Another Pro breakup the backcourt article. I'm pretty sure NO is going to let it ride one more year. If next year is a repeat, one of them is gone. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-blazers-are-the-real-life-version-of-nba-jam/
Hard to argue with the thesis, but I'm biased; I've been saying more or less the same thing for over a year.
Some surprising (not in a good way) data from that article. Dame/CJ COMBINED to average 4.3 assists for the series. Sure, teammates didn't have a great series but somehow Westbrook gets 10 assists a game with garbage talent around him and he is a complete ball-hog. For TWO players to combine for that is not just bad, it's "turrible". CJ's 1 assist per game is the "lowest in NBA history by a guard who averaged at least 20 ppg. That is downright brutal. Most of us acknowledge that CJ isn't a PG but that is black-hole territory. Dame's shots were almost half in isolation...49% up from 39% in the regular season. That just isn't going to work in the Playoffs and certainly doesn't get teammates involved or help them get a rhythm so when the 4th quarter comes and teams really clamp down, they aren't shooting for the practically the first time in the game. Then of course they mention the defense and how other duos who have as high of usage are more balanced.....which we see on a nightly basis. Dame and CJ are incredible scorers but as it has been all season, I am even more convinced that the way they can help the team the most is by what one of them (CJ) can bring in a trade. Maximize the asset to create more balance, ball-movement, multiple strengths and certainly more defense.
As I recall, McCollum did a decent job of play-making for others earlier in the season when Lillard was out with injury. I don't think he's a point guard, but I think he can and will pass. I think, to some extent, Game 1 got into his head and he tried to Michael Jordan his way through the series. Of course, he was hitting everything in Game 1 and when the flames wore off, he was more late-career Kobe than he was Jordan.
It's not that CJ won't pass. But definitely his first instinct is to dribble-crossover-dribble-step-back-crossover- jab step-crossover-pull back jumper. All the while, everyone else is just standing around because VERY rarely does he pass out of that. I lost track of the times teams would hedge towards him and Harkless, Vonleh etc would be WIDE OPEN going to the rim and he wouldn't even look in their direction. His passes seemed to come more often when he had run out of options and dribbled the life out of the ball rather than in a fluid offense that kept defenses off guard.
I agree that would probably happen or come close to it. But even at that rate, 8+ assists from your combined back-court that is handling the ball almost entirely is a very low number and leaves teammates with multiple missed opportunities that should have been being developed all season long.
