Some very concerning statements by Roy

i know miller is a better pg then blake.... its not close ... but since miller cant hit threes or a jumper consistently.... blake fits better with the guys we start.

miller will be traded .... no way he comes off bench the whole season. nick van exel part 2. member when we traded for him and the team that was suppose to be decent ended up being awful? thats this years version. miller is also having a bad season all teh way around. talk about a nightmare... kp really fucked up

 

the bulls will be an excellent test


and the nets scare me because they are desperate for a win.

 

Please. Portland should destroy both of them.

 

According to the article, Blake is starting over Miller because Roy needs the ball in his hands more.

I'm a huge Roy fan, but he is putting a lot of pressure on himself. Like one poster said, what is going to happen if the Blazers go on a losing streak with Roy getting what he wants.

I think the problem is Blazers only have one true PG and he is needed with the second unit or the second unit is not good.(Bayless and Blake can't play PG with Roy on the bench).

But again, if you believe the article and Nate's statements, this move is made because both Roy and Miller need the ball in their hands and their is "only one ball"

 

Then they know that the problem is Roy's need to play with the ball in his hands...

The statistical data shows that playing with Miller Roy is much more of a jump shooter. It also makes sense that you try to run with your biggest mis-match fully utilized. They tried the other options, and they won, but looked pretty "average" doing it.

I think that the problem is that they only have one PG who can shoot the long-ball and space the floor for Roy. If Miller was a better long-ball shooter - the entire issue would not be relevant - because they could alternate handling the ball and spacing it for one another.

Well, it's true. If Roy does not handle the ball - he is reduced to a jump-shooter. If Miller is not handling the ball, he is not effective and he can not space the floor for Roy. It's not that complicated, honestly.

 

No brag, just fact.

Since Nate ignores my posts, it was inevitable that Brandon would have to speak up eventually.

KP's deperate attempt to save face by signing someone, anyone, after being rebuked by Hedo and others, has exploded in his face. The team was in danger of flushing 3-4 years of chemistry down the drain simply to satisfy Miller's ego.

Maybe someday I'll tire of always being right, but today is not that day.

 

I'm not trying to make it complicated . . . but I am having a hard time understanding why Miller and Roy can't be effective together. It seems like you get it, but doesn't seem that obvious to me.

Again, it will be interesting to see what happens if the new starting line up does not perform well against good teams . . . meaning Roy will have the ball in his hands.

BTW-I generally agree with your posts and I'm anything but a Blake basher . . . I'm just not big on statemetns where the star is saying he can't play well with a particular player.

 

Roy is exactly right. Having the rest of the team try to adapt to Andre Miller was insane, and the statistics show it wasn't effective.

I hope we've seen the last of that approach.

 

I think it's safe to say that Miller doesn't play well alongside Roy.

 

As I said in the other thread - for a "nice guy", Roy leaves a lot of corpses in his wake.

 

A couple of things:

1. I think Roy is right. The team does go off of him, and if his energy isn't there, there are only a few other guys on the team whose motors are running if he is there or not.

2. I don't buy the Roy and Miller not able to work together thing, becaue the only time they started together as "Starting Back Court" with NO Blake was 2 games during the pre season. That has never been given a chance to work in the way it should. Every time they played together as starters during the regular season Brandon was at SF and unhappy.

3. I still think the team needs to really think about just making Roy the PG, and go big. I don't give a shit if it makes Blake and Miller happy. I could really care less about what those two want at this point.

 

Fortunately, they all play for the opposing team.

 

I believe that John Wooden (UCLA's iconic basketball coach) always said that good basketball offense starts with spacing. This is especially true in this day and age in the NBA with uber-athletes that are big and fast and cover lots of space really quick.

I think that since the first game I saw in person (the Atlanta game in the RG) - I thought the other teams had a much easier time to clog the middle when Roy was handling the ball and Miller was on the court.

I believe that if you pay attention to what Nate is saying - this is exactly what he is noticing as well.

This is from BEdge and Nate's comments about Webster last night:

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/11/21/1168667/media-row-report-blazers-106

It's all about spacing, in the offense that Portland runs. You can argue that there are other types of schemes that can overcome this - the Lakers run the triangle that tries to create the spacing in a somewhat more sophisticated way - but at the end of the day, our best offensive player is Roy. Our biggest offensive mismatch is trying to contain Roy when he has the space to attack the rim and make a decision if he wants to shoot himself or pass.

With Miller in the game, defenses sag from him, clog the middle - and can recover quickly to cover the other jump shooters (mostly Blake). With Miller handling the ball, Roy's role is reduced to be a jump-shooter mostly and we take away our biggest offensive mismatch.

It is not hard to see that this is the way it works in the NBA. You adjust the system and players to the best player, not the other way around.

We saw it last year in PHX as well. Nash is one of the best in the NBA at making decisions in a fast pace offense. If the system is adjusted to his advantage - PHX is a good team. When they tried to bring Shaq and adjust Nash's game to Shaq - it did not work too well.

For the record - Wooden's book can be seen here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=kg...resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Look at the "Principles for offensive success" chapter. The first item - is spacing.

 

Ok if it's all about spacing, then why isn't the guy next to Roy in the offense the guy that is shooting over .500 from 2 point land and shooting .400 from 3 point land. Named Rudy.

 

On paper, I agree with you. My fear, however, is that Roy will react to playing with Rudy the same way he did to playing with Miller.

 

That's not up to me. I would love seeing that line and said so in the "New Starting Lineup" thread.

Specifically, here:

http://sportstwo.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2177037&postcount=51

 

I don't think so. Rudy does not necessarily need the ball to play. He plays very well off the ball, and in fact, is one of the better guys moving without the ball in the league IMO. He could handle the ball on the posessions where Roy needs a break.

 

Because Roy would be playing SF again.

 

No he would be playing point. Rudy would be playing SG. A lot of folks think Roy plays SG just because he is listed as that on the starting lineup. If you look what he does, he plays PG. Blake plays as a spot up shooter. That is the shooting guard. Paper says one thing. Eyes say another.

 

So, Blazer fans want an elite player, but if he recognizes his importance to the team...the fact that his performance gives confidence to other players and lets them perform better...and honestly states his assessment of how he can best maximize his performance and help his team win, then he's guilty of being an egomaniac in some of your eyes.

I think Roy has it exactly right. I think that because the team has gotten away from maximizing his chances to do well by pitting him against bigger players and taking the ball out of his hands, his teammates have felt more pressure to carry a bigger burden. When they start missing a few shots, it snowballs from there to where nobody can hit from the perimeter. Roy's not being selfish in his assessments, he's just saying what he thinks is in the best interests of the team winning. I'm glad he's speaking up.