Blazers Rotation (6 Viewers)

[Nikolokolus]

I predict a lot of juggling of lineups outside of Dame, CJ, and Nurk, trying to find find consistency at three and four -- preferably generating enough offense to not be a liability and provide enough defense to cover for the shortcomings of the backcourt.

The rookies are going to take time to develop, so don't expect much in year one. Everybody else has limitations or have questions of fit, so "deserve" ain't got nuthin' to do with getting a guaranteed spot in the rotation.

Other Prediction: an up and down year with 46 to 48 wins and a still just an eighth or ninth seed in the conference.

 

[tlongII]

I've never understood the concept of a "consolidation trade". In my opinion you want to get as many good players as possible.

 

[illmatic99]

I've never understood the concept of a "consolidation trade". In my opinion you want to get as many good players as possible.

In the playoffs, it's star players that win games.
If you can consolidate those role players to a single star (or more), it will improve our chance in the playoffs.

 

[Boob-No-More]

The only way I want to see Allen Crabbe starting is if we are playing horse, where you get to shoot standing still, with no one guarding you, no dribbling necessary and you don't have to guard anyone.

I'd seriously take any of Harkless, Aminu or Turner starting at the 3 over Crabbe. All three are MUCH better at guarding opposing small forwards than Crabbe. Can you just see Crabbe trying to guard the Durants, LeBrons and Paul Georges of the world? Gives me nightmares even thinking about it.

BNM

 

[mook]

The only way I want to see Allen Crabbe starting is if we are playing horse, where you get to shoot standing still, with no one guarding you, no dribbling necessary and you don't have to guard anyone.

I'd seriously take any of Harkless, Aminu or Turner starting at the 3 over Crabbe. All three are MUCH better at guarding opposing small forwards than Crabbe. Can you just see Crabbe trying to guard the Durants, LeBrons and Paul Georges of the world? Gives me nightmares even thinking about it.

BNM

Frankly, I don't see minutes for him as a rotation player any more, let alone starter. Last year when Aminu played a lot of PF it created the opening for him at the wing. I think that experiment is pretty much over now with Collins/Swanigan/Davis, so it's just really hard to see us devoting a lot of minutes to a one-dimensional player. Especially if there are about 5 other guys who have that dimension covered.

 

[illmatic99]

Frankly, I don't see minutes for him as a rotation player any more, let alone starter. Last year when Aminu played a lot of PF it created the opening for him at the wing. I think that experiment is pretty much over now with Collins/Swanigan/Davis, so it's just really hard to see us devoting a lot of minutes to a one-dimensional player. Especially if there are about 5 other guys who have that dimension covered.

This makes sense in theory. But there is no way an 18 mil player is out of rotation while healthy.

 

[mook]

I predict a lot of juggling of lineups outside of Dame, CJ, and Nurk, trying to find find consistency at three and four -- preferably generating enough offense to not be a liability and provide enough defense to cover for the shortcomings of the backcourt.

The rookies are going to take time to develop, so don't expect much in year one. Everybody else has limitations or have questions of fit, so "deserve" ain't got nuthin' to do with getting a guaranteed spot in the rotation.

I could be wrong, but I just don't see it. It just feels to me like there are some pretty obvious roles our new guys can fill. Our bench was really shitty last year, so why would you bother wasting a lot of time experimenting on the old failures when you have some shiny new toys to experiment with?

The one real question in my mind is Aminu vs Harkless at starting SF. Will Stotts favor defense/experience of Aminu, or go with the upside/better scoring of Harkless? That's one that I can see Stotts experimenting with.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Frankly, I don't see minutes for him as a rotation player any more, let alone starter. Last year when Aminu played a lot of PF it created the opening for him at the wing. I think that experiment is pretty much over now with Collins/Swanigan/Davis, so it's just really hard to see us devoting a lot of minutes to a one-dimensional player. Especially if there are about 5 other guys who have that dimension covered.

Can you just imagine how bad our perimeter defense would be with Dame, C.J. and Crabbe all starting? All three undersized and all three poor defenders. Gag.

BNM

 

[Minstrel]

The one real question in my mind is Aminu vs Harkless at starting SF. Will Stotts favor defense/experience of Aminu, or go with the upside/better scoring of Harkless? That's one that I can see Stotts experimenting with.

I think Harkless is pretty easily the better option. Aminu, when he isn't canning threes like he did in his outlier season of 2015-16, is basically a zero on the offensive end. If Harkless were an awful defender, this would be a tough call, but he isn't. I'd say Harkless is about an average shooter and an average defender which makes him one of the team's few two-way players. I think he should get the lion's share of the small forward minutes.

 

[mook]

This makes sense in theory. But there is no way an 18 mil player is out of rotation while healthy.

Well, I think that's a good point. Hmm. I was thinking about it purely from an on-court perspective.

Crabbe is pretty much a sunk cost. Could you get something in trade for him if you played him more? I wonder if he would actually be more valuable to other teams if he didn't play. His one dimension is pretty attractive from afar....

 

[Nikolokolus]

I could be wrong, but I just don't see it. It just feels to me like there are some pretty obvious roles our new guys can fill. Our bench was really shitty last year, so why would you bother wasting a lot of time experimenting on the old failures when you have some shiny new toys to experiment with?

The one real question in my mind is Aminu vs Harkless at starting SF. Will Stotts favor defense/experience of Aminu, or go with the upside/better scoring of Harkless? That's one that I can see Stotts experimenting with.

Two things: Stotts is still the head coach; not exactly a rookie friendly, and secondly, rookie bigs have more of a jump to make going from college to the pros -- it just takes time.

 

[Destroyer of Worlds]

The only way I want to see Allen Crabbe starting is if we are playing horse, where you get to shoot standing still, with no one guarding you, no dribbling necessary and you don't have to guard anyone.

I'd seriously take any of Harkless, Aminu or Turner starting at the 3 over Crabbe. All three are MUCH better at guarding opposing small forwards than Crabbe. Can you just see Crabbe trying to guard the Durants, LeBrons and Paul Georges of the world? Gives me nightmares even thinking about it.

BNM

That's 3 SFs out of 30 and he defends SF better than SG.

Not that I disagree - he needs to get better on defense. Way better.

 

[Boob-No-More]

I could be wrong, but I just don't see it. It just feels to me like there are some pretty obvious roles our new guys can fill. Our bench was really shitty last year, so why would you bother wasting a lot of time experimenting on the old failures when you have some shiny new toys to experiment with?

The one real question in my mind is Aminu vs Harkless at starting SF. Will Stotts favor defense/experience of Aminu, or go with the upside/better scoring of Harkless? That's one that I can see Stotts experimenting with.

Unless we somehow manage to land Jae Crowder, I think Harkless will continue to start. I'd like to see Aminu NOT playing PF this year, which means a vastly reduced role for him, to the point I'd consider trading him.

I mentioned this idea in another thread. I don't want to jinx anyone by mentioning the "i" word, but lets just say, I'd like to see some insurance at the 5 spot. Aminu for Cole Aldrich works cap wise. It's almost a dollar for dollar swap. Aldrich didn't get much playing time in MIN last season, but the year before, he was great backing up DeAndre Jordan In LA. He's not nearly the talent Nurk is, and he was doing it against other back ups, but his advanced stats that year playing for the Clippers compare favorably to Nurk's 20 games in POR. I think he'd be a good back up big to have around, just in case.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

That's 3 SFs out of 30 and he defends SF better than SG.

Not that I disagree - he needs to get better on defense. Way better.

Please tell me you would not seriously consider a starting line up that includes all of Damian Lillard. C.J. McCollum and Allen Crabbe? Crabbe was the worst defender on a bad defensive team. That line up would be a disaster.

Big deal, Crabbe guards SFs "better" than SGs. He suck at guarding both. No way am I putting him out there trying to guard other starting small forwards.

Yeah, I just mentioned the obvious 3. I also wouldn't want to see Crabbe trying to guard Giannis Antetokoumnpo, Jimmy Butler, Carmelo Anthony, Gordon Hayward, Danilo Galinari, Andrew Wiggins, Rudy Gay or any other SF capable of averaging >15 ppg against REAL NBA starting small forwards.

BNM

 

[dviss1]

You guys gotta remember how good Hark shoots from 3 when playing with Nurk. He's at like 44%.

Nurk makes him so much better.

 

[Nikolokolus]

You guys gotta remember how good Hark shoots from 3 when playing with Nurk. He's at like 44%.

Nurk makes him so much better.

I would caution that because of the small sample size, it's hard to bank on that being repeatable.

 

[dviss1]

I would caution that because of the small sample size, it's hard to bank on that being repeatable.

If he can get to 38% I'd be happy.

 

[riverman]

To me Stotts likes Aminu and Harkless paired together and I see them coming off the bench....I think Turner should start with Vonleh and Nurk..bring in Harkless Aminu Crabbe and Davis or Collins off the bench with Napier as the spare pt guard..Swanigan could give Harkless a run for his money at minutes..Mo doesn't handle being benched very well. Chief and Davis are cool with whatever minutes Stotts gives them...somebody said Stotts doesn't play rookies but I disagree...he played Dame and CJ and Meyers and AC their rookie seasons. He played TRob his rookie season with us...he played Will Barton....he's even played Connaughton in small stretches and gave Layman a shot early in the season last year.

 

[Boob-No-More]

I would caution that because of the small sample size, it's hard to bank on that being repeatable.

Mo should split that $500K bonus check he got for shooting 35% from 3-point range with Nurk. He would have never made it without him.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

Two things: Stotts is still the head coach; not exactly a rookie friendly, and secondly, rookie bigs have more of a jump to make going from college to the pros -- it just takes time.

Serious question: other than Dame, what rookies have we had since Stotts has been here have deserved more minutes than they got? C.J. missed training camp, preseason and the first couple months of his rookie year with a broken foot - and was playing behind Wes Matthews. Shit, Meyers got over 1200 minutes as a rookie. It's not like he didn't get his chances. I can't honestly think of a rookie that deserved to play that didn't.

BNM

 

[dviss1]

There's no reason to bench Harkless. He's earned his starting spot and plays best in that position. He will be the best combination of shooting and slashing. Exactly what we need playing through Nurk and playing pick and roll.

 

[tlongII]

In the playoffs, it's star players that win games.
If you can consolidate those role players to a single star (or more), it will improve our chance in the playoffs.

That makes sense. But only if you can get a "star". Trading players just to move them because you have too many quality players doesn't make sense however.

 

[tlongII]

I think Harkless is pretty easily the better option. Aminu, when he isn't canning threes like he did in his outlier season of 2015-16, is basically a zero on the offensive end. If Harkless were an awful defender, this would be a tough call, but he isn't. I'd say Harkless is about an average shooter and an average defender which makes him one of the team's few two-way players. I think he should get the lion's share of the small forward minutes.

Agreed 100%.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

I think Harkless is pretty easily the better option. Aminu, when he isn't canning threes like he did in his outlier season of 2015-16, is basically a zero on the offensive end. If Harkless were an awful defender, this would be a tough call, but he isn't. I'd say Harkless is about an average shooter and an average defender which makes him one of the team's few two-way players. I think he should get the lion's share of the small forward minutes.

Fight. Fight. I'm sensing multiple training camp fights for minutes/roles.

 

[Natebishop3]

Noah Vonleh
Ed Davis
Patty C
Bazz Napier

Those four players will all be free agents next summer. Nurk will as well, but Nurk ain't goin anywhere.

Those are the four players I would be trying to trade because I can't see us spending any significant cash on retaining them.

 

[Orion Bailey]

Line up:

Starters:

Dame
CJ
Harkless
Vonleh
Nurk

Second 5 sub all at once!!!!)

Turner
Crabbe
Aminu
Collins
Davis


When in foul trouble and we need extras:

Leonard
Napier
Layman
Swannigan

guys we could/should try to use in a trade to dump salary:

Crabbe (I think Connaughton is ready to slip into this spot. If not, bring Napier into the PG and slide everyone up one and Layman can play backup SF.)
Leonard... obvious reasons.

Get these guys off the team should be the next main objective. Without soing this, we will not be able to jump onto opportunities in the future.

Crowder is available and the talk of the forum, so send Leonard and whatever picks it takes for Crowder and whatever salary dump they want to make to even the deal.

This would then make Crabbe more expendable for us to dump.

 

[BigGameDamian]

 

[riverman]

Serious question: other than Dame, what rookies have we had since Stotts has been here have deserved more minutes than they got? C.J. missed training camp, preseason and the first couple months of his rookie year with a broken foot - and was playing behind Wes Matthews. Shit, Meyers got over 1200 minutes as a rookie. It's not like he didn't get his chances. I can't honestly think of a rookie that deserved to play that didn't.

BNM

I think it was his rookie season but AC started when Batum got injured and we went 7-0 with him in there...

 

[Trackjack]

There's no reason to bench Harkless. He's earned his starting spot and plays best in that position. He will be the best combination of shooting and slashing. Exactly what we need playing through Nurk and playing pick and roll.

I also would start Harkless he just better starting then coming off the bench.

 

[theprunetang]

This photo makes for a happy Tang.