Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? I never said that. Pay attention to the post. I said that Steve Nash isn't an improvement where we need it. He is old and slow and can't play good defense. To add to my position, The Blazers need better perimeter defense and a guard that can drive and score to take the pressure off of Roy so that the defense of the opposing team fears the double on him.
I like both of these moves. We've got enough talent here already to develop. Now we just need to move a few pieces to bring in some things were lacking.
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? So you are saying what we have is better than Nash. You pay attention to the post.
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? 2 time MVP Nash is still one of the top PGs in the league, even if he is not at MVP level. He could teach everyone - not just Bayless - plenty.
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? Nash can drive and score to take pressure off of Roy. he can get opposing PG's into this thing called foul trouble. Something the Blazers haven't been able to do in like forever. Getting quick guards into foul trouble puts them on the bench instead of driving past Blake. So in the sense Nash helps the defense more by eliminating better opposing offensive players.
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? No you said we would be worse on defense. That implies by logic, that he is worse at defense than Steve Blake. Way to backtrack!!! Woohooooo we got a backtracker in the house!!!!
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? Only way I see POR getting NAsh is if PHX mgmt sees the writing ont he wall and acknowledges they need to rebuild.... Trading Shaq for Ben Wallace and Pavlovic (as currently rumoured) would be a signal to me that the white flag is being raised....and then the question becomes is Nash and Amare next? PHX isn't going anywhere...I just don't know if THEY realize that yet.....
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? Yes, he can do that. Really? He can do that? Why did he not bother doing it this year? Let's see - Tony Parker this year scored 32, 27, 26, 30 against Nash in their 4 meetings, Devin Harris averaged 28PPG against him and I did not bother to go for the entire log against CP3 - but CP3 averaged 22.2 PPG against Nash in his entire career. Steve Nash does not put the quick opposing guards in foul trouble and eliminate them from the game - it is nothing more than wishful thinking, I am afraid. The real issue to remember however is that Portland's championships hopes lie in Oden's lap - and step one to making Oden relevant is protecting him by having better perimeter defense - something Nash is just as bad as (or worse than) Blake... Of course, if we can protect Oden from cheap fouls when he has to cover for our perimeter PG defense - he can stay on the floor more, cause more havoc on the offensive end and offer that other guy that offers relief for Roy on offense... Steve Nash is a better PG than Blake - but his strengths are not what takes Portland to another level. He thrives only in a fast pace offense with limited consequences for defense. Portland's future lies in half-court execution supremacy with an inside-out punch via Roy/Oden and defensive intimidation in the post. Fitting a square peg in a round hole is a lot of fun if you have nothing better to do. I suspect that the Blazer's task is to win a championship which sounds like something better to do...
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? What if Nash wasn't the only perimeter player added to the team? What if say Prince could be added as well. Would then the perimeter defense be improved while bettering the team offensively?
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? If Prince can still guard these quick point-guards that give Portland so much trouble and these teams do not have a super-efficient SF that will kill us by posting Nash - sure. (I have not seen many Detroit games other than against Portland - so I really can not tell if Prince is still a good defender against the jittery-quick PGs that are the bane of our existence...) Problem #1 for this team, imho - is perimeter defense against these quick guards. If it can be solved while Nash is on the roster without compromising most of what makes this team as successful as they are - sure he would be great. If, however, bringing Nash in as the #1 big change - I personally do not think this is a great move - but maybe that's why they (the Blazers) do not pay me the big money...
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? I don't think any PG can stop a lightning quick PG 1 on 1. I think it helps tremendously though to have someone who is strong enough to fight through a pick. Our perimeter defense is poor because of a copule of things IMO. 1. Except for Bayless, our PG's can't get through a pick 2. Our SF's are either not experienced enough or just plain shitty perimter defenders. 3. Our defensive game plan is horrible.
You know the other thing I would point out about Theo, that I wouldn't expect from the draft pick is that Theo is a quitter. All through his career he quit on teams all the time, and then expected to be treated like he was a star. I see the chances of that happening with a new draft pick being pretty low. Mostly because your chances or drafting a guy who is a loser like that mentally, are very low.
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? I agree - stopping them is hard or impossible. That's why I never said they need to be stopped. They do need to be slowed down - and that's why Nash as the big change just is not going to be the answer imho. As for your assessment. I agree on #1 and #2 - and unfortunately, I think that #3 does not really apply - it's this break of the perimeter defense that causes so much trouble. If you look at Hollinger's team-stats - we are #10 in the league in defensive efficiency (for the regular season) which is not horrible (and is much better than the #17 we were last year). It is actually very encouraging given the clear disadvantage we had on defense on the perimeter this year because of our PG defensive breakdowns - and it shows how big of an impact a slow, not-in shape Oden really was...
Re: Nobody posted this from Courtside?? I couldn't agree more about Oden. It boggles my mind how some people think he was not a major contributor to our team last year.
