I have been saying for a couple months that I hope that Olshey is trying to add a player who is at least as good as anyone now on the team. This article backs up that need. Lillard is not doing it in the playoffs and has not been doing it since that Houston series a couple years ago. Hopefully adding another guy with just as much fire power would take some of the responsibility off his shoulders and allow him to perform better in the playoffs.http://www.si.com/nba/2016/04/21/nba-playoffs-clippers-trail-blazers-game-2-damian-lillard
Here's some more evidence that he doesn't do well against other elite guards.http://www.blazersedge.com/2016/4/2...s-clippers-damian-lillard-chris-paul-all-star
I agree with this, but you need to take the next step, I think we are all in agreement, that either one of our existing needs to explode into a star, or we need to add one more. But if adding one more... who? I think that is the center of debate for most people. Not if we need, but who we need.
There aren't a lot of options available. KD is a pipedream. Our best bet is probably letting Crabbe walk and sign Fournier.
They don't need a go to player, they need guys with different skill sets on offense because right now they are way too predictable. Someone who can shoot and make plays from the high post would diversify the offensive attack greatly. Another thing to note is that the Blazers are mostly getting shut down because of personnel. We aren't playing Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan every night.
Kanter would've made a world of difference. His horrific defense aside, he's exactly what this team is missing on the offensive end.
When you watch the Warriors w/o Curry, it's clear every dude on the floor can score. We need at least every starter to be a threat. That means no Aminu or Harkless starting next year. My semi-realistic realistic plan is to sign Ryan Anderson for PF and Barnes for SF. You have to go all in and overpay, but that's a lineup that can flat out score.
This summer can't be about adding nice role players like Davis/Aminu or trading on the cheap for Harkless. Totally agree that they need one and possibly two impact players. Maybe not both at Dame's level but at least someone who can make a shot or create a little bit to take the pressure off. CJ is nice but I'm still not convinced he wouldn't be best suited in a Crawford-like 6th man role. No shame in being outplayed by Chris Paul who is one of the better PG's in league history but it's the shooting (~17% from '3' in the last three Playoff series) that is a concern. Only 2 of those games so far were this year when he was almost on his own but there is certainly a trend that is not what you want to see that has stretched over 3 seasons now. I don't want to waste another of Lillard's prime years on him having to shoulder so much of the burden. It wears a player out.
I think OKC would dump him this summer. Prolly won't take much to get him either. They're spending way too much on him for the production they're getting from him.
Think Greg Monroe is a bit more available than Kanter to be honest. If Durant stays, no way OKC dumps Kanter for nothing. If Durant leaves, there's no reason to dump Kanter at all.
He's got a 24 PER. He's not going anywhere. Especially of they lose KD. If you want a big from OKC, the Blazers could steal Adams away with a big contract.
We are a bad defensive team, thats just how it is at the moment. We have moments where we shine but overall were bad defensively so its not surprising that opposing PG's light us up. As for why Lillard struggles against elite teams seems pretty simple to me. 1. He is the the guy everyone plans against, we have no other player that is going to inspire fear in another team so Lillard gets the brunt of defensive effort of the other team. 2. We have 0 good screen setters and this shows with how little room Lillard has to operate in. This is a huge problem especially against good defensive PG's because against those type of players Lillard needs screens to get himself room and our screens blow.
