[CBS Sports] "Blazers take the 3 out of their D"

[PtldPlatypus]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...gelo-russell-rockets-gambling-big-on-russell/

Let's take a steep walk down the name-power ladder until we end up at ... Moe Harkless. The Blazers were part of the four-team deal that sent Jimmy Butler to Miami, and it cost them Harkless to the Heat, who re-routed him to the Clippers. Who did Portland get in return? Hassan Whiteside.

In a perfect world, Whiteside can summon some of the player he was when he earned that $98 million deal from the Heat in 2016, though he was probably never actually worth that even at his best. But he is a monster rebounder and can protect the rim, which helps Portland on paper with Jusuf Nurkic still out for a good while with no guarantee he'll return to the player he was prior to his gruesome broken leg late last season, at least not in the short term. Look at how long it's taken Gordon Hayward.

So Whiteside can help, maybe, but don't necessarily count on it. What you can count on is the Blazers, as currently constructed, having a major hole at small forward. On paper, they have Rodney Hood and Nassir Little, who has never played a single NBAminute. But in a conference that boasts LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, defending the three/stretch-four position with a like-sized, at least halfway capable athlete like Harkless seems like a bare minimum for any team with conference title aspirations, which the Blazers certainly have.

Portland fans will gripe about Aminu's shooting, but he is a born defender with unteachable size and length and instincts. The Blazers, who have been in salary cap hell for ill-advised 2016 decisions for years, can explain not ponying up for Aminu. But Harkless is on an expiring deal. To not play that out for one more year of a premium-position defender is, well, risky. They didn't have to bring in Whiteside, which was in part a necessity because they let Enes Kanter walk, which, again, they didn't have to do.

None of these guys are real difference-makers on their own. Harkless, Whiteside and Kanter are all flawed, in some cases seriously flawed. But on a team with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, you're just trying to plug the right holes. instead, by letting Harkless walk, they appear to have opened up a big one. Maybe Portland will be active at the trade deadline, or maybe Little will bust out as a rookie and contribute defensively right away (a scout I've spoken with says he has top-10 or in some cases even top-five talent).

But those are unknowns. For now, Blazers fans are thinking about a second-round matchup with the Lakers or Clippers and having to watch Rodney Hood play 40 minutes defending LeBron, Kawhi and/or George, maybe with a little help from ... Zach Collins. It's not pretty on paper. ​

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...gelo-russell-rockets-gambling-big-on-russell/

Let's take a steep walk down the name-power ladder until we end up at ... Moe Harkless. The Blazers were part of the four-team deal that sent Jimmy Butler to Miami, and it cost them Harkless to the Heat, who re-routed him to the Clippers. Who did Portland get in return? Hassan Whiteside.

In a perfect world, Whiteside can summon some of the player he was when he earned that $98 million deal from the Heat in 2016, though he was probably never actually worth that even at his best. But he is a monster rebounder and can protect the rim, which helps Portland on paper with Jusuf Nurkic still out for a good while with no guarantee he'll return to the player he was prior to his gruesome broken leg late last season, at least not in the short term. Look at how long it's taken Gordon Hayward.

So Whiteside can help, maybe, but don't necessarily count on it. What you can count on is the Blazers, as currently constructed, having a major hole at small forward. On paper, they have Rodney Hood and Nassir Little, who has never played a single NBAminute. But in a conference that boasts LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, defending the three/stretch-four position with a like-sized, at least halfway capable athlete like Harkless seems like a bare minimum for any team with conference title aspirations, which the Blazers certainly have.

Portland fans will gripe about Aminu's shooting, but he is a born defender with unteachable size and length and instincts. The Blazers, who have been in salary cap hell for ill-advised 2016 decisions for years, can explain not ponying up for Aminu. But Harkless is on an expiring deal. To not play that out for one more year of a premium-position defender is, well, risky. They didn't have to bring in Whiteside, which was in part a necessity because they let Enes Kanter walk, which, again, they didn't have to do.

None of these guys are real difference-makers on their own. Harkless, Whiteside and Kanter are all flawed, in some cases seriously flawed. But on a team with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, you're just trying to plug the right holes. instead, by letting Harkless walk, they appear to have opened up a big one. Maybe Portland will be active at the trade deadline, or maybe Little will bust out as a rookie and contribute defensively right away (a scout I've spoken with says he has top-10 or in some cases even top-five talent).

But those are unknowns. For now, Blazers fans are thinking about a second-round matchup with the Lakers or Clippers and having to watch Rodney Hood play 40 minutes defending LeBron, Kawhi and/or George, maybe with a little help from ... Zach Collins. It's not pretty on paper. ​

Yeah, but they're missing the fact that NOBODY guarded, Harkless, Aminu, et, the guys they lost may have been better defenders, but the guys they brought in will help the offense a lot. It makes guys like Lebron, Kawhi and PG13 have to play every play on defense so they don't get torched too.

 

[riverman]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...gelo-russell-rockets-gambling-big-on-russell/

Let's take a steep walk down the name-power ladder until we end up at ... Moe Harkless. The Blazers were part of the four-team deal that sent Jimmy Butler to Miami, and it cost them Harkless to the Heat, who re-routed him to the Clippers. Who did Portland get in return? Hassan Whiteside.

In a perfect world, Whiteside can summon some of the player he was when he earned that $98 million deal from the Heat in 2016, though he was probably never actually worth that even at his best. But he is a monster rebounder and can protect the rim, which helps Portland on paper with Jusuf Nurkic still out for a good while with no guarantee he'll return to the player he was prior to his gruesome broken leg late last season, at least not in the short term. Look at how long it's taken Gordon Hayward.

So Whiteside can help, maybe, but don't necessarily count on it. What you can count on is the Blazers, as currently constructed, having a major hole at small forward. On paper, they have Rodney Hood and Nassir Little, who has never played a single NBAminute. But in a conference that boasts LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, defending the three/stretch-four position with a like-sized, at least halfway capable athlete like Harkless seems like a bare minimum for any team with conference title aspirations, which the Blazers certainly have.

Portland fans will gripe about Aminu's shooting, but he is a born defender with unteachable size and length and instincts. The Blazers, who have been in salary cap hell for ill-advised 2016 decisions for years, can explain not ponying up for Aminu. But Harkless is on an expiring deal. To not play that out for one more year of a premium-position defender is, well, risky. They didn't have to bring in Whiteside, which was in part a necessity because they let Enes Kanter walk, which, again, they didn't have to do.

None of these guys are real difference-makers on their own. Harkless, Whiteside and Kanter are all flawed, in some cases seriously flawed. But on a team with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, you're just trying to plug the right holes. instead, by letting Harkless walk, they appear to have opened up a big one. Maybe Portland will be active at the trade deadline, or maybe Little will bust out as a rookie and contribute defensively right away (a scout I've spoken with says he has top-10 or in some cases even top-five talent).

But those are unknowns. For now, Blazers fans are thinking about a second-round matchup with the Lakers or Clippers and having to watch Rodney Hood play 40 minutes defending LeBron, Kawhi and/or George, maybe with a little help from ... Zach Collins. It's not pretty on paper. ​

I couldn't disagree more with this article......we have better defenders than it alludes to...Hezonja...Tolliver can both defend and will play ahead of Little ….they also can shoot better than Mo or Chief....defense is a team skill and we have a stronger 10 man rotation when Nurk gets back than we've had the last two years in my view. We needed guys to make teams pay for trapping our guards...ET..Chief and Mo didn't really shine in that dept...to me these were no brainer moves. Hoard and Skal aren't mentioned either....you can sign any defender on the planet and still be faced with Lebron, Kawhi or AD..that's never going to change....Hezonja defended Lebron well in the past....defensively Hassan and Nurk are a better tag team than Kanter and Nurk

 

[e_blazer]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...gelo-russell-rockets-gambling-big-on-russell/

Let's take a steep walk down the name-power ladder until we end up at ... Moe Harkless. The Blazers were part of the four-team deal that sent Jimmy Butler to Miami, and it cost them Harkless to the Heat, who re-routed him to the Clippers. Who did Portland get in return? Hassan Whiteside.

In a perfect world, Whiteside can summon some of the player he was when he earned that $98 million deal from the Heat in 2016, though he was probably never actually worth that even at his best. But he is a monster rebounder and can protect the rim, which helps Portland on paper with Jusuf Nurkic still out for a good while with no guarantee he'll return to the player he was prior to his gruesome broken leg late last season, at least not in the short term. Look at how long it's taken Gordon Hayward.

So Whiteside can help, maybe, but don't necessarily count on it. What you can count on is the Blazers, as currently constructed, having a major hole at small forward. On paper, they have Rodney Hood and Nassir Little, who has never played a single NBAminute. But in a conference that boasts LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, defending the three/stretch-four position with a like-sized, at least halfway capable athlete like Harkless seems like a bare minimum for any team with conference title aspirations, which the Blazers certainly have.

Portland fans will gripe about Aminu's shooting, but he is a born defender with unteachable size and length and instincts. The Blazers, who have been in salary cap hell for ill-advised 2016 decisions for years, can explain not ponying up for Aminu. But Harkless is on an expiring deal. To not play that out for one more year of a premium-position defender is, well, risky. They didn't have to bring in Whiteside, which was in part a necessity because they let Enes Kanter walk, which, again, they didn't have to do.

None of these guys are real difference-makers on their own. Harkless, Whiteside and Kanter are all flawed, in some cases seriously flawed. But on a team with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, you're just trying to plug the right holes. instead, by letting Harkless walk, they appear to have opened up a big one. Maybe Portland will be active at the trade deadline, or maybe Little will bust out as a rookie and contribute defensively right away (a scout I've spoken with says he has top-10 or in some cases even top-five talent).

But those are unknowns. For now, Blazers fans are thinking about a second-round matchup with the Lakers or Clippers and having to watch Rodney Hood play 40 minutes defending LeBron, Kawhi and/or George, maybe with a little help from ... Zach Collins. It's not pretty on paper. ​

Well, that's about as negative of a spin as you could put on the Blazers' summer moves. Nurk's simple leg break is compared to Haward's break plus major ankle dislocation? How about Paul George as a comparison?

Yes, the Blazers could have re-signed Aminu...putting themselves even deeper into luxury tax hell for a player with offensive limitations and no upside. That choice would have kept them from promoting Collins to a starting role that he needs in order to continue his development. They could have kept Moe, but that was dependent upon Kanter deciding to take the MLE money that he reportedly was hesitating over. Do we know for certain that he would have chosen the Blazers' offer over the Celtics' similar offer? They couldn't have gotten Hood if they signed Kanter and they could well have been left with nothing if both signed elsewhere. They could have kept Moe for one more year, but is he really the answer for guarding LeBron, Kawhi, or George either? Has Moe not had pretty significant health issues the past few seasons? I think that Olshey did the best he could with the limited resources he had.

I also think that the analysis doesn't make enough out of the tradable assets the Blazers have in the ending contracts of Basemore and Whiteside. Olshey is likely to be busy at the deadline. The roster needs some more moves to fill the 3 spot long term. Collins and Simons need to prove that Olshey's confidence in them is well deserved. Things might work out for the best or we could be looking at a more major retooling next summer.

 

[Titan]

I guess Moe and Aminu are ok defenders, maybe a little bit in the positive, but I from my eye test they were not that good on offense and mostly became too passive that they always seemed a net negative overall. I am not sure where the author gets that both those 2 we should have kept. Neither of them could shutdown one of the elite wings/forwards in the league like e_blazer mentions.

They were here for 4 years and once we got to the playoffs it became too easy to game plan against them. Yes Aminu had his moments and scored, but in those same games he still was the same on defense (never took it to another level) and Moe did look great in the Clipper series awhile back, but I haven't seen much since. In the OKC series PG13 in game 5 was playing really well, not because of Moe or Aminu, our best strategy was Russ freezing PG13 out at the end of the game. So really their defense doesn't matter to me.

So in the end I got tired of those two and I am glad the team is trying something else, just wish it was sooner. They are just journeyman role players and nothing more.

 

[hoopsjock]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...gelo-russell-rockets-gambling-big-on-russell/

Let's take a steep walk down the name-power ladder until we end up at ... Moe Harkless. The Blazers were part of the four-team deal that sent Jimmy Butler to Miami, and it cost them Harkless to the Heat, who re-routed him to the Clippers. Who did Portland get in return? Hassan Whiteside.

In a perfect world, Whiteside can summon some of the player he was when he earned that $98 million deal from the Heat in 2016, though he was probably never actually worth that even at his best. But he is a monster rebounder and can protect the rim, which helps Portland on paper with Jusuf Nurkic still out for a good while with no guarantee he'll return to the player he was prior to his gruesome broken leg late last season, at least not in the short term. Look at how long it's taken Gordon Hayward.

So Whiteside can help, maybe, but don't necessarily count on it. What you can count on is the Blazers, as currently constructed, having a major hole at small forward. On paper, they have Rodney Hood and Nassir Little, who has never played a single NBAminute. But in a conference that boasts LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, defending the three/stretch-four position with a like-sized, at least halfway capable athlete like Harkless seems like a bare minimum for any team with conference title aspirations, which the Blazers certainly have.

Portland fans will gripe about Aminu's shooting, but he is a born defender with unteachable size and length and instincts. The Blazers, who have been in salary cap hell for ill-advised 2016 decisions for years, can explain not ponying up for Aminu. But Harkless is on an expiring deal. To not play that out for one more year of a premium-position defender is, well, risky. They didn't have to bring in Whiteside, which was in part a necessity because they let Enes Kanter walk, which, again, they didn't have to do.

None of these guys are real difference-makers on their own. Harkless, Whiteside and Kanter are all flawed, in some cases seriously flawed. But on a team with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, you're just trying to plug the right holes. instead, by letting Harkless walk, they appear to have opened up a big one. Maybe Portland will be active at the trade deadline, or maybe Little will bust out as a rookie and contribute defensively right away (a scout I've spoken with says he has top-10 or in some cases even top-five talent).

But those are unknowns. For now, Blazers fans are thinking about a second-round matchup with the Lakers or Clippers and having to watch Rodney Hood play 40 minutes defending LeBron, Kawhi and/or George, maybe with a little help from ... Zach Collins. It's not pretty on paper. ​

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...gelo-russell-rockets-gambling-big-on-russell/

Let's take a steep walk down the name-power ladder until we end up at ... Moe Harkless. The Blazers were part of the four-team deal that sent Jimmy Butler to Miami, and it cost them Harkless to the Heat, who re-routed him to the Clippers. Who did Portland get in return? Hassan Whiteside.

In a perfect world, Whiteside can summon some of the player he was when he earned that $98 million deal from the Heat in 2016, though he was probably never actually worth that even at his best. But he is a monster rebounder and can protect the rim, which helps Portland on paper with Jusuf Nurkic still out for a good while with no guarantee he'll return to the player he was prior to his gruesome broken leg late last season, at least not in the short term. Look at how long it's taken Gordon Hayward.

So Whiteside can help, maybe, but don't necessarily count on it. What you can count on is the Blazers, as currently constructed, having a major hole at small forward. On paper, they have Rodney Hood and Nassir Little, who has never played a single NBAminute. But in a conference that boasts LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, defending the three/stretch-four position with a like-sized, at least halfway capable athlete like Harkless seems like a bare minimum for any team with conference title aspirations, which the Blazers certainly have.

Portland fans will gripe about Aminu's shooting, but he is a born defender with unteachable size and length and instincts. The Blazers, who have been in salary cap hell for ill-advised 2016 decisions for years, can explain not ponying up for Aminu. But Harkless is on an expiring deal. To not play that out for one more year of a premium-position defender is, well, risky. They didn't have to bring in Whiteside, which was in part a necessity because they let Enes Kanter walk, which, again, they didn't have to do.

None of these guys are real difference-makers on their own. Harkless, Whiteside and Kanter are all flawed, in some cases seriously flawed. But on a team with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, you're just trying to plug the right holes. instead, by letting Harkless walk, they appear to have opened up a big one. Maybe Portland will be active at the trade deadline, or maybe Little will bust out as a rookie and contribute defensively right away (a scout I've spoken with says he has top-10 or in some cases even top-five talent).

But those are unknowns. For now, Blazers fans are thinking about a second-round matchup with the Lakers or Clippers and having to watch Rodney Hood play 40 minutes defending LeBron, Kawhi and/or George, maybe with a little help from ... Zach Collins. It's not pretty on paper. ​

Welp, we now know Brad Botkin didn't watch many Blazer games. Wait, wasn't he the one guy who picked us over OKC?

I still don't get the Whiteside sucks narrative. Even last year when he played "crappy", he was amongst the league leaders in rebound %. I don't like the way Stotts defends the pick and roll but it is perfect for a big like Whiteside to maximize his ability.

The only good point he makes is that we don't have the ability to guard both Kawhi and George. Gee, that sure is a genius take though. What teams are equipped to handle both of those guys?

 

[Natebishop3]

All I can tell from these kinds of articles is that this person doesn't watch the Blazers.

 

[hoopsjock]

All I can tell from these kinds of articles is that this person doesn't watch the Blazers.

Exactly

 

[Pinwheel1]

I think Brad embellished a little with this statement:

Portland fans will gripe about Aminu's shooting, but he is a born defender with unteachable size and length and instincts.

 

[theprunetang]

I like that they never acknowledged that Bazemore is also on the team.

 

[SIeepwalker]

What a terrible article. What a joke of a writer. My left ball could write a better article than this crap.

SF is the position we definitely improved on this off season. Off course it seems like there's a "major hole" at SF if you don't mention Bazemore.... dumbass.
We didn't have to let Kanter walk ? so we should have signed him instead of Hood and have even bigger of a "hole" ? Think before you type something god dammit. Also Kanter turned that down anyway, we didn't let him walk, he chose to. But this guy probably wanted us to pull some cap space out of our ass to give Enes a bigger contract

 

[Stevenson]

Any team that has to rely on Aminu is destined for mediocrity. He's an average PF at best, nothing special, and certainly not a starter in the NBA.

It is a testament to Dame, CJ, Nurk, and Mo that we went as far as we did with bumblefingers as our starting power forward.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Yeah this guy doesn't understand the options available.

I do agree it was time to move on from the Aminu Harkless duo.

The author does hit a valid major concern of mine with defense though. I would say the drop off in team defense from Aminu and Harkless to what we have now is my biggest unknown of the upcoming season. It could potentially lead to us having one of the worst defenses in the league.

Tolliver is a terrible defender, Mario below average. Pau is no longer the decent defender he was. Simon's will have rookie mistakes that Curry did not. Bazemore is more of a guard than wing. Whiteside has concerns if his stats actually translate to team defensive success.

Dame and CJ have never been great on the defensive end, though they are improved. Hopefully more firepower on offense and load management will allow them to have their best defensive seasons.

I think our offense will be incredible. Hoping we can have a top10 defense because then we would be elite.

Go Blazers!

 

[BonesJones]

Any team that has to rely on Aminu is destined for mediocrity. He's an average PF at best, nothing special, and certainly not a starter in the NBA.

It is a testament to Dame, CJ, Nurk, and Mo that we went as far as we did with bumblefingers as our starting power forward.

This fanbase underrates him so much. I used to hate on him too. Then I came to my senses!

 

[riverman]

I love Chief....wouldn't have blinked if we kept him but he chose to sign in Orlando...he has family in Atlanta area and travels to Africa often...I completely see him in the east for lots of reasons..he'll help Orlando...the writing was on the wall when he sat on the bench in the conference finals that much. Don't think Chief wanted to end the season that way.

 

[Propagandist]

I like that they never acknowledged that Bazemore is also on the team.

Who?

 

[wizenheimer]

What a terrible article. What a joke of a writer. My left ball could write a better article than this crap.

how fast can it type and does your right ball work the shift and backspace keys?

 

[Orion Bailey]

how fast can it type and does your right ball work the shift and backspace keys?

“Things most would rather not know, for $1000 Alex”




This article... as stupid as stupid gets...

Wasted my time

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

This fanbase underrates him so much. I used to hate on him too. Then I came to my senses!

Its not that I hated Aminu I think him and Moe are both good role players. My problem was the combination of the two, just didn't think either was good enough offensively to really have both be starters.

 

[SIeepwalker]

how fast can it type and does your right ball work the shift and backspace keys?

The left ball writes, the right ball proofreads and edit, which is clearly not needed for the level of competition this joke of an article provides, so I left it out

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Aminu was/is so overrated by a lot of people on defense. Really he was never any better than average, and he was terrible on offense. I'll never miss him being a Blazer for a second.

 

[borim69]

The guy made it sound like we gave away the second comings of Rodman and Camby. I will miss them for a second.....ok lets move on.

 

[BonesJones]

Aminu was/is so overrated by a lot of people on defense. Really he was never any better than average, and he was terrible on offense. I'll never miss him being a Blazer for a second.

Never better than an average defender? Cmon.

 

[Labinot41]

This fanbase underrates him so much. I used to hate on him too. Then I came to my senses!

Yeah we will miss the guy who was unplayable against Denver and Golden State.

 

[julius]

I appreciate what those guys brought to the game. Only problem was, one (Moe) was never consistent and the other (Aminu) was prone to take bad shots, wasn't actually that good a shooter, and wasn't dependable.

They were both never truly a threat on offense, and couldn't create for themselves to save their lives. Aminu was making mistakes a young player makes, and Moe would be invisible for long stretches... I don't know if Bazemore is any better, but I know that Hood at least could create for himself.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Never better than an average defender? Cmon.

Average doesn't mean bad, just not great. He's fine on defense. Nothing amazing.

 

[HailBlazers]

Average doesn't mean bad, just not great. He's fine on defense. Nothing amazing.

He's got length and strength. I agree with the premise of the article. It's a big question mark going into the season. Our D at the three and small ball 4 spots.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Average doesn't mean bad, just not great. He's fine on defense. Nothing amazing.

I felt like (this is opinion), that both Moe and Aminu were plus defenders, and good at switching, and at one on one vs perimeter-oriented players. They lacked eye discipline for team defense and got caught ball-watching too often. They also struggled against those guys who are bullies in the paint, Harrell, Blake, Paul Milsap. Now to be fair it's almost impossible to completely shut down one on one any player in today's NBA and those guys hurt a lot of teams. So to me I think the advanced stats kind of has Aminu / Harkless both right, they're + defenders, very good, probably not quite elite. Unfortunately, the lack of offensive production was a bane for there combination in Portland.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

1) Shouldn't it be "Blazers take D out of their 3"?

2) Will always like Chief and Mo. Good guys. Wish we could bring them off the bench, they'd be great in that role.

3) Another vote for "stupid article", however...

4) Blazers not being able to guy the Kawhiis and James's of the West IS in the national zeitgeist. I don't think it's
right, but it doesn't have zero merit. Plan to see more of this type of stuff in the future.

 

[tlongII]

Aminu isn’t starter quality. Moe had potential but he’s always hurt.