Blake

[THE HCP]

Steve Blake has been upgraded to questionable for tonight's game!

 

[hasoos]

Yippeee throw a party, that means absolutely nothing.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

He's always been questionable in my book.

 

[LittleAlex]

I guess we will see if the problem was Blake being out.

 

[VenomXL]

Harsh.

That's good news. It's been fun seeing what Sergio and Bayless can do with extended minutes but we've been missing Blake's outside shooting.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Yeah I remember seeing him shake hands and kind of do a little "hug-bump" thingie with Juan Dixon the other night with his bum shoulder and I thought to myself, "Whoa, he looks like he could be close to coming back." If he's able to go, I think his presence does a lot to settle the team down and get them into rhythm, by providing Brandon with a reliable safety valve in the corner.

Then again we might as well see what we've got in Bayless and Sergio against a team like the Clips.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

I hope he rests another game or two. We should be able to win without him the next 2 games.

 

[MIXUM]

listen...im gonna make this real simple.

blake is 1000000000 times better then either of the other pgs. if you think sergio or bayless is gonna beat a good team....get your head examined.

we miss blake...end of story

 

[MIXUM]

with that said....sergio has beaten out bayless for the backup pg as of late. just being honest.

 

[Nikolokolus]

with that said....sergio has beaten out bayless for the backup pg as of late. just being a hater.

fixed

 

[MIXUM]

so bayless has outplayed sergio the last few?

cause thats what ur saying by callin me a hater

 

[BrianFromWA]

I guess I need my head examined.

I'll say one thing, though...as the starter Sergio is 4-11 (36.4%) from 3, and 16-36 (44.4%) overall. Blake's 43.4% from 3 and 43.6% overall. Sure, it's a small sample size. Sergio also has a 39:7 (5.6) A/To ratio. Against a "good" team? 7pt, 5ast, 0 TO on 3-5 shooting.

If Sergio's even CLOSE to Steve in shooting, it could be lights out for Blake.

 

[hasoos]

Harsh.

That's good news. It's been fun seeing what Sergio and Bayless can do with extended minutes but we've been missing Blake's outside shooting.

Like I have said before, all of our PG have a big hole in their game. You trade one strength for a different weakness. Outside shooting for playmaking or defense or interior pentration and scoring. Pick your poison.

The reason I like the other PG, is I feel the Blazers shoot too many 3 pointers. I prefer a team that wins in the paint.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I guess I need my head examined.

I'll say one thing, though...as the starter Sergio is 4-11 (36.4%) from 3, and 16-36 (44.4%) overall. Blake's 43.4% from 3 and 43.6% overall. Sure, it's a small sample size. Sergio also has a 39:7 (5.6) A/To ratio. Against a "good" team? 7pt, 5ast, 0 TO on 3-5 shooting.

If Sergio's even CLOSE to Steve in shooting, it could be lights out for Blake.

I agree Sergio has done a pretty good job running the offense in Blake's absence, but he's still brutal on the defensive end of the court and that isn't going to fly long term if he were to ever be named the starter. More likely in my mind I think Sergio has potential as a change-of-pace backup, but as a starter he dribbles far too much, and doesn't seem particularly well suited as a running mate for Brandon.

 

[BrianFromWA]

I'm with you, Nik, but I don't see Blake as being that far away from Sergio in defense, and not in the same universe in passing/floor vision/etc. As far as well-suited to run with Brandon, I tend to agree. However, I think that quite shortly "being well-suited to run with GREG" will be the more important criteria, and Brandon will adjust his game accordingly.

 

[SodaPopinski]

Wow. Why all the Blake hate?

Anyone who thinks he isn't absolutely vital to our success just needs to take a look at our assists, turnovers and three-point shooting since he went down.

I know we would have beaten Charlotte with him, and you could make a pretty strong argument that we could have beaten Cleveland with him.

I would like to see him get some rest tonight and potentially on Wednesday so he's healthy for the game vs. Utah. There's no reason we should drop tonight's game or Wednesday's game, even without Blake.

-Pop

 

[hasoos]

with that said....sergio has beaten out bayless for the backup pg as of late. just being honest.

Sergio has outplayed Bayless the last few games. But it was far from an outstanding performance, although I was encouraged to see some chemistry building with Oden the last game in the second half. . The question is not necessarily "how are you playing now" but the question is, who does the team see starting on a playoff ready competitive team a few years down the line. Then when you answer that question and figure out that it's smarter to be building towards integrating that player into the mix rather than fart around for a couple of years with a mediocre backup starting and eating up PT of the guy with upside.

 

[blue32]

I really am impressed with Sergio lately. And I love Bayless and Blake....
Damn, it's really a fun position to be in

 

[BrianFromWA]

Wow. Why all the Blake hate?

Anyone who thinks he isn't absolutely vital to our success just needs to take a look at our assists, turnovers and three-point shooting since he went down.

I know we would have beaten Charlotte with him, and you could make a pretty strong argument that we could have beaten Cleveland with him.

I would like to see him get some rest tonight and potentially on Wednesday so he's healthy for the game vs. Utah. There's no reason we should drop tonight's game or Wednesday's game, even without Blake.

-Pop

Since it's looking more and more like our hot-shooting start was an outlier, I started with the Boston game (about a month's worth). Since this is just for fun, I thought you'd maybe like to see something.

From Boston (Dec. 4, iirc) to Blake's injury, we were 119/341 (34.9%) from 3. We had 19.3 assists and 12 TO's per game for a 1.6 A/TO ratio. Since Sergio's the starter, we're shooting 36.8% from 3, with 18 assists and 9.6 TO's (1.9 A/TO ratio).

We didn't lose to CHA b/c of PG play. If you want to say Oden screwed us by fouling out in 18 minutes, fine. Roy going 3-10 from the line? No problem. Our PGs combining for 10-16, 24pts, 5 assist and 1 turnover? Highly unlikely that Blake was doing any better than that.

And if you're saying that Mo Williams would NOT have torched Blake just like Sergio, Bayless and everyone else...I don't know what to say. Our PGs there were 5-8. 17pts, 5assists, 1 TO. Not sure Blake would've done better than that, either.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I'm with you, Nik, but I don't see Blake as being that far away from Sergio in defense, and not in the same universe in passing/floor vision/etc. As far as well-suited to run with Brandon, I tend to agree. However, I think that quite shortly "being well-suited to run with GREG" will be the more important criteria, and Brandon will adjust his game accordingly.

I see part of your point, but I would stretch that a degree further: whomever our starting point guard is needs to be able to play well with both Brandon and Greg and must be able to play good perimeter defense -- I think Bayless has a lot of promise in this respect, but he's going to have to put in a lot of work showing that he can get the ball to people where they can use it at least part of the time (I think most of his assists are going to come on drive and kicks to the wing or on the break where he already seems pretty comfortable).

Regarding the backup spot, If Sergio could get his shooting up to even a semi-respectable 42% on 2s and 36% on 3s (for a whole season, not just a handful of games) I'd be perfectly happy with him as this team's second unit point guard (where defensive deficiencies won't be as critical), but there are a lot of "ifs" that he needs to answer.

 

[hasoos]

Wow. Why all the Blake hate?

Anyone who thinks he isn't absolutely vital to our success just needs to take a look at our assists, turnovers and three-point shooting since he went down.

I know we would have beaten Charlotte with him, and you could make a pretty strong argument that we could have beaten Cleveland with him.

I would like to see him get some rest tonight and potentially on Wednesday so he's healthy for the game vs. Utah. There's no reason we should drop tonight's game or Wednesday's game, even without Blake.

-Pop

Well maybe you should take a look at them yourself and actually make a note before making statements like that.

Lets go into turnovers. Last 5 games without Blake:
VS
Wizards: 10
Cleveland: 7
Bucks: 14
Bobcats: 9
Nets: 8

Average: 9.2

Lets compare it to a few numbers out there to let folks make up their own minds:

Turnovers per game season to date: 12.77

And althoug I don't like this comparison because it is against some tougher teams, the previous 5 games with Blake.

Philly:16
Chicago: 15
Golden State: 12
Deteroit 9
LA: 10

Average: 12.2 (amazingly close to the average above for the season).

I'll take a look at some other stats when I have some time.

Discuss.

 

[BrianFromWA]

I see part of your point, but I would stretch that a degree further: whomever our starting point guard is needs to be able to play well with both Brandon and Greg and must be able to play good perimeter defense -- I think Bayless has a lot of promise in this respect, but he's going to have to put in a lot of work showing that he can get the ball to people where they can use it at least part of the time (I think most of his assists are going to come on drive and kicks to the wing or on the break where he already seems pretty comfortable).

I've come around on Bayless. I think that he is our starter of the future, if he keeps working his game. He isn't there yet, and if you said Blake's starting for the rest of the year, I won't scream too much, though I think it's delaying the inevitable for not much more return.

Regarding the backup spot, If Sergio could get his shooting up to even a semi-respectable 42% on 2s and 36% on 3s (for a whole season, not just a handful of games) I'd be perfectly happy with him as this team's second unit point guard (where defensive deficiencies won't be as critical), but there are a lot of "ifs" that he needs to answer.

I think many are too quick to give up on this guy. He's showing what he can do with minutes, and how he brings a lot more to the table than he takes away. The part I like is that I see the effort to make it work in Nate's system, without tossing the ball away. As I said before, he's 39:7 A/TO since starting.

 

[Mediocre Man]

No reason at all to play Blake tonight. Sergio has actually been playing very well recently, and Bayless can provide enough off the bench.

The Clippers are basically no better than a D league team tonight. if Portland can't beat them without Blake they are pathetic

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I don't hate Blake. He's a solid role player. But for someone who put up so many assists in college, he never strikes me as a particularly intuitive PG. He certainly doesn't even have Sergio's court vision (although both of them appear to have a Greg Oden-shaped blind spot in that vision) but he's certainly better than Bayless in that regard. He's a decent-ish defender, a very nice spot up three-point shooter... and that's about it.

Perhaps the worst thing about him is that he facilitates the kind of play that I don't like: plod up the floor and hand it to Brandon Roy. If we had a Chris Paul-type then Brandon would have to be more of a regular SG and I think it would be better (as we saw in the all-star game). Plus we might actually RUN more.

I'm not saying I'd want to go into the playoffs without Blake (and without a trade for a better PG), but I really wouldn't mind if he sat out another month so Sergio could get his confidence up, so we can get a real picture of what he can do.

(Bayless really cannot play PG. I'm not saying I don't love his crazy drives into the paint when we're not getting anything else, but I want a PG that makes the rest of the team better, not better spectators.)

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Talking of the Clippers: is Baron really injured, or is he "I really can't get up to play for this team" injured?

I know we've had this debate a bazillion times, but anyone want to rehash the Baron-to-Portland idea? What makes it different this time:
1. The Clippers might be anxious to unload contracts for nothing but cap relief, because Sterling's made his fortune in real estate and he's got to be hurting. Thus the Clippers might find Raef's insurance-covered contract incredibly tempting.
2. In the past I have not wanted Baron because he's been a bit ball-hoggy, and we need a distributor. But I think time in Clipper Purgatory might have chastened him and taught him the value of ubuntu (call it the Paul Pierce Syndrome).
3. Baron has cajones. Remember the upset of Dallas that essentially destroyed that franchise? Remember the dunk on Kirilenko? Baron does not play nice. We need us some of that.
4. Ball hog or not, Baron knows HOW to pass. You can be non-ball-hoggy and still not know that. He's got skillz.
5. He's [video=youtube;vzbXIGJoISs]. Maybe he could help bring out the funny Greg that's hiding in there.

 

[BrianFromWA]

I'd at least think about it. I don't think many others in here would.

I'd probably end up at the conclusion of "a little too old, creaky and me-first for the long-term risk".

Basically, it comes to: Is Baron Davis the person we spend the only FA$ we have in the next decade or so on? For me? No.

 

[hasoos]

I'd at least think about it. I don't think many others in here would.

I'd probably end up at the conclusion of "a little too old, creaky and me-first for the long-term risk".

Basically, it comes to: Is Baron Davis the person we spend the only FA$ we have in the next decade or so on? For me? No.

I prefer not to spend salary cap space on quitters. Baron Davis is a quitter.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Talking of the Clippers: is Baron really injured, or is he "I really can't get up to play for this team" injured?

I know we've had this debate a bazillion times, but anyone want to rehash the Baron-to-Portland idea? What makes it different this time:
1. The Clippers might be anxious to unload contracts for nothing but cap relief, because Sterling's made his fortune in real estate and he's got to be hurting. Thus the Clippers might find Raef's insurance-covered contract incredibly tempting.
2. In the past I have not wanted Baron because he's been a bit ball-hoggy, and we need a distributor. But I think time in Clipper Purgatory might have chastened him and taught him the value of ubuntu (call it the Paul Pierce Syndrome).
3. Baron has cajones. Remember the upset of Dallas that essentially destroyed that franchise? Remember the dunk on Kirilenko? Baron does not play nice. We need us some of that.
4. Ball hog or not, Baron knows HOW to pass. You can be non-ball-hoggy and still not know that. He's got skillz.
5. He's a funny guy. Maybe he could help bring out the funny Greg that's hiding in there.

Look at Baron in non-contract years compared to contract years ... I like his game a little bit, but I hate the way he pulls disappearing acts after getting paid, or disappears to force a trade. Fuck Baron ever becoming a Blazer.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Baron Davis is a quitter.

Evidence?

Besides, isn't Kobe Bryant a quitter? Remember when he got told he was shooting too much so he refused to shoot at all in a blowout loss? Remember when Scottie Pippen sat out because Kukoc got the call?

(Not that I'd ever want Bryant on my team, for other reasons, but I understand the Lakers fans are reasonably pleased with him.)

What FA are we going to get that's better?

 

[Nikolokolus]

Evidence?

Besides, isn't Kobe Bryant a quitter? Remember when he got told he was shooting too much so he refused to shoot at all in a blowout loss? Remember when Scottie Pippen sat out because Kukoc got the call?

(Not that I'd ever want Bryant on my team, for other reasons, but I understand the Lakers fans are reasonably pleased with him.)

What FA are we going to get that's better?

I'd take Mike Bibby or Ramon Sessions over Baron Davis everyday, all day and twice on Sunday over Baron Davis. But in the mean time I'd rather just go ahead and let Bayless show what he can do.