Are we really gonna stick with Blake-Miller-Roy combo all season?

[Denny Crane]

It's an interesting question whether you can win a championship with 3 guards. The Bulls took the defending champs to 7 games and several of those OT last year, playing 3 guards (Salmons, Gordon, Rose). None of those guys as good as Roy.

What may be more of an issue for the Blazers, no matter what lineup they play with the given personnel, is that the championship teams have had 3-4 guys (often 4) at Roy's level of talent/play. On the other hand. those last two championship teams are long in the tooth and someone has to be the team to step in when they falter.

For now, the team is winning as it should. Beating the weaker teams by wide margins is a good thing. Before the 3 guard lineup, it seemed like those games were a lot closer than they appeared on paper.

Even when the team loses a game with the 3 guards, it's no reason to panic. If the team looks pathetic for several games, a change is in order though.

 

[magnifier661]

And can we win a championship with that lineup?

Hard to argue with 4-0 though 3 of the wins came against Minny & Memphis.

Yeah let's wait until we face some of the Western Conference contenders. So far, we are 1-1 with the ones from last season. Should have been 2-0 (If we didn't miss those last 3 free-throws)

 

[magnifier661]

I must admit, I wasn't even considering this lineup before it happened, but I've definitely grown to like it.
If it's Blake or Rudy, it doesn't really matter.

Interesting stat. Rudy is among the league leaders in steals. The more I think about it, the more he would fit better in the "3-guard" line-up.

 

[STOMP]

I think when Nicolas gets back and shown he's healthy, he'll probably get back that starting spot. And Martell hasn't been that much of a scrub this season. I like the energy he's brought, he's not the same stand-in-the-corner player anymore. He's flying in, trying to get some rebounds, and he's been playing some defense and getting deflections and blocks.
And tonight, he had 16 pts in 25 mins, albeit against a bad team, but he's looked pretty good so far for a guy who was off for a whole year.

his rebounding rate is actually well behind his career average

My point wasn't that Martell has looked terrible (he's been meh IMO), but that there is hardly some great upswell around here expecting him to be starting again in the near future. Maybe he returns to the starting lineup sometime but it's not like his play is demanding it. I'd guess that Blake retaining his starting spot or Rudy sliding in rate at least as high on the list of possibilities.

STOMP

 

[magnifier661]

his rebounding rate is actually well behind his career average

My point wasn't that Martell has looked terrible (he's been meh IMO), but that there is hardly some great upswell around here expecting him to be starting again in the near future. Maybe he returns to the starting lineup sometime but it's not like his play is demanding it. I'd guess that Blake retaining his starting spot or Rudy sliding in rate at least as high on the list of possibilities.

STOMP

But do you know what the great thing is? I don't have a doubt in my mind Webs would complain about coming off the bench. As much as people hate on him, I think he is all "Pro-team" and no "I". A great role player to have on your squad.

 

[ebott]

I'll be real interested to see what happens on Monday when we play Atlanta. They're a good big team that's already beat us once this season. I don't see how we have a chance against them with the little lineup.

 

[Nikolokolus]

The best thing I can say about Martell is that he looks active and he's at least attacking on offense. So despite the fact that he's repeating his sophomore season in a lot of ways with regards to his shooting percentages, he's nearly doubled his free throw rate and he's hitting from 90% when he gets there. The true bright spot is the way he's getting steals and blocks and generally putting in some very nice defensive efforts, it's still a work in progress and I'm not sure he's fully comfortable with all of Nate's team defense schemes, but he's making the loss of Nic a little easier to take.

For him to get into the starting lineup over Steve he's got to raise his shooting percentages, especially from the perimeter, it's too easy for teams to clog the middle with Brandon having a down year so far from the perimeter and Miller never having been a threat from deep. Steve misfiring last night so badly in the 1st quarter last night against the wolves made that painfully obvious, as they sagged back and basically dare Blake, Miller and Roy to shoot.

 

[Wheels]

I think the meltdown that would have occurred if we had lost to the Wolves, as opposed to losing to the Hawks, would have been much worse.

my mind is telling me no......... but my body (MY BODY!) is telling me yes!

 

[SpanishFly]

It's an interesting question whether you can win a championship with 3 guards. The Bulls took the defending champs to 7 games and several of those OT last year, playing 3 guards (Salmons, Gordon, Rose). None of those guys as good as Roy.

What may be more of an issue for the Blazers, no matter what lineup they play with the given personnel, is that the championship teams have had 3-4 guys (often 4) at Roy's level of talent/play. On the other hand. those last two championship teams are long in the tooth and someone has to be the team to step in when they falter.

For now, the team is winning as it should. Beating the weaker teams by wide margins is a good thing. Before the 3 guard lineup, it seemed like those games were a lot closer than they appeared on paper.

Even when the team loses a game with the 3 guards, it's no reason to panic. If the team looks pathetic for several games, a change is in order though.

I think a big factor whether you can win with 3 guards has a lot to do with who you have at PF and C and your depth. I like who we have at PF and C a ton, however Blake as the third guard IMO could be improved dramatically.

 

[SpanishFly]

Interesting stat. Rudy is among the league leaders in steals. The more I think about it, the more he would fit better in the "3-guard" line-up.

I liked Rudy's play until late in the 4th when he tried to many STUPID passes that lead to turnover's and negated much of his otherwise good play. He has too temper his tendency to get too fancy IMO.

 

[magnifier661]

I liked Rudy's play until late in the 4th when he tried to many STUPID passes that lead to turnover's and negated much of his otherwise good play. He has too temper his tendency to get too fancy IMO.

Yeah I saw that as well, but it was garbage time. Not giving him a pass, but I was watching Nate tinker with new plays. It was more about "timing" than being reckless, IMO. In a game that actually matters, I doubt you see Fernandez be that reckless with the ball.

 

[andalusian]

Given the time, the place, the score - I did not mind Rudy trying to force some stuff.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I just wish Rudy would get over trying to thread precision passes to Joel; throwing it at the rim is one thing, but trying to hit him in the numbers and expecting something good to happen is wishful thinking.

 

[Natebishop3]

I just wish Rudy would get over trying to thread precision passes to Joel; throwing it at the rim is one thing, but trying to hit him in the numbers and expecting something good to happen is wishful thinking.

Joel really has no touch at all. He has two modes on offense: Rebound and Dunk.

 

[hasoos]

I still have high hopes for Batum upon his return but Webster has looked better to me this year than Batum looked last year.

Batum last year was, of course, significantly younger than Webster is now, but Martell has demonstrated the ability to contribute offensively at a higher level than Nic. It's inconsistent, to be sure, but I'll take inconsistently good over inconsistently bad any day of the week.

Ed O.

Webs definitly brings more scoring to the table. The surprising thing he brings is the 1.4 steals per game.

 

[southnc]

Short answer to both questions is emphatically no. Although I don't think winning a championship is really in the cards this season regardless of who is in the lineup.

There's no way this team will be able to get over on the Lakers with Miller, Blake and Roy when they trot out Artest, Kobe, Odom, Bynum and Gasol. Somebody's got to guard Artest and Kobe and do you really think B-Roy and Blake can manage that?

I agree with the Lakers scenario. You would have to replace either Blake or Miller with Webster (Batum). As to which one probably depends on whether Webster can hit the open perimeter shot; if he can, then Miller - otherwise, Blake.

Regardless of starting lineups, it still looks like Blake will be playing at the end with Roy handling the ball. Without the ball, there is no reason to have Miller on the court.

 

[hasoos]

I agree with the Lakers scenario. You would have to replace either Blake or Miller with Webster (Batum). As to which one probably depends on whether Webster can hit the open perimeter shot; if he can, then Miller - otherwise, Blake.

Regardless of starting lineups, it still looks like Blake will be playing at the end with Roy handling the ball. Without the ball, there is no reason to have Miller on the court.

I agree, and disagree. Part of the reason we got Miller, was to take a load off of Roy. If Roy did not start getting some help in sharing the load in the back court, he was well on his way to ending up like Dwade did a couple of years back with a buttload of injuries.

Now that being said, I do believe you are correct about the lineup, and possible changes if facing such a team. But my philosophy has always been you don't want to change your lineup to match up with other team, you want to force them to have matchup problems with you if at all possible. That way you are dictating the game, and not them. That may not be possible with LA. But at the same time, I think it is completely frackin stupid to throw a guy who has not played the whole season into a playoff game without getting him acclimated to the guys he is playing with. The same thing happened when we played Rudy in the starting lineup against Houston last year. He had not played in the starting lineup all year, and here we are in the playoffs throwing him into the starting lineup. If you are going to play the lineup in the playoffs, at least let it get some run during the regular season to work out the kinks and let the players get some timing together.

 

[STOMP]

I liked Rudy's play until late in the 4th when he tried to many STUPID passes that lead to turnover's and negated much of his otherwise good play. He has too temper his tendency to get too fancy IMO.

when the club is up by 20 half way through the 4th, I don't mind players going for the spectacular play at the risk of a TO at all.

Rudy played great last night, no buts or ifs about it. Hopefully his struggles are behind him

STOMP

 

[STOMP]

Joel really has no touch at all. He has two modes on offense: Rebound and Dunk.

dude sets a mean pick as well.

STOMP

 

[Idog1976]

What may be more of an issue for the Blazers, no matter what lineup they play with the given personnel, is that the championship teams have had 3-4 guys (often 4) at Roy's level of talent/play. On the other hand. those last two championship teams are long in the tooth and someone has to be the team to step in when they falter.

Wait WHAT championship team has that? 1980's Lakers with Magic, Worthy and Kareem? I don't consider Rodman to be as good as Roy by any stretch so that cuts out the 90's bulls as a possibility. Maybe you are referring to the Bad Boy Pistons? Dumars and Isaiah are as good or better then Roy but are you saying that Lambieer is equivalent to Roy? I don't know of any championship team in the past 15 years that had three guys as good as Roy or better. Not many teams in league history have had 3 to 4 guys as good as Roy. I really would like to see some concrete examples in recent NBA history (1990 or later).

 

[hasoos]

Wait WHAT championship team has that? 1980's Lakers with Magic, Worthy and Kareem? I don't consider Rodman to be as good as Roy by any stretch so that cuts out the 90's bulls as a possibility. Maybe you are referring to the Bad Boy Pistons? Dumars and Isaiah are as good or better then Roy but are you saying that Lambieer is equivalent to Roy? I don't know of any championship team in the past 15 years that had three guys as good as Roy or better. Not many teams in league history have had 3 to 4 guys as good as Roy. I really would like to see some concrete examples in recent NBA history (1990 or later).

The 90's bulls had Jordan Pippen and Kukoch. I consider Kukoch to be nearly as good as Brandon, but he had a different role. They also had Ron Harper for a while, who was older by then, but he was a top tier star in his day. It mattered what year you were talking about really.

Right now the Celtics have an assload of talent. Some of it is older and detreriorating, but they are great players none the less, and several of them have accomplished more than Roy has in his carer. KG, Wallace, Allen, Pierce are all stars in their own right.

The same could be said of the Spurs. Duncan, Ginobili (when healthy) and Parker were all guys as good or better than Roy, especially during their championship years.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Wait WHAT championship team has that? 1980's Lakers with Magic, Worthy and Kareem? I don't consider Rodman to be as good as Roy by any stretch so that cuts out the 90's bulls as a possibility. Maybe you are referring to the Bad Boy Pistons? Dumars and Isaiah are as good or better then Roy but are you saying that Lambieer is equivalent to Roy? I don't know of any championship team in the past 15 years that had three guys as good as Roy or better. Not many teams in league history have had 3 to 4 guys as good as Roy. I really would like to see some concrete examples in recent NBA history (1990 or later).

Well, the '08 Celtics had Rondo/Allen/Pierce/Garnett. and the '03, '05, '07 Spurs had Parker/Ginobili/Duncan. And the very well rounded '04 Pistons had Billups/Hamilton/Sheed/Wallace.

Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch to say all of those players were at Roy's level during the title seasons, but they were all at least borderline all-star.

 

[BBert]

I would like to see our starting lineup with Miller/Roy/Webster/Aldridge/Oden

with Rudy/Blake/Joel/Outlaw off the bench.

I'd like to see either Miller/Roy/Webster or Miller/Rudy/Roy, depending on matchups. My preference is Miller/Rudy/Roy with Blake/Bayless/Webster off the bench. I think that gives us really good balance.

 

[magnifier661]

I consider Kukoch to be nearly as good as Brandon, but he had a different role.

Look you had a good debate until you posted this. By no way possible was Kukoch as good as Roy. That's like saying Roy is as good as LJ or Jordan. Just different leagues.

 

[SpanishFly]

when the club is up by 20 half way through the 4th, I don't mind players going for the spectacular play at the risk of a TO at all.

Rudy played great last night, no buts or ifs about it. Hopefully his struggles are behind him

STOMP

I don't, I like playing smart sound basketball all the time time as it builds confidence and good habits.

 

[magnifier661]

I don't, I like playing smart sound basketball all the time time as it builds confidence and good habits.

Well I look at it like a job, since all these players are employees for their respected teams. Sometime you have to have some fun in the workplace. It helps you to want to keep coming to work. Could you imagine working for some stuffy boss, micro-managing your every minute? I agree that the NBA should have a certain level of professionalism, but when you already proved that you smacked the living hell out of a team for 3 quarters, why not have fun?

Also, bringing Oden in the 4th, after we already established a 26 point lead sets another tone to the rest of the NBA. The game was already won. It would show we are rubbing it in even more. AND.... Sorry for so many points. Having the players sit out in the 4th after a huge lead sets another example. That example is TEAM, not "I". Don't worry about stats, just win the game. If you can win it in the first 3 quarters, than you did great and are rewarded with rest.

 

[STOMP]

I don't, I like playing smart sound basketball all the time time as it builds confidence and good habits.

their good habits are built up to a point that they were dominating the home team by 20 late into the 4th and I'm not too worried about their confidence. Having some fun when the game is well in hand is a just reward for a young team enjoying a blowout.

STOMP

 

[hasoos]

Look you had a good debate until you posted this. By no way possible was Kukoch as good as Roy. That's like saying Roy is as good as LJ or Jordan. Just different leagues.

Thats complete bullshit. There was a reason the Chicago Bulls won 72 games, and that is because they had 3 guys that carried that team. Kukoch is one of them. You may not like him, but last I remember, he kicked our asses all over the place. He was also a major player on the team during the years Jordan was out of basketball. By the way, I said none of the things you just said. What we were talking about is how many star caliber players teams had. We weren't saying one was better than the other. Secondly, just because a player doesn't play the same style as another player, doesn't mean they aren't as good, and because they play off the bench, it doesn't mean they are asked to do the same things that a single star on a team is asked to do. Roy is asked to do way more for the Blazers then Kukoch was asked of on the Bulls. Different roles.

 

[SpanishFly]

their good habits are built up to a point that they were dominating the home team by 20 late into the 4th and I'm not too worried about their confidence. Having some fun when the game is well in hand is a just reward for a young team enjoying a blowout.

STOMP

Disagree, our "good habits" have not at all been built to the point yet where we can "fool around", especially in the second unit. Gimme several weeks of good consistent play and I'll say okay.

 

[Natebishop3]

dude sets a mean pick as well.

STOMP

Sometimes a little too mean. He seems to get a lot of offensive fouls called on those.