Game Thread 2019-20 Preseason #4 @ Utah Jazz October 16th, 2019 6:00 PM

[blazerfan11]

I really enjoyed that match up.

Yeah, Conley was supposedly schooling Simons , then Simons says two can play at that game and dribbled Conley all the way to the hoop and thew it in.

 

[blazerfan11]

Exactly lets keep it real...it was last season. Some of you are too caught up in stats from previous years. That is fine for old vets but how often does that line of thinking blow up in our faces when we are talking about young players who are still improving. The answer is ....pretty much every year.

I'm not caught up in those stats, but if he sucks at shooting it won't be a surprise. Every year we waited for Moe Harkless to be a different player. Now it's Hezonja.

 

[LayneStaley]

I feel like I’m gonna complain a lot about Tolliver this year. I’d rather have Layman or Noah over him. Serious head scratcher imo.

 

[blazedanugz]

All I’m gonna say is I really hope pau is ready to contribute....

 

[B-Roy]

I thought Whiteside was fine. Not good, but fine. Most of his rebounds were uncontested ones, but he's good at being big, altered a lot of shots by just being at the rim.

Also his screening was NOTICABLY better. Like significantly so. Gives me hope.

 

[kjironman1]

In my opinion, this is the worst thing you can do to develop players. You let him take his lumps. Get plenty of film so the coaches can show him what he's doing wrong. He needs minutes to learn. By doing that during the season you can get him ready by the playoffs. What you're suggesting just pushes his learning curve another year down the road.

I agree. You got to get him out there at this point. It might get ugly for a bit. It might never get better but you have to at least find out. Play him and see where they are in 20 games. If he is improving give him another 20 games. Continue to practice and keep all options open.

 

[mook]

I thought Whiteside was fine. Not good, but fine. Most of his rebounds were uncontested ones, but he's good at being big, altered a lot of shots by just being at the rim.

Also his screening was NOTICABLY better. Like significantly so. Gives me hope.

I noticed a lot of his boards were uncontested, but it also seemed like they were the kind that the other team didn't even try for because Whiteside was near. The guy just eats up space and changes opponents minds constantly, both on drives to the rim and rebounding. 11 rebounds in 16 minutes is no joke when you are going up against Gobert.

I absolutely loved the pairing of him and Collins tonight. I was really curious to see if we get burned by a more perimeter-oriented 4 and two great shooters at guard, but Portland really looked defensively solid whenever Zach and Whiteside were out there together.

With the speed and length of our twin towers, once you get inside 15 feet you are never wide open. By the time you've released your shot one of their long arms is going to be up there to contest.

The contrast between our two guys and Utah's interior defense was striking. Lillard feasted by pulling Gobert out a few extra feet and then speeding past him. Gobert was on an island and there was nothing he could do but watch the ball drop. That maneuver just doesn't work against Portland because there's always the other guy. Zach's speed and Whiteside's strength is just going to be lethal for us this year.

I really think CJ and Bazemore's ability to just cover ground is going to be critical for us. Teams will give up on driving. It's going to be all about hunting three pointers. Portland's interior defense is going to be excellent. It's overall defense will be dependent on challenging threes.

 

[SIeepwalker]

Some takeaways so far from preseason:

I'm hyped for Collins. That midrange is smooth.

I think Whiteside will be good for this team. Hopefully he's good to go on opening night.

Not on the Skal hype train at all so far.

I hope Mario can actually shoot like he did today... but I'm not holding my breath.

Let's sign Moses to a 2-way

Defense needs to improve. Second half of this game was a start.

Our starting unit looks fun.

CJ seemed to work well with the 2nd unit. Should we stagger him and Dame again ?

 

[Scalma]

There were people that considered Hezonja the best shooter in his class when he was coming out. It’s hard to conclude anything regarding his shooting when there are 5-10% dips in his percentages from year to year. Unlike Turner, the ability is in there somewhere. Percentages usually improve under Stotts, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he found it.

 

[illmatic99]

I thought Whiteside was fine. Not good, but fine. Most of his rebounds were uncontested ones, but he's good at being big, altered a lot of shots by just being at the rim.

Also his screening was NOTICABLY better. Like significantly so. Gives me hope.

He also had a few instances where he dove hard to the paint and sucked in the defense leaving Zach wide open from 10 feet out.

 

[Jade Falcon]

Goddammit I keep missing this shit! For fuck's sake!

How did we do? A brief run down, if you please. And thank you.

 

[kjironman1]

Goddammit I keep missing this shit! For fuck's sake!

How did we do? A brief run down, if you please. And thank you.

They won.

 

[Jade Falcon]

They won.

Yeah I saw the highlights, thanks.



And fuck me....Whiteside is NOT looking like the guy I hoped he would be. Jesus Almighty....and I booed Heat fans who whined about him. I might be eating some crow this season....

 

[tlongII]

Don't bother clicking on the thread then.

Meh.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Yeah I saw the highlights, thanks.

And fuck me....Whiteside is NOT looking like the guy I hoped he would be. Jesus Almighty....and I booed Heat fans who whined about him. I might be eating some crow this season....

You saw that from the highlights? You must really think Gobert sucks.

 

[HailBlazers]

Yeah I saw the highlights, thanks.



And fuck me....Whiteside is NOT looking like the guy I hoped he would be. Jesus Almighty....and I booed Heat fans who whined about him. I might be eating some crow this season....

Please don't take the (my) Lord's name in vain if you would. Much appreciated.

 

[Jade Falcon]

You saw that from the highlights? You must really think Gobert sucks.

I saw Gobert playing WAY better than Hassan. Maybe I missed something though....

Please don't take the (my) Lord's name in vain if you would. Much appreciated.

I don't censor myself based on other people's feelings. No offense. I will try to be more considerate in the future, but I'm not going out of my way to make anyone's feelings better.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I saw Gobert playing WAY better than Hassan. Maybe I missed something though....

I honestly don't know how. Gobert had a +/- of : - 19.
Our guards were getting to the basket pretty easily. Not a lot of highlights for Rudy.

Whiteside on the other hand was a +15. While not a lot of highlights either, there were not any significant low lights in that video either. Not saying one is better than the other, just that I did not see much of difference in this PRE-season game.

 

[Jade Falcon]

I honestly don't know how. Gobert had a +/- of : - 19.
Our guards were getting to the basket pretty easily. Not a lot of highlights for Rudy.

Whiteside on the other hand was a +15. While not a lot of highlights either, there were not any significant low lights in that video either. Not saying one is better than the other, just that I did not see much of difference in this PRE-season game.

-19? The hell? I thought he was scoring at random; at least, early in the game anyways....I certainly wouldn't have guessed a -19 figure.

And talk about not stopping anyone....our interior Defense wasn't stellar either. I'm very surprised Whiteside had a +15 game, especially as he looks slow as a redwood tree.