BRoy gettin nasty (front page article from Yahoo)

[illmatic99]

By Marc Spears: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...?slug=mc-royblazers031610&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

[illmatic99]

Roy does need to get more aggressive with his game overall. Not just his scoring. I suppose there is a balance between ignoring criticism and using it to become better, but the last thing I want Roy to do is emulate Kome with his shot selection.

 

[BGrantFan]

“I can flip the switch and go from scorer to playmaker,” Bryant said. “I’m sure he can flip the switch to go from playmaker to scorer. He has all of the skills to do it.

Kobe Bryant says he told Brandon Roy to become more aggressive and ignore any resulting criticism.

“He and I were talking over All-Star break, and I told him I don’t know of any player outside of myself that has no weaknesses besides him. If you think about it, he can go left and pull up and shoot. He can go right and pull up and shoot. He can fade left shoulder, he can fade right shoulder. He can shoot the long ball. He can finish at the rim. He can shoot free throws. He has no weaknesses in his offensive game; so if that’s something he wants to do, he can easily do it.

Very nice compliment from Kobe Bryant.

“The thing about scoring is you really don’t have to give a [expletive] because a lot of people will criticize you for doing what you do. That’s when you have to be willing to take that criticism, still play and be aggressive. He’s such a nice, nice kid. I think that’s something that he will have to battle through and struggle with.”

I can only imagine some of the things I'd read on this board, and others, if Brandon suddenly starts scoring more. I think he should, since he's basically unguardable when he's hot, but aesthetically, I'm not sure if some fans could handle it.

 

[BGrantFan]

Roy does need to get more aggressive with his game overall. Not just his scoring. I suppose there is a balance between ignoring criticism and using it to become better, but the last thing I want Roy to do is emulate Kome with his shot selection.

Part of me sees it that way.

The other part says, that as bad as Kobe can be at times in terms of shot selection, he's still a 46% career FG shooter. Plus, he has 4 titles.

 

[LittleAlex]

I have no problem with B-Roy shooting the ball more but he already does shoot a very high percentage of the total shots taken so I don't know how many more are really available.

Perhaps the best way to get B-Roy more shots would be to have an offense that isn't last in the league in pace?

 

[RR7]

Good. he has seemed to take this to heart recently, looking to be really aggressive early in games, and it has helped us in those games. If he gets off hot and rolling, others will fall in line around it, because it will open up more for everyone else and make things easier for everyone else.

 

[BGrantFan]

I have no problem with B-Roy shooting the ball more but he already does shoot a very high percentage of the total shots taken so I don't know how many more are really available.

Perhaps the best way to get B-Roy more shots would be to have an offense that isn't last in the league in pace?

USG% is pace neutral, and Roy is in the mid-20s while Bryant is in the mid-to-low-30s. He could probably have the ball in his hands even more and we'd see even more production, since Roy is such and efficient scorer. I don't think anyone can make the argument that Roy is being used too much, can they?

 

[Rhal]

I don't mind roy taking more shots... at the end of the day which blazer do you want to have his hands on the ball in critical situations? Hands down BRoy.

 

[andalusian]

USG% is pace neutral, and Roy is in the mid-20s while Bryant is in the mid-to-low-30s. He could probably have the ball in his hands even more and we'd see even more production, since Roy is such and efficient scorer. I don't think anyone can make the argument that Roy is being used too much, can they?

Nope. Did not stop people from making these arguments earlier this year on this very board. I agree, if anything, we do not use Roy enough.

 

[TradeNurkicNow]

“I’ve gone so long in my life not being that way. Now, I got to turn more aggressive, more mean. I’ve never been one to be a [expletive]. But sometimes on the court, you have to be a [expletive].”

What do you think he said here? Badass? Asshole? Motherfucker?

 

[BGrantFan]

What do you think he said here? Badass? Asshole? Motherfucker?

I'm going with "dick".

 

[THE HCP]

Pimp-Ass MotherFucker!

 

[illmatic99]

I was just thinkning, maybe it's Roy's way of indirectly calling Kome a [expletive]

 

[BGrantFan]

I was just thinkning, maybe it's Roy's way of indirectly calling Kome a [expletive]

I like the way you think...

 

[STOMP]

I have no problem with B-Roy shooting the ball more but he already does shoot a very high percentage of the total shots taken so I don't know how many more are really available.

I do... this club has many scorers besides BR and I think he should allow them to be involved for better play overall. He gets the lionshare of opportunities at the end of the clock and in crunch time so getting his 15 or so attempts isn't in question... no need to be obscene about jacking up crap like KB often is

STOMP

 

[BGrantFan]

I do... this club has many scorers besides BR and I think he should allow them to be involved for better play overall. He gets the lionshare of opportunities at the end of the clock and in crunch time so getting his 15 or so attempts isn't in question... no need to be obscene about jacking up crap like KB often is

STOMP

The "obscene" Kobe shoots at a 46% clip for his career and gets to the foul line. The funny thing is, Roy is an even more efficient scorer, yet has a much lower usage rate.

I might have to start criticizing Nate for under-utilitizing Roy, who is one of the elite offensive players in the NBA, yet seems forced at times to spread the ball around.

 

[LittleAlex]

I do... this club has many scorers besides BR and I think he should allow them to be involved for better play overall. He gets the lionshare of opportunities at the end of the clock and in crunch time so getting his 15 or so attempts isn't in question... no need to be obscene about jacking up crap like KB often is

STOMP

I didn't say how many more I thought Roy should take. Somewhere around 20 a game would be awesome. 30 a game would be a bit much.

 

[LittleAlex]

USG% is pace neutral, and Roy is in the mid-20s while Bryant is in the mid-to-low-30s. He could probably have the ball in his hands even more and we'd see even more production, since Roy is such and efficient scorer. I don't think anyone can make the argument that Roy is being used too much, can they?

I was refering to the raw number of shots available to be taken by a Blazer player and the amount of those Roy currently uses. He could take proportionally more shots if Portland sped the game up just a bit.

Like enough so that Roy could average 18 to 20 shots a game but the percentage of total shots take wouldn't rise as much.

I was not refering to the Usage Percentage stat.

 

[andalusian]

I do... this club has many scorers besides BR and I think he should allow them to be involved for better play overall. He gets the lionshare of opportunities at the end of the clock and in crunch time so getting his 15 or so attempts isn't in question... no need to be obscene about jacking up crap like KB often is

Usage% is about the percent of possessions he is used when he is on the court - not necessarily about the number of shots he takes.

At the end of the day, Roy is such a good decision maker and he is such a willing passer - that putting the ball in his hands more often is not a liability, imho. I do not think he needs to get to 37% like D-Wade does - but he is used as much as Joe Johnson - a player that is a lot like him, only not as efficient and capable, imho - and there is no need not to get Roy a little closer to the Kobe 32% or LeBron's 33.5% than keep him at the 27% he is used now.

 

[ehizzy3]

veery high praise from kobe...he just said he has the second best offensive game in the nba

 

[BGrantFan]

Usage% is about the percent of possessions he is used when he is on the court - not necessarily about the number of shots he takes.

At the end of the day, Roy is such a good decision maker and he is such a willing passer - that putting the ball in his hands more often is not a liability, imho. I do not think he needs to get to 37% like D-Wade does - but he is used as much as Joe Johnson - a player that is a lot like him, only not as efficient and capable, imho - and there is no need not to get Roy a little closer to the Kobe 32% or LeBron's 33.5% than keep him at the 27% he is used now.

Basically exactly what I meant when I was referring to Usage. Roy doesn't have the ball nearly as much as some people seem to think he does. 32% would be perfect for him, and I think the team would be better off for it. I'd love to see his usage stats the last three games.

 

[BGrantFan]

I was refering to the raw number of shots available to be taken by a Blazer player and the amount of those Roy currently uses. He could take proportionally more shots if Portland sped the game up just a bit.

Like enough so that Roy could average 18 to 20 shots a game but the percentage of total shots take wouldn't rise as much.

I was not refering to the Usage Percentage stat.

You kind of were, though, and you just didn't realize it. Get the ball in his hands more, and he'll have a few more shots and another assist a game, at least in terms of raw data.

 

[noknobs]

“I can flip the switch and go from scorer to playmaker,” Bryant said. “I’m sure he can flip the switch to go from playmaker to scorer. He has all of the skills to do it.

“Every day, I got to prepare and it’s not just a switch,” Roy said. “Kobe was saying that. We were about to play in the All-Star game, and he said, ‘Let’s go hard.’ I said, ‘Why do you want to play so hard in the All-Star game?’ He said, ‘It’s not a switch. You have to do it every day.’ I’m learning that now. It’s not a switch.

I like the contradiction about switches.

C'mon Kobe, is it a switch or isn't it?

 

[Nikolokolus]

There's a fine line between selfishness and lifting your team. As a rule of thumb I'd say it's a good thing that Brandon can isolate at the top of the key or on the wing and get a high percentage shot some of the time (particularly when other teams are clamping down on them and disrupting their flow), I'd say it's also a double edged sword when guys end up standing around watching him work.

There is no perfectly right or wrong answer to when 'taking over' is a detriment and when it's a life-saver, but based on how well Miller and Brandon seem to be sharing the ball lately and the way the team is playing off those two (Batum in particular) I'd say Roy's 'selfishness' has been just about right lately.

 

[Natebishop3]

What do you think he said here? Badass? Asshole? Motherfucker?

I'm going with "asshole" for $200 Alex.

I think it fits the sentence.

 

[jlprk]

If he gets off hot and rolling, others will fall in line around it, because it will open up more for everyone else and make things easier for everyone else.

Or will they just stand and watch, when otherwise some would have led?

I agree, if anything, we do not use Roy enough.

Roy has too many equal talents around him (we need consolidation trades), while Kobe is on a more stratefied team, so roles are more obvious. Kobe stands out more from his teammates, so he handles more offense than Roy. Kobe plays the way his roster and coach's system dictate, and so does Roy.

At the end of the day, Roy is such a good decision maker and he is such a willing passer -

He slows down the game while he decides what to do. Centralizing the team around him allows the opponent's defense to focus on him.

I'd love to see his usage stats the last three games.

I'd like to see his average usage for the last 5 minutes. McMillan structures everything around Roy then.

Get the ball in his hands more, and he'll have a few more shots and another assist a game, at least in terms of raw data.

What a waste of a deep talented team, which many say we have. (I think our depth is quite average, but I'll put that out for the many in this case.)

 

[Luther]

I would love for Roy to be an asshole on the court. I remember last year he was talking shit to Paul Pierce in the middle of a possession then scored on him.

 

[Shooter]

This is the best news I've read in a long time. Roy should go hard from the opening tip. I've been saying this ever since he came into the league.

 

[jlprk]

He has always refrained from going 100% till the clutch minutes, even in college. He doesn't often dunk. The speculation I've read is that his heel bothers him more than he admits. The reason for keeping chronic pain quiet would be that he doesn't want defenders to take advantage.

 

[STOMP]

The "obscene" Kobe shoots at a 46% clip for his career and gets to the foul line. The funny thing is, Roy is an even more efficient scorer, yet has a much lower usage rate.

I might have to start criticizing Nate for under-utilitizing Roy, who is one of the elite offensive players in the NBA, yet seems forced at times to spread the ball around.

go ahead and criticize Nate for his guys playing the right way and not forcing things throughout the game... it's a free country.

I think it's his high efficiency is tied to not forcing things. When he drives the paint (collapsing the D) he's a threat to pass it as well as to finish so defenders have to honor both. His ever present yell on drives might become annoying to the officials rather then effectively delivering him to the line so often. Spreading the wealth especially through the first 3 1/2 quarters keeps guys in the flow so they can be efficient too. I'm much more concerned with team victories then individual performance... oh well, to each their own

STOMP