PER is notoriously misleading, and more so with a small sample size. Still, it's interesting to see: 15.0 is supposed to be an average starting NBA player. To see 11 guys on our roster at 13.0 or higher is very encouraging. It kind of follows the eye test. When our starters sit, it doesn't feel like there's a big drop off in scoring or rebounding (metrics PER measures reasonably well). Also interesting to see how far down the list Ant is. If there's one similarity he seems to have with CJ, it's that if he's not scoring efficiently he's not going to give you a jaw-dropping PER. He just doesn't do a lot of other box score things. Anyway, I entered this season not sold at all on Billups. The way he's got these disparate parts playing as a team is extremely encouraging though. Since I'm posting stats, I thought it'd be nice to have a quick scan of Sharpe's game log: 4 of his first 6 games are in double digit scoring. That 8 rebound night in our loss kind of snuck by me. His minutes are trending upward. He's a + player in every win. And of course, the Rookie of the Year contest. It often comes down to PPG, so I sorted by that: He's getting the fewest minutes of anyone in the 7. He may not win, given the way Banchero and Mathurin are going. At least on pure stats. Doesn't track highlight dunks though.
Portland is 3rd in the league in team 3P% at .395. As we all predicted, Nurk is leading the team while Ant and Dame drag the average down.
As of 11/09: OffRtg: 111.1 (16th) DefRtg: 109.4 (t-7th) The offense has dropped a little bit. Middle of the pack average. I think this has to do with our turnovers. We are dead last in the league in TOV% at 17.5. Once we clean that up, the offensive numbers should pick up. The defensive numbers should pick up as well if we clean up the turnovers. A lot of our turnovers are live ball turnovers that result in easy points for the opponent. Miami had 24 points off 19 turnovers and the Hornets had 27 points off 18 turnovers. A surprising stat: we are 28th in pace. Even though it seems like we've been playing faster and pushing the ball more, that's not the case.
I think it has a lot to do with that third game against Phoenix when we didn't have a single shooter and we clanked everything.
Defense climbing to 6th. Is this gonna get even better with GPII? even the most staunch pessimist has to be encouraged
I’m excited to see GPII with Dame + Sharpe. Defensively, GPII should be able to cover for any rookie moments from Sharpe or any lapses from Dame. Offensively though, GPII and Sharpe are both threats to cut and are lob targets. Plug in Grant who’s a threat to shoot and Either Nurk when you want to go big or Watford when you want to go small, and you have a potentially scary lineup.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/three-point-rate 20th in attempt rate. Not living/dying on the 3.
That is interesting. But if you look at our frequency of scoring in transition, we're tied for 12th: https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/transition?SeasonYear=2022-23&dir=D&sort=POSS_PCT So I suppose that means we like to run out in transition pretty well, but when we don't we use up a lot of the shot clock hunting the best shot. Also, I believe Pace is a two-way street. If the other team takes a lot of time trying to score against Portland, it will drive our pace down. Because Portland gets back in transition really well, it doesn't tend to get victimized by transition scoring, slowing down the game.
Still important out there for matchups and situations, but not the pivotal force that they used to be. And that is ok. But yeah, giving up too much for a center is not a great idea in today's NBA. You think the Wolves GM knows that now?
What matchups, Denver and Philly? So centers are not important for playing against 94% of the teams in the NBA.
Blazers current defensive rating is 109.4 which is 5th in the NBA. 103.6 Bucks 107.3 Suns 107.5 Cavs 108.3 Clippers Milwaukee is off the charts good. Blazers aren't terrible far from Suns at #2. On the other end Hawks are 10th at 110.2 so Blazers could easily drop. Other defensive stats; 3pt % of 35.6% which is 16th 2pt % of 50.7% which is 6th FTA of 21.6 is 5th Blazers Pace is 96.6 which is 3rd slowest Defensive rebounding is 75.7% which is ranked 17th. Through 12 games this is the most promising Blazers defensive team than we've seen in many years. The variation of schemes, switching to zone then back to man then trapping has worked great and a huge departure from the Stotts predictability. Also the depth is very promising, it seems like our bench increases leads more than loses them as had been the concern the last decade. Plus getting some huge wins on the road with multiple starters sitting out. Defensive rebounding ranked in the middle is actually good as Grant is a poor rebounder and the team often plays small, so they have been holding their own fine rebounding. On the offensive side Blazers rating is 111.9 which is 15th. Turnovers are dead last in the NBA at 15%. With all the shooting, Dame, Ant, Grant, etc it seems like the Blazers have potential to be a top 10 or top5 offense. If they can do that and keep the defense playing well they have the potential to be a legit HCA team. 10 game stretches we see wild swings from teams. Maybe Blazers were ready to go at game 1 while others teams are rounding in to shape; who knows. But over 20 games if a team keeps it up they are nearly always legit. Will be interesting and possibly very exciting to see where this Blazers team ends up after game 20.
It looks like the defense is legitimately Top 10. It will only get better with time and the return of GP2. If we can improve the offense by limiting turnovers, we can be a Top 10 offense as well. What are teams that have a Top 10 offense and a Top 10 defense? Legit championship contenders.
