Zombie Derrick Jones to Portland

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then he realized Kanter and Melo are awful fits for the defense they originally wanted to run. That’s on Olshey as well.
Again I disagree. Kanter of all people showed he was successful in trapping guards yet Terry couldnt teach guys to rotate. One miscue and he reverted back to his old drop scheme. Hell, even when Nurk successfully trapped, he called it going rogue. Dude is stuck in his ways and can't coach players who dont play his way. Is this even debateable?
 
Maybe he thought Terry would change. That was the discussion early in the season. Terry himself said he'd change

I have heard coaches talk about change for 20+ years. It's all bullshit. They never change. Not Dunleavy. Not Cheeks. Not McMillan. And not Terry. We have had the worst string of unadaptive coaches I have ever seen.

Remember the running gag every year about how we were going to pick up the pace and run? And every year it didn't happen.
 
I was curious so I thought I'd try and find how other teams used their MLE's:

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that's just MLE signings. there were others like Rajon Rondo for 7.5M; Nerlens Noel for 5M

looks like Olshey whiffed to me
 
The Jones benching was predictable. It's partly why I was so skeptical in this thread initially.

But we SAW him flourish in some games and it was obvious that Terry didn't know how to maximize him. That's a coaching problem because Jones' strengths PERFECTLY align with what this team needs most. Our dumbass coach doesn't understand any system except his own antiquated one. Don't put this one on Neil at all.
Is Spoelstra a dumbass coach too? He benched DJJ and made the Finals.
 
I wonder if Jae Crowder would’ve chosen Portland if they offered him the MLE.
 
I wonder if Jae Crowder would’ve chosen Portland if they offered him the MLE.
That was the one that jumped out at me. The Dallas and Miami signings would have been reasonable, buts that's only because I now know we could have used more depth.
 
He scored more last night than RHJ has in his last seven games combined.
 
DJJ was a wildcard for me to be in the playoff rotation. He would've been ignored as a shooter and we've seen the effect that has had on our offense (regardless of % from 3, gravity matters) but I thought Nurk's passing and his cutting would be an interesting dynamic.

But with Powell in the fold now, you get some of that plus the shooting gravity and ball handling, and DJJ's fit with Kanter just doesn't work in the playoffs.

And like some have pointed out, even Spo had trouble finding minutes for him, albeit on a team that has less shooting than we do.
 
DJJ was a wildcard for me to be in the playoff rotation. He would've been ignored as a shooter and we've seen the effect that has had on our offense (regardless of % from 3, gravity matters) but I thought Nurk's passing and his cutting would be an interesting dynamic.

But with Powell in the fold now, you get some of that plus the shooting gravity and ball handling, and DJJ's fit with Kanter just doesn't work in the playoffs.

And like some have pointed out, even Spo had trouble finding minutes for him, albeit on a team that has less shooting than we do.
He's dynamic when he's in the open or has gotten lose, however, when he's guarded he seems weak at beating someone off the dribble and he doesn't have any kind of bak to the hoop game, like a true 3 should even in todays game, like a Tatum.
The guy Id like to see play a bit alongside Nurk some is Leaf, at 6'10 with smarts and good footwork he may help out as he's a legit 4.
 
He's dynamic when he's in the open or has gotten lose, however, when he's guarded he seems weak at beating someone off the dribble and he doesn't have any kind of bak to the hoop game, like a true 3 should even in todays game, like a Tatum.
The guy Id like to see play a bit alongside Nurk some is Leaf, at 6'10 with smarts and good footwork he may help out as he's a legit 4.
I enjoyed watching Leaf at UCLA.

Worried about his shooting range and foot speed as an NBA 4 and that's held true, but like you said he's a smart and skilled guy.

Old school game. Would have fit better in 80's/90's.
 
I just found it strange that Stotts suddenly played him for 23 minutes after a lot of DNP's. My impression has been that Stotts doesn't really trust him, so why not give more time to RHJ, so he can get used to playing with the rest of the team? We are still short on big men and RHJ is the only guy besides Kanter and Nurk who can play big.
 
I think both Jones and Powell were overrated as defenders when they were on the way to Portland to become Blazers. But it's pretty normal around here to significantly inflate the abilities of new Blazers before they've played any games as Blazers. I remember all the glowingly positive chatter about Bazemore, Hezonja, and Tolliver last off season.

for me it's well past the point of worrying about, or putting any importance on Blazer defense. The only formula for playoff success Portland fans can hope for, IMO, is that the Blazers can bring potent enough offense to the floor each game while having enough opportune stops on defense to outscore opposition and generate wins.

I mean, after all the yakkity-yak about improved Blazer defense, they gave up a defensive rating of 126.0 last night which was 10 points worse than their average. And that's with Jones taking the defensive-sieve minutes Melo normally provides
 
Powell defense rating with the Blazers been better then Toronto defense rating. Jones pretty hard question does he fit well the times when we push the ball yes he fits but Dame majority of the time doesn't like to push the ball in that case he doesn't fit a set offense and that's what you got in the playoffs. Defensely he not has good defender as I thought he would be but not the worse defender we got but what looking for him staying in front of people and that really hasn't happened enough for me.
 
Kanter is useless in drop coverage that Terry has him doing. He provides 0 rim protection. He gets challeneged relentlessly.

Next time he does it, pay attention to how he traps guys. He's surprisingly mobile. The problem is our slow rotations on the weakside.

I guess we’re watching different games. The primary reason Stotts went back to the drop scheme imo was because of Kanter (Collins setback didn’t help either) as he was routinely getting blown by in space. But then again I blame Olshey. He knew they wanted to run Boylens scheme (Which is uber aggressive and relies on pressuring the ballhandler) yet still brought back Kanter and Melo? So dumb.
 
When Nate got Fired it seemed like there was an uprising and players just gave up and it seems like if not for Dame and maybe others this team would have done the same this season. I mean cause we know Nurk was like i am outta here if Stotts stays and looks like Jones was the same too so thank god NeO saw that and fired Stotts.
 

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