Our bench killed us last night. Very little ball movement. Lots of hero ball. On paper, that unit should be rock solid. Turner CJ Crabbe Vonleh Davis Turner still looks uncomfortable. He also looks like he's pressing. I'm not concerned. I think his shot will come along eventually. Harkless looked pretty shitty at the start of last season as well. Stotts and Dame will find a way to make him feel comfortable. CJ is simply not a point guard. He only knows how to call his own number, and that's fine when his shot is falling, but last night it was not. I just hate watching him try to run the offense. Crabbe did well when he got shots, but we need to get him the ball. I think it's a work in progress, and eventually they will find a rhythm, but last night was ugly.
I disagree. I think Turner is key to our success moving forward, so we need to find a way to get him comfortable in the offense. That's not going to happen by playing him less.
Turner does a lot of things very well. Shooting a basketball does not appear to be one of them. He should do it less.
Turner is a guy who will eventually start hitting those medium range jump shots, which will help out tremendously. Crabbe hesitated several times yesterday. I really want him to have more freedom in shooting.
Oh, well since we have played a whopping two games, that's CLEARLY enough of a sample size to tell him to stop shooting altogether.
He seems to be pressing. By that I mean, he seems to be forcing himself to take bad and/or out of rhythm shots, because he has to take shots. And they are generally bad shots. And his form...oye vey...the opposite of smooth.
I don't mind if he shoots. Everyone on the court should be a threat. I'd like them to be better shots, is really my concern. I agree with the "only two games in" argument. He needs to get comfortable, and his teammates have to get comfortable with him. I was a big supporter and defender of the Evan Turner signing. At this point, I'm nervously hoping he proves me right.
He seems to be pressing... and the second unit doesn't seem to have any rhythm, which is causing ET and CJ to take bad shots. One example last night was when Crabbe was trying to run off screens and CJ was standing at the top of the key dribbling.... for like 15 seconds.... waiting for Crabbe to get open. He never got open, so CJ jacked up a bad shot. Nobody else was moving. Everyone was standing around except for Crabbe. Our starting unit has so much more chemistry right now, because they played together last season. Stotts needs to find a way to get the second unit into a rhythm, and I think that's only going to come with time and patience.
Yeah I think it was like 45-20 on bench points. And that was with Crawford going 3-12. That number is a little misleading since CJ is on the floor too, so theoretically he and Crabbe should be taking most of the shots. Either way they need to get better, but I would stick with the same line up for another 10 games or so. They need to figure it out. They need to put ET in a position to attack the basket. I was more concerned with Aminu's 0-6 than ET's 2-8
I think everybody was trying to do a bit too much individually instead of sticking with the game plan. They'll get better.
This team panics when we go through droughts. Dame is probably the most guilty. He tries to take it on himself to keep us afloat and it often leads to him taking bad shots.
Last season Turner shot .482 on 2-point attempts. That's an 81 game sample size. Last season Dame shot .450 on 2-point attempts. Last season C.J. shot .463 on 2-point attempts. So, for those who think Turner should stop shooting based on a 2 game sample size, do you also think Dame and C.J. should stop shooting? I say we give him a few more games to figure it out and get in a rhythm. BNM
They are trying to acclimate ET to the Blazers style of basketball, which doesn't look like he's very natural at. He looks very awkward in set plays, but does a pretty good job of breaking down the defense and finding cutters, getting to the rim, or taking a midrange jumper, which should eventually start falling. You have to remember he's coming onto a team that has mostly been together for over a year, it'll take some time.
I agree that turner needs more time and his shot may come around, but god damn I cringe every time he shoots that thing. Same reaction and feeling I get when chuck swings a golf club.
I agree that CJ is not a PG but Turner is definitely not a PG. A Point-Forward, maybe, but you don't use a Point-Forward as a PG. Lebron and Batum are Point-Forwards but they don't play PG. Greek Freak is supposed to even play PG but I don't buy it. Point Forwards give you extra advantage when they're used as forwards
I seem to remember CJ averaging 6.5 assists a game when he started at PG last year when Dame was hurt?
