Are you worried about chemistry/playing time issues?

[BlazersBlood]

This is exactly the problem Roy and Aldridge were complaining about the other day in that a lot of talent is on the team but not a lot of touches. This starting 5 of Miler, Roy, Rudy, Aldridge and Oden has 5 guys who all need to score ... perhaps to a lesser degree Oden and Miller don't "need" to, but that is a purely offensive minded unit with very little balance in terms of players who can fill a role or focus mostly on defense.

That lineup of Roy, Rudy, Miller, Aldridge, & Oden could work for stretches. My belief is that Nate is gonna go with Batum more at SF because he is a complimentary glue guy, and won't demand the ball much. He can concentrate on defense. He'll be our James Posey or Bruce Bowen.

Rudy is better suited for coming off the bench and should assume the role of Travis as the primary shot taker on the 2nd unit if he can prove that he can score in bunches.

 

[BrianFromWA]

It seems that no one's talking about the obvious, but for obvious reasons.

We have a player who kind of skates through first quarters, b/c his energy is needed in the 4th. His skills on offense are so good that he's now, for the first time, being asked to play high-level D. He plays most effectively (in his mind) with Blakey and Przy. He's having issues melding with a guy who should be our starting PG. His backup (a pure 2) is chafing at getting only 20-25mpg, and most in here agree that he should get more.

Why not sit Brandon on the bench Ginobili-style? We can start Miller/Rudy/Webs/LMA/Oden, and bring Blake/Roy/Batum/Outlaw/Joel off the bench. Brandon can be the iso-man with his buddies --most of last year's "starters on a 54-win-team" on the court (and less minutes mean more energy, esp. on D, right?), and we can run our most talented players at the other 4 positions in the starting unit. I haven't heard about any problems that LMA or Oden or Rudy are having with Miller.

 

[Mediocre Man]

I think there are enough players on our roster who are about equal that there will be some PT issues.

Roy and Aldridge should be at 35 minutes each.

Miller and Oden really should be at 32 minutes each.

Batum and Rudy have proven themselves enough to get between 28-32 minutes each

Travis should be at around 25 minutes

Webster should be at around 25 minutes

Blake should be at around 22-25 minutes

Joel should be at around 25-30 minutes

Howard should be at around 10-12 minutes

Leaving Bayless, Cunningham, Pendergragh and Ime out it still adds up to around 300 minutes, or 60 minutes more than an NBA game. I think players will bitch because they will probably play less than they really deserve to play.....It won't be anyone's fault other than managements refusal to make a consolidation trade. Now if a couple of players get injured it will have been a great thing not to trade anyone.

 

[magnifier661]

This is exactly the problem Roy and Aldridge were complaining about the other day in that a lot of talent is on the team but not a lot of touches. This starting 5 of Miler, Roy, Rudy, Aldridge and Oden has 5 guys who all need to score ... perhaps to a lesser degree Oden and Miller don't "need" to, but that is a purely offensive minded unit with very little balance in terms of players who can fill a role or focus mostly on defense.

You got a good point there. Now I can see the point with Batum starting instead of Webster.

 

[STOMP]

I think there are enough players on our roster who are about equal that there will be some PT issues.

Roy and Aldridge should be at 35 minutes each.

Miller and Oden really should be at 32 minutes each.

Batum and Rudy have proven themselves enough to get between 28-32 minutes each

Travis should be at around 25 minutes

Webster should be at around 25 minutes

Blake should be at around 22-25 minutes

Joel should be at around 25-30 minutes

Howard should be at around 10-12 minutes

Leaving Bayless, Cunningham, Pendergragh and Ime out it still adds up to around 300 minutes, or 60 minutes more than an NBA game.

how should joel average 25-30 MPG when he has never averaged 25 MPG in his entire career? Dude's career average is about 20 MPG, he only plays one position... barring injury the writing has been on the wall for his minutes/role since the Oden selection. If he's unhappy with whats on his plate in PDX, he's got an out in his deal after this season.

Juwan is 36 years old. He signed knowing the club was deep/stacked. I'm sure he knows that his role is outside the rotation staying ready in case of injury... nightly DNPs will not come as a surprise.

Blake came on board signing a modest rotation level deal with Portland. He's been the consummate professional squeezing the most out of his ability and helping the team as best he can, but dude is still a role player. If he'd like a larger role then whats obviously coming this season, he'll be a UFA next summer.

Martell has been subplanted by better talents. When he came into the league Portland had sparse talent overall and few players his size, so dude got minutes... but those MPG were his largely by default. They've added Roy Rudy and Nic since who've all produced at higher rates including duplicating his outside threat (his one real skill). His overall PER is actually below his rookie year PER (which wasn't very good)... dude needs to step it up before he's due a regular rotation role.

These guys are not stars who deserve X amount of minutes. There is nothing wrong with them playing less because the club has better options. I foresee Joel being down to 15-18 MPG, Blake to 12-15, Juwan to nothing, and Martell 8-10... and I'm happy about that because it reflects the quality of Portland's overall talent. Thats roughly 45 MPG off your 60. It should be easy enough to shave 2-3 MPG here and there off of the rest of the numbers you listed to make up the remaining 15 MPG. I'm fine with a little bitching over minutes... thats expected every year.

STOMP

 

[Mediocre Man]

how should joel average 25-30 MPG when he has never averaged 25 MPG in his entire career? Dude's career average is about 20 MPG, he only plays one position... barring injury the writing has been on the wall for his minutes/role since the Oden selection. If he's unhappy with whats on his plate in PDX, he's got an out in his deal after this season.

Juwan is 36 years old. He signed knowing the club was deep/stacked. I'm sure he knows that his role is outside the rotation staying ready in case of injury... nightly DNPs will not come as a surprise.

Blake came on board signing a modest rotation level deal with Portland. He's been the consummate professional squeezing the most out of his ability and helping the team as best he can, but dude is still a role player. If he'd like a larger role then whats obviously coming this season, he'll be a UFA next summer.

Martell has been subplanted by better talents. When he came into the league Portland had sparse talent overall and few players his size, so dude got minutes... but those MPG were his largely by default. They've added Roy Rudy and Nic since who've all produced at higher rates including duplicating his outside threat (his one real skill). His overall PER is actually below his rookie year PER (which wasn't very good)... dude needs to step it up before he's due a regular rotation role.

These guys are not stars who deserve X amount of minutes. There is nothing wrong with them playing less because the club has better options. I foresee Joel being down to 15-18 MPG, Blake to 12-15, Juwan to nothing, and Martell 8-10... and I'm happy about that because it reflects the quality of Portland's overall talent. Thats roughly 45 MPG off your 60. It should be easy enough to shave 2-3 MPG here and there off of the rest of the numbers you listed to make up the remaining 15 MPG. I'm fine with a little bitching over minutes... thats expected every year.

STOMP

Joel has averaged 26.2/24.4/24.9/16.3/23.6/23.8 since the 03/04 season.

I am not saying they should average that on this team, but on most other teams, that's what they would average.

 

[STOMP]

Joel has averaged 26.2/24.4/24.9/16.3/23.6/23.8 since the 03/04 season.

I am not saying they should average that on this team, but on most other teams, that's what they would average.

the 26.2 was in 12 games with Atlanta. For that entire 2003-4 season he averaged 20.4 minutes.

My point stands

STOMP

 

[Mediocre Man]

the 26.2 was in 12 games with Atlanta. For that entire 2003-4 season he averaged 20.4 minutes.

My point stands

STOMP

Which point?

 

[STOMP]

Which point?

that over 8 seasons he has never actually averaged the 25 MPG (let alone 30) you're projecting... he's played on some pretty bad teams too

what did you think you were responding to?

STOMP

 

[Nikolokolus]

It seems that no one's talking about the obvious, but for obvious reasons.

We have a player who kind of skates through first quarters, b/c his energy is needed in the 4th. His skills on offense are so good that he's now, for the first time, being asked to play high-level D. He plays most effectively (in his mind) with Blakey and Przy. He's having issues melding with a guy who should be our starting PG. His backup (a pure 2) is chafing at getting only 20-25mpg, and most in here agree that he should get more.

Why not sit Brandon on the bench Ginobili-style? We can start Miller/Rudy/Webs/LMA/Oden, and bring Blake/Roy/Batum/Outlaw/Joel off the bench. Brandon can be the iso-man with his buddies --most of last year's "starters on a 54-win-team" on the court (and less minutes mean more energy, esp. on D, right?), and we can run our most talented players at the other 4 positions in the starting unit. I haven't heard about any problems that LMA or Oden or Rudy are having with Miller.

Hah! Definitely a creative solution, but undoubtedly if that was ever going to happen the groundwork would have needed to be laid about 2 years ago; inking Roy to a max deal and then having him come in as some kind of super-sub would pretty much ensure him asking for a trade by year's end -- I don't care how nice of a guy Brandon is, that's insulting.

For better or worse, this is Brandon's team and they've taken steps to build it around him (mostly) He just needs to learn to get a little bit better at catching and shooting doing other things at leat part of the time he's on the court.

 

[BrianFromWA]

I agree that it won't happen (if for no other reason than Nate's head would explode if he thought about doing it), but which is more insulting to Brandon? Letting him play with the guys he wants to and keeping them on the team, or trading Travis and Blake and making Roy play D and more PG and SF?

 

[Nikolokolus]

I agree that it won't happen (if for no other reason than Nate's head would explode if he thought about doing it), but which is more insulting to Brandon? Letting him play with the guys he wants to and keeping them on the team, or trading Travis and Blake and making Roy play D and more PG and SF?

Well since Roy already plays a ton of point guard on offense and has said publicly that he needs to work on his defense, I'm going to say A) -- more insulting to put him on the second unit so he can play with his "buddies"

 

[BenDavis503]

I wasn't until this whole Miller thing.

 

[ebott]

The more I read through this the more I think that this year is primed to be one where our big three really becomes our big three and the rest of the team is just the rest of the team. Oden, Aldridge and Roy are going to get theirs and be happy. Everyone else is just gonna have to suck it up. And this might even be a good thing. Most good teams have three stars and a bunch of guys that fit in around those stars. This year we'll learn which of the other guys will fit in and which need to be dumped.

 

[BrianFromWA]

I understand there've only been 3 preseason games, and it may be that things were worked on over the summer. But...

I agree that the team should be the Big 3 and the 7-10 dwarves. But there's a problem with that. Oden's not going to develop into a Big-3-esque guy by being a glorified garbageman on offense. He needs to be involved, even if it's only 5x per game, in plays designed for him, or where he's a viable option.

Blake has (up until now) shown very little propensity to even look for Oden, much less get the ball to him. Same with Roy.
Miller has worked to get Oden the ball in position for him to be dominant (grain-of-salt observation from radio and crappy internet feed) so far. As has Howard (to a lesser extent). Each of those older guys seems to recognize Oden's place in the Big Three, and are working to get him to a higher level (see: Howard yelling at his teammates in his first practice to keep feeding the beast).

So there's a disconnect here. I'm sure LMA will still get his, because anyone we have on the roster can run a pick-and-pop, and LMA can hit 18-footers. (I wish he'd run some more -and-rolls, but that's nitpicking). From all the inferences, quotes, etc. it seems that Brandon really prefers playing with Blake as his PG. So, if Brandon gets his way, it's really tough to get a Big Three. If he doesn't, the most important part of your Big Three isn't happy.

 

[Idog1976]

I understand there've only been 3 preseason games, and it may be that things were worked on over the summer. But...

I agree that the team should be the Big 3 and the 7-10 dwarves. But there's a problem with that. Oden's not going to develop into a Big-3-esque guy by being a glorified garbageman on offense. He needs to be involved, even if it's only 5x per game, in plays designed for him, or where he's a viable option.

Blake has (up until now) shown very little propensity to even look for Oden, much less get the ball to him. Same with Roy.
Miller has worked to get Oden the ball in position for him to be dominant (grain-of-salt observation from radio and crappy internet feed) so far. As has Howard (to a lesser extent). Each of those older guys seems to recognize Oden's place in the Big Three, and are working to get him to a higher level (see: Howard yelling at his teammates in his first practice to keep feeding the beast).

So there's a disconnect here. I'm sure LMA will still get his, because anyone we have on the roster can run a pick-and-pop, and LMA can hit 18-footers. (I wish he'd run some more -and-rolls, but that's nitpicking). From all the inferences, quotes, etc. it seems that Brandon really prefers playing with Blake as his PG. So, if Brandon gets his way, it's really tough to get a Big Three. If he doesn't, the most important part of your Big Three isn't happy.

Yep, I totally agree. This means that really Brandon is the one that needs to adjust. The ball should go to Oden on the block - take the shot if it's there - then if it's not kick to Miller for a thread the needle pass to a cutting Roy who can work his magic. I actually saw that exact play in one of the pre-season game highlights and it looked gorgeous. Next you can have Roy can run pick and roll/pop's with Aldridge.

You have GOT to feed the beast in the post though. Call me crazy, but I really feel like Oden should be the 1st option followed by Aldridge with Roy getting most of his points in an opportunistic manner until crunch time. That's just me though. If Oden is what I think he is, it's pure gold on the block and forces the defense to double and rotate and then Roy can exploit the chaos with facilliation from Miller.

 

[KingSpeed]

I don't understand this whole idea that we have to consolidate our roster. We have to suit up 12 players. Why not have the 10th-12th guys be the best 10th-12th guys in the league?

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I don't understand this whole idea that we have to consolidate our roster. We have to suit up 12 players. Why not have the 10th-12th guys be the best 10th-12th guys in the league?

Because if they are the best 10th-12th guys in the league, they will likely be better than most other teams' 7th-9th guys, as well as perceive themselves to be better than our own 7th-9th guys. They will feel that their future earnings are being negatively impacted by being on a team which is just too full. They will therefore be dissatisfied with their roles as 10th-12th guys, causing team disunity and disharmony as they feel that the coach is underutilizing their considerable talents, consequently undercutting the efforts of the players whose roles they covet.

 

[Mediocre Man]

I don't understand this whole idea that we have to consolidate our roster. We have to suit up 12 players. Why not have the 10th-12th guys be the best 10th-12th guys in the league?

Hey Eric, you are just as good of a poster as everyone else in here, but because we can only have so many people posting, you can't post anymore. Now if you went somewhere else, you could probably post all of the time. Here, however, you have to just sit and watch peoples posts even though you are just as good as they are.


Would that sorta piss you off? Would you not want to go where you could post all the time?

 

[EWT]

I can't wait for the season to start, not because I'm so excited anymore but so all of the idiots will shut up about why Andre Miller doesn't want to talk to the media about his personal life and instead want to talk about the great impact his veteran leadership, basketball intelligence and averages of 15, 5 and 5 are helping lead the team to the NW title!

 

[MARIS61]

Hey Eric, you are just as good of a poster as everyone else in here, but because we can only have so many people posting, you can't post anymore. Now if you went somewhere else, you could probably post all of the time. Here, however, you have to just sit and watch peoples posts even though you are just as good as they are.

Would that sorta piss you off? Would you not want to go where you could post all the time?

Maybe it would piss off a lesser poster, but Eric is a professional.

He knows it's about quality of posts, not quantity of posts.

He'll be content to post a couple times a game, knowing his unique insights and knowledge gathered from stalking the team across the country during the writer's strike have given him the talking points to help make our threads relevant and valuable.

And I'm sure the mods will allow him to post all he wants during blowouts.

 

[MARIS61]

I can't wait for the season to start, not because I'm so excited anymore but so all of the idiots will shut up about why Andre Miller doesn't want to talk to the media about his personal life and instead want to talk about the great impact his veteran leadership, basketball intelligence and averages of 15, 5 and 5 are helping lead the team to the NW title!

I think you're going to be very disappointed if that is your expectation.

 

[jlprk]

I like KingSpeed's posts, especially the travelogue. On the other hand, I'm rather tired of Crandc's. After years of negative complaints about men, she didn't post anything positive about Hillary during the campaign. A better answer for why we need a consolidation trade is, if we trade a good 8th man and a medium 5th man starter for a star starter, we will have a better player who plays a lot of minutes, and a worse substitute who plays few minutes. So we'll get more quality minutes. We can afford to do this because we have a lot of good substitutes wasting their time on the bench, if only Pritchard had the talent to find teams who value them.

 

[Toko]

Aldridge whining about his contract extension...
Miller whining about starting....
Roy whining about wanting to join team U.S.A....

You blazer fans are in for an interesting season

 

[EWT]

I think you're going to be very disappointed if that is your expectation.

You are right, I'm very disappointed in his performance tonight against the Suns. Dre played starter minutes 34:13 and only logged 25 points, 5 boards and 6 assists. I have no idea what I was thinking in my original post when I said he would average 15, 5 and 5? Clearly I have no clue what I'm talking about and should spend more time listening to you. You clearly have a greater knowledge of the game, as you stated the other day:

I only watch Blazers games, and League Pass blacks them out in Beautiful Central Oregon, despite the fact we can't get the games through Comcast or anyone else.

Every scmuck across 96% of the nation can watch my team play, but I cannot.

It's not like I was walking out on a limb when his career averages are 17, 4 and 7 but clearly every schmuck across 96% of the nation knows Miller is a baller and since you can't watch your Blazers save for the handful of games on KGW and national TV, maybe you should consider watching another game or two that isn't a Blazer game. Or know that Miller has killed us over the years every time we played him.

Since they didn't name a price yet (the only question I have), I assume they are calculating the maximum amount they can soak the fans for.

League pass is monstrously priced unless you follow many other teams in addition, there is no way I'd ever pay that much for a stream, and I get the feeling they are going to charge more per game than League Pass does.

And when the team attempts to find a way for you to be able to catch every game if you so choose to, that you appreciate it. Take back your Natty Ice cans, clip a couple extra coupons and drop the $100 or whatever they decide to charge for the ability to watch all the games. It's not your right to be able to watch every game, and everything has a price and if you don't want to pay then don't bitch that it costs too much! My buddy has been pitching in the big leagues for the past few years and the $130 I pay to MLB.tv is nothing for what I get back and get to see him throw at that level. I'd think that a big fan like you would find a way to make it happen. Or do you just bitch about things you don't like, then when there is a solution offered you bitch more, and more, and more?

Get a clue, or at least listen to the people that have one already.