What is now called preseason, used to be called exhibition games, and the exhibition season. What I learned is that it's shorter than it used to be. Also, I learned that the regular season no longer starts around November 1. The NBA opening used to conflict with baseball's World Series, which was in early October. About 25-30 years ago, the NBA, as a courtesy to MLB, moved its schedule back, and started their preseason when the Series ended. Apparently that agreement has died (when Stern retired?) because now, the World Series starts weeks later. So, the NBA dropped the Nov. 1 start.
Well, Seems we are seeing more ball movement and pushing the pace up court more. This is important with shooters like Layman, Sauce, Curry etc. as they know they could be getting a good look of a curl or back door. If we slow it down and let two guys dominate the ball and pace, others will stagnate like Mo has done in years past. I think we need to play Zack at the four and get comfortable down low. Im hoping we let the O on occasion go through Nurk at the top of the key as he's a decent passer and we do have guys that move well without the ball too. Bottom Line though is, we are 1 of 11 teams that could finish anywhere 8&3 seed.
The earlier start is to stretch out the schedule so that there are less back to backs and 4 out of 5s and the stars won't rest nationally televised games. Are we trying to play faster? A little bit. Should Nurkic shoot threes? He was way off the last two games but sure, why not? Is Jake Layman going to be in the rotation? I hope so. It depends on Harkless' health. When Turner, Jake, and Harkless are all healthy, it's going to be tough to find all three of them minutes but Jake should at least be used situationally. What about Baldwin? Curry is ahead of him in the rotation. Does Stauskas's offense make up for his (lack of) defense? His defense didn't look bad and his offense is awesome. Great fucking signing. Best scorer we've had off the bench since Mo Williams. Are we going to make the playoffs? Definitely. Top 4 seed.
You can breakout without being a good defender. Steve Nash broke out into back to back MVPs in his 30s without being great at defense.
Portland was 16th in three pointers made last year. 8th in 2017 3rd in 2016 It's not that we shot less--each of those seasons we made about 10.3 threes per game. The league just caught up with us. Watching Layman, Curry, Sauce, Biebs and Nurk launch in the preseason, I think it's pretty safe to say the trend will reverse and we'll be back in the top 5 or so in threes made. I mean those guys plus Dame, CJ, Harkless and Aminu--that's 9 guys you can throw out there who will probably all shoot between 35 and 42%. Even Zach has a decent chance of being in that group. This will easily be the best three point shooting team Portland has ever had. It makes it feel like letting Ed Davis go was more of a strategic decision than just pure money. Portland's identity is going to be built on Dame/CJ drives with Nurk on the pick and roll with the starters, and a ton of perimeter shooting on the bench feeding off Evan Turner drives. They had to keep ET because of the contract, so they committed to more shooting to put around him.
One other thought--with the rule changes on resetting the shot clock to only 14 seconds after a rebound, rebounds are going to be worth less. After all, teams will have less time to pick the very best shots available so an offensive board will lead to a less good shot than in prior years. So having a guy like Ed who secures defensive boards (and consequently prevents the other team from getting offensive boards) is less valuable. But having a guy like Curry or Sauce who can get a shot off quickly as time runs down becomes even more valuable. Plus, with the league shooting more threes, traditional rebounders become less essential (as caroms go farther from the rim).
I have learned that CJ is still a Ballhog, Nurkic improved, Swanigan shouldn't be on an nba court, Stauskas better than i expected, Collins up and down, Meyers still sucks but has good Moment on Offense, Stotts better Timeout Management, Evan turnover still a horrible Player and layman much better than i expected
I can't really remember; did we actually push the pace more when Lillard was in there? Because in the regular season he will be in there a lot more, and if he isn't pushing it, things won't be changing much. I don't recall him standing out way on top holding the ball in pre-season, so hopefully there will be some real change.
Exactly. He’s a bench player. Since when do bench players have to be two way players to succeed? And he’s nowhere near the liability you’re making him out to be. Seth’s defense hasn’t been good either nor has he ever graded out much better than Nik but I don’t hear you complaining about him. Curry’s DPM is in the negative and Dallas’ DRTG with him on the floor was higher than Stauskas’ last year, and pretty even with his earlier career. The only real difference is you backed one of them in the beginning, so any mistake Stauskas makes you will be sure to magnify, while any mistake Curry makes will be minimized, or just ignored.
In the last game Dame did push it up court more especially with long passes. CJ wasn't dominating the ball as much either.
So why is Stauskas on his 4th team in 4 seasons? In a league that loves shooters, this supposed shooter can't keep a job. I'm not being snarky - it is a serious question. Something is wrong with the guy or his game.
You could ask the same about Curry. But honestly I don’t know, I think he’s been put in some real shitty situations. It’s true though, he needs to play more consistent. All I know is he’ll have no excuses in Portland. He’s set up to succeed.
