This team needs more toughness, and guys that will take it to the rim. I also think the defensive scheme needs to be re-done, the scheme doesn't give Lillard enough help on the pick and roll.
Not seeing this. The Lakers have 30M tied up in Kobe and Nick Young plus California has a much higher tax rate. If he leaves, I believe he will sign a max contract with us then be traded in Novemeber.
Far too many questions, far too few answers around this franchise right now... Olshey - Done a great job in the draft and with trades, but the FAs he's signed - his calling card coming here - have been extremely disappointing. I think he'll have to figure out how to add 2 at least impact players to convince LA to stay. Stotts - Can't make adjustments, can't motivate, can't scheme a team defense, can't get off-the-ball movement, relies solely on 3-pointers despite having 2 starters and a key reserve who all excel at going to the paint, relies on his starters for far too much whether he needs to or not. Agree that he's been a step up, but we can do better. LA - Batman playing Robin. Feel for the guy playing through injuries and carrying us on his back, but I think it's fair to wonder whether a team built around a still soft(ish)/jump-shooting PF will be able to win it all. Adding a true option at C like Hibbert may help. Dame/Batum - People are upset with these guys, and not unfairly so, I'd say. I think the shoe deal questions about Dame are fair. I also think he's been obsessed with getting James Harden-type fouls, ever since our series against Houston last year. Dame has been obsessed with the calls he's not getting since then and it's clearly messing with his head. Nico's divorce clearly fucked w/ his head too, I think that was obvious. My biggest gripe with him is his lack of aggression, 7 years in he is what he is, passive. Serious question: I really wonder if we should consider playing Nic at PG and Dame at the 2? Seems to me Nic is always far more effective and engaged running the offense and Dame is great off the ball. I'm not sure if anyone keeps stats like this, but I'm convinced that Batum's best moments have come when the ball is in his hands -- we've seen in his time with the French team as well. Wes - Love the guy, he's clearly our heart. Unfortunately, I think his injury is going to seriously impact his career. In a perfect world, we'd bring him back on the cheap to be a cultural glue guy, but like others, I think he'll get an offer from someone else that won't be worth us matching, due to the risk his injury creates. Rolo - Just super meh on the guy. Year one he was great, this year was really underwhelming. I can't imagine it was a serious distraction, but when you're playing as poorly as you are, why the hell are you screwing with team mascots EVERY chance you get? That's bugged me all season. If we can bring him back on the cheap to be our Anderson Varejao off the bench, cool, if not, I wish him well. CJ/Meyers - Now that everything is just about said and done, I think the emergence of these two has to be seen as the most exciting development of the season. Still somewhat deficient on D, still figuring out the mental side of the game, but they're guys we can build around. Blake - Another serious question: is there a less effective, more deficient backup PG in the league? There can't be many, and there certainly aren't any in the playoffs. It's cute that Portland defends this guy, but somebody tell me what he does even halfway decently? Scrap - maybe? To me, he's a BIG reason why our bench sucks so badly. Absolutely needs to be replaced, hopefully with somebody fairly dynamic, or shit, even just with CJ. Kaman - Seems like he's effective for about the first 4 or 5 minutes of every rotation and then that falls off. He's clearly not in NBA shape, and it's fair to wonder if he ever will be. It's too bad we can't blend his brain and passing with Freeland's toughness and Meyers' athleticism and J - that's a star C. Freeland/Gee - I like these guys' intensity and physicality. We need a coach who can utilize that in the right way and minimize their deficiencies. Crabbe - Hopefully will continue to develop. Once the game slows down for him, I think he could be a reliable bench entity.
I think most people here forgetting Afflalo is even on the team really says it all about his time here too. What a meh trade.
Yes and no. He's in a somewhat of an unfair spot w/ Wes' injury. He would've been great to bring off the bench, but was never the guy that was going to save our season. Hindsight being what it is, would love to know if we could've gotten in on any of the million pgs who were all traded for each other.
This is going to be the interesting part. Will Wes comes back will he be the same player? Would we be better off with just keeping Afflalo and letting Wes go? I doubt we do anything with CJ and I doubt we keep all three players. So it will really comes down to Wes Mathews (Loyalty) or Arron Afflalo(Safe Pick)?
I think Olshey has been brilliant with what he's had to work with and CBA constraints. Remember how bad the bench players were a couple of seasons ago? It's not like he's had big free agent $$$ to even try to attract superstars. I thought the Afflallo deal was terrific, even if it didn't turn out. Lopez filled a huge hole. Etc. etc. You need the younger guys to develop. Leonard, CJ, and crabbe. IMO.
I agree with your assessment of Stotts. Memphis has a weakness that's plagued them in the 2nd half of the season - you can take them out of their offense by pressuring their backcourt. They don't have dynamic playmakers or dead eye shooters on the perimeter so you can get away with extending your defense & anticipating passing lanes. Their offense after the AS game was really bad. But we don't even try to exploit this. We let them walk it up & throw it into the post with no resistance. Even with Conley & Udrich out, 3rd string Calathes went wherever he wanted with the ball. At least we finally TRIED to show full court pressure in the 4th, but it was weak. Obviously it's not something we work on that much, which is unfortunate because that's the way to beat the Grizz. I fully expect the Warriors to fluster the Grizz by pressuring/trapping them defensively. It's kind of the blueprint for how to beat them. Nobody lets them walk it up and concedes passing lanes into the post, except us. 7 times we've seen the same thing. No adjustments have been made, few even attempted. Stotts likes to say "we're not going to change who we are because of who we're playing." That's not acceptable, especially when you're playing a team that has proven over, & over, & over that they are better than us at the style we're playing. With the way they play defense, we needed to get extra possessions to compete in this series. Forcing some turnovers would have been nice. I'm not ok with chalking that up to "that's not who we are", and I'm not ok with how (even before Wes went down) teams were able to chase our shooters off the 3pt line, while being able to double team LA + blanket Dame on the perimeter. What Terry calls "sticking to our principles" I call not being able to make adjustments. I doubt the Blazers will show him the door. They just gave him an extension last summer & it wouldn't be very "Spurs-like" (the model organization we're trying to follow) to let a coach go after winning a division title. Only way is if Dame & LA voice frustrations on their exit interviews. They look frustrated, especially Dame, who has been getting lit up by fans/media for his defense. He is a liability on that end for sure, but the way he's coached to defend the pick & roll really makes him look a lot worse than he is. Neither has criticized the coach (as far as we know) & it may never happen, but that's the only way I could see Stotts getting let go. Assuming he's back next season, we can only hope he uses the offseason to add more wrinkles to his style of play. Good teams play good defense and can force turnovers, plain & simple. We we're dead last in the league for the 2nd year in a row at forcing turnovers. At the very least we need to bring in an assistant to shore up our defense. It'll be interesting to see what everyone says when it's over. The easy thing to do is to pin all of our 2nd half/post season struggles on the injuries. Obviously losing Wes was devastating, but if that's how Stotts & Olshey spin ALL of the team's struggles it'll be disappointing. Last night with our backs against the wall we had an opportunity when Conley went down. 3rd string PG, a double digit deficit, & we can't force him into a single turnover? That's not just missing Wes, or not having the right personnel, that is because we haven't worked enough on playing defense like that. There's no excuse for that. We have been thoroughly outplayed in this series, but a lot of that is related to how bad we're being out-coached & out-schemed. Of all the frustrations from this season, the worst for me is the "Groundhog Day" feeling of not being able to adapt & make adjustments. Hopefully the last 2 months + this series are opening some eyes & isn't reduced to "if only we still had Wes . . . ". If we do get swept or lose in 5, it does seem like Allen & Olshey can feel the ground shaking. Both of our All Stars are demoralized to the point where 1 may bolt. The gravity feels heavier than getting blown out/taught a playoff lesson by the Spurs last year. Part of that should be to change the coach or make the coach change.
I have no Problem with Olshey's player personnel. Probably did as well as he can. Don't know about Wes now, so he may have to do more and he should continue to try and upgrade if possible. The biggest problem is exploiting the talent available on this team to the fullest extent. I don't think Stotts has done that well. I don't think this team should lose to the Grizzleys nor should they have had a losing record for the 2nd half the season. Adjustment were needed, new plays to be added and Stotts didn't do it.
My question is why does it seem like LMA is changing his mind? Why can't he understand we had a bunch of injuries hit us hard? The only thing that concerns me is the sudden regression of Lillard. Call it what you want but everybody knows the reason LMA would resign is the sudden emergence of a legitimate superstar next to him. Top players love to have help like a superstar next to them. Especially when that star came to them not the other way but now that looks like it's changing.
LOL! I call BS on that. You don't think PA wants to win? Olshey? The players? The Blazers are just some giant conspiracy, designed to never win a championship?
who has olshey drafted thats helped besides lillard? such an overrated GM, got gifted Robin Lopez and Afflalo.
also lillard is getting outplayed by mike conley who has one leg and beno udrih, his defense is the worst in the league. Lamarcus and Robin Lopez are leaving. Rip city for real lmao
why would I have multiple names? Im just here for an honest discussion about the portland trailblazers.
Just MIXUM and his gang of RoyToy and Sly posting under a different name... While wearing a mustache.
