The comparison is not in our favor: Blake 3.5 ppg 5 apg 18% FG Mo 15.5 ppg 4 apg 60% FG We should've made a better effort to bring him back. Our bench is worse than ever.
Except that with him here the entire bench is better and actually the second team for the 2nd game in a row was the time when the Blazers excelled. Blake will not score like Mo did. Nobody ever thought he would and Mo is expected to score where he is now with the T-Wolves. Our addition was not just Mo >or<Blake. It was Blake with Kaman vs Mo. Look at the bigger picture.
The Blazers didn't get Blake to replace Mo, they got him to run the offense for the second unit and, at some points, with the first unit to give Lillard time at the 2 guard spot. He's doing that role very well, plus he actually plays defense...something Mo was not particularly interested in doing. If we could have kept Mo to play with Blake and still got Kaman, that would have been great, but there wasn't enough money for that. CJ is supposed to be picking up some of the scoring slack for the second unit, but so far that's not panning out. There's a lot of season to go and, hopefully, he will get better or Will will get the chance and succeed. Regardless, I'd much rather have Kaman than Mo and that was the real choice.
8 assists for Mo vs. 20 shots....and shooting once every 2.5 minutes. He's actually chucking more that he did last year. He's had 2 games of "good Mo", but the DNA is still there. He's shooting more, which I don't see ending well. Maybe he'll surprise me and be the 6MotY, and earn that bigger-than-we-could-give-him contract that he opted out of us for. I doubt it, though. Remember, the reason he's not on our team this year is because of him.
I'm having this exact same conversation on another site. People are trying to put Mo's numbers against Blake's and it just does not work that way. Not only is Mo in a much different situation where he needs to be the scorer but you almost have to put Mo up against Blake/Kaman to make the comparison work. Even then there is just no way because Kaman brings blocks and rebounding into the equation not to mention 5 more big fouls in the middle. I have one guy trying to do Per game %'s from 2 games even? This is complete bufoonery at it's best.
I totally agree but not so much a knock on Mo. The guy is being asked to do what he is doing and he is stepping up. Good on him!
I'm not knocking Mo, and you're right that he's either tacitly or explicitly being given the green light to keep gunning. And when he's good, it works. He doesn't have a switch, though. If he starts off 0-5 with 3 TOs, or if he's being doubled, he has a tendency to not start looking for others to step up--especially younger players. So those Bad Mo games can escalate quickly.
I said it in another thread, I think Blake fits better, but he's not a very good player and looked over the hill the last couple of years whereas Mo would have killed us with his horrendous decision making. Six of one, half a dozen of another. From an emotional standpoint, it's a lot easier to watch somebody try to make the right decision and fail because they're physically incapable vs. watching a guy fuck up left and right because he has shitty instincts. So that's something I guess?
What people forget is that Stotts coached Mo in Milwaukee. If Stotts had wanted to keep Mo this season I'm sure Olshey would have re-signed him. It appears that Stotts wanted to move in a different direction for his backup point guard. Lets see how it plays out.
He ain't shooting 60% for the season. Also, you should be comparing Mo to Kaman because that's where the money went.
Mo is a turkey Turnover machine. It pleases me not to see him, I don't have to endure that fuck up imminent feeling.
People this is Kingspeed! The guy that claims "season being over" after one loss. He is the hyperbole king in these parts, so let's take that into consideration. Personally, our ball movement was fine last night. Our players just didn't hit their shots. Blake will find his shot and should be good for at least 5-8 efficient points per game. As far as I'm concerned, kaman and Blake are leap years better than having just Mo. Also, our effort was terrible last night. We were a step slower for every rebound, which can make a huge difference in the ball game
I am fine with Blake as a back up PG, much better than Mo. I was glad to see him traded but that wasn't really about him, he was fine as a back up guard then but Nate started him and that needed to be fixed. Should have move Nate and kept Blake, but.... I am glad he is back.