Oh my goodness. Out of boredom, I decided to take a hard look at the Blazers' playoff stats and I was blown away by some atrocities. Out of 18 shot attempts, Rudy made 4. I am so DONE with him. It gets worse. How tall is Batum? 6'9"? Then how, in 25 mpg, did he only grab 1.7 rebounds per game?? That's atrocious. Don't get me started on Wesley Matthews who can shoot the ball but has zero interest in rebounding or assisting, barely averaging 1 per game in each category. Aldridge and Wallace played fine. Camby was fine for who he is. Miller actually put up great number and shot great but only played 32 mpg. That's cuz Nate was having to choose between him and Roy at PG. Roy's inconsistency, though, was our series. In the two games he played well, we won. And yet so many people say that Roy ISO ball is ineffective. Anyway, that's my rant.
Half our team showed up to play, simple as that. Weaselly was great in stretch's but overall seemed to lax, Batum lost all intensity and Rudy looked like hot trash. Crash was our big X factor but McMillan to often had him sitting out at the three line, and Roy well... I wish he would make up his mind if he is done or not.
if batum is ever going to live up to any of these pippen comps, he needs to improve his handle ALOT, and play like a beast. rudy is a spot up shiooter who cant make anything...
While I don't really want to defend Rudy, because he did indeed shoot like shit, this year he did a fair amount of good things that were unrelated to shooting. One thing that was pointed out by some stat-head was that he defended Barea really well (certainly in comparison with anyone on the Lakers) and Barea's numbers were WAY down from his regular season numbers. Rudy also feeds the post really well and that little curl-to-the-middle, throw-up-a-lob-for-LaMarcus play is a thing of beauty.
The thing that seriously pissed me off was when a certain group of players were doing well, the complimentary players played like shit. We didn't have a single game where the majority of our team was on. It could have been due to Dallas's defense, but we were missing some very "wide open shots". It was like if Wallace played well, Roy, Batum, and Aldridge didn't. When Batum did well, then Roy and Wallace weren't. When Roy was doing well, then Wallace and Batum weren't. Our bench was seriously inconsistent and that includes Roy. And the reason I didn't even talk about Rudy was he was a serious "non-factor" doesn't even get mention IMO.
I never got why Pippen's name was ever brought up in connection to Batum. They are both skinny SFs. Comparison ends there. Batum has no confidence in his handle if you watch his body language. Half the time when the gets the ball he passes it right back to the PG within about 2 seconds because he can't break down his defender.
Rep'd. I hate it as well that everytime a player has a bad game or tough series they get jumped on. And when they have a good game or series they're worshiped by the same posters.
It's one thing if Rudy had a bad couple of games, but seriously the kid is bricking boulders in the ocean. I really want him to do well and I really wanted him to be that missing piece from the bench. Hopefully his confidence will improve along with his shooting next season. We need a high 30, low 40's three point marksman. Rudy could fit the bill perfectly if he somehow gets over this slump of his.
I agree, Rudy has a lot of good intangibles on the court. His defense is miles ahead of where it was his rookie year, he has high court awarness and is a good passer. He is a very bad player when shooting 22%, but he does contribute in other ways besides scoring.
KS, if you got time, will you pick apart the LA-Dallas series. I think I would enjoy reading that one.
This is how McMillan coaches a game. He has one guy carry the team. He hopes 1-2 more will emerge that game and be hot. McMillan was the perfect coach for Roy, whose team play weaknesses would have shown up under any other coach. McMillan doesn't design his system to get everyone involved, such as plays to have Rudy score inside. He is a libertarian coach, not interested in the good for all. He goes with his strongest oxen and lets the chaff fall alongside the trail.
I can agree on that. I have been very pro-nate this season, but was a "natesayer" the previous seasons before. I think why I changed my tune during last season, was the team looked like "A team" instead of a ISO fest. It looks like he went back to his old ways; which has persuaded me to resort to natesaying again.
