Evan Turner and Al-Farouq Aminu

[RonBrewer]

Is it any surprise that one year after their stint in Portland that they are both out of the league? Yet both were key pieces we placed around Dame and played significant roles here.

There are a couple of others that got minutes here that don't get shit anywhere else.

I like our roster much better today. Still need more pieces but kind of hard to believe those guys were big players for us.

 

[tykendo]

They were great guys, but their games were just so so.

 

[RonBrewer]

They were great guys, but their games were just so so.

Agreed. But both tried to get "Theirs" as soon as they got into the game. Decent defenders but not good offensively.

 

[Tince]

Is it any surprise that one year after their stint in Portland that they are both out of the league? Yet both were key pieces we placed around Dame and played significant roles here.

There are a couple of others that got minutes here that don't get shit anywhere else.

I like our roster much better today. Still need more pieces but kind of hard to believe those guys were big players for us.

Not a huge surprise. The big surprise was always how many people thought the team should've had more success despite having two fringe NBA players in their starting line up.

Can't say it enough: The WCF run with those two and Kanter playing meaningful minutes is mind-blowing.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Dame has drug some shit teams to the playoffs.

 

[Eli Vance]

We lost defense when we lost these guys. Including Harkless. We fell from a WCF to first round and out the next year. There's one in the win column for Stotts.

 

[andalusian]

Yup, stots proved he could coach defense if you gave him the roster with these guys. He was not the problem

 

[Cugel]

not to mention Crabbe Nards Biggie (rip). neil fucked this team over with those huge contracts and Joe is still feeling it. neil was a horrible GM. fucking slash and burn of this team. all his fault. you trade cj after the mip award when value is sky high to build around dame

 

[BoomChakaLaka]

Not a huge surprise. The big surprise was always how many people thought the team should've had more success despite having two fringe NBA players in their starting line up.

Can't say it enough: The WCF run with those two and Kanter playing meaningful minutes is mind-blowing.

It’s a team sport

 

[BoomChakaLaka]

not to mention Crabbe Nards Biggie (rip). neil fucked this team over with those huge contracts and Joe is still feeling it. neil was a horrible GM. fucking slash and burn of this team. all his fault. you trade cj after the mip award when value is sky high to build around dame

 

[Predator]

Al Farouq destroyed his knee, so that’s not really an accurate representation.

As you’ll recall, he was basically entrenched in the lineup for us while Mo Harkless (still in the league) was constantly having his minutes toyed with.

But yeah, it’s rather interesting some of the scrubs Dame has pulled along.

 

[julius]

Yup, stots proved he could coach defense if you gave him the roster with these guys. He was not the problem

He wasn't the MAIN problem, but he was a problem.

 

[bobf]

Is it any surprise that one year after their stint in Portland that they are both out of the league? Yet both were key pieces we placed around Dame and played significant roles here.

There are a couple of others that got minutes here that don't get shit anywhere else.

I like our roster much better today. Still need more pieces but kind of hard to believe those guys were big players for us.

Turner wasn’t good. Al Farouq I liked and do not think he was a “fringe NBA player”. His injury when he left the Blazers did him in.

 

[Wade Garrett]

Turner and Aminu were light years better than the best of roco & norm, which is why Joe C. ridding us of them was a delightful move.

 

[Freshtown]

Aminu would still be in the league if not for injuries. But to your larger point, I agree.

 

[THE HCP]

Is it any surprise that one year after their stint in Portland that they are both out of the league? Yet both were key pieces we placed around Dame and played significant roles here.

There are a couple of others that got minutes here that don't get shit anywhere else.

I like our roster much better today. Still need more pieces but kind of hard to believe those guys were big players for us.

I think it shows that those squads has some pretty good chemistry when you look back on it. Side note, I strongly disagree that our roster now is better. No sir.

 

[riverman]

Evan Turner was hired as an assistant coach with the Celtics by Brad Stevens....he has a really high basketball IQ and was just a poor fit with Stotts 3 pt shooting offense..his defense was really good though....he wasn't a scorer. ET never really fit that team but without him they wouldn't have made the WCF....him and Hoodie were a big part of that push. Aminu was injured before the finals and couldn't play anymore or since....he's been concentrating on basketball africa and has a big role in developing an African league...it's how he'll end his career.

 

[Scalma]

Yup, stots proved he could coach defense if you gave him the roster with these guys. He was not the problem

Stotts was given an all nba defender and managed to make the defense worse than the year prior.

 

[riverman]

Stotts was given an all nba defender and managed to make the defense worse than the year prior.

Stotts was given 179 different players to try and assemble a core...still made the playoffs patching rosters together...at times with injuries using 20 different starting lineups through one season to try to find one that clicked.....it was the roster period...and injuries to the guys who could fill those roles. At any rate, that chapter is in the books. He did manage to have a top ten defense when he had a talented starting lineup...then Wes went down. Nobody was going to look good with Hezonja and Tolliver playing big minutes

 

[Scalma]

Stotts was given 179 different players to try and assemble a core...still made the playoffs patching rosters together

More like Dame made.

 

[andalusian]

Stotts was given an all nba defender and managed to make the defense worse than the year prior.

Not sure what you are referring to, please be specific - as you might mean something else than what I infer. What player, what year?

 

[riverman]

More like Dame made.

Dame was hobbled when we made the WCF...that was CJ, Hoodie and Turner that made that happen..Dame did not have it going that playoff series....CJ beat Denver in the 4 OTsemi finals.

 

[Scalma]

Not sure what you are referring to, please be specific - as you might mean something else than what I infer. What player, what year?

Covington in 2020. They finished 29th in defense that season, lower than the previous year.

 

[riverman]

Covington in 2020. They finished 29th in defense that season, lower than the previous year.

and last season Chauncey...a defensive minded champion benched Roco for gambling on defense and leaving Nurk on an island.....sometimes players drop off and refuse to buy into string defense...Roco is a good example of a guy who did that.....he had glimpses of his old self but he wasn't a rebounding rim protector like Chief was next to Nurk. Norm wasn't impressing me either on that side of the ball. We're so much better now that both those guys are gone in my view.

 

[Tince]

More like Dame made.

I'm curious how you determine when the player gets credit for their own success/failure and when the coach is responsible.

 

[julius]

and last season Chauncey...a defensive minded champion benched Roco for gambling on defense and leaving Nurk on an island.....sometimes players drop off and refuse to buy into string defense...Roco is a good example of a guy who did that.....he had glimpses of his old self but he wasn't a rebounding rim protector like Chief was next to Nurk. Norm wasn't impressing me either on that side of the ball. We're so much better now that both those guys are gone in my view.

There were rumblings that RoCo was very much a malcontent last year. Plus, he was phoning it in the majority of time he was a Blazer.

 

[Scalma]

I'm curious how you determine when the player gets credit for their own success/failure and when the coach is responsible.

When I see the offensive strategy with him on the court. It was no different than McMillan with Roy.

 

[andalusian]

Covington in 2020. They finished 29th in defense that season, lower than the previous year.

So, a single player is responsible for that. How, in that case, do we factor the fact that Covington's DRTG was better on the Portland roster under TS than under Chauncy (and a shit ton better offensively)?

Please, the argument is that if you give TS a proper roster with multiple, long, athletic defensive wings, he can coach defense. Substituting ET, Harkless and Aminu with Covington/Ariza, Melo and a post injury Rodney Hood is not the same kind of roster, and if you disagree with that assessment on the defensive prowess of the roster, I really don't know what to tell you.

Covington is a good team / help defender on a roster that includes multiple good options. He is not the answer to anything if he is the only and best wing defender. I am willing to bet that if you substitute either one of Harkless, ET or Aminu with Covington on that 2018-19 team and the defense would still have been good enough. I am also willing to bet that you put either one of Harkless, ET or Aminu next to Melo and Rodney Hood post injury as your athletic wing defenders, and the defense would suck.

 

[THE HCP]

I'm curious how you determine when the player gets credit for their own success/failure and when the coach is responsible.

Amen to this.

 

[Scalma]

the argument is that if you give TS a proper roster with multiple, long, athletic defensive wings, he can coach defense. .

So could any other coach, it's not really saying much. And in the 4 years he had Chief and Moe on the wings, they only finished top 15 in defense once.