not really. the individual players you play the most minutes with might have some effect, but not the team as a whole.
Which Travis trade comment did I make other than I advocate him going in a deal for a SF? I do think the criticism of Outlaw here is irrational and out of proportion.
And that is why he will not be on the team (or playing about fifteen minutes a game) when we are contending for championships. You cannot win in the playoffs settling for contested jumpers when you're having an awful night and ignoring your wide open teammates.
How many wide open shots do you see in the NBA against good teams? This is what is funny to me. "Outlaw is terrible because he takes contested shots." That is a skill in the NBA that is hard to find. Not irreplaceable, which is why I am willing to see him go in order to get an upgrade at SF, but to use that as a criticism when Nate specifically draws up one-on-one plays for him is simply not fair.
This is the trade comment I was referring to: You had made this post asking if I had ignored it: I was busy writing the post in response to this post: And I missed your trade comment. I don't think the criticisms of Travis are irrational. I think calling him stupid and a dumbass are over the top but he does have a good lack of recognition skills for the right play. I think you see a lot of annoyance over Travis especially because some posters (not you specifically) go beyond the call in defending him and totally ignore his faults and how it hurts the team - especially considering he is a six year veteran. Couple that with how some of those posts of Travis super fans end I think you see a great deal of irritation. I've got nothing against Travis and wouldn't mind him here in a limited role. I just don't think he'll ever improve his faults enough to be a big asset in winning a championship and would prefer we get good value for him while his own value is so high.
Well, that's fair. I'm not sure why you had to insult me as someone who didn't want to engage in debate. "Debate" means you should understand my position as well, which you clearly didn't, and I didn't get petty, but whatever. Best of luck to you.
Well that is my issue with Nate relying too much on ISO plays but that is another topic entirely. My issue is this with Travis and contested jumpers: Some nights he hits them just fine and it makes you cringe but you live with it because it puts points on the boards. Other nights they're not going in but he's still going to them and the other team realizes he (and maybe Nate I guess) wont adjust. So you'll see Rudy, Blake's and even LaMarcus's man sagging off of them and shadowing Travis or just straight out doubling them. I've seen multiple games this year where Travis is not having a good shooting night and Rudy's man leaves him wide open at the top of the arc and Rudy waves his hands and Travis ignores him. He's got a tunnel vision for the hoop a lot of the time (I think this more points towards his general lack of recognition skills during sticky situations) and that is my only concern with his shooting. My other concerns go more towards forgetting to box out, losing his man etc. Again that's good in a limited role but will kick our asses in the playoffs (well most of the offensive schemes we run right now will kick our asses in the playoffs but that isn't Travis's fault).
I got a little annoyed at your didn't ask for your commentary comment. I apologize for lashing out in return.
I only wanted a link so I could put the stat into context. What I found is that I wasn't as impressed with the number as I imagine the person who posted it hoped I would be.
Plus and minus is such a tricky situation to evaluate unless you (that's a general you not a specific you as in you PapaG) have watched all the games and take into context how they're earned. This is why I don't really buy into one game plus/minus ratings. However season long ones are somewhat telling and should give you a general idea on how a player really assists his team. The big thing with Travis's is that he is the biggest negative gain on the second unit and he probably plays the most minutes with the starters. This is probably because he can go quite a few games where he isn't shooting so well. Travis probably has a pretty good 4th quarter plus minus but then you have to start entering questions into the situation like "Is it Travis or is it Brandon" or the other way around. It helps evaluate but it shouldn't be the end all be all. I generally just use my eyes to see what is going on because statistics can always be misleading. Or tampered with by inattentive stats crews at arenas the bastards.
For all you people that keep talking about Travis clutch shooting, if he didn't shoot like hell the rest of the game, the Blazers wouldn't be in a position to need a winning shot in the first place. Try putting up 16 points during the game, and maybe then you are ahead by 10 or so, and you won't be in the position to have to need a "clutch shot". The Blazers played like hell in this game, if it wasn't a league bottom feeder the Blazers would have lost this game. Roy and Aldridge played solid, the rest of the team really looked bad, including some of the coaching moves. Lets look at some of that: Last few seconds of the half? Nate does a defensive substitution of Batum for Rudy, but leaves Rodriguez out on the court? Wonderful decision Nate... Brandon has the ball over the half court line with 33 seconds left and the Blazers up by 4, and you call a time out to get Joel Pryzbilla out of the game, when you already have the ball in the hands of the guy you want, and over the half court line? Now you have to inbound. Great move there Nate. Lucky it didn't bite you in the ass. The only reason it didn't is because it was the Grizzlies. I swear if I watch one more Spanish guard on our team pass up an easy layin to throw it out to the 3 point line, I am going to go completely ballistic. Quit making the game hard and make the easy play.
