Reading these trade grades was a little sobering for me. B's and a C for Blazers. A's and a B for Miami. Here is one quote: "he’s incapable of defending well in space, and that drop coverage Portland may employ against pick-and-roll action will be even worse. Whiteside wants to live at the rim on defense and deter shots. Teams love to attack him in these situations because they know they can get clean look after clean look when they pull up short of trying to score at the rim. For a team like Portland, this could end up shredding their defense or force CJ McCollum and Lillard to keep improving at navigating screens on the perimeter." https://www.blazersedge.com/2019/7/...side-blazers-heat-meyers-leonard-moe-harkless
That's the defense Stotts plays anyway, so what difference does it make? Nurkic doesn't run out to the shooters, he waits at the hoop, unless it's his own guy.
Interesting for a guy to be incapable of defending in space yet make the NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2016)
I think the point is that Nurkic does move out a bit to stop floaters in the point. Whiteside has been known to hang at the rim and not stop floaters.
Contending for a WCF title, a contract year, and minus the distractions of South Beach might just be what’s needed to bring out Whitesides full potential.
Pretty stupid review as the alternative was to start Leonard and he is one of the worst defenders as a center in the league so Whiteside would be a huge upgrade defensively and rebounding.
So what if there are some headscratching decisions? Every coach does. You seem to set baseline expectations at perfection and any headscratching decision should result in being fired. Try looking at the total body of work and team success, given the talent level, instead of cherry picking negative data points.
I think it's a deal the helps both sides. They really like Bam and Whiteside had become a bit of a malcontent. Portland has loaded up on wings and needed a big that could hold serve while Nurk gets heatlhy.
The rich man’s JJ Hickson comparison is what scares me. I still take the chance because the upside is so much greater than the downside. And you know that Olshey’s team really looked into the fit.
>That would be as cool as Babe Ruth going to the Yankees from Boston . Yea.......Portland is like the 70's Raiders with "distinct" players who resurrect themselves by being in a totally different environment. Who knows. The city coffee houses could intrigue the young man. Miami is made for sin.
