The summer of silence stops.... NOW. Mixum Returns!

Pretty much.

Still, though, it's been an interesting exercise. I hadn't really thought before about how so many good teams kind of sucked in the "3rd option" department.

Goes to show how important the star players and defense are in winning a championship.

 

True. He was actually the second option, if you go by PPG or FGA.

If Portland needs him to, I have no doubt he could. I suspect his numbers will be down a little, though, because, as I demonstrated, a lot of really high quality teams don't have third options that score that much.

So? I've averaged even less. I don't see your point.

 

I apologize for not foraging through the spew and crap already posted regarding NIXUM....but what does he mean he's back? I thought he (aka ODENISGOD) just got banned??

 

that was the best thread i have read in a month... i feel dirty.

 

That's cuz you are, ya Rickroller!!

 

I read all this and wonder whether you're aware that the Blazers shot 0.388 from deep... thats 4th best in the league. They were also 9th in the league in 3s made making 7.3 a game. 3 point shooting is a strength not a weakness.

STOMP

 

Yup. The big criticism of our team's offense was that it was too slow and took too many jump shots. Miller fixes the speed issue. Miller's penetration and post up ability also fixes a lot of the jump shot problems.

It's not like by adding Miller we suddenly lose all ability to shoot. Of our top 10 players, the only guys I don't want to see ever taking 18 footers are Oden, Przybilla and Miller. Everybody else can spread the floor.

Even with Miller on the court, we'll always have two guys on the court who can hit threes at a reasonable clip.

 

seems like whenever he plays.... he plays well

 

But you will be replacing Blake ( a good 3pt shooter) with Miller ( a bad 3pt shooter). Will they still be that good with Miller on the floor.

 

Ouch, good point:

From 3:

Blake: 42.7% last year
Miller: 28.3% last year

 

Miller doesn't take the shot that he knows he can't make...so percentage shouldn't really be effected. (he took 53 3's last year, about 5% of his shots...I'd wager he shoots even fewer than that this year)

The number of threes taken/made likely teamwide will go down a bit just because some percentage of offensive possessions will be taken by MIller. But the Blazers may get more/better looks at 3's when he's out there because the defense is going to need to account for Miller inside (unlike Blake).

 

Cmon, look at the other side of the coin. Either way Miller goes by shooting a bad % or choosing not to shoot the 3 at all severely reduces the outside threat and defense will be able to sag in.

Roy produced the SAME kickouts to 3 point shooters last year...only one person can drive to the basket at a time.

 

At the same time we're going to be taking some minutes away from Batum and giving them to Webster who takes and makes a lot of 3s...and the drive comment assumes Miller / Roy are always on the court together...who knows how that will play out.

I think all this stuff may minimally decrease the reliance on the 3 but I don't see it SEVERELY reducing the outside threat.

 

I'll gladly take more drive-and-dish threat, postups and alley-oops for Oden instead of somebody standing at the 3pt line that can make a higher percentage.

And the "defense will be able to sag in" is a pretty lame argument. Andre has been very successful in the league for a long time, even with defenses supposedly "sagging in".

 

And this is an even lamer argument because Miller was playing on a completely different team, assembled completely different than the Blazers.

 

Tony Parker can hit threes at only 29%. I guess that makes Blake a better PG than Tony Parker.

Look, I think there are some basic rules of thumb that apply to any upper echelon team's starting lineup:

You can live with one nutcase, but not two.

You can live with one mediocre defender, but not two.

You can live with two decent three point shooters, but not one.

We'll definitely be in that last category this year whenever Miller starts. It's not ideal, but if he were even a decent three point shooter he wouldn't have been available.

 

Orlando goes to the finals shooting a lot of treys - so now everybody is supposed to follow along. If Orlando loses in the first round, would people still be getting woodies over guys like Hedo and Blake?

Relying on the three is "dumb luck" basketball. It is the equivalent of an NFL team that throws 60 yard passes every down. If Houston didn't teach Blazer fans that lesson - I'm not sure what will.