Now that we know how Leonard, Lillard, and Barton play, what their skill sets are, does it change how you feel about matching Batum? How you would like us to play? Who we should hire as a coach? What we need to look for in FA, trades? Personally, I think we should match Batum after seeing what Lillard, Meyers and Barton brought to the table. Lillard showed that he does in fact have an array of offensive moves and has an elite first step. Absolutely demolished Austin Rivers. I'm much less hesitant to have a SG and SF who are not above average at the dribble drive knowing that our PG can get his own shot pretty much at will. Lillard showed that he had poise and that he could get his own shot, and hit it, in a "clutch" situation. Originally, I thought we needed to find a SG that could create his own shot - I don't see that as big of a need now, but certainly think it would be helpful. I'm actually quite content with Wes starting alongside Lillard in the backcourt, if we can find an elite 6th man off the bench Elliot? Barton(looked fairly underwhelming)? FA? Coach wise I'm not really sure where we should go. I think we would excel in D'Antoni's system, with Lillard/Elliot/Batum/Hickson/Aldridge or Lillard/Williams/Batum/Aldridge/Meyers (Wes could easily be the starter, just for the purpose of running, I trust elliot's finishing more than Wes') but the lack of defense is not very intriguing to me; however, the offensive part this team just seems built to run. Shaw would be okay with me, but I don't know much about Malone. I'm hesitant to play in a half court offense when our team is so athletically gifted and is fast. It reminds me of OKC, Heat, Philly, etc. Play strong D and get out and run. As of now (subject to change), I'd like to see us run, run, run, play strong D, hire D'Antoni (Ironic, I know), find a way to either acquire or develop an elite 6th man, backup SF (Can't stand babbit, maybe Claver can be that guy), backup PG (although I liked how Nolan was playing), and backup C (possibly - I'm somewhat ok with Meyers being the only true C, and using Hickson/LMA or Hickson/Freeland or Freeland/LMA). I feel that from what I saw from Meyers and Lillard, this team COULD contend quite faster than some of us have anticipated. Not necessarily next year, but in a couple. Lillard/Nolan Wes/Elliot/barton Batum/Barton/Claver/Babbitt Aldridge/Hickson/Freeland Meyers/Aldridge/Freeland Coach: D'Antoni, maybe Shaw. Assistants: STRONG Defensive coach, bigman development coach (Hakeem? Ewing?) Find a backup PG - preferably someone that has brilliant court vision. and then a backup SF or C. We need a solid 8 rotation players, currently, I see Lillard, Wes, Batum, Aldridge, Hickson, Meyers*, Elliot* * = Could go either way.
Honestly, I think the right approach is to think who will be in our rotation in 2014-15. I think that's what Olshey is thinking, too. Very Likely: LMA, Lillard, Batum. Likely: Leonard, Wes Matthews Hopefully they'll show they deserve it: Hickson, EWill., Freeland Maybe: Barton, Claver Probably Not, but who knows: Babbitt, Nolan Smith As for a coach, I don't know the other coaches enough to have much of an opinion, but I like SVG.
I'm glad that at least one Blazer can hit 3's from downtown still. Sure its only one Summer League game but Babbitt hit 4/9 for downtown and still had 19 points.
To be fair there were multiple times when Babbitt's defender didn't even put their hands up to defend the shot. Almost like they didn't read a scouting report. But he still has to hit the shot so I'm glad he did that.
"Now that we know what skillsets ..." I'm sorry but I have to take exception with this statement, we have no idea how all of this is going to look in 4 months at the conclusion of training camp. I certainly don't want to take anything away from Lillard and Leondard's debut in a "professional" game because frankly I thought they both looked like they belong and that they have enough raw material to be impact players -- in time. But using what we saw last night to make a decision on Batum or what free agents or trades to pursue in the next year is just way premature. Batum has to be evaluated on his own merits and whether or not management feels comfortable paying him that much money to be a likely role-player. Filling in the holes and fine tuning the roster is going to come after the team actually plays in some live "big boy" games ... probably a couple of seasons worth to know what they really have or don't have. As for the coach, that's a lot easier. They need a guy with a philosophy that meshes with the way Olshey (and Allen) wants the team to play and with so many young guys and Euros added to the mix, they need a teacher who can show them how to play (Neil said as much talking to Chris Webber and Joel Meyers last night). Bottom line: let's just live in the moment a little bit and enjoy summer league for what it is; a chance for young guys to get their feet wet, experience an elevated level of competition from what they probably faced in college and get used to some different rules.
I don't understand how people can assert that Leonard has absolutely no post skills. How many times did we post him up? It just doesn't happen in SL. We won't know where his skill set is at until October.
We know skill sets after one scrimmage game?????? BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
I'm fairly positive we can garner players skill sets are watching them in college and one NBA scrimmage game. We can start to see what there tendencies are, what there strengths and weaknesses are, and how they like to play. It is pretty evident in a short amount of time to tell if someone is an idiot or not.
The post above explains why I believe we can see skill sets. Yes, we don't know if it will translate yet, but there is promise. I do not believe it is premature, as it determines the fate of the franchise. If you're closer to contending than you anticipate, you don't let Batum walk for nothing. If you're further, it's a little easier to swallow although still misplayed. Also, if you feel comfortable with what you have at starting PG (and know that he can get his own shot) you don't need to look for an electrifying 2 guard that can make space and take his guy off the dribble. Maybe you acknowledge that and look to spend more money or assets on something else now that you know you have someone that appears capable of doing such a thing. Many players are not paid based off of their own merits - Gerald Wallace? Brook Lopez? Landry Fields? Darren Collison? Often times teams overpay to keep a core that they believe in, keep other players happy, potential, etc. It's much easier to commit to a rebuild if you have no faith, than it is to simply justify "Yeah, we're letting him walk just because."
