A Dominant low post player

[kjironman1]

The Blazers just went through a loss to a team that most are calling the worst in the league. However you want to look at it, it is showing one huge glaring weakness in this team. Some want to say they were tired because of the B2B, or the court wasn't ready and they didn't get their pregame warm ups the way they are used to. I tend to agree a bit with the latter. It did not help the Lillard and CJ went 10-36 for the night and that the leading scorers were Leonard and Lillard with 14 points a piece.
The weakness of this team is and remains a Low Post threat and Rim Protector. The Blazers are starting Mason Plumlee at center and as much as i like Plums he is 6-10( i know they want to list him as 6-11 but that ain't the case) and he does not pose a huge threat to block a shot coming down the lane. The same holds true with Ed Davis but he does get a few more blocks. Both show hustle and are working hard every possession they are on the floor. No question these guys work hard. They just don't match up well against a guy like Okafor or Cousins or even Brook Lopez.

My question is what are the Blazers really trying to accomplish this season? It seems as though they are playing full on to win as many games as possible. I personally have no problem with that. I want to see them play hard and compete every night. But this team has weaknesses. They rely on the outside shot and energy so when they are on a B2B on the road they seem to always struggle. When defenses are not worried about Lillard or CJ they simply dominate the Blazers. Meyers came in and put up some fair numbers but as most point out it was in garbage time. My problem here is "Garbage Time" started at about 6 mins of the 3rd quarter. Meyers worked last night because Philly had no answer for him but still he was pretty much alone and his footwork and low post presence is pretty much non existent. My problem here is with the coaching philosophy that Stotts used and continues to use with this team.

Let me get something straight right now. I like Coach Stotts. He is has a great mind and seems to be liked by the players. The team plays hard for him every night. I just think maybe he should re evaluate the way he does things if he is going to try to win as many games as possible. They are in a 3 game east coast road trip. They get a pretty good win in Brooklyn. The next night they come up against a team that has a new starting PG and a pretty dominant center. The team has to throw all their pregame warmups out the window because of arena schedule. This is a perfect game to start and play guys who need time. Frazier at PG, Henderson and Harkless. Even activate Alexander and get Pat Con on the floor for 20 mins at least. You have Kaman sitting there who matches better against Okafor. You sit Lillard, CJ and Plums. Maybe even Aminu. Play Kaman who can hit a shot from 10-14 feet and Meyers who stretches the floor. Ed Davis gets the backup mins. This is straight out of the Spurs way of thinking. Not only does it rest players for the next road game against the Wiz but it continues to develop players that you will need in the future.

If the Blazers are truly going to play for wins they need to consider getting a Low Post threat and then play the players that match up to the team they are playing. They need to rest players when they are obviously going to be tired. Jump shooters do not score well on B2B's. Tired legs do not play good defense.
Just the way i see it......

 

[riverman]

Stotts scrapped the title defensive coordinator from his staff...I think he needs to reinstate the title and get a replacement that excels in defensive schemes

 

[kjironman1]

Yes absolutely! And they need to hire a Big's coach. Why in the world have they not replaced Kim Hughes? This is what i see.

 

[TBpup]

Yes absolutely! And they need to hire a Big's coach. Why in the world have they not replaced Kim Hughes? This is what i see.

Jim Moran is their big man coach right now.

 

[kjironman1]

Jim is not cutting the mustard as they say. Kim Hughes was getting better results.

 

[kjironman1]

"Moran begins his first year on the Trail Blazers bench in 2015-16 after spending last season in Portland as an associate video coordinator. A player development coach for the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League in 2013, Moran played his entire professional career for CB Gran Canaria in the Spanish ACB League from 2001-11."
http://www.nba.com/blazers/trail-blazers-promote-jim-moran-assistant-coach

Jim is not the guy to Develop Players. He is developing himself. He is also another guy that comes from "Video Coordinator". This worries me.

 

[PCmor7]

I agree with a lot of what the OP said, but one thing I don't think is true is that they are going all out to win as many games as they can, and he even touched on the proof why that's not true later in the post.

If the Blazers really wanted to win, Kaman would be playing some. Fact is he is a big body who can battle down low and is someone who needs defended on the other side of the court, even at his age. I like Mason and Davis, but they don't have the bulk to deal with true bigs ... even RoLo gave them problems. Really, how they've used Kaman is all the proof I need that this organization is in asset acquisition mode.

 

[mook]

It's a shame Greg Monroe chose the wrong team. He'd be a perfect fit here. Even though he's not dominant, he's enough of a threat in the post that you have to pay a lot of attention to him.

Honestly, I'm coming around on seeing how Ed Davis would do as a starter. He's a very efficient scorer in the middle, and he brings a lot in the way of defense and rebounding. He reminds me a lot of another Davis--Dale Davis, in that you know he's going to show up every game and produce in a very lunchpale fasion.

I understand why we're investing so much time in developing Vonleh. He's got more tools, but has he really earned the starting job? It's not like he's doing much better than when Leonard was starting.

Even Plumlee is pretty questionable as a starting center. His numbers are actually regressing as the season goes along.

In January our starting PF/C tandem is bring us 9pts/5rebs (Plums) and 5pts/4rebs (Von). Pretty tough to win with production like that.

Stotts is a big fan of continuity. Guys need to know when and where they are going to play. But it's so bad right now with our front court you aren't going get a lot worse by shaking things up.

Personally, I'd like to see us go small with a starting lineup of Lillard/CJ/Crabbe/Aminu/Davis. Just do a lot of scrambling and use Harkless and Henderson more off the bench. It's a really small lineup, maybe smallest in the league, but it'd put our most consistent, active players on the court more.

 

[Sinobas]

Coaching might help, but I think we have an obvious talent deficiency in the front court. Plumlee is a backup. He's not really a rim protector nor anything above average at defending the post, and his offensive game is only a few notches above Joel Pryzbilla. He is a good passer, but that's really the only quality of his that stands out. I feel Aminu is a backup too.

Davis would be a good "5th" man, a great guy to have off the bench, but he's also very limited offensively.

So we're starting 2 backups and a 3rd stringer (Vonleh) in our starting lineup, I think that's why we're falling so far behind early in games.

 

[WillG]

We definitely need help in the front court.
I agree with Jlprk, that Plumlee is better suited as a PF. He gets overwhelmed frequently due to lack of size/strength at C.
His offensive limitations limit, not only himself, but the team as well. Still I love his passing and all out hussle.

The other weakness is coaching. As mentioned, the staff could really use a defensive specialist.
Also, how is Stotts not being held accountable for not having these guys ready to start play in a professional manner night after night. It seems every second game we are fighting to claw back from a double-digit first quarter defecit.

Perhaps the players and coach are a little too chummy. Terry needs to have these guys come in like professionals, ready to kill the opposing team, not participating in a high-five shoot around at millionaires summer camp.

 

[kjironman1]

I agree with a lot of what the OP said, but one thing I don't think is true is that they are going all out to win as many games as they can, and he even touched on the proof why that's not true later in the post.

If the Blazers really wanted to win, Kaman would be playing some. Fact is he is a big body who can battle down low and is someone who needs defended on the other side of the court, even at his age. I like Mason and Davis, but they don't have the bulk to deal with true bigs ... even RoLo gave them problems. Really, how they've used Kaman is all the proof I need that this organization is in asset acquisition mode.

That is exactly why i asked that question. What are the Blazers really trying to do this season? It makes me wonder?

 

[kjironman1]

We definitely need help in the front court.
I agree with Jlprk, that Plumlee is better suited as a PF. He gets overwhelmed frequently due to lack of size/strength at C.
His offensive limitations limit, not only himself, but the team as well. Still I love his passing and all out hussle.

The other weakness is coaching. As mentioned, the staff could really use a defensive specialist.
Also, how is Stotts not being held accountable for not having these guys ready to start play in a professional manner night after night. It seems every second game we are fighting to claw back from a double-digit first quarter defecit.

Perhaps the players and coach are a little too chummy. Terry needs to have these guys come in like professionals, ready to kill the opposing team, not participating in a high-five shoot around at millionaires summer camp.

Any given night.... But yes they must be ready. Last night there was an arena issue and a B2B so i can see it.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I don't think we should read too much into the Philly game. Everybody lays an egg sometimes. And we just beat a team with a much better low-post threat than anyone on the Sixers - Brook Lopez.

 

[BlayZa]

Plumlee and Davis have done a more than acceptable job for just about every game except that one.... I struggle to see how that one example is an indication of season failure in the front court. Sure, we shouldnt have lost to them and it sucks, but they do amazingly enough have the very early stages of a decent team there, and apparently, sometimes they click - just happened to be vs. us :/

 

[Sinobas]

Plumlee and Davis have done a more than acceptable job for just about every game except that one.... I struggle to see how that one example is an indication of season failure in the front court. Sure, we shouldnt have lost to them and it sucks, but they do amazingly enough have the very early stages of a decent team there, and apparently, sometimes they click - just happened to be vs. us :/

We know Dame and CJ are good. If we had a good frontcourt we'd be a good team.

 

[kjironman1]

I don't think we should read too much into the Philly game. Everybody lays an egg sometimes. And we just beat a team with a much better low-post threat than anyone on the Sixers - Brook Lopez.

I agree but that was a huge problem also and it took 30 and 10 on the road from Lillard to do it. That has happened like once before from anyone. The Blazers have a problem handling a low post threat on the best days.

 

[kjironman1]

Plumlee and Davis have done a more than acceptable job for just about every game except that one.... I struggle to see how that one example is an indication of season failure in the front court. Sure, we shouldnt have lost to them and it sucks, but they do amazingly enough have the very early stages of a decent team there, and apparently, sometimes they click - just happened to be vs. us :/

Watch the next game against Gortat. He will dominate our bigs. This is happening over and over again.
Then watch what Nene does off the bench. Like i said this will be a tough matchup. The Blazers do not have the beef inside to match them at all.

 

[PCmor7]

That is exactly why i asked that question. What are the Blazers really trying to do this season? It makes me wonder?

I think it's pretty clear. They are building for the future. They are approaching this as others have put it an 82-game preseason. They aren't just going out there and not trying to be competitive, because that creates it's own set of issues. But management knows this team still needs to add assets. Playing Kaman and getting an extra three wins this season and getting us stuck in the 30-42-win range for the rest of Lillard's career is not in the longterm interest of this organization's ultimate goal of contending for a championship. So you invest those three wins in having Kaman be almost like a player-coach, you give some of these young players who didn't fit with their previous teams a chance to get extended minutes as a tryout of sorts for the Blazers of the future or another team that might have needs of their skills, you keep what works for you and try to get whatever you can in return for what doesn't.

 

[PCmor7]

I don't think we should read too much into the Philly game. Everybody lays an egg sometimes. And we just beat a team with a much better low-post threat than anyone on the Sixers - Brook Lopez.

We beat the Nets in spite of not being able to match up with Lopez, not because we were able to. The Nets perimeter play was atrocious.

Okafor is a strong, power inside guy who has given Plumlee and Davis fits all year and I suspect will continue to do so. Meyers actually is better guarding guys like this ... he seems to make Marc Gasol really work. But Meyers can't defend the pick and roll. Meyers lacks defensive instincts ... he jumps when he doesn't have to, he's tentative to aggressively defend on a switch, but he's big and strong enough to fight a guy for position on the block.

Plumlee and Davis are very athletic. Great guys coming from help position to block shots and have the potential to blitz or hedge a pick and roll situation. But the trade-off is they get pushed around in the low post. RoLo, Drummond, Okafor, Steven Adams, Jordan ... that's just a few opposing bigs that have had nice or even big games against them. Even Jeff Withey looked like a good player against them.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Pardon my ignorace since I was unable to watch the game, but if Vonleh is showing this outstanding defensive potential in every other game, shouldn't he have been able to at least slow Okafor down?

 

[Pinwheel1]

We beat the Nets in spite of not being able to match up with Lopez, not because we were able to. The Nets perimeter play was atrocious.

Okafor is a strong, power inside guy who has given Plumlee and Davis fits all year and I suspect will continue to do so.

I assume you mean guys like Okafor have given Plumlee and Davis fits all year. Because obviously we have only seen him once so far. I did not watch the second half, but in the first half he killed them from the outside. They seemed unprepared to cover him out there. And he came out on fire.

But I do agree that our D against bigs has been a bigger issue this year than the more talked about lack of D by our "small" guards.

 

[PCmor7]

Pardon my ignorace since I was unable to watch the game, but if Vonleh is showing this outstanding defensive potential in every other game, shouldn't he have been able to at least slow Okafor down?

I didn't get to see the part early in the game when Vonleh played, but two things about this:

1. Outstanding defensive potential and outstanding defense are different things. I think the first is showing flashes and progress. The second is consistently making guys work hard for position and shots and/or making steals or blocking shots. Vonleh qualifies for the first, which is what he needs to do now. But he still needs to get stronger ... this isn't the summer league. I can kind of see what the coaches are doing with him, play him early against No. 1 players and ask him to just concentrate on defense, then work on the offense. This is what was done with Allen Crabbe and I think it worked pretty well.

2. I can't say for sure, but I doubt Vonleh would have guarded Okafor. He's be giving up like 30 pounds.

 

[PCmor7]

I assume you mean guys like Okafor have given Plumlee and Davis fits all year. Because obviously we have only seen him once so far. I did not watch the second half, but in the first half he killed them from the outside. They seemed unprepared to cover him out there. And he came out on fire.

But I do agree that our D against bigs has been a bigger issue this year than the more talked about lack of D by our "small" guards.

Yes, I meant guys like Okafor.

Our guard D, I think, actually has been pretty good. It was rough for the first couple of weeks, but I think Dame and CJ have turned into passable defenders at worst despite being small.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I didn't get to see the part early in the game when Vonleh played, but two things about this:

1. Outstanding defensive potential and outstanding defense are different things. I think the first is showing flashes and progress. The second is consistently making guys work hard for position and shots and/or making steals or blocking shots. Vonleh qualifies for the first, which is what he needs to do now. But he still needs to get stronger ... this isn't the summer league. I can kind of see what the coaches are doing with him, play him early against No. 1 players and ask him to just concentrate on defense, then work on the offense. This is what was done with Allen Crabbe and I think it worked pretty well.

2. I can't say for sure, but I doubt Vonleh would have guarded Okafor. He's be giving up like 30 pounds.

I'd argue that Vonleh is worlds stronger than Plumlee. Any time we're playing a team with a legitimate low post threat, I would want to see Vonleh given that defensive assignment.

 

[PCmor7]

Okafor's highlights from the Blazer game. It's splitting hairs, but almost everything he scored was 14 feet and in. A lot of it was face-up, though. Looks like he was being guarded by Plumlee, Davis, Leonard and Harkless. Maybe the game plan was to live with him shooting mid-range jumpers because he'd really be a bigger problem down low. He seemed to score wherever he got it, though.

 

[PCmor7]

I'd argue that Vonleh is worlds stronger than Plumlee. Any time we're playing a team with a legitimate low post threat, I would want to see Vonleh given that defensive assignment.

I am not that comfortable with Vonleh yet. Plumlee is a much more savvy defender, and I bet he has at least an inch in height and 15-20 pounds on Vonleh. I don't think either is particularly strong physically at this point, but I think if they went against each other, it would be pretty close -- Plumlee's an undersized 5 who looks small every game because he's guarding bigger guys. Vonleh's an averaged-sized 4 guarding other 4s.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I am not that comfortable with Vonleh yet. Plumlee is a much more savvy defender, and I bet he has at least an inch in height and 15-20 pounds on Vonleh. I don't think either is particularly strong physically at this point, but I think if they went against each other, it would be pretty close -- Plumlee's an undersized 5 who looks small every game because he's guarding bigger guys. Vonleh's an averaged-sized 4 guarding other 4s.

I'm not saying that Vonleh would be shutting people down, but if he's got all this "potential", how else is he going to develop it without being put up against the biggest post threats. I want Plums to be put in positions to develop his help defense and rim protection, and I want Vonleh in positions to develop his man defense against low-post studs. I don't care whether or not they'd necessarily be successful this season, only about their increased success in future seasons.

 

[PCmor7]

I'm not saying that Vonleh would be shutting people down, but if he's got all this "potential", how else is he going to develop it without being put up against the biggest post threats. I want Plums to be put in positions to develop his help defense and rim protection, and I want Vonleh in positions to develop his man defense against low-post studs. I don't care whether or not they'd necessarily be successful this season, only about their increased success in future seasons.

I don't necessarily disagree with you. I think it's just a matter of philosophy, and the coaching staff feels better going about it this way for whatever reason. I think they have Vonleh working his way up instead of throwing him completely to the wolves as a 4 guarding good, proven 5s, but that's just speculation on my part.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I don't necessarily disagree with you. I think it's just a matter of philosophy, and the coaching staff feels better going about it this way for whatever reason. I think they have Vonleh working his way up instead of throwing him completely to the wolves as a 4 guarding good, proven 5s, but that's just speculation on my part.

Probably, although I would dispute the notion that on the Sixers, Okafor is the 5 and Noel is the 4. Either way, I'd have matched them up differently, and that's not just hindsight talking. But then again, I'm just a fan, and Stotts is an NBA head coach, so his basketball acumen likely surpasses mine ten times over.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I almost love seeing these Okafor highlights, knowing he could have been a Laker.....and is not. This kid has some skills.