The staff didn't tell Zach to bulk up just so he could chase stretch 4's again. He will be the primary back up 5. Here's how I see the front court rotation shaking out: Aminu 30 / Harkless 10 / Collins 8 Nurk 30 / Collins 18
False. The staff has been telling him he needs to add weight and strength since we drafted him. Neil and Zach himself has mentioned this multiple times.
It's common sense that he had to bulk up. Them saying it is just them saying it. It was one of his weaknesses.
"MDMA's the only way that Meyers Leonard is a champion" "Good shooters gone bad, the bench is filled with them."
Oops. Read "wanted to" instead of "had to"--but my point still stands. The added strength and no Ed is about allowing Zach to play the back-up 5 minutes behind Nurk and why the idea that Meyers and Caleb are the one's replacing Ed is wrong imo. More Zach, Hark and shooting is what's replacing Ed.
I think it's too early to judge. If you dig into the lineup data over the last 2 years if we have a strong defensive center + shooting on the floor, it's been a positive. Per Cleaning the Glass: 16-17: Harkless at the 4 w/ Plumlee and Turner off the floor = +23.7 (313 poss.) 17-18: Harkless at the 4 w/ Turner off = +6.8pts per (161 poss.)
Hark is too small for pf. Just because Collins is chasing stretch fours, which he can do, doesn’t mean he isn’t going to play inside on the offensive end. Opinion based disagreement for now. We shall see how Stotts plays it out.
Hark is plenty big to play the 4 vs downsized bench lineups. And like I noted in another post, Hark has been a positive at PF when put alongside shooting and a strong defensive 5. And to the Collins point, his mobility to guard stretch 4's is a luxury but not what makes him special defensively. Playing the 5 allows him to make better and more frequent use of his elite skills--pnr D and rim protection.
But Harkless is our starting SF. Going small in the 2nd unit was KILLING our team until Stotts started playing Collins. The games he decided to revert back to a smaller 2nd unit (@Cleveland for example) the defense was awful.
New year, new players, new combinations and the numbers suggest that he could be viable option at PF alongside the right personnel. Will it work?...who knows. But Meyers and Caleb don't feel like playable options atm so I don't think it's an option that should be disregarded.
looking at Brooklyn’s roster makes me appreciate how good Dame is. The only significant difference in talent is Dame, you put him in Brooklyn and they’re worse than the Blazers with Dame, but not a lot worse. Dame is so good he really makes up for a lot of problems.
I know that posts sounds really critical of the Blazers, and maybe it’s too critical CJ is good Nurkic is also good. Dame though that man can ball.
Im low key rooting for the ex-Blazer squad. unless they play us, then fuck em. but in general i wanna see Ed n Bazz do well. and maybe crabbe a little.
I agree that our front court rotation will look something like that. In today's small ball dominant NBA, I don't think the lack of size in that rotation will be as much of a problem as people think it might be.
