Can he not contribute in this slug-it-out offense that will be required in the post-season. I've seen plenty of this season and it's seemed like he's unstoppable at home, yet on the road he's deemed worthless. How can he correct his problems on the road, be more of a focus on offense? It seemed in this Toronto game that he had maybe 2 plays run for him in the post, which he was successful in. It just seems that he's been under-utilized on the road. At this point I'd be willing to trade either Batum or Wallace for a starting quality PG, but that's probably asking too much. one of them needs to go, so I'm going to suggest Wallace as the odd man out given his age. I feel that Batum can hit the spot-up 3, while Wallace's 3's going to look like a down-syndrome 3rd-grader trying to hit a last minute jumper. Could the Blazers package Wallace and Oden in a trade for a decent PG?
Everyone who keeps saying trade Oden we can't. He has to be okay with being traded which would wipe away his bird rights so its unrealistic to put him in trade scenarios. As for Wallace I think it has to to with him being really banged up. He isn't getting that much lift with his jump on the road. I'm going to assume our home court pumps him up and gets the adrenaline pumping so he doesn't notice how worn out and beat up he is, and on the road he can't do the same with the opposing courts crowd. I really want to see his minutes in the high twenties and Batums in the low thirties, save Wallace from himself so we can get more out of him.
Watch Wallace closely throughout a game ... count the number of times that he elevates for a dunk vs. elevating for a finger-roll layin or off-the-glass layin. High flyers that have been playing awhile don't usually age all that gracefully when they start pushing thirty. It's not the end of the world if a player like this can develop a reliable jump shot or perimeter game, but that's not really the case with Wallace. If there's one positive thing to say, it's that he's still defending on the wing at an elite level, but they're kind of hiding him a little bit on offense or at least it appears they're not quite sure how to use him in the half-court.
It's becoming obvious IMO that BATUM is and clearly should be our SF of the future if not now. Wallace IMO should only play 30 minutes or so so he can play hard. If we are not running and uptempo Wallace is now very good at all in a half court offense, especially with a poor outside shot. My preference is Wallace opts out or we trade him and we extend Nic now.
So presumably there's some big 'anti-Gerald-on-the-road-referee' conspiracy this year? Sounds like a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he shoots 29% on the road and 63% at home.
Sheed's retired, give him some slack. Oh! You meant Gerald Wallace, his replacement at the scapegoat position.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/wallage01/splits/2012/ I knew his road-home splits were different, but when you actually look at them it's mind-blowing how bad he's been on the road. At home he scores 20 points per game 63% from the field and a respectable 37% from three, but on the road his scoring drops to a measly 8 per game 29% from the floor, and a putrid 16% from three. That's insane.
I think that his "replacement" for scapegoat was named Damon, and then Darius, and then Zach, and then Blake, and then Rudy, and then..... I don't think Gerald is the current one, I think people are just frustrated that he plays so great at home and so horrid on the road. If there's anyone who is a 'scapegoat' this year, it'd be Crawford or Felton. Or Crawford AND Felton. Or Feltford. Or Crawton. Jaymond Feltford.
Scapegoat implies somebody who is unfairly singled out to bear the blame for somebody else's shortcomings ... just remove "scape" from the front and you should be fine.
Nope, didn't say that. He definitely got screwed last night though. I think his road numbers will improve as the season progresses. He's been playing a lot of PF while Camby was out.
