the one that started 24-5 or the one that has basically played .500 ball since then? let me state I haven't a strong feeling yet on this but I think it's a basis for a good discussion. A fair question is have teams now thoroughly scouted and adjusted to us and that is why we are not winning as much? and that leads to the question as to whether it is a coaching issue (us making adjustments) or this is more of how good the team really is? Again, I don't have the answers, just have been thinking about the questions
The team doesn't look that much different than the team that finished poorly last year. Our guys either get tired, or lose interest, but there seems to be a huge dropoff after the All-Star break.
Just my opinion: 1) Lma/Rolo/Batum/Wes are what they are. 2) Dame may still improve - but none of the other young players are going to be more than journeymen. 3) Mo leaving would be a mixed bag. Over-paying to keep him would be even worse. 4) No first round pick and minimal cap room = no other significant roster moves. 5) Stotts' game plan worked really well early. The league adapted and Stotts has been unable to come up with a plan B. Bottom line....this is a .500 team now and for the forseeable future.
The problem with Stotts' "plan" is that it doesn't include any defense. We would be damn near unstoppable if this team would actually stop dribble penetration and defend the pick and roll.
The Blazers, with just a couple of breaks and a bit more confidence in their shooting, would be 2-1 on this road trip. LA's shot was off last night so the Blazers got beat by ten by a really hot team. There's nothing dramatically wrong with the Blazers. LA will rediscover his shooting stroke and the team will start winning again. They're never going to be a great defensive team, but their offense is good enough to carry them to wins when they're playing well. Even if they're only a .500 team over then next 18 games, they still finish with 50 wins and that's a hell of a lot better than anyone except Mags gave them credit for at the start of the season.
Good teams get better as the season progresses. They know it's a marathon, not a sprint. We, OTOH, sprinted out of the gates. Which is good in that it gave us a cushy lead that will help us reach the finish line. But it also gave us (fans and players) a false sense of accomplishment, which is messing with our minds as the race comes to a close and our competition catches up and passes us. We're seeing the real team right now. But the real team isn't all that different from the team we saw at the beginning of the season - and that's the problem. We came to Game 1 with our final report written, bound, and with a shiny apple to set on top. Other teams started the season as a rough draft and used the season to make revisions, so that by the time the season ends they have a solid final report built around robust theories and supported by well documented research. We wrote ours in a couple of weeks using wikipedia as our only reference, while the others poured over volumes of reference material, went through months of revisions, peer review, and re-writes. We'll end up with a passing grade, but will hardly be at the head of the class.
LA is the epitome of what is wrong with this team on both offense and defense. He takes too many long mid range jumpers, which he rarely offsets by getting to the line. In addition, he is a terrible team defender, often really late on switches and his pick and roll defense is pitiful. LA is a great player but the team depends far too much on him for their success. Want more information read the how to fix the Blazers thread
Matthews was playing way above expectations. He shot close to 55% from 3pt and the team won like crazy.. The guy is a career .400 3pt shooter, and he's now shooting about that. To get from above 50% to 40%, he's shot a lot worse. He's not the only one on the team that has had this happen to him. 20 games over .500!
Ya it's all on one player. God knows we can't blame our golden boy Lillard for any of this. Stotts is still somewhat new so he can't be blamed either. It's an 82 game season. Team ball!
I think other teams adjusting, especially the aggressive perimeter defense that teams are now using against us has hurt our offense. So far we have not adjusted very well to this and it has cost us, this to me is perhaps the biggest issue.
His FG% was 55% and 3pt% was 51% on December 3rd. He's now shooting .442 and .399, respectively. Matthews shot 28% from 3pt for the month of January. It just wasn't realistic to expect him (and others) to play at that level for 82 games and playoffs. They're probably a lot closer to their actual abilities, which is still 20 games over .500 at this point. And it's tough to win close games against teams that have gotten better as the season progressed.
I never blamed LA entirely but his style of basketball is not helping the team right now. I had a big thread discussing Lillard's porous defense and what we should do about it, needless to say it was unpopular and got me suspended twice. However, I will be looking at what Lillard needs to do shortly in my how to fix the Blazers mini series. Right now feel free to check out what I wrote on LA and look for my discussion on Batum shortly.
I guess that makes OKC not a good team since they're only 5-5 over the last 10 games while the Blazers are at 6-4. It is a marathon, not a sprint, and most teams go through periods where they're hot and others where they're not. The Blazers are going through a rough patch right now, but there's time to get things back together.
the issue is not the last 10 games, it's that we are basically .500 since a 24-5 start, how will we finish and what needs to and can be done?
Prolly a cop out answer, but I think we're somewhere in between. Our schedule has gotten ridiculously tough since late Dec, and a dropoff was expected. ~.600 ball gives us about 50 wins which is pretty damn decent, and it looks like we'll be better than that. Moreso than our record, I'm looking at the way we play. LA and Wes regressed since their early starts, Nic and Dame are playing about the same. But our bench HAS improved. TRob and Meyers have become contributors, Mo is playing a bit more in control, and CJ/Will can provide sparks if needed. This all might not translate to any tangible impact in the playoffs, but it's a step in the right direction. What I'm supremely disappointed in how our defense hasn't improved. And it might not all be a factor of effort
I agree 18-17 over the course of a season would miss the playoffs in the West. However, how to fix the problem well read my thread on doing just that it covers LA and Batum right now but will continue to expand.
Only if they were on another site plus what is wrong with trying to steer actual conversation into a single thread, S2 has a short attention span typically so I would like to have my thread actually have a quality and lengthy discussion before it is derailed.
