Game Thread GAME# 41: MAVERICKS @ BLAZERS - MARCH 19, 2021 - FRIDAY, 7:00, NBATV & NBCSNW

CJ is great and has been great for a long time now, he's getting even better at what he does. Also I figured it out tonight, in Stoffense where everyone just takes turns and there is no congruent offense, Dame and CJ are fine together even though they haven't developed any kind of flow between the two of them because there really is rarely flow in Stoffense.

The problem might be what you just said about needing "ONE more piece who we can count on on defense" Who does that piece need to replace because DJ, RoCo and Nurk are really good defenders? That's the problem I have. CJ is amazing... he can score with the best of them, he can be a top facilitator when he wants to and he's seemed to have wanted to this entire season and he's a helluva guy. I just don't know what we do if we get that ONE special defensive piece that makes us into something other than an absolute sieve defensively.

 

2021 Blazers > 2020 Blazers > 2011 Felton Blazers > 2005 Telfair Blazers

 

That team played decently in 2011. It was when the calendar turned to 2012 that things got ugly.

 

To be expected i guess. I would think an awful sweep in the first round or missing the playoffs due to a loss in the tourney would doom him as well.

 

Got two more months left!

 

Don't forget about financially sustainable in a couple of years, when Lillard and McCollum make $90 million/year combined or whatever it is.

 

So i watched not just this one but about three passes like this from Doncic. He is looking at where the shooter is and driving and throwing no look passes backwards.
Blazer defenders need to watch some film and see this. The defenders need to slide into the lane and start picking these off.


If you watch this you actually see him look back for a second and give a little head nod to Hardaway.

 

@kjironman1 I'm with you all the way. I would love it if this team can make a run that justifies keeping Olshey and Stotts around but @Tince I really hope you're wrong because the only thing I think that justifies keeping Olshey and Stotts around is a run that goes further than they've gone before. That means winning at least one fucking game in the conference finals. I hope everyone realizes that we would still be settling for unprecedented longevity without a finals appearance if we kept them on. I hate it that we feel like it's a good thing to settle.

This was a good win though... that's the first thing I said when it wrapped up and I said it without equivocation but if we're going to bring this shit up, I'm going to try and be real.

 

I don’t know the whole history, but all I see there is skepticism... not rooting for CJ to fail.

I happen to think CJ may have made a real leap... because I see differences in his approach, not just getting hot shooting. He’s taking more threes. His assists are way up. His turnovers are ridiculously low. His rebounding is up. He’s even playing better D.

I still have some healthy skepticism that he may end up some where in between, but even that would be a big leap.

 

I think this is an unfair standard for Stotts, but reasonable for Olshey. No way they're a top 2 roster in the West, so to expect them to produce like one on the court makes little to no sense to me. Now, if you want to fire Olshey for failing to put together a top 2 roster in the West for 9 years in a row, then that's fine. We both agree that a new GM will likely fire Stotts regardless, which I'm ok with as well.

 

Man U can tell guys really love Stotts. I don’t think this guy will ever get fired

 

He also missed badly 1 or 2 no-look backward passes that I saw, maybe more that I missed. You're right that when other teams catch on, he'll stop getting away with it. Good catch.

 

100% That's why I kept saying "and". I think everyone who pays attention to what I have been posting knows that I don't want Terry fired by Neil. I want Neil fired and a real basketball person put in his place. If that basketball person holds a press conference and says, "We think Terry Stotts is a treasure and we're keeping him as head coach and getting him an associate head coach that helps support him in the areas he needs support." I will not be mad. There just has to be some accountability and for me it has to start with Olshey. He definitely shouldn't be able to just fire Stotts and keep his job after all of these years. If Stotts has been the problem that needs to be removed then it's a fireable offense that Olshey hasn't done that for 9 years.

 

Remember Folks wanted to replace Cj with Gary Trent. Lol

Gary is a nice player but please nobody ever compare him to Cj. He’s nowhere near his level whatsoever

 

I get panicky that’s for sure. *palms face*

 

Glad it did. There would be no dame in a blazer jersey

 

Spontaneous combustion probably wouldn't help Trent's shooting.

 

Man I can def see why NY got rid of Porzingas and now he’s in trade talks. He looks like he doesn’t really have passion for the game or something. Cant really put my finger on it. Crazy thing is he’s still good as hell but something about him

 

I think that it's important to remember that no one in here has ever wanted to replace CJ with Gary. People in here thought (maybe right or wrong) that Gary could do well at starting SG. I'm pretty sure all of those people also thought/think that we could get a lot of trade value out of CJ and maybe by himself or in a package, get a second option that fits better with Dame. In that scenario I'm pretty sure everyone has thought of Gary as an OK fourth option or good fifth.