If you're not on the L-Train, what are you waiting for?

Well, I guess that answers that question.

 

You don't seem to realize that Brian doesn't have a problem with LA as a whole. He just has a problem with a preponderance of 16-23 foot jumpers. If LA did everything that he does now, but increased the percentage of his shots that he takes from the paint, Brian would be THRILLED. I have a feeling that most Blazer fans would as well.

 

I'd just like to point out the LMA's trade value has never been higher.

 

Also, the Trail Blazers are now 20-2 this season when LaMarcus Aldridge leads the team in scoring.

 

I've watched every second the Blazers have played (many multiple times) since 2007, aside from when I've been on a camp in Afghanistan. 30 in person, the rest on CSNNW or LeaguePass. That argument doesn't fly. I highly doubt that many in here can say the same.

 

B.S. Your entire schtick here has been a series of "I told you so's" and "I'm the High Priestess of Blazer Fandom" and "your argument is invalid (team record inserted)." When you attempt to delve into the realm of serious basketball discussion your basic premises ("LMA's shooting 50.1% since Dec. 1", for instance) are shown to be incorrect. You're more than welcome to it, but the bolded is absolutely counter to your persona here.

 

Brian, maybe she doesn't enjoy doing it but still does it?



just as I didn't enjoy going shopping with my ex girlfriend, but I still did it.

 

The line you posted in the OP is wrong. By-month stats here. Game logs here.

If you're not going to address me, keep this somewhere else. This wasn't "the big knock on LMA's game" for almost anyone. The "big knock" is him chucking more long-range 2's than anyone in the league, and not shooting them anywhere near well enough to help the team.

But your homeristic Blazer Priestess bias isn't adding anything to backup your position, even if it's the correct one. Why isn't he a better rebounder? Why is having a center helping out? How are those manifested? It's absolutely important to identify bias, but you're not looking in the mirror. How do you reconcile his increase in rebounding numbers with him "not really being
a better rebounder"? Aside from it being divine Blazer intervention?

How is it cherry picking when I used every shooting stat available to show your argument is B.S.? Remember that "I wish people would see when they're wrong" quote from above? Hm....

Well, you didn't say a word about his defense or leadership, so the argument became about his offense. I addressed the rebounding first (and used stats and analysis, unlike your "I don't think he's better" drivel above), then I addressed shooting. I guess I was remiss in not mentioning he's maintained his 13% AST rate, or has increased his assists by 0.3 per game, or that he's maintained his ORtg, (since they haven't changed appreciably in 3 years), but I didn't think that's the argument you were making. You talked about his "line" being the best in his career, and used it as justification to ask why people "weren't on the L-Train".

I'd be ecstatic to see you show me how LMA has "taken over games in the 4th". No breakdown I have shows 4th-quarter "takeover" percentage. But I've shown that LMA doesn't play appreciably better or worse (he's very consistent!) in wins or losses. I do know that he's missed two "clutch" game-tying or game-winning shots, but I'll wait until there's proof before I state that he (or Dame, or Wes) is clutch and leading the team to victory.

Why is that? They're the only other players in the league that chuck that many catch-and-shoots or that many pull-up J's a game, regardless of whether they're shooting a 3 or the worst shot in the NBA and one that Stotts tries to get the other team to shoot.

LMA's at 23.9.

And LMA is not, which is why I bring up how he's chucking more than anyone in a league from a spot on the floor that Stotts has said he begs other teams to shoot from at an efficiency of Andrea Bargnani

You're not reading. I've stated in multiple posts in multiple threads over multiple years that LMA shooting 3's (even at a 28% rate) would be better for the team than the 42% he's shooting from his spot, and has CONSISTENTLY shot since his second year in the league. Including right now. Including your December cherry-picked time frame.

The "effect" on the team? It's that he's taking more shots than anyone in the league, but at a league-average (to be generous) efficiency. That means that the team's offensive efficiency goes down with each one of the league-leading jumpers he chucks up. That's the effect. The problem you're going to run into is that he's not doing anything on the offensive end that he didn't do last year (on a 33-49 team). His shooting stats are down, his offensive rebounding is down, he is leading the league in the most inefficient shot and shooting it way more than even "Elite" shooters like Klay/Dirk/Anderson/etc. do. (In the interest of being totally correct, he IS averaging 0.3 more APG and has lowered his TO rate to 7% from 8%). You can't point to a single offensive metric in LMA's game to show that he's "put them on his back" (other than attempts per game), or to say with any credibility that it's because of these 3 more attempts per game that the team's 30-9. Do you ignore Damian getting 3 more ppg on 0.5 more shots? Or Wes shooting a career-high from the field? Or Nic being a walking nightly assault on a triple-double? Or Lopez's impact? Or the starters being completely healthy every game this year? At Homer's Edge they may not have cared about you backing up your opinion, but there are more than a few here who don't fall for "told you so" B.S. from people who just toss crap at the wall to see if it sticks.

What was his role last year? You know, the one "built by Olshey" and "'coached by Stotts"? Are you saying that it was built around Hickson or Damian?

Yes. K*be generally leads the league in shot attempts, as LMA is doing this season. K*be is generally better than 150th or so in efficiency, though. That's why I also compared him to Bargnani. He's shooting more than K*be and at the same efficiency as Bargnani.

I didn't assume that. I make the assertion that if you're shooting like Bargnani, you either shouldn't shoot or should get into the paint where you add to the team's efficiency (large correlation to record), rather than shooting a league-leading amount of jumpers that detract from it.

I'll happily explain it again. It's not the "best stretch of his career". The two months around the All-Star Break in 2011 he was shooting about 20 shots per game (about 2 less than he is now), but had a higher ppg (26.9), 9.9 rpg, shooting 54% from the field, and generally defending the other team's best big. Additionally, he actually "won" NBA PotM (only time he's done that), rather than being #3 on a projection board somewhere.

When you make assumptions, you make an ass of "u" and "mption".

Of course he's in the conversation--he's leading the league in shots, he's averaging a career-high in ppg/rpg, on the best team in the league. My contention is that you're wrong when you say a) it's the best 6 weeks of his career, b) that he's appreciably different than he was on a 33-49 team last year, and c) that the reason the team's winning is solely because he's "put them on his back".

Yeah, I've been a little tired of the holier-than-thou Blazer Priestess crap muddling the board, so I decided that this time I wouldn't just sit by and let you attempt to play the "I told you so" card again by making up stats and pushing them off as you being correct.

33-6 would be better. Don't you think?

I'm straining to see where a crusade for discouraging Blazer fans is indicated anywhere in my post. Have you stooped to making strawmen now to help assuage the anguish of your opinion's bereavement?

You might have learned something. Stick around, kiddo, and we'll help you out. More knowledgeable basketball fans is a good thing.

EDIT: BTW, I love gifs and memes. Always appreciated.

 

I'm happy to see that you haven't jumped off the 7th story of a mall yet.