10 Underrated Moves That Are Paying Off

[SlyPokerDog]

Chris Kaman, Portland Trail Blazers – Last season, one of the biggest issues with the Blazers was their bench. The team had one of the best starting lineups in the league, but there was a significant drop off when their starters exited the game. Portland’s general manager Neil Olshey realized this and focused on improving their depth over the offseason, signing veteran contributors Chris Kaman and Steve Blake. Both players have performed well this season, but Kaman has really stood out. The 12-year veteran signed a two-year, $9.8 million contract with only $1 million guaranteed in the second year and he has been worth every penny thus far. Kaman has been excellent for the Blazers, averaging 9.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and a block in 19 minutes per game. He has even gotten some Sixth Man of the Year consideration early in the season due to his strong play. With Robin Lopez out several weeks with a broken hand, Kaman has become even more important for Portland and has seen his minutes increase on some nights. With an improved second unit, the Blazers have emerged as one of the best teams in the NBA. They currently have the second-best record in the league, behind only the Golden State Warriors.

http://www.basketballinsiders.com/nba-pm-10-underrated-moves-that-are-paying-off/

 

[Pinwheel1]

Chris Kaman, Portland Trail Blazers – Last season, one of the biggest issues with the Blazers was their bench. The team had one of the best starting lineups in the league, but there was a significant drop off when their starters exited the game. Portland’s general manager Neil Olshey realized this and focused on improving their depth over the offseason, signing veteran contributors Chris Kaman and Steve Blake. Both players have performed well this season, but Kaman has really stood out. The 12-year veteran signed a two-year, $9.8 million contract with only $1 million guaranteed in the second year and he has been worth every penny thus far. Kaman has been excellent for the Blazers, averaging 9.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and a block in 19 minutes per game. He has even gotten some Sixth Man of the Year consideration early in the season due to his strong play. With Robin Lopez out several weeks with a broken hand, Kaman has become even more important for Portland and has seen his minutes increase on some nights. With an improved second unit, the Blazers have emerged as one of the best teams in the NBA. They currently have the second-best record in the league, behind only the Golden State Warriors.

http://www.basketballinsiders.com/nba-pm-10-underrated-moves-that-are-paying-off/

Hate to quibble because overall he is correct, but I would argue that Blake has been even more important. Basically I think the writer is looking at the boxscore and not the game and he is not the only one saying it on a national level. Kaman has been huge, but so has Blake. His numbers just don't show it.

 

[magnifier661]

Hate to quibble because overall he is correct, but I would argue that Blake has been even more important. Basically I think the writer is looking at the boxscore and not the game and he is not the only one saying it on a national level. Kaman has been huge, but so has Blake. His numbers just don't show it.

Especially on the defensive end!

 

[Draco]

Gosh I so want to find the summer article that ranks us with the worst NBA offseason below the Heat. I think it was on ESPN somewhere.

 

[magnifier661]

Gosh I so want to find the summer article that ranks us with the worst NBA offseason below the Heat. I think it was on ESPN somewhere.

Bill Simons said something like "we had the worst summer and might miss the playoffs. Don't give him this Kaman crap"

 

[magnifier661]

Gosh I so want to find the summer article that ranks us with the worst NBA offseason below the Heat. I think it was on ESPN somewhere.

Found the article

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-annual-nba-league-pass-rankings-part-1/

Portland Trail Blazers

Simmons: We inadvertently baited the Portland Soccer Moms with this ranking. I can already feel the 625-post Blazer’s Edge thread coming. Just remember, Portland fans: Words hurt.

Lowe: Your blood feud with Blazer’s Edge is one of the better ongoing Grantland subplots. I’ll say this for Portland fans: I like their particular kind of crazy. It comes from a deep adoration of their only big-four professional team. When a Portland fan accuses you of not having watched all 82 Portland games — hey, no crap, I cover the whole league — you at least know that person has watched all 82 of those suckers. They don’t seem angry, they’re not conspiracy theorists, and they don’t think the national media hates their team. A great fan base.

Simmons: Couldn’t agree more. That’s also been one of the five best home crowds, year after year, going back to the Walton era. Only the Jail Blazers soured them — and think about what THAT took. To me, they’re the role model for one-team city fan bases. But I can’t be the only one who was disappointed that the team didn’t improve in any way, shape or form this season, right? And don’t throw Chris Kaman at me. Just don’t.

Lowe: Well, they thought they had Spencer Hawes up until the very last second (when he U-turned for the Clips). Kaman is often out of shape, and he went into Byron Mullens Mode last year, starting his shooting motion before he had even really caught a pass. He shot everything. But he’s an upgrade in the sense that he can do more than Joel Freeland, Meyers Leonard, and (probably) Thomas Robinson. He should work in Terry Stotts’s scheme, and he’ll dial back the chucking now that he’s on a good team.

Simmons: Sorry, but “he can do more than Joel Freeland” didn’t exactly get me fired up.

Lowe: This is a fine ranking for Portland — solid team, appealing style, nice court, and ultimately unspectacular. Continuity matters. These guys have played a ton of minutes together and know each other well.

Simmons: I’d like to see them package $7 million to $13 million of expirings with C.J. McCollum and a first-rounder and get one more impact player. But we’re nitpicking. (By the way, they DID offer the max to Hibbert once … and Indiana might blow up its 2014 team, as we discussed earlier. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.)

Lowe: Robin Lopez is one of those expiring contracts, and one way or the other, Portland is going hard after a center in the 2015 offseason.

Simmons: News flash: A “Hibbert, George Hill and Donald Sloan for McCollum, Lopez and the Wright–Freeland–Robinson expirings” deal works on the Trade Machine.

 

[KingSpeed]

Picked the Lakers ahead of us and called it fair, lol.

 

[kjironman1]

Got to agree with Pinwheel. The addition is the combination of both Kaman and Blake for essentially Mo.
The difference has been huge.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

After playing very well when the season started, Kaman has been pretty underwhelming lately. He's been better than I expected, but only because I thought he'd be awful. Frankly, Freeland has been better. Kaman's definitely a fun character though.

Blake has been, as other people have pointed out, much more important. And his handle seems to be much improved since he was last a Blazer, even if his shooting has left a lot to be desired.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Giving Freeland playing time is paying off.

He's as good of a team defender as I've seen in Portland in a long time.

 

[andalusian]

You can expect Kaman's production to fall a bit around the birth of a first-born.

I suspect that we will see him get better in a month or two.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I know Kaman was never known for his defense but JV took his lunch last night.

 

[Driew]

Freeland was an important player for us last year before he sprained his mcl. He never looked 100% when he returned, but this year looks fully healed.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Freeland was an important player for us last year before he sprained his mcl. He never looked 100% when he returned, but this year looks fully healed.

Yeah I agree...Freeland made the jump last season. He played solid defense before he got hurt, and as you said never seemed fully healed before the playoffs. It seems like some people (Simmons) forgot about his early contribution, or never noticed it, and just assumed that his playoff performance was
the norm. This guy is a solid role player who can fill in at two positions.

Kaman, Joel, and Blake are dependable vets. The rest...CJ, Crabbe, TRob, etc will be inconsistent as long as they get inconsistent minutes. But their is talent there as well.

No we do not have that "guy" who comes in and gives us a scoring lift off the bench, but do we really need it? Are not 4 of our starters as good as a good as any 6th man? Since they can't all score when in together, giving them a bigger role playing with bench players may work better as they are not coming in cold off the bench.

I would rather have a deep bench with multiple players then trading a bunch of them for 1 guy who could get hurt or not fit in. Hate to always use SA as an example, but since the decline of Ginobili the last few years, that seems to be what they have gone to.

 

[Schilly]

I know Kaman was never known for his defense but JV took his lunch last night.

JV had 14pts and 8 reb in 30 minutes... Not exactly taking someone's lunch. Kaman only played 17 minutes and had 10 and 8, way more effective.

 

[drexlersdad]

someone aught to tell BS that blazers edge isnt really a thing anymore

 

[santeesioux]

someone aught to tell BS that blazers edge isnt really a thing anymore

I guess Ben Golliver was more important to that site than we thought. He must have run their Twitter account too because it sucks now.

By Ben Golliver.

 

[drexlersdad]

BS SHOULD JOIN HERE AND MOD THE CELTICS FORUM

 

[MickZagger]

After playing very well when the season started, Kaman has been pretty underwhelming lately. He's been better than I expected, but only because I thought he'd be awful. Frankly, Freeland has been better. Kaman's definitely a fun character though.

Blake has been, as other people have pointed out, much more important. And his handle seems to be much improved since he was last a Blazer, even if his shooting has left a lot to be desired.

He has a 17 PER and is a legit 7 footer who can create his own offense. Rebounds at a high rate and can play defense.

What the fuck else do you want from a MLE guy?

 

[Draco]

He has a 17 PER and is a legit 7 footer who can create his own offense. Rebounds at a high rate and can play defense.

What the fuck else do you want from a MLE guy?

Kaman is even European!

 

[Sinobas]

Kaman's offense has been erratic this year. Some nights he looks like an all-star, some nights he looks like Jamaal Magloire. I noticed that he gets off balance with his moves to the hoop and ends up missing shots he should be putting down. He is definitely a good bench player, and a good signing, but he needs to stop forcing so much.

 

[Boob-No-More]

I said it at the time of the signing, when several posters were butt hurt about Hawes rejecting us: Kaman addressed two of our biggest needs from last season. He gives us bench scoring, something we desperately need. And, he gives us a second, legitimate 7' NBA caliber center to play next to Aldridge when Rolo is injured or in foul trouble. And, he gives us both in a single player.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Joel Freeland. I was the only forum member to pick him as my Cult Hero prior to the start of last season. I love his position defense and his rebounding, but he doesn't give us the scoring off the bench we need. He's a great guy to plug in for spot minutes, but he doesn't replace what Kaman gives us.

I'm glad we have both - plus Rolo. Depth up front was something we lacked last season. You really never can have to many decent big men on your roster. You saw what happened when Freeland went down last season. This season with Kaman and a healthy Freeland, we're able to keep right on winning even when our starting center is out an injury.

Kaman and Blake were both great value signings and gave us exactly what we needed.

BNM

 

[magnifier661]

I said it at the time of the signing, when several posters were butt hurt about Hawes rejecting us: Kaman addressed two of our biggest needs from last season. He gives us bench scoring, something we desperately need. And, he gives us a second, legitimate 7' NBA caliber center to play next to Aldridge when Rolo is injured or in foul trouble. And, he gives us both in a single player.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Joel Freeland. I was the only forum member to pick him as my Cult Hero prior to the start of last season. I love his position defense and his rebounding, but he doesn't give us the scoring off the bench we need. He's a great guy to plug in for spot minutes, but he doesn't replace what Kaman gives us.

I'm glad we have both - plus Rolo. Depth up front was something we lacked last season. You really never can have to many decent big men on your roster. You saw what happened when Freeland went down last season. This season with Kaman and a healthy Freeland, we're able to keep right on winning even when our starting center is out an injury.

Kaman and Blake were both great value signings and gave us exactly what we needed.

BNM

I was one that was a little butt hurt about Hawes, but I'm glad we dodged the bullet on him. Hawes is a shell of the player Kaman is for our team.

 

[Draco]

Yeah it ended up being Hedo 2.0

Funny enough they are both on the Clippers.