e_blazer
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There's an excellent article in The Athletic by Jason Quick. Yeah, I know, a bunch of you just tuned out, but the story is worth reading since it gives a lot of insight as to what's been going on behind the scenes that led to the Blazers' recent winning streak. If you have a subscription, read the story. If not, here's a brief synopsis:
As Quick tells it, the Blazers' turnaround involved four meetings and it, "...started shortly after Christmas, on a practice day at the team’s facility. Billups was mad at Henderson and called him into his office."
"Billups played a collection of film clips in which Henderson was torched on defense.
“This is unacceptable,” Billups remembers telling Henderson. “This is so bad … at this point, you aren’t even competing!”"
Billups warned Scoot that he was going to start not playing because of his failings on defense. Henderson had been totally unaware of how bad it was. “It didn’t even seem like it was me, watching myself on defense. It was like, bro, that’s not even you on the clips. I know you can do better.” Henderson resolved to play better D, lit up a practice immediately after, and by Jan. 14 against Brooklyn, delivered his best game of the season. His defensive effort has been markedly better in the past few weeks.
The second meeting was with Shaedon Sharpe and the topic was again crappy defense. Chauncey told him that there would be consequences if he didn't start playing better defense. “What I can’t allow to happen on my watch is Shaedon to become a 22-point-per-game scorer, and not care about giving up 25." Not much changed in the next several games. Shaedon continued to cruise on the defensive end of the court. That led to a second meeting with Billups where he was told that he was being moved to the bench. Since then, Shaedon has been playing better D, but it's still a work in progress.
The fourth meeting was a team meeting to discuss holding each other accountable on the defensive end of the court. Billups had been watching a Golden State game where Payton blew a defensive assignment. Hield and Schröder got on his case about it, Payton acknowledged the mistake and then everyone just moved on without any hard feelings.
This was what Billups wanted for his team. The next morning, before playing the Clippers, Billups showed the Blazers the interaction between Payton, Hield and Schröder. He then went around the room asking each player if they could accept being called out by a teammate when they made a mistake. They all said that they could. Since then, the talking on defense has been better and the team's defense has taken immense strides.
It's an oversimplification to say that these four meetings are what's led to the turnaround, but they do show an intentionality on Billups' part to emphasize defense and to demand the best out of his players. Moving Shaedon and Scoot to the second unit has caused them both to play better. It seems to me that Ant also got the message as his work on the defensive end is looking better, at least to my eye. Most importantly, this team's energy seems to be ignited by playing great defense. Those steals and blocks at the end of the game last night, many of which led to runouts or lobs for easy baskets, were a joy to watch and you could see on the players' faces how much they were enjoying that style of play. I don't know how long this hot streak lasts or whether making the playoffs is in the cards, but I do believe that the team has finally found its identity and that is based on playing great defense.
As Quick tells it, the Blazers' turnaround involved four meetings and it, "...started shortly after Christmas, on a practice day at the team’s facility. Billups was mad at Henderson and called him into his office."
"Billups played a collection of film clips in which Henderson was torched on defense.
“This is unacceptable,” Billups remembers telling Henderson. “This is so bad … at this point, you aren’t even competing!”"
Billups warned Scoot that he was going to start not playing because of his failings on defense. Henderson had been totally unaware of how bad it was. “It didn’t even seem like it was me, watching myself on defense. It was like, bro, that’s not even you on the clips. I know you can do better.” Henderson resolved to play better D, lit up a practice immediately after, and by Jan. 14 against Brooklyn, delivered his best game of the season. His defensive effort has been markedly better in the past few weeks.
The second meeting was with Shaedon Sharpe and the topic was again crappy defense. Chauncey told him that there would be consequences if he didn't start playing better defense. “What I can’t allow to happen on my watch is Shaedon to become a 22-point-per-game scorer, and not care about giving up 25." Not much changed in the next several games. Shaedon continued to cruise on the defensive end of the court. That led to a second meeting with Billups where he was told that he was being moved to the bench. Since then, Shaedon has been playing better D, but it's still a work in progress.
The fourth meeting was a team meeting to discuss holding each other accountable on the defensive end of the court. Billups had been watching a Golden State game where Payton blew a defensive assignment. Hield and Schröder got on his case about it, Payton acknowledged the mistake and then everyone just moved on without any hard feelings.
This was what Billups wanted for his team. The next morning, before playing the Clippers, Billups showed the Blazers the interaction between Payton, Hield and Schröder. He then went around the room asking each player if they could accept being called out by a teammate when they made a mistake. They all said that they could. Since then, the talking on defense has been better and the team's defense has taken immense strides.
It's an oversimplification to say that these four meetings are what's led to the turnaround, but they do show an intentionality on Billups' part to emphasize defense and to demand the best out of his players. Moving Shaedon and Scoot to the second unit has caused them both to play better. It seems to me that Ant also got the message as his work on the defensive end is looking better, at least to my eye. Most importantly, this team's energy seems to be ignited by playing great defense. Those steals and blocks at the end of the game last night, many of which led to runouts or lobs for easy baskets, were a joy to watch and you could see on the players' faces how much they were enjoying that style of play. I don't know how long this hot streak lasts or whether making the playoffs is in the cards, but I do believe that the team has finally found its identity and that is based on playing great defense.
