Zombie Derrick Jones to Portland

[James lamphear]

Third observation: this is not exactly a vote of confidence for Nassir.

Just because Jones sign on with us that doesn't mean Little can't beat him out for minutes but right now is Jones to loose.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

^^^^^^^^^^^^Exactly. DJJ went the route of Meyers in Miami. Played quite a bit in the regular season and then collected dust for the Playoffs for the most part.

Think D69, as in if he played heavy minutes in the playoffs, and showed, $69 mil wouldn't be enough to get him

When you're getting a 23 year old with the midlevel, you're banking on that player improving. If he didn't need to improve, we couldn't get him. The larger question is, what do you want to give up when drafting, signing free agents, and making trades? Here are some possibilities:
shooting,
defense,
work ethic,
off-the-court problems,
injury history,
dribbling,
passing,
rebounding...

For years, we got players who had off-the-court problems. While some didn't and don't like it, how are you going to get lottery talent out picking in the 20s?

So, with Jones, we're giving up 3 point shooting. I don't like it, but I understand it. He's an excellent defender, which is what we sorely need.

 

[B-Roy]

Please raise your hand if you fit in this category. I keep hearing these statement be made, but I don't know who these people are!

If you trashed the offensive shortfall caused by Harkless/Aminu and love these two additions, now is the time to own it, and explain why.

Covington is not in the same category as Harkless, Aminu or DJJ in terms of shooting.

And the closing lineup is probably going to be Hood or GTJ instead of one of Harkless/Aminu, which was the shooting issue.

I still think the bigger issue is secondary playmaking, but whatever, as long as we're tied to CJ that's always going to be an issue.

 

[Natebishop3]

We need a damn backup point guard. We can’t have Dame playing 40 minutes a night because the offense shuts down when he’s out.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

What doesn't make a lot of sense is them having one less superstar than we have or had... who the fuck is our second superstar? I only ask because we don't even have a second all-star.

You just blew an excellent opportunity to use the "asking for a friend" line

 

[James lamphear]

Do you honestly think that that would transfer? That Augustin on another team would be as good? He's a cog in a good defensive machine. And the Heat were a great defensive machine.

Look: Jones BETTER be fucking good at defense, because he's not good at anything else. But it's funny that when the playoffs rolled around and the Heat heated up, his ass was glued to the bench.

Didn't he get hurt in the bubble.

 

[wizenheimer]

Fucking people with their fucking obsession with 3 pt shooting. Dude is an ELITE defender.

We absolutely blow defensively, and NO got two very good wing defenders

that is true, with some limited context

in fact, my big criticism of what Olshey did in the last off-season (and some in the off-season before) was that he seemingly disregarded any sense of defense in re-tooling the role-player roster

in 2017-18, Portland was actually 8th in the NBA in defensive rating. But then, they did have a roster with several decent-to-good defenders: besides Nurkic, there was Ed Davis, Napier, Vonleh (all gone the next off-season), Aminu, Harkless, and Turner (all gone the following off-season). And predictably, Portland's defensive rating went from 8th > 16th > 28th.

I think pretty clearly, Olshey recognized he fucked up big time by ignoring one end of the court over the last two versions of the roster. The problem may be he's engaged in over-correction. It was a mistake to prioritize offense over defense, especially when the true offensive ability of 'new' players was questionable. It could easily turn out to be that prioritizing defense over offense could be the same kind of mistake

but defense isn't the only critical area where Portland downgraded those two off-season. In OffReb/DefReb ranking Portland went from 10th/5th > 1st/9th > 15th/27th. And the only reason Portland was 15th in off rebounding was Whiteside, and he's gone. That issue is not going to be corrected with Covington, Zach, Gabriel at PF's

one other thing: the biggest issue with the Aminu/Harkless pairing was on offense. And the problem there was that they were wildly inconsistent on offense. One or both could disappear, while on the floor, leaving Portland 4 on 5 or even 3 on 5 on offense. Well, Covington is a great defender nut he's just about as inconsistent as Harkless and Aminu on offense. And Jones appears to be worse, and that's without looking at how his limited offensive ability fits into the Stotts offense. And of course, we really have no idea yet how recovered Hood is

so yeah, I worry that Olshey is over-correcting offense/defense balance with this current roster at the same time he's ignoring rebounding at the 4 positions not C. The best way to find balance between offense and defense to to find balanced players. That's not happening as far as I can tell, but maybe this new template will be better than previous versions

 

[Wizard Mentor]

We need a damn backup point guard. We can’t have Dame playing 40 minutes a night because the offense shuts down when he’s out.

Absolutely right.

 

[twobullz]

I remember when Layman played good for a one month set driving to the basket getting passes from the guards and Nurk for Dunks. I am guessing we will see even more of that now along with some actual defense. I think Jones gives the Blazers something they have been missing which is a slasher. Someone diving to the hoop, back door cuts and can finish. Is he the greatest 3 pt shooter no, but there are plenty of other guys who can come in and shoot it. Plus if they sag off him, he cuts to the hoop for a easy two.

 

[calvin natt]

I'm basing everything on the system, which will likely use him primarily as a spot-up shooter. Hopefully Stotts gets more creative than he has been.

Terry Stotts will not use him primarily as a spot up shooter. Terry Stotts and Neil didn’t get together and say ‘we need a spot up shooter” and come up with Derrick Jones.

 

[craigehlo]

one other thing: the biggest issue with the Aminu/Harkless pairing was on offense. And the problem there was that they were wildly inconsistent on offense. One or both could disappear, while on the floor, leaving Portland 4 on 5 or even 3 on 5 on offense. Well, Covington is a great defender nut he's just about as inconsistent as Harkless and Aminu on offense. And Jones appears to be worse, and that's without looking at how his limited offensive ability fits into the Stotts offense.

I think people forget how truly awful the Aminu/Harkless drives could be if the ball swung to them and they didn't have a wide open 3. It was usually just awful. While RoCo and DJJ aren't the greatest ball handlers in the world, their slashing ability and decision making after they take off are much improved from the bad old days of Aminu/Hark.

 

[Hoopguru]

I'm basing everything on the system, which will likely use him primarily as a spot-up shooter. Hopefully Stotts gets more creative than he has been.

Everyone that comes here under Stotts seems to improve their 3 point shot. This guy only took 2 3's a game. Hopefully he works on that weapon. I cant imagine any player from UNLV that doesnt have the desire to improve that shot.
I remember when the Sonics drafted GP and people were disappointed because he couldn't shoot but was stellar on D.

 

[Natebishop3]

I remember when Layman played good for a one month set driving to the basket getting passes from the guards and Nurk for Dunks. I am guessing we will see even more of that now along with some actual defense. I think Jones gives the Blazers something they have been missing which is a slasher. Someone diving to the hoop, back door cuts and can finish. Is he the greatest 3 pt shooter no, but there are plenty of other guys who can come in and shoot it. Plus if they sag off him, he cuts to the hoop for a easy two.

Yeah but Layman was a threat from deep. He could actually shoot it. Teams don’t have to worry about that from DJJ.

 

[James lamphear]

Now that we have somebody from the Heat here (not counting Whiteside because who knows what goofy answer he might give), I would ask him: How did a team like Miami, with no more superstars than us (in fact, one less), get into the finals? What are you guys doing differently on a day to day basis. Actually, if I was GM, I would call up Myers Leonard and ask him, because he would be able to compare the best. Doesn't this make a lot of sense? But I know it won't be done.

I give you one right off top of my head they play defense and another they are very unselfishly too on offense.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

that is true, with some limited context

in fact, my big criticism of what Olshey did in the last off-season (and some in the off-season before) was that he seemingly disregarded any sense of defense in re-tooling the role-player roster

in 2017-18, Portland was actually 8th in the NBA in defensive rating. But then, they did have a roster with several decent-to-good defenders: besides Nurkic, there was Ed Davis, Napier, Vonleh (all gone the next off-season), Aminu, Harkless, and Turner (all gone the following off-season). And predictably, Portland's defensive rating went from 8th > 16th > 28th.

I think pretty clearly, Olshey recognized he fucked up big time by ignoring one end of the court over the last two versions of the roster. The problem may be he's engaged in over-correction. It was a mistake to prioritize offense over defense, especially when the true offensive ability of 'new' players was questionable. It could easily turn out to be that prioritizing defense over offense could be the same kind of mistake

but defense isn't the only critical area where Portland downgraded those two off-season. In OffReb/DefReb ranking Portland went from 10th/5th > 1st/9th > 15th/27th. And the only reason Portland was 15th in off rebounding was Whiteside, and he's gone. That issue is not going to be corrected with Covington, Zach, Gabriel at PF's

one other thing: the biggest issue with the Aminu/Harkless pairing was on offense. And the problem there was that they were wildly inconsistent on offense. One or both could disappear, while on the floor, leaving Portland 4 on 5 or even 3 on 5 on offense. Well, Covington is a great defender nut he's just about as inconsistent as Harkless and Aminu on offense. And Jones appears to be worse, and that's without looking at how his limited offensive ability fits into the Stotts offense. And of course, we really have no idea yet how recovered Hood is

so yeah, I worry that Olshey is over-correcting offense/defense balance with this current roster at the same time he's ignoring rebounding at the 4 positions not C. The best way to find balance between offense and defense to to find balanced players. That's not happening as far as I can tell, but maybe this new template will be better than previous versions

Excellent post, but one thing that offsets this somewhat, is that our overall talent is better. PatC, Vonleh, the Zombie, ET, Biebs, SuperMario, Crabbe, and others of their ilk will receive zero minutes in the regular rotation this upcoming season.

 

[blazerkor]

Didn't he get hurt in the bubble.

Yeah he hurt his neck right before the playoffs started but it was supposed to be better after missing like three games. There are two problems that may have caused him as far as getting playoff minutes, neck injuries can linger so even though he was cleared to play it could have still been effecting him and then there is the simple fact that during those three games he was out Duncan Robinson and Crowder really stepped up leaving him with less opportunities. I don't think his lack of playing time in the playoffs was necessarily an indictment of what Spo thought of him but more of an endorsement of his teammates who got on a serious roll.

 

[BonesJones]

Terry Stotts will not use him primarily as a spot up shooter. Terry Stotts and Neil didn’t get together and say ‘we need a spot up shooter” and come up with Derrick Jones.

Terry Stotts used Harkless and Aminu in that way. Even relegated Evan Turner to being spot-up shooter for large portions of time. I highly doubt Stotts is gonna change what he's liked to do for years just for Derrick Jones Jr.

 

[twobullz]

Yeah but Layman was a threat from deep. He could actually shoot it. Teams don’t have to worry about that from DJJ.

Layman shoots 30.9 percent Jones 28.2%. Not really that big of a gap.

 

[BonesJones]

Everyone that comes here under Stotts seems to improve their 3 point shot. This guy only took 2 3's a game. Hopefully he works on that weapon. I cant imagine any player from UNLV that does have the desire to improve that shot.
I remember when the Sonics drafted GP two and people were disappointed because he couldn't shoot but was stellar on D.

Not Hezonja. Not Bazemore. Not Turner. Not Tolliver. I feel like that's overstated, also you have to think about where a player is coming from. Jones got phenomenal looks in Miami.

 

[calvin natt]

It’s almost like Neil thinks that a young player could improve here for some reason. Very strange.

 

[Hoopguru]

Not Hezonja. Not Bazemore. Not Turner. Not Tolliver. I feel like that's overstated, also you have to think about where a player is coming from. Jones got phenomenal looks in Miami.

Maybe so, curious who was it you wanted for the mid level?

 

[Natebishop3]

Not Hezonja. Not Bazemore. Not Turner. Not Tolliver. I feel like that's overstated, also you have to think about where a player is coming from. Jones got phenomenal looks in Miami.

Yeah I feel like the myth that everyone shoots better when they come to Portland has really grown to ridiculous proportions.

 

[Hoopguru]

Yeah but Layman was a threat from deep. He could actually shoot it. Teams don’t have to worry about that from DJJ.

Maybe he's good at back door cuts and pnr lobs and hard to guard off the ball.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

Come on T. I said great salesmen are lucky to close 50% and you claimed to close 100% and 90%. and you don't know where my 100% statement came from?.....

These numbers are pretty general, regardless.

Sales are different in every industry.

 

[Natebishop3]

Maybe so, curious who was it you wanted for the mid level?

Who we want is irrelevant. We have no idea who Neil spoke to, we have no idea who turned us down, but at the end of the day it's about fit. Bringing in a guy who has no outside shot whatsoever to speak of is a major issue. One that we have run into in the past.

 

[Ed O]

Sorry, but... who is this?

I haven't posted here much lately, but I don't understand why people are posting random takes from Twitter if they're just from random posters. It seems like we can have our own opinions and post those

In terms of the actual point: of COURSE we want to get players who have big game experience. We want all-NBA players. We want the Greek Freak to sign for the minimum.

In terms of our actual options, though, getting a young rotation-level player for our MLE seems like a pretty good move. Especially given how close we were to missing the playoffs last year, we need to keep adding good players and depth and ensure we get back to the playoffs before we wring our hands that we don't have a lot of NBA champions on our roster.

 

[Hoopguru]

Who we want is irrelevant. We have no idea who Neil spoke to, we have no idea who turned us down, but at the end of the day it's about fit. Bringing in a guy who has no outside whatsoever to speak of is a major issue. One that we have run into in the past.

Generally interested in whom BJ was hopeful to get wit the mid level. Whats wrong with that man. I wanted Crowder.

 

[BonesJones]

Maybe so, curious who was it you wanted for the mid level?

Paul Millsap, Serge Ibaka, JaMychal Green, Maurice Harkless, Ersan Ilyasova just to name a few. Basically any two-way PF.

 

[BonesJones]

Sorry, but... who is this?

I haven't posted here much lately, but I don't understand why people are posting random takes from Twitter if they're just from random posters. It seems like we can have our own opinions and post those

In terms of the actual point: of COURSE we want to get players who have big game experience. We want all-NBA players. We want the Greek Freak to sign for the minimum.

In terms of our actual options, though, getting a young rotation-level player for our MLE seems like a pretty good move. Especially given how close we were to missing the playoffs last year, we need to keep adding good players and depth and ensure we get back to the playoffs before we wring our hands that we don't have a lot of NBA champions on our roster.

Writer for BlazersEdge.

 

[BonesJones]

It’s almost like Neil thinks that a young player could improve here for some reason. Very strange.

He probably does think that, just like he did with Stauskas and Hezonja.