From what I've seen lately (one of the games since the newest lineup), it appears that, either, Andre's leading the team.......or Roy is when Andre's out. Steve seems to be reduced to a spot-up shooter. Am I missing something here?
Yes, you are. Everyone knows that Roy is a shooting guard and that it is blasphemy to suggest that he is something else. Blake is the (very) small forward. In fact, I believe they will be putting VSF next to his name in the official box score tonight...
For a more serious response, I think you're reading it perfectly, and I'm hoping (as are many others) that this is the precursor to him being reduced to a reserve role, and then (hopefully, if Bayless continues to progress) reduced to third-string. It makes sense, since Blake doesn't really do anything with the ball, so why have it in his hands at all unless he's shooting a three?
Here are the unfortunate facts. In order to get Nate to stop playing some players, you literally have to trade them off the team. Certain players always endear themselves to Nate, and because of this, and him playing favorites, he will never stop playing Blake, and probably never stop starting him. Even when you think you have got over a hurdle, Nate will pull Blake back out and put him back in the starting lineup, then we will have to listen to Mike and Mike suck Steve Blake off for a whole half of a basketball game. They are always quick to praise him, but never rip on him for shit he does wrong. They never talk about his tunnel vision, his inability to make decisions on the break, his bad decision making in crunch time, and his inability to finish in traffic.
In the last 3 games, with this 3 guard rotation, I will have to admit Blake is doing a fine job offensively and defensively. And believe me, I was totally against Blake being in the 3 guard rotation. I was hoping for more of the Miller, Rudy and Roy combo. But hey, it's working and it seems Blake is really comfortable with this new role.
Miller has made Blake redundant. He (Blake), at this stage, only eats into the growth minutes that the younger prospects could be using to mature on the court. Whilst it's a poor allocation of minutes by Nate, KP has to take much responsibility for this situation arising in the first place by not wanting to trade 'His Guys'. Blake has been good, and we all thank him for that, but for the sake of the teams growth, he needs to be dropped to the bottom of the rotation.
He did? He is shooting 0.452 from 3 point land? He is able to chase opposing point-guards? He made Blake's position as the secondary play-maker redundant, I will agree with that. But, there is more to life than just this point. Is this a reference to Rudy or JB? I think Rudy and Blake are playing the same position now - small-guard with some passing ability and ball handling ability (Blake is much better than Rudy in that regard) - but without any real ability to attack the rim from the dribble and the ability to space the floor (but, Rudy has been shooting very poorly this year, so far). Blake seems to do much better defensively against quick-guards that are trying to setup other people. Rudy seems to do a little better defensively against quick-guards that are trying to score. I am not really sure Blake is really a problem for Rudy as far as development. The other one is JB - who is really a different player than Blake - he is a PG/SG combo that is not a great long-distance shooter (so far) and really thrives on attacking the rim. I do believe that there is a good a chance we will see more JB instead of Blake as time goes on, as long as Roy and Miller seem to mesh better, which they are still working on. I am just not buying it. We are no longer in rebuilding mode. We are in full win-now mode and develop going forward at the same time. Until Rudy or JB proves they are better players than Blake is right now - there is no need to bury Blake. He is productive, he shoots lights out spacing the floor better than anyone else we have on the court. It would be foolish to throw him away when we do not have real alternatives to his long-range shooting.
So ZBo was traded because Nate was in love with him and wouldn't stop playing him? Jack...maybe, but seems more likely Nate wanted to get rid of him...
You really don't think Steve is eating up Rudys minutes? I just think with Miller on board, Blake has essentially become a 2 guard a lot of the time. There are better options on the team at the 2 than Steve Blake.
I do not think Rudy at this point needs development. He is a 23-24 years old with many years of experience as a professional basketball player. So, I do think he is eating up Rudy's minutes - but I do not think Blake is really a problem for Rudy as far as development, which is what I said. Blake is playing better than Rudy this year - so he deserves the minutes. It is not hard to understand, imho.
I think Rudy is playing sub par because of a lack of minutes. I agree Rudy is probably near fully developed, but he is still learning the NBA game. The minutes he is missing due to Blake's overuse would help Rudy, who I believe is the superior talent to Blake, and would represent a better long term investment for those minutes.
