Now to the offense. It still isn't clicking. Once again being short personnel is an issue. The Blazers have zero legit, proven low-post players. Oden is their best shot. Even when he comes back, he'll need work and his teammates will have to work on incorporating him. Without that rim-ward threat any inside-out game becomes outside-farther outside. No matter how good your scorers are, that's not a bankable solution. When the ball doesn't penetrate the defense that defense doesn't have to adjust. All they have to do is shuffle sideways a little and you're watched. On a good day that means one-on-one moves for jumpers. On a bad day that means one-on-one moves for deep, covered jumpers.
The adjustment the team will have to make is going to be difficult. When things weren't clicking early last season I chalked it up to growing pains and the vagaries of youth. At this point, though, I'm beginning to suspect there's something structurally wrong with the team. Plenty of people are going to cry, "Coaching!" but I'm not convinced it's as easy as a different, interior-oriented scheme...a scheme which, in any case, the Blazers don't have the big offensive bodies to run right now. I suspect instead the Blazers suffer from having three main players who need the ball to be effective and a bevy of underlings with the potential to explode offensively but not the experience or credibility to demand the right to do so consistently (or even to see if they can).
That Brandon Roy likes the ball is well-chronicled. LaMarcus Aldridge needs time to develop any move besides a face-up jumper. Quick-release jumpers should not be his staple in any case. As proficient and assist-heavy of a point guard as Andre Miller is, he banks on his scoring and he thrives on the ability to decide between the shot and the pass. Take that away from him and he becomes pedestrian.
