Well obviously you should be open to improving the team. There are many ways to do that without breaking up one of the best backcourts in the NBA. We've got a lot of other assets that could be used to get a more defense front court, or wings who are more of threat from 3. It doesn't have to result in bringing in an all-star. People get obsessed with bringing in a big name. The team is still very young, it's not time to blow shit up by trading CJ/Dame, it's time to find complementary pieces that fit the system and fill our needs. And I don't think we're as far off from that as people seem to think.
Butler is probably the primary focus of defenses against the Bulls. My ideal scenario is CJ as super 6th man and we have a super studly starting SG.
More 30 point quarters, more lack of defensive rebounding, more not boxing out by Portland's front court leading to wide open second chance opportunities. Swapping Butler for CJ doesn't fix this problem. I can write a two page essay on every game where Lillard/CJ make the right basketball play by passing the ball. Only to have Insert role players name here, make a poor decision. I must be watching a different game. Interesting though, outside of his start to the season. Turners been pretty damn good for Portland. Something most on this forum thought was impossible.
Derrick Rose was never good at making entry passes to the Bulls' bigs. I can't speak to the Blazers because we don't generally have bigs worth passing inside to. Ed Davis, maybe. It's a skill that needs to be developed like any. I'd love to see the Blazers add a guy who can play back to the basket and get easy buckets. It keeps defenses honest when they have to guard the lane and guard the 3pt line. It helps the P&R game to have a guy who can score on the roll part, or step out to hit the pick and pop shot.
I agree, but I don't necessarily think it's because Dame/CJ can't work together. The bolded part is the problem - the WAY they play. That falls on the coach. Get a coach who will hold them accountable. Get a coach who will drill it into their heads that they NEED to pass to the interior. I don't think either of them are particularly great at setting up teammates for easy shots, but they both have the ability to make the easy pass to an open teammate - unfortunately the system hasn't been set up for that to be part of our offense, so they aren't even looking for it. On a tangent - a big reason people feel Dame/CJ can't work is because of their defense. I get it, and agree to an extent. But watching them, there's no reason they can't both be average defenders. They both played good D at times last night - a better coach with a better system would have them working both harder and smarter on that end of the court, which would propel them to average quite easily. Watching CJ and Klay last night I saw CJ roasting Klay, and then mostly holding him in check on defense. Klay is a good defender, but hardly the lock down defender that people make him out to be. And CJ, despite getting behind his man a little too often, isn't nearly the defensive sieve people make him out to be. CJ is twice the player Klay is - CJ is a guy you can build around, Klay is just a really good role player.
What's the market for Butler? What are the teams that would trade for him, and what do those trade offers look like. I ask because: never pay more than you need to. CJ might be an overpay, depending on what other offers might be out there. With that in mind: http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hbdt4nm Crabbe/Harkless/Noah/POR Pick/CLE Pick for Butler/Rondo This helps CHI reset with three young players at three different positions, plus two 1st round picks that would allow them to get additional young and CHEAP players. Or they could use the picks in trades. It gets them out from Rondo's contract. And they finally get rid of Butler - whom they've been butting heads with for a while - allowing them to go all-in on a rebuild. If they wanted to ditch Lopez because he doesn't fit with a rebuild, that could easily be accommodated.
Somewhere in a Bulls forum someone is asking what the market for CJ is and thinks they can trade Rondo for him.
what we do have for sure: a pg/sg combo which can be the most devastating 1-2 combo in the league on any given night all star level ability in this combo many many many great WOW plays from both of these guys with some epic games and gamesavers BUT they are undersized they are weak on defense its daylight between option 2 and 3 if 1+2 are struggling they have huge contracts we have tons of $ wrapped up in duplication at other positions with barely anyone putting a claim on any other position outside of plumlee. TBH im not sure which of Dame n CJ needs to be moved, but it's hard not to see an argument to explore all options at this point. Last year was amazing, but we came from NOWHERE, teams have gameplans for us now...... and we're don't seem to be a Rubix cube to solve..... I think Dame would net us a better piece, but what that does to the team/community, ugh - i dont wanna know, but - it'd signal a monumental shift in club direction. and we need a monumental shift. it's niggly, but i'd rather roll the dice than sit in that shitty mediocre zone between maybe making 7-8th seed and never getting a pick of any note.
I think it was on 620 AM this morning they were talking about the TYPE of offense the Blazers run and how Dame/CJ have to run endlessly in that damn weave just to create a shot. Apparently HoF'er Hubie Brown had brought up that point and someone had asked Stotts about it.....to which not much of a response was given. So if they run so much on offense, they perhaps are a little more tired and aren't able to give as much on the defensive end.
When McCollum is in his 30s, and the Blazers have an abundance of talent, we can definitely re-visit that model.
Cj is already better than prime manu GTFO he's as good as prime Tony Parker right now and only getting better I cant believe people are even considering this as a reasonable for cj y'all f*ckin up the guy is our best player
I feel that CJ gets wrapped up in the "THEY" don't play defense convo way to much. CJ is way better at getting picks or at least a piece of the ball when he's guarding someone. He doesn't get burned anywhere near as bad as Dame does. Just watching CJ gives a different view than most. IMO. Not to say he's great, just nowhere near as bad as Dame.
Manu came off the bench for years, while he was in his prime. I'd still find a way to get him 32+ minutes.
we dont watch the same game then Manu never averaged 20 ppg in his entire career Similar assist numbers Similar rebounding numbers Similar steals numbers please enlighten me...
