[hasoos]

Vin?

Old and Krusty, but in real good shape. Vin looked like I haven't seen him in years, he must be down to about 240. I think he will be in sync with the Clipps soon enough to help them off the bench with some scoring punch.

[It's_GO_Time]

Originally Posted by hasoos

Vin?

Old and Krusty, but in real good shape. Vin looked like I haven't seen him in years, he must be down to about 240. I think he will be in sync with the Clipps soon enough to help them off the bench with some scoring punch.

That's how I saw it. If you don't look at Baker as the overpaid, underachiever but more as a role player, I think he helps the team. He provides a big body that can give fouls.

A funny momnet last night was Cassell leaping up and "chest bumping" a non-expecting Baker after a basket. A lot can be said about Cassell, but he is a gamer and I enjoy watching him play.

[hasoos]

Same old story. Starting lineup with Juan "Didn't meet a shot I didn't like to take" Dixon and Zach "I wonder how far out I can throw up a shot from" Randolph gets its teeth kicked in, and the youngsters pretty much play them to a stalemate the rest of the way. You will notice that the team lost about 10+ points in the beginning of each half, while Blake, Dixon, Randolph, Kryapa and Pryzbilla were in. They ended up losing by 18.

Once again Telfair out plays Blake, and he only had to score 5 points to do it. Having Martell and Outlaw ripping the outside jumpers off his penetration worked as I hoped.

Blake has now wonderfully scored 5 for few points in 14 out of the last 20 games. He should be playing back up.

Jack has had several solid games in a row, although he had 3 turnovers. This was acceptable though, because he was attacking the rim like mad. 12 free throw attempts. You have to love the fact he doesn't shy away from physical contact and actually looks to make it on most plays where he is looking to score.

Martell and Outlaw were solid, I love the fact that Martell hits the boards and really scraps for some steals here and there. Outlaw is coming along. Remember what he was like 2 years ago. (LOL! Some people would say he is stll the same today! )

The thing that really bothers me is the fact that when Zbo and Juan are in, the ball movement totally stops. When the young guys are in, they actually move the ball pretty well.

[yakbladder]

Originally Posted by hasoos

Same old story. Starting lineup with Juan "Didn't meet a shot I didn't like to take" Dixon and Zach "I wonder how far out I can throw up a shot from" Randolph gets its teeth kicked in, and the youngsters pretty much play them to a stalemate the rest of the way. You will notice that the team lost about 10+ points in the beginning of each half, while Blake, Dixon, Randolph, Kryapa and Pryzbilla were in. They ended up losing by 18.

Once again Telfair out plays Blake, and he only had to score 5 points to do it. Having Martell and Outlaw ripping the outside jumpers off his penetration worked as I hoped.

Blake has now wonderfully scored 5 for few points in 14 out of the last 20 games. He should be playing back up.

Jack has had several solid games in a row, although he had 3 turnovers. This was acceptable though, because he was attacking the rim like mad. 12 free throw attempts. You have to love the fact he doesn't shy away from physical contact and actually looks to make it on most plays where he is looking to score.

Martell and Outlaw were solid, I love the fact that Martell hits the boards and really scraps for some steals here and there. Outlaw is coming along. Remember what he was like 2 years ago. (LOL! Some people would say he is stll the same today! )

The thing that really bothers me is the fact that when Zbo and Juan are in, the ball movement totally stops. When the young guys are in, they actually move the ball pretty well.

So tell me Hasoos, how many scorers should you have on your team. Not "can make a shot" scorers, but big time scorers?

[hasoos]

For a team to compete in the NBA I would have to say a minimum of 2 players that WILL score every night, and if you are an upper level team you will have 3 to 4, with a few of them coming off the bench for some guaranteed scoring punch. Everybody that is getting starter minutes should break into the teens on most nights.

[It's_GO_Time]

The most frustrating aspect to last night's game to me was the lack of aggresion on offense and settling for the outside shot. I know Dixon shoots too much and most are outside shots, but him and Jack were the onlys one I recall looking to create and penetrate when they could. The other players were just hanging around the outside or when they got the ball they were looking for the easy way out.

Side note: Webster's rebounding was a nice suprise. Also, I hope Outlaw develops, but even on a career night, I wasn't that impressed. Someone called it about Outlaw having to dribble to make a shot. I see it more as he is best when he is dribbling and then relies on his turn around jumping ability to get open and shoot.

[bballchik]

Originally Posted by hasoos

Same old story. Starting lineup with Juan "Didn't meet a shot I didn't like to take" Dixon and Zach "I wonder how far out I can throw up a shot from" Randolph gets its teeth kicked in, and the youngsters pretty much play them to a stalemate the rest of the way. You will notice that the team lost about 10+ points in the beginning of each half, while Blake, Dixon, Randolph, Kryapa and Pryzbilla were in. They ended up losing by 18.

Once again Telfair out plays Blake, and he only had to score 5 points to do it. Having Martell and Outlaw ripping the outside jumpers off his penetration worked as I hoped.

Blake has now wonderfully scored 5 for few points in 14 out of the last 20 games. He should be playing back up.

Jack has had several solid games in a row, although he had 3 turnovers. This was acceptable though, because he was attacking the rim like mad. 12 free throw attempts. You have to love the fact he doesn't shy away from physical contact and actually looks to make it on most plays where he is looking to score.

Martell and Outlaw were solid, I love the fact that Martell hits the boards and really scraps for some steals here and there. Outlaw is coming along. Remember what he was like 2 years ago. (LOL! Some people would say he is stll the same today! )

The thing that really bothers me is the fact that when Zbo and Juan are in, the ball movement totally stops. When the young guys are in, they actually move the ball pretty well.

Just to add a little balance to the board which will immediately be disregarded and scoffed at anyways consider this......Dixon is shooting a lot because he has to, no one else on our team was making any shots, we need this little thing called points to win, it's called offense.

Yes Blake has not performed the same lately as he did previously but guess why? They changed his freakin position to one he's never played before in his life, perhaps he wasn't used to it? Interesting concept. Also he was playing with another guard that never passed him the ball unless the shot clock was down to 2 so Blake was the one chucking up the shot and getting blamed for a bad percentage.

While Zbo and Juan can tend to slow down the ball movement at times, they are no worse than the young guys.

[gatorpops]

Originally Posted by mediocre man

Mostly because of his teams in Seattle. He walked up with them, and they had experienced players.

I actually have someone here in Houston of all places that is "in the know" Believe me or don't I don't care really. I have heard things this year that have been pretty much dead on I have no reason not to belive this person. He says Telfair loves Portland, but is really frusterated over playing time and the style portland plays under Nate. This person told me that Telfair loved how Pritchard ran the team and was hoping it would stay the same.


And playing for second place is still better than playing for second pick isn't it? Seattle won how many championships with Nate?

Even though I am a day late, if you pick up this thread again, let me comment on both you and Yak's comments.

Last year Seattle did push the ball up the court and took what the D offered, often a quick three. If the play was not there they ran screens etc. to get the shooters open. Manageing to get to the 6th game of the second level was a great feat for that team.

Nate probably will adapt to the players given him here when he is out of the player "evaluating" faze of his process (i.e. this season). Surely Nate has learned what certain of our players can and cannot do against various competetion and types of players and with different types of players beside them. Who can they guard and who can they score against and with whom.

In my mind Nate made his players learn to play better D by only allowing them to play at all if they did play D. Travis and Martell and Telfair have improved in my opinion.

Speaking of Telfair, of course he wanted to play like Pichard let them play.
It was nearly NY rat ball. He did not have to play any D and got to show off his strengths. Every young player probably wants that but as the Knicks show it will not win consistenly, even with a lot of vet players.

As to style of play, the run qnd gun of the Suns and Dallas, notice the strength of their teams is not so much their shooting as it is their passing. All of their players move the ball so quickly that it does not matter who is open because it is a very good shot. True they have great shooters but it is their passing that sets up the trememdous shots.

Will the Blazers ever get to that level? Maybe? The games we liked the best this year were the games the team forgot about the individual stats and just shared the ball very well. Dixon has said recently that, and I think the word was, scary how good this team can be. I concure with that statement if they can get another couple of holes filled. With the development of the young players over the summer and a couple of new draftees we have a shot at marked improvement next year. I'm shooting for most improved team???

gatorpops

[blue32]

Originally Posted by bballchik

Just to add a little balance to the board which will immediately be disregarded and scoffed at anyways consider this......Dixon is shooting a lot because he has to, no one else on our team was making any shots, we need this little thing called points to win, it's called offense.

Yes Blake has not performed the same lately as he did previously but guess why? They changed his freakin position to one he's never played before in his life, perhaps he wasn't used to it? Interesting concept. Also he was playing with another guard that never passed him the ball unless the shot clock was down to 2 so Blake was the one chucking up the shot and getting blamed for a bad percentage.

While Zbo and Juan can tend to slow down the ball movement at times, they are no worse than the young guys.

I def have to agree with you there.

Blake and Bassy work well together, but only when Bassy is at the 2, otherwise Bassy's style of play hampers Blake's ability to score.
I like the duel guard combo, but not putting Blake at the 2.

[southnc]

Originally Posted by blue32

I def have to agree with you there.

Blake and Bassy work well together, but only when Bassy is at the 2, otherwise Bassy's style of play hampers Blake's ability to score.
I like the duel guard combo, but not putting Blake at the 2.

Good point (no pun intended).

I would definately rather have Telfair at the 2 spot, where he can be a little bit more creative and agressive; that is hard to do when you are handling the the complicated PG responsibilities. Having Blake or Jack feed him as he cuts to the basket would be a better scenario.

In no indifference to bballchik, the Wiz actually did try a similar experiment with Blake, where Arenas played point and Blake would play a SG quazy 3-pt specialist; it was a disaster - Blake did not fit well into that role. Had they let Arenas play his natural SG position and Blake as PG, it would have been a better result, IMO.

Still, I just think Blake is going through a cold spell, as many do - he has missed some wide open 3-pt shots, which is not something he does quite often.

Telfair has been playing much better lately, but (like Blake) he also seems a bit confused on what exactly Nate expects.

[bballchik]

True and I think it is hard to tell what Nate wants when he seems to change his mind about every 15 minutes and appears to pull his lineups out of a hat each night before the game starts.

[Ed O]

Originally Posted by gatorpops

Last year Seattle did push the ball up the court and took what the D offered, often a quick three. If the play was not there they ran screens etc. to get the shooters open. Manageing to get to the 6th game of the second level was a great feat for that team.

Nate probably will adapt to the players given him here when he is out of the player "evaluating" faze of his process (i.e. this season). Surely Nate has learned what certain of our players can and cannot do against various competetion and types of players and with different types of players beside them. Who can they guard and who can they score against and with whom.

In my mind Nate made his players learn to play better D by only allowing them to play at all if they did play D. Travis and Martell and Telfair have improved in my opinion.

I hope you're right about Nate eventually adapting. I don't say that because I think he's been particularly bad this year (this team just doesn't have enough good players to succeed under any coach) but because I saw him try to force a square Sonics team into a round Nate philosophy for too long.

I'm far from sure about this, but I think that the Sonics' success last year came because he had decided he was leaving... that he wasn't going to get the players he wanted and that he'd just ride out the year and go somewhere else.

It would be great if he initiated the changes last year and/or that he sees that playing to the strengths of his players is the key to success as an NBA coach. I'm not sure that's the case, though.

Ed O.

[hasoos]

Originally Posted by bballchik

Just to add a little balance to the board which will immediately be disregarded and scoffed at anyways consider this......Dixon is shooting a lot because he has to, no one else on our team was making any shots, we need this little thing called points to win, it's called offense.

Yes Blake has not performed the same lately as he did previously but guess why? They changed his freakin position to one he's never played before in his life, perhaps he wasn't used to it? Interesting concept. Also he was playing with another guard that never passed him the ball unless the shot clock was down to 2 so Blake was the one chucking up the shot and getting blamed for a bad percentage.

While Zbo and Juan can tend to slow down the ball movement at times, they are no worse than the young guys.

I am going to disagree with you. Dixon shoots way too much. He misses opportunities to pass to open players a lot of the time, as does Zach. Both of those guys fail to pass out of double and sometimes even triple teams a lot. Thats the type of reason the team has such a horrible record and problems scoring. The offense bogs down with 1 on 1 play and they don't pass the ball.

Blake is only effective when he actually scores. He doesn't rack up enough assist to be considered an assist guy either. What he does do is tend not to make a lot of mistakes. In the NBA, that means you are a 2nd or 3rd string backup PG at best. The reason he is not successful as a SG is because midget ball doesn't work. When overmatched against larger shooting guards and you don't have much speed, you will never get your shot off without pressure being on you and you can't stop them from scoring. This is the NBA, and most shooting guards in the NBA are faster and bigger then Blake. Last but not least, Blake actually did start struggling well before he was moved to SG for part time duty. His streak of mostly 5 point and under games started almost 1/3 of the season ago.