Any ESPN insiders out there want to give some insight on what Pelton says about our guys? http://espn.go.com/nba/preview2015/...431804/portland-trail-blazers-player-profiles
I have no idea why anyone would pay for that crap. I had free access many moons ago, and it never seemed worth it.
Well, obviously I don't, but I figure someone in here probably does. If so, and they choose to use it for our benefit, I'll be grateful
Yeah, and if you really care that much DiscountMags regularly has the awful espn magazine on sale for like 5 bucks for a year which I believe gets you access to their shitty insider shit for a year.
It's a pretty good article...not a ton of new stuff if you scour our board, but a really good synopsis of the team going forward. He has starters as: Dame/CJ/Aminu/Leonard/Plumlee. Some tidbits: . As I've said before, this is one of the things I'm most stoked about this season. None of our bigs takes the mid-range J. They roll hard to the hoop or (Vonleh/Leonard) pop for the 3. We should get many more points per P&R possession this year than last, whether it's a defender going under the pick and giving Dame more open looks at 3, or blowing by a guy to a mid-range J if the defender follows the roller, or passing off in a double-team to willing passers in paint or guys that can finish. I disagree a bit with this. I think that you're hurting yourself defensively (based on what we've seen previously--who knows how much they've improved) by having Dame and CJ in the same backcourt. Maybe CJ's game develops to the point that his offense covers his defensive holes, and Aminu being able to guard the Hardens of the world can help. But in general, a Dame/CJ backcourt for a bunch of minutes kinda gives me the heebie-jeebies. . See above. Agree with him being a help defender, but if he's playing wing guys we don't have the luxury (unless Crabbe and Harkless break out) of weakening our weakest position to have Aminu drop to PF do be a good help defender. I'm repeating myself again, but many of Leonard's shots were wide-open because he didn't shoot if the shot was contested. I don't see that changing a bunch. If he's contested he's a more-than-willing and proficient passer, and should get more than his share of assists this year if/when defenders come out on him. There's some good stuff in the rest of the article about the reserves, but again, not a lot of new stuff of the guys we don't know much about. Yes, Pat's a baseball player 3-and-D guy. Yes, Alexander was a top 5 prospect. Yes, Montero went to CC and not college.
Projected starters: Dame, CJ, Aminu, Leonard, Plumlee. Vonleh: He's got a long ways to go, but in some ways Vonleh's inside-outside potential resembles Aldridge's game. He demonstrated NBA 3-point range during this year's Las Vegas Summer League, shooting 5-of-10 beyond the arc. Facing the basket on offense also allows Vonleh to use his quickness to beat slower power forwards off the dribble as he sharpens his handle. One key area of improvement for Vonleh is his finishing over bigger defenders. He shot just 47.1 percent inside three feet, per Basketball-Reference.com, and had 14.5 percent of his shot attempts blocked.
It was a good piece by Pelton. He's knowledgeable about our team and has an interesting analysis of it.
