Exclusive The Blazers Offense is Stepping Up Without McCollum & Nurkic

Are dribble handoffs and screen assists past of the ORTG?

If not the stat is flawed.

 

ORTG may be flawed but its a pretty simple formula.
100*(pointsscored)/(possesions)
I think. Its just saying how the team performs per possesion. The arguement is that team performs better on offense with Kanter then Nurk. Im not taking a stance here as I dont know how I feel about it.

 

Everything that gives you points as a team is part of ORTG - the Blazers scores more points per possession when EK is on the court - it does not really break it into the details.

The argument could be that he played more with the second unit against lesser defense - but if this was the case, you would expect to see most bench guys having a large ORTG and other than Meyers - it is just not true for the Blazers - so I suspect that this reflects how effective EK's offense is for the Blazers (just like DRTG shows how dominant Nurk is for the Blazers)

The interesting thing is that if you take the delta between Nurk and EK when looking at (ORTG - DRTG) the Blazers are actually OK without Nurk when EK is on the court. What we do have to remember is that the Blazer's schedule with EK was pretty easy so far - and obviously, by losing Nurk, the Blazers lose the efficiency that the second unit had with EK

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BTW - an interesting thing that might explain why EK is so good for the Blazer's offense - the Blazers are ranked 12th in the league in FG% but 3rd in offense - the Blazers do tons on the offensive glass - and I suspect that EK's ability to clean up the glass and score there is one of the reasons the his ORTG on the Blazers is so high.

 

Yep the schedule has been very favorable indeed.

 

Another thing that I haven't seen brought up is CJ being out. If CJ is playing this whole time are Kanter's Blazer numbers about the same or would they be worse? I don't have time to look it up but I'd love to see Nurk's numbers in games without CJ this year (granted that's a fairly small sample).

 

Good question. If my theory that he is feasting on the offensive glass is correct - I suspect that CJ's percentages which are a bit better than the team's average will bring his offensive rebounds opportunities down - but it is not a huge difference.

 

I was also thinking about in terms of Kanter getting less shot attempts outside of offensive rebounds too since he'd probably see a slight decrease in post touches. There is also the unmeasurable aspect of having to exert more effort on defense which could lead to a tick lower offensive production as well or things like foul trouble.

 

Exactly. Scoring efficiency is kinda like you make yourself better. The rest of offense is how well you make everyone else better. And then there's defense.

 

Small sample size.

 

In terms of offensive rating, I believe there is a different calculation for player ORTG and team ORTG, this is just going over the team's offensive rating with Kanter. Like I said not taking a side, for one we should see them face some more teams actually trying...

 

Meyers ORtg has been the best for the Blazers all season and seems to be because of his leading 3P%, TS%, and points/FGA. The combination of Enes and Meyers at Center can and should be bringing more than 30 points per game, is what we need in the absence of Nurk, and can translate into wins. Let's see it happen now and through the Playoffs!

 

I disagree. The combination should be Enes and Zach at Center.

 

No. The combinations should include Zach at Forward with both Enes and Meyers, played to maximize scoring talent and defense. Without Meyers, you are overlooking the leading scoring talent on the Blazers (notice the 129 ORtg) who together with Enes can provide wins to finish off with 4 wins for the season and winning in the Playoffs.

 

Meyers ORTG is as good as it is because the Blazers coaching staff know enough to play him only when he is effective. He is not a guy that you throw for tons of time and expect the results to stay the same.

When the Blazers last tried to feature him (2015-2016) his ORTG was not good. He is good in spots, not as a general purpose C.

 

I disagree Andalusian. Meyers ORtg of 129, swish3 shooting of 45%, and TS% of 65.4 along with his excellent play in the Jan 30 win over UTAH Jazz are why Meyers ought to be playing 20+ min per game and having at least 6 assist passes to him per game. Meyers should be averaging 12+ PPG to complement Enes 12+ PPG and aiming to increase the Center total to 30+ per game that will mean increased offensive power that can win the Championship.

 

No. Zach is needed at center for defensive purposes. By playing Zach at center we maximize our ability to achieve playoff success with the ultimate goal of winning the championship!

 

Zach at Forward will give the same blocking power, and along side of Enes or Meyers gives us a potent and improving defense. Meyers and Enes are showing defensive improvement, and can be coached to increasing performance they learn from playing with and communicating with Zach. As all 3 of them step up to win these games in honor of Nurk, let's look for his helpful influence in the improved Blazers who can win the Playoffs.

 

Ah, I see. Well still I think it's a small sample size and perhaps against weaker than average teams.

 

I just did this quickly, so maybe my numbers are off a smidge ....

in the last 10 games without CJ, Portland is averaging 25.4 assists a game. With CJ, Portland averaged 22.8 assists a game. With CJ, Portland ranked 25th in the NBA in assists/game. Without him they would rank 13th. Considering that Nurkic missed the last 6 of those games, Portland's assist number, with Nurk & without CJ, could be around 27 which would rank them in the 3rd thru 5th range

obviously, assists/game isn't a guaranteed correlation to wins; New Orleans ranks 3rd and Washington ranks 5th, but 7 of the top 10 teams in assists are playoff teams with Golden State and Denver leading the league. Also, Portland has had a fairly soft schedule over those 10 games and it's usually the better teams that offer more defensive resistance to an opponent running their offense. Still, those assist numbers tend to buttress what our eyes have seen in terms of the improved ball and player movement without CJ's ball-stopping offense. And the fact that the Blazers are 9-2 this year without CJ seemingly supports the notion

 

In the last ten games the Blazers have played a lot of lower tier teams. Last night was an example of what the Blazers and Dame will see in the playoffs: constant double-teaming to try to limit Lillard from going off. That’s where CJ’s value comes into play.