Chauncey Billups shares his plan to improve Portland Trail Blazers

[JoshuaHall]

A part of me wants to really see CJ with a renewed focus on driving and kicking. We haven't seen him in any other system the past 8 yrs. He can get to any spot he wants to on the floor with his handle-- it's a valuable skill that was horribly under utilized when all he did was jack shots from that spot.

The issue is that it’s so naturally ingrained in him at this point. This is why Stotts should’ve been canned years ago. Good luck changing the type of player CJ is 10 years into his career.

I agree though. CJ could be amazing in the right situation.

I really would like to see us trade something like DJJ + Picks for a SF or PF and then use CJ as the most expensive 6th man in history.

 

[JoshuaHall]

IDK?
He also said this.

So either Billups knows what he is talking about or doesn't?

Immediately coming in and trashing the previous coach probably isn’t the most classy look.

So far he has stated the obvious. “We need a lot of work defensively, but hey, kudos to Terry because we are great offensively… even tho there’s changes to be made”

Diplomatic. Addresses what is already decent. What needs to be changed to made it even better. Addresses what is terrible and how to improve it. Doesn’t throw shade.

I’d say it’s a well thought out statement. Highly political and a great PR move

 

[wizenheimer]

IDK?
He also said this.

So either Billups knows what he is talking about or doesn't?

this is the needle Billups has to thread.

for the 9 years of Stolshey, and especially the 6 years of Dame/CJ, trying to fix the Blazer defense has been like a game of bop-a-mole. Plug one hole, create another; fix one leak, and another leak starts

it will do no good to improve the defense if at the same time the offense drops off by equal measure.

I head a ton of yappity-yap last season about how good the Blazer net-rating was after adding Powell, and getting CJ and Nurkic back. Yet, Portland still finished 29th at the end of the season in defense. Their offense was great. But their net rating was mediocre. And of course, as horrible as the Blazer defense was in the regular season posting a 116.0 rating, in the playoffs they gave up a rating of 123.4. And that was with Kanter averaging less than 10 minutes. That series also demonstrated the major disadvantage of going with a 6'3 SF. To such a point that the Blazers had to switch Powell off of Porter and give the assignment to Dame

The Blazers have to get out of the +/-2.0 realm of net rating. That will keep them at the 7-8 seed/lottery level. The best Portland has done in the Dame/CJ era was the +4.2 net rating in 18-19. But that team had the defense of Nurkic-Aminu-Harkless-Zach-Turner-Curry, and the current team isn't close to that

IMO, too many expectations are riding on Billups being an elite coach in his 1st year as HC and 2nd year of coaching overall

 

[illmatic99]

The issue is that it’s so naturally ingrained in him at this point. This is why Stotts should’ve been canned years ago. Good luck changing the type of player CJ is 10 years into his career.

I agree though. CJ could be amazing in the right situation.

I really would like to see us trade something like DJJ + Picks for a SF or PF and then use CJ as the most expensive 6th man in history.

it's unlikely, but not unfathomable. Steve Nash turned into a completely different player when he went to D'Antoni in Phoenix in year 9.

 

[Hoopguru]

If they can't pull off a trade including CJ & some for a legit front line defender/scorer then Im sure they will look at offers for Dame. Offers for Dame will come in any way and any just like Morey predicts. It may not be this year, but at some point it will be considered. Very few Super Stars stay with one organization their whole career. Very few.

 

[riverman]

Dame CJ Nurk Norm and Roco....18th in defensive rating
Dame Trent Hoodie Roco and Kanter....29th in rating....
perspective...and the better lineup will start this season with an actual training camp
We shed some holes in the lineup on defense from last season...I think we'll be improved

 

[illmatic99]

Dame CJ Nurk Norm and Roco....18th in defensive rating
Dame Trent Hoodie Roco and Kanter....29th in rating....
perspective...and the better lineup will start this season with an actual training camp
We shed some holes in the lineup on defense from last season...I think we'll be improved

Haven't verified these numbers but 18th out of 30 isn't something to hang your hat on.

 

[wizenheimer]

Dame CJ Nurk Norm and Roco....18th in defensive rating
Dame Trent Hoodie Roco and Kanter....29th in rating....
perspective...and the better lineup will start this season with an actual training camp
We shed some holes in the lineup on defense from last season...I think we'll be improved

for fucksakes....Dame-CJ-Powell-RoCo-Nurkic were all there when Portland had a defensive rating of 123.4 against Denver in the playoffs. Their 29th ranked rating in the regular season was 116.0

in other words, an injured Denver team, with time allowed to focus & prepare, shredded the defense of Portland; and Kanter averaged less than 10 minutes in the series so he can't be blamed for much. Look at this:



when you have Dame-CJ-Powell as a small ball lineup, and add RoCo as the PF, you're at a disadvantage in the playoffs. Powell's defense has become pretty overrated in my view

and more than just the defensive rating in that series, focus on the net rating of each player

 

[Strenuus]

dame lillard is sort of egoistic person (at least in bball), he didnt want terry stotts to get fired cause he loved playing for him and wanted jason kidd cause hes from oakland too and was former point guard

he didnt look whats best for the team, but whats best for himself and thats not okay

Imagine... a top 5 player in the league having an ego. So surprising.

 

[blazerkor]

Dame CJ Nurk Norm and Roco....18th in defensive rating
Dame Trent Hoodie Roco and Kanter....29th in rating....
perspective...and the better lineup will start this season with an actual training camp
We shed some holes in the lineup on defense from last season...I think we'll be improved

If they were 18th which I don't have the interest in confirming... that 18th was even less impressive than the number suggests because they had twenty one games of a seventy two game season together and they couldn't move the team's overall defensive rating from 29th in the league. So I'm not impressed with 18th at all but I'm less impressed with it because despite it being eleven spots higher than it was with the other lineup it wasn't enough to get us even one spot higher overall.

And still Gary Trent had the highest winning percentage as a starter of anyone that started a game for us last season. That's with the games that teams gave us at the end of the season so they could play us instead of the Lakers in the playoffs.

 

[GDiama]

this is the needle Billups has to thread.

for the 9 years of Stolshey, and especially the 6 years of Dame/CJ, trying to fix the Blazer defense has been like a game of bop-a-mole. Plug one hole, create another; fix one leak, and another leak starts

it will do no good to improve the defense if at the same time the offense drops off by equal measure.

I head a ton of yappity-yap last season about how good the Blazer net-rating was after adding Powell, and getting CJ and Nurkic back. Yet, Portland still finished 29th at the end of the season in defense. Their offense was great. But their net rating was mediocre. And of course, as horrible as the Blazer defense was in the regular season posting a 116.0 rating, in the playoffs they gave up a rating of 123.4. And that was with Kanter averaging less than 10 minutes. That series also demonstrated the major disadvantage of going with a 6'3 SF. To such a point that the Blazers had to switch Powell off of Porter and give the assignment to Dame

The Blazers have to get out of the +/-2.0 realm of net rating. That will keep them at the 7-8 seed/lottery level. The best Portland has done in the Dame/CJ era was the +4.2 net rating in 18-19. But that team had the defense of Nurkic-Aminu-Harkless-Zach-Turner-Curry, and the current team isn't close to that

IMO, too many expectations are riding on Billups being an elite coach in his 1st year as HC and 2nd year of coaching overall

Somehow the bar has been set so high for Billups that he needs to be magician right from the start.
This good old Olshey logic using whatever number can make him sell his case. One of the best lineups in the league blah blah blah. Denver wiped the floor with our asses. I ended up hating Stotts but what is being done with Billups is frustrating.

 

[riverman]

for fucksakes....Dame-CJ-Powell-RoCo-Nurkic were all there when Portland had a defensive rating of 123.4 against Denver in the playoffs. Their 29th ranked rating in the regular season was 116.0

in other words, an injured Denver team, with time allowed to focus & prepare, shredded the defense of Portland; and Kanter averaged less than 10 minutes in the series so he can't be blamed for much. Look at this:

View attachment 40234

when you have Dame-CJ-Powell as a small ball lineup, and add RoCo as the PF, you're at a disadvantage in the playoffs. Powell's defense has become pretty overrated in my view

and more than just the defensive rating in that series, focus on the net rating of each player

defense needs choreography...your stats don't counter what I said about having a training camp and not trying to learn together on the road on the fly unable to practice on the road...I know you want to find flaws but I don't think you understand the comparison...and I wasn't talking about Nurk fouling out our poor performance in the Denver series...a lot of that was due to guys who are not here anymore and an out of shape Nurk who hadn't developed chemistry with either Roco or Norm yet....it's all good...you can hang onto your pessimism....for fucks sake if that's your motivation...we all know we dropped the ball in the first round against a Denver team that had role players play better than expected....from that..people should move on...it's this season I see light on the defensive end of the tunnel

 

[riverman]

Somehow the bar has been set so high for Billups that he needs to be magician right from the start.
This good old Olshey logic using whatever number can make him sell his case. One of the best lineups in the league blah blah blah. Denver wiped the floor with our asses. I ended up hating Stotts but what is being done with Billups is frustrating.

Billups doesn't need to be a magician to implement his game plan on this team....he knows how to achieve success..look at the Clippers two way play last season...the guy isn't searching...he's teaching...I'm real happy he's here

 

[riverman]

Haven't verified these numbers but 18th out of 30 isn't something to hang your hat on.

actually some sites had us at 17th not 18th from mid season...the playoffs probably dropped us to 18

 

[illmatic99]

actually some sites had us at 17th not 18th from mid season...the playoffs probably dropped us to 18

so in the bottom half of the league. gotcha.

 

[riverman]

If they were 18th which I don't have the interest in confirming... that 18th was even less impressive than the number suggests because they had twenty one games of a seventy two game season together and they couldn't move the team's overall defensive rating from 29th in the league. So I'm not impressed with 18th at all but I'm less impressed with it because despite it being eleven spots higher than it was with the other lineup it wasn't enough to get us even one spot higher overall.

And still Gary Trent had the highest winning percentage as a starter of anyone that started a game for us last season. That's with the games that teams gave us at the end of the season so they could play us instead of the Lakers in the playoffs.

Trent was great in the playoff bubble the year before but last season he wasn't great...he had a really long shooting slump..his bubble play got him a contract...not last season's play...we were lucky to get Norm for him in my view...streaky shooter...not good finisher, rebounder or passer ...he will become a 3 and D guy but he's not all that yet...this is my take on him

 

[riverman]

so in the bottom half of the league. gotcha.

leap frogged a dozen teams mid season....gotcha...I'll take that considering Melo and Kanter were part of that stat..

 

[andalusian]

I head a ton of yappity-yap last season about how good the Blazer net-rating was after adding Powell, and getting CJ and Nurkic back. Yet, Portland still finished 29th at the end of the season in defense.

The reality is that the starting 5 have an excellent defensive rating when playing together under Stotts (which means that it was not coaching, it was roster). The issue was and continues to be that the other combinations were not great. Basically, when you had 3 good defenders next to CJ + Dame - the Blazers can defend very well. The issue is that the team really does not have that many good defenders.

For example, if you look at the 5 man units that played at least 15 games together and at least 300 minutes - that Blazers starting 5 is 5th overall in the league (that's elite defensive). The issue was always that one of these 3 good defenders went out with Dame + CJ - and the Blazers were in trouble.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular Season&CF=GP*G*15:MIN*G*300

Frankly, when the Blazers played with 3 good defenders and 2 good offensive players - they did well, Another line-up that did well for the Blazers was Roco, DJJ, GT3 with Dame and Kanter as well as Roco, DJJ, Nurk + Dame, CJ.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612757&CF=GP*G*10:MIN*G*100

The problem the Blazers have is that they needed at least 3 good defenders with 2 good offensive players - and the combination of injuries and roster composition really derailed the options for that.

Now, Billups is already starting with a leg-up on Terry, and that's from the roster composition, taking away EK and Melo will immediatly enhance the Blazers defensively, the only question is - are the replacement - be them Zeller/Snell,Mclemore or Nas/Ant in a bigger role going to be just better or a lot better. That's where the defense of the Blazers can improve - part of it is on coaching, but a lot of it is on the roster.

IMO, too many expectations are riding on Billups being an elite coach in his 1st year as HC and 2nd year of coaching overall

I agree. The issue was mostly on the roster. When you gave Terry a roster with capable defenders - the Blazers were capable defenders.

No disrespect to Chauncy who might become the greatest coach ever - the issue the Blazers had and continue to have is that with 2

for fucksakes....Dame-CJ-Powell-RoCo-Nurkic were all there when Portland had a defensive rating of 123.4 against Denver in the playoffs. Their 29th ranked rating in the regular season was 116.0

No disrespect - but that lineup was excellent in the playoffs as well. They had an elite defense and offense - they just did not play enough minutes together. The issue is not this lineup - it's the rest of the roster.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/a...2020-21&SeasonType=Playoffs&TeamID=1610612757

 

[riverman]

It's going to be a fun season...I'm looking forward to it!

 

[andalusian]

Billups doesn't need to be a magician to implement his game plan on this team....he knows how to achieve success..look at the Clippers two way play last season...the guy isn't searching...he's teaching...I'm real happy he's here

I am willing to bet Terry would have been great with the defensive roster the Clippers had. I like Billups a lot, but what NO told us about the defense was not a roster issue is a Trump level lie. It is nonsense.

 

[riverman]

I am willing to bet Terry would have been great with the defensive roster the Clippers had. I like Billups a lot, but what NO told us about the defense was not a roster issue is a Trump level lie. It is nonsense.

I'm a Terry fan so I think that's true...Terry had a top 10 defense with Rolo, LA, Wes, Dame and Nico....what we need most of all is rotation stability...a real starting core that's healthy and knows how to play together without turning over the ball....that takes chemistry...19 different starting lineups don't help that cause and health is part of that

 

[andalusian]

I'm a Terry fan so I think that's true...Terry had a top 10 defense with Rolo, LA, Wes, Dame and Nico....what we need most of all is rotation stability...a real starting core that's healthy and knows how to play together without turning over the ball....that takes chemistry...19 different starting lineups don't help that cause and health is part of that

Yep, the Blazers had top-10 defense under Terry in 2014/15 and 2017/18 - years the roster had defensive players and not a lot of injuries. It is not a real surprise. It was always the roster.

 

[blazerkor]

Trent was great in the playoff bubble the year before but last season he wasn't great...he had a really long shooting slump..his bubble play got him a contract...not last season's play...we were lucky to get Norm for him in my view...streaky shooter...not good finisher, rebounder or passer ...he will become a 3 and D guy but he's not all that yet...this is my take on him

Oh, that wasn't an argument of how good Gary was or wasn't. That was me pointing out that the team won a higher percentage of games with him as starter than they did when he wasn't. The team's highest win percent starting lineup last season still wasn't one with CJ and Nurk in it... let alone Norm. You can go ahead and look it up Dame, Gary, DJJ, RoCo and Kanter had the highest win percentage of any of our starting lineups. That's not me saying that Gary, DJJ and Kanter are better, it's more me saying that the more talented pieces do not fit.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

The reality is that the starting 5 have an excellent defensive rating when playing together under Stotts (which means that it was not coaching, it was roster). The issue was and continues to be that the other combinations were not great. Basically, when you had 3 good defenders next to CJ + Dame - the Blazers can defend very well. The issue is that the team really does not have that many good defenders.

For example, if you look at the 5 man units that played at least 15 games together and at least 300 minutes - that Blazers starting 5 is 5th overall in the league (that's elite defensive). The issue was always that one of these 3 good defenders went out with Dame + CJ - and the Blazers were in trouble.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular Season&CF=GP*G*15:MIN*G*300

Frankly, when the Blazers played with 3 good defenders and 2 good offensive players - they did well, Another line-up that did well for the Blazers was Roco, DJJ, GT3 with Dame and Kanter as well as Roco, DJJ, Nurk + Dame, CJ.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612757&CF=GP*G*10:MIN*G*100

The problem the Blazers have is that they needed at least 3 good defenders with 2 good offensive players - and the combination of injuries and roster composition really derailed the options for that.

Now, Billups is already starting with a leg-up on Terry, and that's from the roster composition, taking away EK and Melo will immediatly enhance the Blazers defensively, the only question is - are the replacement - be them Zeller/Snell,Mclemore or Nas/Ant in a bigger role going to be just better or a lot better. That's where the defense of the Blazers can improve - part of it is on coaching, but a lot of it is on the roster.



I agree. The issue was mostly on the roster. When you gave Terry a roster with capable defenders - the Blazers were capable defenders.

No disrespect to Chauncy who might become the greatest coach ever - the issue the Blazers had and continue to have is that with 2



No disrespect - but that lineup was excellent in the playoffs as well. They had an elite defense and offense - they just did not play enough minutes together. The issue is not this lineup - it's the rest of the roster.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/a...2020-21&SeasonType=Playoffs&TeamID=1610612757

great post.

 

[wizenheimer]

No disrespect - but that lineup was excellent in the playoffs as well. They had an elite defense and offense - they just did not play enough minutes together. The issue is not this lineup - it's the rest of the roster.

sorry, not really buying it

if that unit was so good together on defense, Dame, CJ, and Powell would not have all posted a 126 defensive rating in a series in which the Blazers had a rating of 123.4 with a severely tightened rotation

Look at minutes played:



there just wasn't enough minutes left for others than Dame-CJ-Powell-RoCo where there was enough overlap of bench players to impact the stats adversely. The starters sucked defensively in that series. The starters played 1105 of the 1490 total Blazer minutes in that series. That's 74% of the minutes. Trying to blame the 25% of the minutes not played by starters for the historically bad defense is a huge stretch, IMO

I'd grant there could be a significant improvement with a new defensive scheme, but there also might not be nearly enough

another factor is that one component of defense I think is seriously underrated is rebounding. Portland's defensive rebounding rate in the regular season was 77.5%. Against Denver in the playoffs it was 73.5%. Which points at Portland's small ball lineup they will be going with most of the time this season. Last season, RoCo had a rebound rate of 11.1% and Powell had one of 5.1%. Those are exceptionally low rebounding rates from the two forward positions. May have been the worst in the league. So far, it looks like Portland may actually be a worse rebounding team this coming season. Zeller certainly isn't the rebounder Kanter is, and Portland's backup PF's right now are Little and Snell? Yikes!

 

[Hoopguru]

Oh, that wasn't an argument of how good Gary was or wasn't. That was me pointing out that the team won a higher percentage of games with him as starter than they did when he wasn't. The team's highest win percent starting lineup last season still wasn't one with CJ and Nurk in it... let alone Norm. You can go ahead and look it up Dame, Gary, DJJ, RoCo and Kanter had the highest win percentage of any of our starting lineups. That's not me saying that Gary, DJJ and Kanter are better, it's more me saying that the more talented pieces do not fit.

Nurk had the best def w/s ranking 107 of all players.
CJ 144
Powell 147
Cov 229
Dame 299
DJ 371
Kanter 387
Melo 433
Simons 452

 

[riverman]

Oh, that wasn't an argument of how good Gary was or wasn't. That was me pointing out that the team won a higher percentage of games with him as starter than they did when he wasn't. The team's highest win percent starting lineup last season still wasn't one with CJ and Nurk in it... let alone Norm. You can go ahead and look it up Dame, Gary, DJJ, RoCo and Kanter had the highest win percentage of any of our starting lineups. That's not me saying that Gary, DJJ and Kanter are better, it's more me saying that the more talented pieces do not fit.

This is where we'll miss Kanter....he cleaned up alot of Gary's misses...and Hoodies, etc....Enes is an elite offensive rebounder...guy is a machine...shooters will love playin with him because he makes their misses look like assists

 

[Hoopguru]

I don't think Billup's was wrong in stating, team needs to buy into defense and it starts with Dame & CJ. They are two average or below defenders, imo.

 

[wizenheimer]

Nurk had the best def w/s ranking 107 of all players.
CJ 144
Powell 147
Cov 229
Dame 299
DJ 371
Kanter 387
Melo 433
Simons 452

what are those numbers?

if it's anything to do with defense and it shows CJ as 2nd on the team, it's a busted stat

 

[illmatic99]

The reality is that the starting 5 have an excellent defensive rating when playing together under Stotts (which means that it was not coaching, it was roster). The issue was and continues to be that the other combinations were not great. Basically, when you had 3 good defenders next to CJ + Dame - the Blazers can defend very well. The issue is that the team really does not have that many good defenders.

For example, if you look at the 5 man units that played at least 15 games together and at least 300 minutes - that Blazers starting 5 is 5th overall in the league (that's elite defensive). The issue was always that one of these 3 good defenders went out with Dame + CJ - and the Blazers were in trouble.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular Season&CF=GP*G*15:MIN*G*300

Frankly, when the Blazers played with 3 good defenders and 2 good offensive players - they did well, Another line-up that did well for the Blazers was Roco, DJJ, GT3 with Dame and Kanter as well as Roco, DJJ, Nurk + Dame, CJ.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612757&CF=GP*G*10:MIN*G*100

The problem the Blazers have is that they needed at least 3 good defenders with 2 good offensive players - and the combination of injuries and roster composition really derailed the options for that.

Now, Billups is already starting with a leg-up on Terry, and that's from the roster composition, taking away EK and Melo will immediatly enhance the Blazers defensively, the only question is - are the replacement - be them Zeller/Snell,Mclemore or Nas/Ant in a bigger role going to be just better or a lot better. That's where the defense of the Blazers can improve - part of it is on coaching, but a lot of it is on the roster.



I agree. The issue was mostly on the roster. When you gave Terry a roster with capable defenders - the Blazers were capable defenders.

No disrespect to Chauncy who might become the greatest coach ever - the issue the Blazers had and continue to have is that with 2



No disrespect - but that lineup was excellent in the playoffs as well. They had an elite defense and offense - they just did not play enough minutes together. The issue is not this lineup - it's the rest of the roster.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/a...2020-21&SeasonType=Playoffs&TeamID=1610612757

this is a good find and probably what Neil keeps trying to sell. But it's not a great sample size and has the caveat of being only against ONE team (that too, one that got swept in the subsequent round).

So if the premise is that our bench was the biggest problem, have we done ANYTHING to address this?

Kanter --> Zeller is an upgrade, but every other change has been a downgrade. Unless you see a substantial jump from someone like Nas, our bench issues are still there.