Game Thread GAME# 30: BLAZERS @ SUNS - FEBRUARY 22, 2021 - MONDAY, 6:00, NBCSNW

[twobullz]

I still don’t understand why Neil can’t bring in another big on a 10 day.

My understanding is Tomorrow is the first day a team can sign a player to a 10 day contract this year, unless they received a hardship waiver.

 

[BonesJones]

Regress in comparison to our regular season offense? To previous playoffs? In comparison to other teams? I need to know what you'd like me to look up since you don't like to provide data.

I would expect our playoff offense to be worse than our regular season offense. That would be logical.

Look up our regular season ORTG compared to 30 regular seasons then look up our playoff ORTG compared to 16 playoff teams.

 

[AldoTrapani]

https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest...son-he-returned-trail-blazers-free-agency?amp


Well here you go guys. Blazers organization doesn’t give a shit if Melo is fucking up, there here to protect his legacy. That’s what they promised him. Feel bad for Nassir Little

 

[THE HCP]

We lose by 20 tonight FAMS!

I didn’t see the final score, was I close?

 

[MickZagger]

Nas Little should be starting. Give the guy minutes! Been saying it since that Milwaukee game.

Jones Jr. is well suited for coming off the bench and bringing energy.

 

[Darkwebs]

I didn’t see the final score, was I close?

 

[THE HCP]

More on the positives. Little shows ability to create his own shot and continues to shoot the '3' at a very high percentage.

Against the 15th man on the Suns roster. He BETTER! Love seeing him out their playing well, but that 4th quarter, like the Milwaukee game was a glorified summer pickup game at the park.

 

[Darkwebs]

Nas Little should be starting. Give the guy minutes! Been saying it since that Milwaukee game.

Jones Jr. is well suited for coming off the bench and bringing energy.

No doubt that Nas should get more playing time but with Stotts............

 

[THE HCP]

I just hate to see Dame finally get mvp traction like a real push I mean and this shit happens. Feel bad for the dude

Bro he wasn’t getting traction on shit! Don’t waste your feelings on Dame. My boy will be just fine.

 

[AldoTrapani]

Against the 15th man on the Suns roster. He BETTER! Love seeing him out their playing well, but that 4th quarter, like the Milwaukee game was a glorified summer pickup game at the park.

You gotta play him more fam!! Hood gives you nothing out there and will be gone next year anyways

 

[THE HCP]

I say you mix it up. Start Nas tomorrow and see what he can do out there. Our boys are gonna be dead tired on this back to back.

 

[THE HCP]

You gotta play him more fam!! Hood gives you nothing out there and will be gone next year anyways

Nobody is questioning that, they just need to be realistic with him putting up big numbers against scrubs. Guys are barely in the league.

 

[blazerkor]

I didn’t see the final score, was I close?

Um I think it's been established that you weren't close unless you consider someone who said the game would be competitive and we'd lose by eight but they scored their last six in free throws with us trying to make a last ditch effort... I think that's how it work? Um? Yeah maybe you were closer than a guy, like let's say me, that said we would, you know, win.

 

[AldoTrapani]

Bro he wasn’t getting traction on shit! Don’t waste your feelings on Dame. My boy will be just fine.

Man he really was getting hella love and Lakers losing was perfect timing. Dame deserves the best

 

[stampedehero]

Trail Blazers vs. Suns - Box Score - February 22, 2021 - ESPN My feelings were stronger than imagined

 

[jlprk]

You gotta play him more fam!! Hood gives you nothing out there and will be gone next year anyways

Man he really was getting hella love and Lakers losing was perfect timing. Dame deserves the best

Do not kiss up to HCP. You are better than that.

 

[SIeepwalker]

Play Little before garbage time you fucking dumbass

 

[kjironman1]

Play Little before garbage time you fucking dumbass

He came in with the rotational guys in both halves. The fact that it was "Garbage Time" with the Starters in the game in the third quarter was not really a choice.

 

[BonesJones]

He came in with the rotational guys in both halves. The fact that it was "Garbage Time" with the Starters in the game in the third quarter was not really a choice.

He played 4 minutes over the first 3 quarters...

 

[Labinot41]

Wtf was that last night? Major lack of effort and terrible body language

 

[mook]

I understand giving our vets (ie, Melo, Covington, Jones and Hood) enough rope to either climb out or hang themselves.
But at some point you have to:
1. Recognize that Dame needs some help out there scoring. Against a really talented offense like the Suns have, Gary Trent isn't going to get it done.
2. Look at the only forward on our team who has put up a 30 point night this season

30 minutes of that rope you've been giving to these four guys needs to get tossed over to Nassir Little.

Here's the per 36 minute comparison:

Rk                    Age  G GS  MP  FG  FGA  FG% 3PA  3P%  2P% FTA  FT% TRB PTSV
3     Carmelo Anthony  36 29  3 730 6.5 16.5 .391 6.3 .375 .401 3.9 .838 4.9 18.6
4       Nassir Little  20 15  2 162 6.0 10.9 .551 5.6 .560 .542 3.8 .882 6.9 18.4
5          Gary Trent  22 28 15 860 6.4 15.0 .426 8.8 .431 .419 1.6 .744 2.5 17.8
10      Derrick Jones  23 26 25 703 3.9  8.0 .487 3.4 .284 .640 2.7 .585 6.5 10.3
11        Rodney Hood  28 25  5 472 4.0 10.7 .371 4.0 .288 .420 0.6 .625 3.2  9.5
13   Robert Covington  30 28 28 876 3.1  8.3 .373 5.8 .340 .450 0.8 .850 7.2  8.8

On the box score, Nas is out-producing all of the guys.

He's basically producing Melo's points on 6 fewer shots, and Trent's on 4 fewer shots.

I just....I just don't get why he's not getting just as much leeway as any of these guys.

 

[kjironman1]

He played 4 minutes over the first 3 quarters...

Oh i agree. Nas needs to see more time but it was over before the starters were being subbed last night. Now if you want him to start then that is another option. Lets hope he can stay healthy longer than one or two games.

 

[illmatic99]

Some really cringeworthy comments on the Woj pod with Melo this week about what the Blazers promised him. Apparently he had multiple offers this past offseason for more money and decided to come back because he was blown away by Neil's comments about how he'd protect Melo's legacy. We all know that translates to shots and minutes, apparently even at the detriment of the team. Also, Neil thinks of Melo's impact similar to Billups' during his tenure with the Clips -- made me nearly crash my car into a mile marker on the highway while hearing this on my drive yesterday.

So we're stuck essentially. Melo will get 25-30 mpg and free reign to do what he wants on offense because he's a future HOF'er and came to Portland for cheap, while we have a better player itching to get more PT behind him. I don't get it.

 

[TBpup]

I understand giving our vets (ie, Melo, Covington, Jones and Hood) enough rope to either climb out or hang themselves.
But at some point you have to:
1. Recognize that Dame needs some help out there scoring. Against a really talented offense like the Suns have, Gary Trent isn't going to get it done.
2. Look at the only forward on our team who has put up a 30 point night this season

30 minutes of that rope you've been giving to these four guys needs to get tossed over to Nassir Little.

Here's the per 36 minute comparison:

Rk                    Age  G GS  MP  FG  FGA  FG% 3PA  3P%  2P% FTA  FT% TRB PTSV
3     Carmelo Anthony  36 29  3 730 6.5 16.5 .391 6.3 .375 .401 3.9 .838 4.9 18.6
4       Nassir Little  20 15  2 162 6.0 10.9 .551 5.6 .560 .542 3.8 .882 6.9 18.4
5          Gary Trent  22 28 15 860 6.4 15.0 .426 8.8 .431 .419 1.6 .744 2.5 17.8
10      Derrick Jones  23 26 25 703 3.9  8.0 .487 3.4 .284 .640 2.7 .585 6.5 10.3
11        Rodney Hood  28 25  5 472 4.0 10.7 .371 4.0 .288 .420 0.6 .625 3.2  9.5
13   Robert Covington  30 28 28 876 3.1  8.3 .373 5.8 .340 .450 0.8 .850 7.2  8.8

On the box score, Nas is out-producing all of the guys.

He's basically producing Melo's points on 6 fewer shots, and Trent's on 4 fewer shots.

I just....I just don't get why he's not getting just as much leeway as any of these guys.

Look at the gap/chasm/continental divide in terms of efficiency. .551/.560/.882. All of that is without the benefit of playing with Dame for the vast majority of the time. Most of it may be in 'garbage' minutes, but it is also with Ant/Elleby at the PG spot. That may make it even more impressive.

 

[Tince]

Look up our regular season ORTG compared to 30 regular seasons then look up our playoff ORTG compared to 16 playoff teams.

I took the 2018-19 playoff run (our largest sample size). Like I expected, in general offensive ratings go down in the playoff - this makes logical sense. Portland's offensive rating did decrease, but by less than the average playoff team. Of course, Portland was missing Nurk, which probably hurt that as well.



Edit: Also of note, but no surprise. Teams with 0 all-stars saw the greatest change in offensive rating from regular season to playoffs. Teams with 2 all-stars saw their offensive rating decrease by 40% less than teams with 1 all-star.

In 2019, of the 8 teams in the playoff with only one all-star, the Blazers were right in the middle in terms of offensive rating change.

Lots of problems with a sample size this small, but nothing to indicate Portland saw an abnormal change in their offensive rating in comparison to the league averages.

 

[James lamphear]

For how long? I'll be your accountability partner.

It was just for the night I be ready to go for Denver game. I was pretty frustrated about they play tonight.

 

[James lamphear]

I understand giving our vets (ie, Melo, Covington, Jones and Hood) enough rope to either climb out or hang themselves.
But at some point you have to:
1. Recognize that Dame needs some help out there scoring. Against a really talented offense like the Suns have, Gary Trent isn't going to get it done.
2. Look at the only forward on our team who has put up a 30 point night this season

30 minutes of that rope you've been giving to these four guys needs to get tossed over to Nassir Little.

Here's the per 36 minute comparison:

Rk                    Age  G GS  MP  FG  FGA  FG% 3PA  3P%  2P% FTA  FT% TRB PTSV
3     Carmelo Anthony  36 29  3 730 6.5 16.5 .391 6.3 .375 .401 3.9 .838 4.9 18.6
4       Nassir Little  20 15  2 162 6.0 10.9 .551 5.6 .560 .542 3.8 .882 6.9 18.4
5          Gary Trent  22 28 15 860 6.4 15.0 .426 8.8 .431 .419 1.6 .744 2.5 17.8
10      Derrick Jones  23 26 25 703 3.9  8.0 .487 3.4 .284 .640 2.7 .585 6.5 10.3
11        Rodney Hood  28 25  5 472 4.0 10.7 .371 4.0 .288 .420 0.6 .625 3.2  9.5
13   Robert Covington  30 28 28 876 3.1  8.3 .373 5.8 .340 .450 0.8 .850 7.2  8.8

On the box score, Nas is out-producing all of the guys.

He's basically producing Melo's points on 6 fewer shots, and Trent's on 4 fewer shots.

I just....I just don't get why he's not getting just as much leeway as any of these guys.

Stotts has never gave young players a lot leeway he kind telling them they haven't earn that right yet. Even though if he allowed them play through there mistakes and learn from them he Yanks them. Olshey kind ties Stotts hand when he tells players that going start or like Melo we want to protect your legecy. Problem is Stotts is on the same boat with Olshey that's bad business and usually comes back to bite them. In the 4th quarter Little was the best player on the court even though he score against there end of bench guys he did pretty easy. Stotts going to loose good young guys just how he handles them with there playing time. To me it's probably time for this organization to cut ties with him it really don't matter what Dame thinks about him.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

View attachment 37112

Haha. There might only be one. CJ might like running his own team; having two great defenders to back him up, East Coast exposure!

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

My understanding is Tomorrow is the first day a team can sign a player to a 10 day contract this year, unless they received a hardship waiver.

I don't know. According to this ten day contract tracker; there have been guys signed as early as January 4, 2021
https://www.hoopsrumors.com/10daytracker

 

[THE HCP]

I understand giving our vets (ie, Melo, Covington, Jones and Hood) enough rope to either climb out or hang themselves.
But at some point you have to:
1. Recognize that Dame needs some help out there scoring. Against a really talented offense like the Suns have, Gary Trent isn't going to get it done.
2. Look at the only forward on our team who has put up a 30 point night this season

30 minutes of that rope you've been giving to these four guys needs to get tossed over to Nassir Little.

Here's the per 36 minute comparison:

Rk                    Age  G GS  MP  FG  FGA  FG% 3PA  3P%  2P% FTA  FT% TRB PTSV
3     Carmelo Anthony  36 29  3 730 6.5 16.5 .391 6.3 .375 .401 3.9 .838 4.9 18.6
4       Nassir Little  20 15  2 162 6.0 10.9 .551 5.6 .560 .542 3.8 .882 6.9 18.4
5          Gary Trent  22 28 15 860 6.4 15.0 .426 8.8 .431 .419 1.6 .744 2.5 17.8
10      Derrick Jones  23 26 25 703 3.9  8.0 .487 3.4 .284 .640 2.7 .585 6.5 10.3
11        Rodney Hood  28 25  5 472 4.0 10.7 .371 4.0 .288 .420 0.6 .625 3.2  9.5
13   Robert Covington  30 28 28 876 3.1  8.3 .373 5.8 .340 .450 0.8 .850 7.2  8.8

On the box score, Nas is out-producing all of the guys.

He's basically producing Melo's points on 6 fewer shots, and Trent's on 4 fewer shots.

I just....I just don't get why he's not getting just as much leeway as any of these guys.

Do all these numbers factor in WHO he is scoring on? He was playing against a retired plumbers team in a church league during the 4th quarter. He BETTER be putting those numbers up FAMS.