I worry less about our three point shooting than Nurk's free throw shooting which hovered around 50% in the last half of the season. I also don't like how CJ clangs his free throws when they really mean something. Moral to the story- "You've got to make your free throws".
You weren't posting, or just not a member of s2. But in 16-17 CJ led the league in FT% at 91.2%. Fast forward to 17-18 and CJ's % drops to 83.6% It's ironic tho. In 16-17 Lillard shot 89.5% from the line.(488 of 545) Fast forward to 17-18 and Lillard raises his FT% to 91.6%.(493 of 538) This board was all over the FotM about how Lillard wasn't clutch and CJ was. There were even threads created about how Lillard time was a myth. I suspect should CJ return to his 16-17 form across the board, and if Lillard regresses at all. Many threads will be created about the following. 'Lillard is trash, and the Pelicans proved it'. 'Team needs to be build around CJ, trade Lillard'. It's funny, many posters on this board get upset about Quick, and Canazano when they participate in 'hot takes'. However when those posters have a 'hot take' it's okay, and any one who disagrees with them is a homer. (I am not talking about everyone who has a 'hot take'. Just a few specific posters who make this board less enjoyable) Nurk's ft% is something he needs to work on. He's shown he can hit FT's as in the playoffs he took nearly 3 a game and made 81.8% of them. Yes small sample size, but Nurk is too skilled to be a poor free throw shooter. We're not talking about Drummond here.
Actually a bunch of us do give Terry props for that. But the vocal minority seem to be the loudest and most persistent. Nice response to the original comment by the way.
There's a lot of good points in this thread. I know when I like opposing views right after each other.
Now this post should be framed. It has quite possibly the making of the most ignorant post i have ever read on this site. "If Dame or CJ couldn't shoot well from 3 point"? WTF? Really? Well i guess the fact that every team in the entire league has to have a couple guys making shots from 3 point to be successful doesn't really mean anything? This game has and always will be about making buckets. Three point shots are now a huge part of the game. You got to make em. And by the way the very first line about being a below .500 head coach is in jeopardy. He is currently .499 for his career. But as a Blazer he is .553. Not sure how anyone could actually think his winning percentage has been buoyed by an "Above average roster". At what point in the last 4 years did this guy quit watching the team? And at what point do we actually give the credit to the coach for taking that roster and making it above average?
If you'll look you'll see that I have been a member since 2008. So, I wonder why the conjecture on that point. You are correct that I wasn't posting until recently and it was due to the fact that I was over on O-Live's forum. I knew very well about CJ's past excellence in free throw shooting. I also know he's still a pretty good free throw shooter. I meant only that at clutch times he's choked such that it stuck in my head. I wish I could get those memories out of my head and the only way to do it is for him to come up big at nearly all clutch times. As for Lillard, and CJ too for that matter, I can see how good he is. In fact, those two are the two premier Blazers who can always get open when guarded one on one. I love the way those guys make impossible layups. Sometimes Nurk surprises me with his made free throws but not often. At least, not often since midway through the season. Is he capable of shooting better? No doubt about it. He used to be a pretty good free throw shooter. I think he needs to work on it in practice. You know, practice makes perfect.
And the rest of the team is incredibly young. We need those other guys to help spread the floor and take more of the scoring load. ET is great to help on the defensive end, and I think he helped make us better this season. But he's obviously not a good outside shooter. So it's on Neil to bring someone in who is. He obviously had to settle for Turner. This is a problem with our market, not Neil Olshey. One more shooter (a good 3&d wing) could be enough to put us over the top. There is nothing that leads me to believe there is a better GM out there that we can go get. So we should run with what we've got for now. Same thing with coach. I'm proud we have these two guys and I'm excited to see what changes they make for next season.
That offense has gotten us to the second round multiple times. Who was the last coach that did that here? Mike Dunleavy with the most loaded roster in the league?
Yeah this isnt condescending to the bulk of the forum? Some people have some really distorted opinions a out their own posts.....
I've been letting this question marinate for a few days. While there are certainly things about Stotts' system that I don't like (can we PLEASE incorporate some fast break offense, for crying out loud?), I'm coming down on the side of keeping him for at least one more year. I don't give much credence to the New Orleans series debacle as being reason alone for a coaching change. I believe that the Pelicans just were a bad match-up, particularly with Moe having injury issues. The team had a solid regular season and showed growth. His players are firmly, especially Dame and CJ, in the camp of retaining Terry, and that counts a lot with a young team. What I do want to see is some changes to the team and the system that would prevent the kind of scheme the Pelicans employed from working. Olshey needs to get some more shooters. Terry needs to add some elements to his offense that don't rely on the pick and roll schemes to get Dame free. A lot of guys on this board are better at the X's and O's than I am, but it seems that better ball movement and less tolerance of over-dribbling would help immensely. I guess I see this as the joint responsibility of Olshey and Stotts to make adjustments this summer that will help the team get better. There isn't much flexibility for a major deal, but Olshey should be able to use his exceptions to add a couple of bench players who would make a difference. Terry should be able to build on what he has established and add some new wrinkles that will help the team succeed. If we're at the same point next year that we are now, then it's time to clean house. Just my humble take.
