http://www.nbcsports.com/northwest/...-behind-pat-connaughtons-early-season-success On Sunday, the Trail Blazers had what is called a “Blackout” day, which means no practice, no coming in for treatment, no weight lifting, no nothing. It is a day designed to give the players a break from basketball, a day when the lights stay off, leaving the practice courts black. But it was no surprise when this Sunday, hours after the Blazers returned from Milwaukee, the lights flickered on and Pat Connaughton dribbled onto the court for a shooting session. The way Connaughton sees it, there are no off days. “I don’t ever want to look back and be like, ‘Oh, if I just put in a little more time,’’’ Connaughton said. “I just want to make sure I put in my work.’’ If there has been an unexpected boost, or a pleasant surprise to the Trail Blazers’ early season, it has been Connaughton, whose shooting off the bench has been a subplot to an encouraging 2-1 start. His confident play, and accurate shooting, is rooted in days like Sunday. During the summer, Connaughton would hold two-a-day workouts, which included a requirement to make 500 three-pointers in each session, 1,000 a day. “This is the year I wanted to make sure I was prepared for,’’ Connaughton said. “If it didn’t work out this year, then at least I could say I did it in attack mode. But I wanted to be ready for the moments.’’ So far, he has. After earning the backup shooting guard role with a solid preseason, Connaughton has been more than an adequate replacement for the departed Allen Crabbe, who was traded to Brooklyn.
They always love to write these kinds of fluff pieces.... but this kind of work ethic isn't that uncommon, especially on our team.
There's a gem at the end: Portland center Jusuf Nurkic, who made such a splash after arriving in a trade-deadline deal with the Denver Nuggets last season, is averaging 13.0 points and 8.0 rebounds but is shooting only 43.2 percent from the field with 13 turnovers in the three games. His driving layup was blocked by Giannis Antetokounmpo in the closing seconds of a 113-110 loss at Milwaukee on Saturday. “Slow start. I must be better, and I’m going to be,” Nurkic told NBC Sports Northwest. “It just takes time. I’m getting there. On defense, I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. If I could make shots, it would be different. Unfortunately, I’m missing, so I just have to get back to work and trust myself.” Lillard said Nurkic’s slump is due in part to the up-tempo style played by Portland’s first three opponents. “We’ve been playing a little bit faster pace, and a lot of that has to do with the teams we’ve played,” Lillard said. “They play a faster pace, so it’s been up and down. We haven’t done a lot of throwing it down to Nurk on the block. He’s been setting a lot more screens and running back (on defense).”
Man we're THREE games in, I'd much rather read a story about the guy the Blazers just signed than some hype article after a couple (literally) decent shooting nights.
Right, three games in.. What's remarkable in those games are that we're shooting lights out from 3pt. Our top 9 guys shooting over .400. Obviously it doesn't end up that way, but dayam.
Well, let's see.... there were a ton of posts about Pat after his 24 point game against Phoenix. And then he scored 8 against Indy. And then he scored 3 against Milwaukee. That's why you don't see any threads about Pat on the first page.
To further illustrate the difference between ET and Patty: Evan Turner's last three games: PHX - 12 points, 4-8 shooting, 1-1 from three, 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 steal in 25 minutes IND - 17 points, 7-12 shooting, 1-2 from three, 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 block in 32 minutes MIL - 11 points, 3-7 shooting, 2 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal in 33 minutes Averaging 13 points, 56% shooting from the field, 44.4% from three, 3 boards, 4 .8 assists, 1 block in 26.5 minutes per game Pat's last three games: PHX - 24 points, 6-10 shooting, 2-5 from three, 4 boards, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal in 30 minutes IND - 8 points, 3-4 shooting, 2-3 from three, 3 boards, 1 assist in 22 minutes MIL - 3 points, 1-4 shooting, 1-3 from three, 0 boards, 1 assist in 19 minutes Averaging 11.8 points, 2.2 boards, 2.4 assists, 58% shooting, 47% from three in 24.6 minutes per game. So both players are shooting red hot from the field, but Turner is putting up more rebounds and assists roughly the same minutes.
I think Pat also suffers much more from CJ being back than ET does, minutes-wise and shot-wise. Good on him for making them, but he should probably not rely on getting 10+ shots a game.
Looks to me like Pat's minutes declined game over game. 30 -> 22 -> 19 At this rate he might hit zero in about 10 games...
Haha yea they do! It’s so corny you can’t help but laugh.. Especially with Jason Quick since he joined Comcast Sports he became the biggest Blazer homer ever.. You would think the homers here would love him
Why did Natebishop get demoted? Did he try to overthrow Denny? For starting this thread, Denny should be kicked into the dustbin of history. For efficiency points per minute in the last 3 games, Turner is a little above Connaughton. http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketbal...-trail-blazers/team/playerstats/18/25/1-1-eff By the way, Portland leads the league in 3 categories on this page. Enjoy today, while it lasts. http://www.hoopsstats.com/
Hate to be the yeah but guy buuuuuuut.... Please... Use perspective... We're actually getting Allen Crabbe type numbers from Pat!!! No one in the forum thought he'd be doing that. Especially after SL.
Perspective on what? Denny asked why Pat isn't getting love on the forum and I'm showing him why. He had one excellent game, one okay game, and one shitty game. Nobody is talking about him in the past few days because he hasn't done anything notable. This conversation isn't about replacing Crabbe.
Fair enough. Let's change the convo then. LOOK AT PATTY PUTTING UP CRABBE NUMBERS!!! I'm very impressed with that.
It's too early to say. His season averages are comparable to Crabbe, but that's really just because of one REALLY good game. I'm hoping his shooting percentages can stay around 50/40.
