The UnUnOfficial Utah Vs Portland game thread! 2.0

Pick and Pop, Pick n Pop to close out a ball game. Geez how much do they need to work on that play? Maybe the preseason would be a good time to work on a play that involved three players?

Almost never a roll, I suppose to keep the court open for Lillard to get close to the rim.

But I have only seen two TV games, perhaps the coach knows another play that he is saving.

 

I've gone from wanting to see Leonard succeed, to wanting to hear about him succeeding in practice so I don't have to watch him in the game.

 

I want to see him succeed, but his accomplishments are now in the back row of the bus. I really only want to see him in a blowout at this point.

 

I get what you're saying, but please allow me to nit pick. I'm not sure a rookie is ever a 'bust' in his rookie year, least of all a late pick or a project like Freeland. He definitely has a good head on his shoulders and a work ethic. That's a start.

 

I don't think Freeland was a project. The opposite actually. The team gave him a decent sized contract because they thought he could be a solid contributor off the bench. He might have been a "rookie" by definition, but the dude is 26. He has been playing in Europe for a long time. He's not like some 20 year old kid coming out of college. He's not a Meyers Leonard. He was given a rather sizable contract because the team thought he would be a rotation player. If they would have known he would play so shitty last year, I highly doubt they would have given him the contract that they did.

 

4 steals in 14 minutes for Wright. That ain't bad

 

No, I would have liked to have seen him play a bit more, but I figure he's probably still trying to get into game shape.

 

Didn't see the game or follow it online. Had to work, but just read the game thread from start to finish. Glad to see my Cult Hero Joel Freeland playing well and getting some respect here.

It also sounds like Wright and Mo are what we expected. Once Batum is back and Wright is coming off the bench, our 6th and 7th men will be infinitely better than last year.

Two things about our bench:

Last season, Meyers Leonard was actually our best bench player (at least statistically). Now, he seems to be, by far, the worst member of our rotation. In fact, with Freeland's improvement, Leonard may not even be part of the regular rotation.

Someone mentioned Mo had nearly as many points (17) off the bench tonight as our entire bench usually had last season. These numbers are from memory, and I don't have any links, but I seem to recall before we got Eric Maynor, our bench was averaging 14ppg. After we got Maynor, and as our bench got more PT over the last 3 weeks of the season, I believe our bench scoring average went up to 18.8ppg for the season - still worst in the league by far. I think second worst was ~25ppg. So yeah, Mo with 17 tonight pretty much matched our bench scoring from last season. Wright also averaged over 9ppg coming off the bench last season. I would not be surprised to see Mo and Wright average close to 20ppg of the bench between them. Throw in the improved play of my man Joel Freeland and TRob's rebounding, and our bench is definitely much improved.

BNM

 

The Batum concussion might be a blessing in disguise. Gives his body a little rest before the real season begins.

 

I also think the injury to CJ has given Barton and Crabbe an opportunity to grow and prove that they too can fill in when needed. I still think CJ will be a huge weapon off the bench, but I think we're just fine without him.

 

agreed, at the very least if CJ shows promise, you can throw will or crabbe into a trade with higher value.

 

Watching the game, I noticed something really funny. Lopez has this crazy eyes about him. When they have close ups; he has this psycho stare like he's some rabid dog wanting to kill someone.

Anyone else noticed this?

 

Lopez is just a psycho in general. With that hunch he walks with and his crazy hair one would think he's a river troll.

 

Lmao!!!!!!!!

 

His rookie year, Shaq basically told him, "You should be yourself off the court. On the court, you're doing a job." I think the crazy eye is a subdued version that killer with a switch you flip on and off we try to brainwash into our special services.

 

Fair enough.

I agree it's nice to see he put in so much work and might be servicable this year. From accounts of his European career, it's been his work and determination that have moved him forward every step of his career. This is the kind of guy who the fans should respect, but I suspect many fans will always laugh at his limitations rather than applaud his achievements.

 

Not this fan; and I've had my fair share of laughing at freeland. Fans want to see effort. They only demand when the player is a high profile player with a large contract. In freelands case, as long as he plays like he has, no one should complain

 

Ah, some respect. Nice to see.

This might be both a blessing and a blessing in disguise. It seems Meyers still needs a lot of work before we put him under the bright lights. Kudos to Freeland if he manages to relegate Meyers into a practice player until he earns some PT.

 

Freeland reminds me of the mythical guy who works at the grocery store, but works hard and manages to earn a shot in the big leagues. Lucky for him he's also a giant.