Goldmember

Zach has improved this year in recognizing double teams and passing it out, as well as passing out and resetting. Sometimes he gets the ball right back, as he should, and sometimes the ball will swing to the other side. Either way, the Blazers have had some of their best offensive flow when the ball is going through Zach.

Zach may be selfish, he may be too concerned with getting his, but the fact of the matter is that big men win games in the NBA. Unless you have exceptional guards (which the Blazers don't) the team needs to run their offense primarily through Zbo. If Zach is "mailing it in" it is Telfair's job as the point guard to be a leader on the court (vocally if necessary) and do what he can to get Zach going.

Magic Johnson was on TV the other day talking about Kobe and Shaq and said that Kobe should have defered to Shaq the way Magic defered to Kareem. Magic said that he just wanted to keep Kareem happy, and if Kareem wanted the Lakers to be "his" team then Magic would say it's all yours, because the big man wins games.

Ed O

I see what you're saying, and it's possible that the Magic were so focused on stopping Zach that the rest of the players did well... I don't claim to be able to be able to pick up nuances of defensive sets that much. But as I've articulated in the game thread, I believe that the first quarter was a super-fluke. Joel had 11 points and Jack and Monya each had 5... the Blazers were hitting perimeter shots and not working it inside, which is the only way (IMO) we're going to compete with other teams.

I wish that Zach could just put his head down and do the little things even when he's not getting good looks... but it seems that he cannot at this point, and I don't think that putting him on the bench will change that.

Ed O.

Dan

I say that the team has some of their best offensive flow not through Zach. He is getting better, but it's not really consistent. He'll get better one game and then revert back to his tunnel vision play. Kind of like someone who knows that all they have to do is placate people for a while, and go back to their old habits.

If he didn't demand the ball near as much as he does, it wouldn't be so bad. Does Zach ever set screens for other players so they can have plays run for them?

Is Zach ever used as a decoy for the offense? Since teams know he's not the best at passing, and all they have to do is double him and they know he's going to force a shot up. It makes it so they don't have to worry about doubling the passer much (the spacing also plays a part in that. They pass the ball too close to Zach).

I get in and out games. But in and out game plans are contingent on there being out, and a guy who's willing to pass out and not complain about "getting his".

I think it's not only Telfairs job (and who knws how thick headed zach is) but the coaches.

If Zach had even half the passing skill of Kareem, i'd say yah. But Kareem could pass out (partly due to his height). Zach doesn't have a great passing skill, which hurts his game. He's not good at the pick'n'role either. Or getting the ball, and passing it back to the guard (or SF) and moving out of the way to kind of open up the lane (in a round-about way, this is a p'n'r) and cause the other team to double the SF/SG/PG, and leave Zach open.

Simply put, Zach isn't good enough to get away with these defeciencies, and mental lapses on defense and offense (no one on the team is, as of yet). He's also just not good enough to be a guy who takes over games and you can go to constantly. His game isn't geared towards creating his own shot (a must need in this kind of playing). Think of it his way (although Duncan kind of contradicts this)..who are the guys who've are the ones who have huge games in big games?

It's not Shaq, Duncan, Malone, Webber or the like. It's guys who can create shots off the dribble.

Kobe, McGrady, Jordan, Pippen, Clyde, Barkley, Stockton, etc..

I know this is kind of wandering a bit, but it brings back to my point. Zach isn't as good as he thinks he is, and needs to realize that. It'd make the game easier for him.

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A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says "Make me one with everything".

when will the loss of life end?

The world respects the power of our example, not an example of our power.

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mook

I don't really see how anyone can say Zach is playing selfishly. in the last five games, he's averaged only 14 attempts a night. for the season, he's shooting 16.1 shots a night, which puts him 22nd in the league in attempts (and incidentally behind Miles' 16.4).

the guy has pretty much stopped shooting when surrounded. he's mostly taking decent shots. don't believe me? ask yourself how often lately have you seen him get his shot stuffed repeatedly? it's only happened once in my recent memory, and he was at point blank range.

if you want him to shoot less, who should shoot more? Dixon? Telfair? Przybilla?

he's also still 10th in the league in rebounding, despite a couple of off nights.

Randolph's defense still sucks, and I'm concerned about him having two bad rebounding nights so close together. but ask yourself--why is it so shocking that he's had two nights of 4 boards or less? it happens to guys like Ratliff or Przybilla or Miles all the time. it's shocking when Randolph does it because he's set the bar so high for himself because of his hard work in the past.

Randolph is clearly either playing while exhausted because of lack of conditioning, or his knee is bothering him more than any of us know. he'll have 5 turnover nights, but he just doesn't have 2 rebound, 8 point performances. I'm hoping it's just the conditioning.

Dan

getting ones shot blocked does not necessarily mean not taking a decent shot. It could be him not going up strong (he doesn't). I think it's more of the whining about his shots than his actual number of shots.
I'd actually rather them run plays (and finish them) where they have guys taking outside shots more (telfair, dixon, monia, webster) SO it clears up the paint for both Darius and Zach. Clogging the lane makes it harder for Zach and Darius to score, especially since Zach causes a bit chunk of that. Even if the guys are not making the shots (it's not like they're even taking advantage of Monia or Webster (the few minutes he plays) it still opens up the court.

they'd be better to have Dixon or Telfair passing it into Zach, Zach getting doubled, and Zach passing to Dixon(or telfair) and Dixon(or telfair) passing to Monia or Webster on the other side of the floor, shooting an outside jumper.

Even if they don't make it, at least it's something different, and makes it so the teams have to be honest.

But I think the biggest concernt with Zach is how once he goes into a offensive mindset, he doesn't pass out, even if he is going into a double team.

How many times have we seen wide open players on our team?

an off night for rebounding (for Zach) should be 6-8. Not 2.

__________________
A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says "Make me one with everything".

when will the loss of life end?

The world respects the power of our example, not an example of our power.

I'd like to say I made this, but I didn't

DrewFix

what i'm seeing in the games that i've been able to watch is that our gaurds(colectively) aren't hitting Zach when he's got position. by the time they are getting him the ball on the post he's already lost position and is back by the three point line, thus giving the defense a better option for double or triple teaming him with out having to worry about him being able to pass out of the double/triple team effectively. causing turn overs. any one else been noticing this or am i just missing something?

meru

How much time is Darius actually getting at the 4? Remember how he boasted that he could take any PF in the league? How his 40 plus game against Denver came with him playing there? I guess the problem is that we're already a weak rebounding team, but if Zach has many more 2-rebound games, we've nothing to lose. I say give Khryapa a try: play Darius and Viktor together some, and "rest" Zach for a little. If nothing else, the ball would move around more, Darius would get to do his post up game and we'd have a better shooter in the game with Viktor.

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Dan

It is odd, imho, that the team was making an effort to remind us that Darius' 47 points came 'while he was playing PF' as though he could play that way as a PF often.

Seemed to me they were trying to con people into thinking Darius would make a suitable PF because of that 1 game.

__________________
A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says "Make me one with everything".

when will the loss of life end?

The world respects the power of our example, not an example of our power.

I'd like to say I made this, but I didn't

gatorpops

It looked to me like they were delibertly using Zack at the high post in the first quarter and when he recieved the ball the defense was coming out to take away the 16-18' shot. He then would dump it down to Priz who scored well. It also gave Priz a chance to stay in the game longer with out fouls. It worked well until they began to let Zack shoot and he was missing all those outside shots he normally has been making. Because he couldn't his anything he got down and did not have energy or will to rebound and defend. Very imature, yes but that is Zack at this stage. In adition Monia was not hitting anything either and that really sunk the ship. Portland just does not have enough shooter yet to open up the game. Like ED' O says often, they are a bad team, at least until we develop or get another shooter and rebounder/defender big.

gatorpops

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"Young, old, it doesn't matter. It's all about how you play."

"LaMarcus is a poor man's nothing." (meaning he is the real thing)

"You just got a foretaste of what life is going to be like all the time in a couple of years.

"It was tough when what’s his name got hot"

...they've got to be a pain to prepare for defensively.

Utherhimo

yeah we need a 4

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WELCOME RUDY, BAYLESS and Batum to the Blazer Tribe: wear the Scarlet and Black with Pride. HAIL THE NORTH WEST! LONG LIVE OREGON!

00 this season is for YOU!!!! RIP!

ThatBlazerGuy

I would love to trade Zach and get another PF, but the problem is we wont be able to get a better PF than Zach in return. Maby a 3 way where Zach is sent to to team X and we get Drew Gooden and some other players un return.

hasoos

The problem is not with Zach it is with the team. The whole team is settling for outside jumpers and not attacking the hoop. Even when the Blazers were an awesome team, that was the one downfall that they, and every other teams in the league have. If you don't attack the hoop and you settle for jumpers, then you die by the jumper. The whole reason the NBA has changed its ruleset the last few years is to endear players to attack the hoop, drive the lane, and to quit shooting so many outside shots. Does allowing zone defenses ring a bell? How about changing the illegal D rules so there is no camping in the key unless your guy is in there.

I have watched the last few games, the only guys attacking the paint regularly are Darius and Sebastien, and Sebastien did only one of two games. The rest of the team was jackin up jumpers, and hearing the clank of the rim a lot.

Attack the rim, dictate the tempo of the game and it is yours to win. Stagnate and don't move the ball if you want to lose, it is that simple. Portland has done the latter in the last 2 games, both games that would have been winnable if they had just been agressive.

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Hasoos

TheBlueDoggy

Zach had two bad games. Can't say that that's an excuse to pull him from the starting lineup. Lots of good players have had consecutive bad games, doesn't mean you yank em from the starting 5. My main concern with Zach is his ongoing inability to raise his defensive game. He get's back, and he puts his hands around and sometimes knocks the ball away, but he doesn't jump on blocks, doesn't get up on his man real close, and often just plays uninspired average defense. That is something which is a huge hole in our defense. Fortunately we have Darius and our centers which often help cover up that big hole but during games like tonight....

There's no doubt, Zach is a star player, one this team needs to succeed. If you're not starting Zach, might as well trade him and start rebuilding at that spot because we're going nowhere without him.

Dan