3 and 2 minutes respectively before being pulled and never coming back in. That should be Melos leash with this team.

 

Gary Payton?

 

To be fair, Miami still got outscored by 37 when Meyers wasn't on the floor. Not like he was the big issue tonight.

 

Who thinks Giles will get in any game on this trip?

 

And Stotts was able to turn those guys into starters on a WCF team. You gotta appreciate what Stotts does with the talent he's given. He's an A-level coach who is underrated around here.

 

Math still says they played worse on when he was on the floor than when he wasn't on a per minute basis.

 

I love basing a coach based off of a piece of paper and personal feelings about the names on said paper and not what occurs out there on the court. Very smart way to do things.

 

You have to admit it's not just Leonard and Harkless. For some uncanny reason players have performed better here than after they leave. Might be a Stotts? Could be Dame and CJ? Could be the system? Might be the overall organization including Olshey? Probably is a combination of all of it? Fact remains. Stotts does get more out of his players.

 

Harkless didn't outwork any worse last year than he did the years prior. Aminu hasn't even gotten much of a chance due to being hurt. Connaughton has been a bit better in Milwaukee. Turner was worse here than in Boston. Bazemore was worse here than in Atlanta. Hezonja didn't get better. Tolliver didn't get better. Whiteside didn't get better. Stauskas didn't get better. Curry was better after he left. Meyers isn't really any different for Miami than he was here.

I wouldn't say players on average are any better here than elsewhere. Sure, that may be the case with a couple players, but that's the case for almost any team.

This it's why I hate basing coaching off of a skewed view of names on a piece of paper. I can respect if someone likes specific things Stotts gets the team to do out on the court. (Example - @JDC)

The casual, surface level stuff is fine too, but if people are going to go that route, I think it's a bit ridiculous to them call out people for underrating him when those people are willing to go far deeper.

 

IDK? Harkless got a chance but in the end lost the start and was traded to the Knicks where he was given a bigger role and brought his numbers up. Then he ended up with Miami and he thus far has not done well at all? His points and possessions are down defensive metrics are down. Not sure he was all that great to begin with?
Aminu i'll give you has been injured but the numbers don't lie. the 18 games he played he was atrocious.
PatCon continued to grow as a player so yeah he did fit the role but his numbers are going in a downward trend since his first year with the Bucks. How they are using him might be the biggest factor but even 3 point shooting is dropping as well as efg%. The one thing that stands out is the assist rate went up but again i think that is due to the Freak feeding on set ups?
Turner being worse than in Boston? Again I'm just not so sure if you look at a numbers side of things? He certainly didn't get better here but look at the metrics. They are within 100th's of a percentage point. All but 3 point shooting which got better here. Fact is though he has gotten absolutely nothing since Portland.
Bazemore did well in Sac. Seems like everything went up. I think Stotts and the system was bad for him so that would fit "Didn't do better here" for sure.
Tolliver? Talking about his 12th season on his 10th team and second time in Portland? Really?
Whiteside absolutely got better in Portland when he left Miami and went in the tank so far being in Sacramento but it's way too early to get a good look just yet.
Stauskus? Is he in the league anymore? Best year was Philly but second best was here.
Seth Curry would have got those numbers or better here in that role and you know it as well as everyone else. Blazers have Lillard. If it was me and there was a way to keep that guy i would have done it. I'm betting you had many conversations about not being able to keep him. He's now in Philly. Maybe the Blazers can find a way to get him back. Would love to have him. He is gonna light it up in the east.
There are others we could talk about but in the end i agree with you.

You cannot make a judgement about a coach with what a player does in a different system. Same with a team when they beat the Lakers one game and now they are better than every team the Lakers have beat.

 

This is a pretty good analysis of how Blazers were first team in a long time to come back against Lakers when trailing going into fourth. Lots of video.
Harrel's "assets are best applied against bench lineups that he can physically manhandle. Asking him to play in crunch time puts a target on his back. That was especially true on Monday, as Frank Vogel left him on the floor for more than 15 consecutive minutes of game time. By the time Portland realized how exploitable he was on defense, he was too tired to fight back. That, in essence, is what lost the Lakers this game. The Blazers hunted Harrell into extinction on pick-and-rolls.

Ostensibly, the Lakers decided on an aggressive pick-and-roll coverage against Damian Lillard to prevent him from dribbling into easy 3-pointers. This sort of trapping only works if the big defender hounds the ball-handler immediately off the screen, bothering him enough to allow the rest of the defense to rotate into place and perhaps force that ball-handler into panicking. Instead, Harrell got caught napping, not showing hard enough on Lillard to slow him down or dropping far enough back to do anything about Enes Kanter. He was in the middle of the play, yet he didn't affect either end of it. "
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...d-reminded-the-lakers-of-their-true-identity/

 

As the writer points out; this may have been an experiment and is easily fixable.

 

Harrell has to be the worst “good” player in the league. His numbers are there on paper, but teams attack him defensively to the point where he essentially becomes a liability.

 

Just to save people from hyperventilating over Ant getting minutes tonight:

“GARY TRENT JR. TWEAKS CALF

During his 28-point performance at the Lakers, Trent noticeably began favoring his right leg. Turns out he strained his calf and is now listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game at the Clippers.


Losing Trent would likely mean more minutes for Anfernee Simons, who played just five minutes at the Lakers.”

https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/...nel-how-to-watch-free-live-stream-online.html

 

"Can't play Harrell" you say?

 

He's no different than Enes Kanter...

 

and this... is why im against consolidation trades for the immediate future. this is just starting. we aren't in the grueling part of the season yet-- depth will be vital