I do expect to see Aminu, Harkless, or another wing of ours at PF this season. Yes we have bigs we want to play but there will be times other teams are successful playing small ball lineups and we will have to match. When Iggy or Paul George are at PF and score 3 times in a row do you think Meyers or our other bigs will be able to guard them on the perimeter? No chance. Small ball is for real and while I do expect us to play the traditional PF/C pairs often no NBA team will be able to do it 100% of the time. Look at what Golden State did against the Mozgov, Thompson, Lebron frontcourt. We will have to be able to play small ball personnel in those situations. I don't expect to see Aminu and Harkless both on the court together because of their lack of 3 point shooting. Same as Plumlee and Ed Davis only being able to shoot in the key; NBA defense is too good now days to have more than two players on the court with no jump shot. The game is totally different from the early 90's when teams could be successful with physically gifted players that had poor jump shots.
Dame Hendo Crabbe Aminu Meyers That could be a successful lineup that I haven't seen discussed. Great shooting from Dame, Meyers, Crabbe and to some extent Hendo. Athleticism and defense from Hendo, Crabbe, Aminu. There is the positional versatility on defense where we don't have to worry about who those wing defenders are guarding. Put Dame on the opponents worst offensive player and Meyers on the tallest. Meyers can get the defensive rebounds and pull out the opposing center from the rim on offense. With Aminu and Hendo being mobile for their positions we don't have as much of a need for CJ's secondary ball creation to alleviate pressure on Dame. Its a lineup that could matchup against small ball units but with Aminu at PF can still fair well against teams with traditional big men.
We are liable to see a lot of different lineups this season. Depending if we go small, or big, or fast, or three machine then look for players to play multiple positions We know CJ will play both point and 2 guard Lillard might also at some point for a small bit of time Crabbe will probably see time at both the 2 and 3 I could see Harkless playing the 2 if we go big, or put in a fastbreak lineup, though he will see most of his time at the 3. I could also see him play some stretch 4 if we go small. Aminu could play stretch 4 as well in a small lineup I don't see any of our bigs playing anything but the 4 or 5...though it might be interesting to see Leonard play some 3 Connaughton and Montero can play a variety of positions Point is this team is made for multiple line ups with such a flexible roster of guys who can fit into different positions on the floor...we're like a damned transformer
My lineup would be Lillard Crabbe Aminu Leonard Plumlee 2nd unit: McCollum Henderson Harkless Vonleh Davis Kaman takes mentor/part time player role. Alexander, Connaughton, Montero and Pressey round out the rest. Connaughton might carve out some minutes, especially if he can shoot consistently. Excited about Alexander but playing time would probably require an injury. It's funny. Our starting 5 on paper isn't that great compared to the rest of the league, but when you add in the bench, that's a pretty solid 15 players.
True. That's why most of us hope a few guys overachieve to bring up the starting unit. Then bench would still be strong. I'm all for getting more talent, but if 3-4 guys not named Lillard really progress, then I'm not sure you would need anything else.
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/i...g_to_be_a_very_versatile_pl.html#incart_river I love this. Harkless seems to have the edge that really good players have. Sounds like Stotts really wants to use all of his game--handling in the PnR and posting up both sound great to me. Sounds like Stotts has already talked about running a Dame-Harkless-Aminu lineup. Sweet. I also like the enthusiasm in his voice. He really seems like he is having fun and loving this team. Great fit and I really hope he is one of the guys who ends up starting at some point in the near future.
"Someone in another thread suggested they would like Harkless at the 2 instead of CJ." ~Reep I happen to know who that 'someone' is. I wasn't suggesting so much instead of CJ but occasionally instead of so often going small, how about going big if you have the personnel to do it. It would reek havoc in the passing lanes and be a nightmare to shoot over. So coincidentally enough, the graph in this article shows Harkless playing much more at SG for Orlando than he did at SF. http://www.blazersedge.com/2015/10/...rs-al-farouq-aminu-moe-harkless-small-forward That graph shows Harkless being on the floor for 56% of the total minutes that the Magic played. Of those minutes, he spend 46% of the total minutes played at SG or for him personally, over 80% of his time on the court was at SG. Throw him out there with Aminu and either Dame or CJ at PG along with wing-span pterodactyls West/Vonleh and Leonard and that is a TON of length to shoot over or pass around.
This lineup could be key for the #1 pick. PG: Pressey SG: Leanard SF: Cunningham PF: Harkless C: Davis
Also re TBPup's article, I had thought of Gerald Henderson as a Guard, but the chart says that last season he played 15 times as many minutes at Forward as at Guard. So I'll have him and Harkless trade positions in the roster I keep.
Launch away. I wonder if any team has ever completely avoided the paint and just run some kind of weave above the three point line to get shooters open.
