Elephant in the room (part 2)

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Carlito

Carlito

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Has anyone noticed how bad Lopez has been vs good-decent centers? I'm talking defensively. Yes Lopez is better then Hickson but how much? Think about the beatings he's taken just of late. Pek, Bynum (Freeland save our ass), Howard, Hawes, Plumlee, Drummond, and that's just in recent weeks.

I thought this guy was decent on defense?
 
Carlito said:
Has anyone noticed how bad Lopez has been vs good-decent centers? I'm talking defensively. Yes Lopez is better then Hickson but how much? Think about the beatings he's taken just of late. Pek, Bynum (Freeland save our ass), Howard, Hawes, Plumlee, Drummond, and that's just in recent weeks.

I thought this guy was decent on defense?
Click to expand...

Bynum was scoreless in the second half, Lopez still had a double double against Howard, Drummond actually didn't perform as good as his season average.

Thanks for the troll though
 
I commend you, Carlito. You at least slept on it before unleashing this. :cheers:
 
We also rely on Lopez one vs one on good centers and let them take contested shots vs him so we don't give up open 3s. Lopez is not the problem defensively its our inability to stop penetration, which is the wings job to get in front of their man, and our bad help D. Both of those we have shown the ability to stop late in games so I'm confident we will improve in both areas heading into the post season.
Making threads after a bad loss on the road in a BB sitation after 4 games in 5 nights when the team had no energy in the first half is laughable. Not a bad question or thread but the timing of it is ridiculous.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 
Rhal said:
We also rely on Lopez one vs one on good centers and let them take contested shots vs him so we don't give up open 3s. Lopez is not the problem defensively its our inability to stop penetration, which is the wings job to get in front of their man, and our bad help D. Both of those we have shown the ability to stop late in games so I'm confident we will improve in both areas heading into the post season.
Making threads after a bad loss on the road in a BB sitation after 4 games in 5 nights when the team had no energy in the first half is laughable. Not a bad question or thread but the timing of it is ridiculous.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Considering the source of the OP, it almost seems like the ONLY time this would happen.
 
Wether we won last night or lost, Lopez looks bad on defense. Don't let wins fool u.

And mag Freeland stopped Bynum in the second half not Lopez. Be fair.
 
Strenuus said:
Considering the source of the OP, it almost seems like the ONLY time this would happen.
Click to expand...

Yep I know iv never minded mix... I mean mr angry Apple, and his consistent negative nancy attitude though. I just learned to block him when the Blazers are on a losing streak or I'm inebriated.
Ill still reply if I think its a valid question or concern while calling him out at the same time based on why I think he posted it.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 
Carlito said:
Wether we won last night or lost, Lopez looks bad on defense. Don't let wins fool u.

And mag Freeland stopped Bynum in the second half not Lopez. Be fair.
Click to expand...

Yet when he was being bad during the cleveland game, or other games you bring up, you don't say anything. Just when the loss happens. Not surprising.

Don't let losses fool "you".
 
It is hard to deny Lopez did not struggle last night. 2 Points and 5 Rebounds versus 30 and 9 for Pekovic is not acceptable. However, a few additional things should be noted, one failure to control the guards really hurt last night. Mo fouled out and Lillard had 5 fouls. The second and biggest issue was LA's inability to cover Love on the perimeter.

The good news is we won't face many bigs with Love's range this season so LA's biggest defensive weakness is not as big.

Bad night all around lets just hope it was fatigue.
 
It wasn't his best, that's for sure. But I'm not sure it's an elephant in the room. It's maybe a sliver in your little toe that you can't find, but know it's there. And most of the time, it doesn't bother you since the vast majority of NBA centers aren't offensive players.
 
Oden always seemed to do his best when he got to play against actual 7-footers, who would accept a bang without flopping, who would hold position and play slow, post-up defense. I think traditional centers, if they have offensive ability, will be at their best against other traditional centers.

Lopez is okay at defense, but his strengths are on help defense against driving guards, and boxing out big guys. One-on-one defense against offensively capable centers isn't his primary strength. Since there are so few traditional centers that this doesn't show much, but a Pekovic will score on Lopez without a double-team.
 
Last night was an aberration. the 4th game in five nights all on the road, that's a hell of a lot of fatigue setting in and that's exactly what I saw. Lazy defense leading to stupid fouls, labored running and hands on knees. This is going to be corrected very easily and in short order with rest. And lucky for the Blazers, that's exactly what they get.
 
I think there are very few guys who can stop the top offensive centers one on one. I understand that our philosophy is not to give up threes so we never double. But it seems we could identify certain centers who don't pass well or certain centers who don't normally pass once they put the ball on the floor and we could double down occasionally. Or when we are playing a team that has one guy with no offense (Cory Brewer?) and let his man help out. Or just double for two consecutive possessions randomly; anything so we wouldn't be so predictable on defense.
 
Carlito said:
Has anyone noticed how bad Lopez has been vs good-decent centers? I'm talking defensively. Yes Lopez is better then Hickson but how much? Think about the beatings he's taken just of late. Pek, Bynum (Freeland save our ass), Howard, Hawes, Plumlee, Drummond, and that's just in recent weeks.

I thought this guy was decent on defense?
Click to expand...

One thing worth mentioning is that due to the lack of our frontcourt depth, Lopez is forced to play cautiously much of the time in order to avoid fouls.

And while I applaud the NBA for emphasizing not calling fouls when the defender is straight up, there are still too many ticky tack fouls that guide the outcome of the game.
 
Last edited:
BlazerCaravan said:
Oden always seemed to do his best when he got to play against actual 7-footers, who would accept a bang without flopping, who would hold position and play slow, post-up defense. I think traditional centers, if they have offensive ability, will be at their best against other traditional centers.

Lopez is okay at defense, but his strengths are on help defense against driving guards, and boxing out big guys. One-on-one defense against offensively capable centers isn't his primary strength. Since there are so few traditional centers that this doesn't show much, but a Pekovic will score on Lopez without a double-team.
Click to expand...

Yeah Lopez isn't a good one on one defender. I noticed that Aldridge even tried to switch for Lopez.
 
Further said:
Last night was an aberration. the 4th game in five nights all on the road, that's a hell of a lot of fatigue setting in and that's exactly what I saw. Lazy defense leading to stupid fouls, labored running and hands on knees. This is going to be corrected very easily and in short order with rest. And lucky for the Blazers, that's exactly what they get.
Click to expand...

This is true as well. Lopez proved that he helped on Howard well. He was disrupting his game all day
 
Here is the true "elephant in the room" It's you mixum....

http://www.82games.com/1314/1314POR.HTM

Lopez is only a -1.8 against the players he faces, hardly getting abused.... But lets take account how important he is to the club. On the court, he is a +8.4, off +5.0 (+3.4).
 
Despite all the awesomenss of this season, Lopez is just an above average big man with little back up. Good bigs get him in foul trouble early which effects his play, if we got a little more depth at C this would be a non issue.
 
Hickson and Juwan Howard were better. But Lopez has the potential to be the next Bill Walton. I like long hair.
 
Lillard, Matthews, Batum, LMA w/ Hickson = .402

Lillard, Matthews, Batum, LMA w/ Lopez = .815

Enough said. Not like four starters had a lot of growth in their game in the off-season. Elephant is a folded napkin.
 
espn_hall_of_famer said:
Lillard, Matthews, Batum, LMA w/ Hickson = .402

Lillard, Matthews, Batum, LMA w/ Lopez = .815

Enough said. Not like four starters had a lot of growth in their game in the off-season. Elephant is a folded napkin.
Click to expand...

Problem is LA and Matthews are both have a career year so far. Lillard FG% is down but his overall game is also improved.

Also can't forget the bench dropping Babbitt and Smith is enough for 5 extra wins alone.

Yes the team has done a lot better but the team still needs one more big.
 
cmeese47 said:
Problem is LA and Matthews are both have a career year so far. Lillard FG% is down but his overall game is also improved.

Also can't forget the bench dropping Babbitt and Smith is enough for 5 extra wins alone.

Yes the team has done a lot better but the team still needs one more big.
Click to expand...

Why don't you make one of your infamous "petition" threads to get this team back on the right track?

http://www.iamatrailblazersfan.com/...d/158/aff/488/aft/5605/afv/topic/Default.aspx
 
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