Impressions on preseason so far

[PtldPlatypus]

Actually it's his 3rd year, and he only played 58 and 43 games in those seasons. He's 22.

Only technically his 3rd year because (like Oden) injuries kept him from playing at all the year he was drafted. It is his 4th year in the league.

 

[Scalma]

Only technically his 3rd year because (like Oden) injuries kept him from playing at all the year he was drafted. It is his 4th year in the league.

Considering the context of the conversation, I’d say the year of development he missed is pretty significant. He can, and should, still be considered a young player. Guy doesn’t even have two seasons worth of games under his belt and is the same age as Obi Toppin.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Considering the context of the conversation, I’d say the year of development he missed is pretty significant. He can, and should, still be considered a young player. Guy doesn’t even have two seasons worth of games under his belt and is the same age as Obi Toppin.

Zach basically missed all of last season. Not much different than Giles missing his first.

They're both young players. They both have injury histories. They both have a lot to prove before either can be considered a reliably productive rotation player. Giles has first ups this year, and personally I expect him to do something worthwhile with his opportunity. Collins is getting Wally Pipped.

 

[Scalma]

Zach basically missed all of last season. Not much different than Giles missing his first.

They're both young players. They both have injury histories. They both have a lot to prove before either can be considered a reliably productive rotation player. Giles has first ups this year, and personally I expect him to do something worthwhile with his opportunity. Collins is getting Wally Pipped.

well yeah, I don’t think anyone was saying Collins wasn’t a young player as well.

I still think Collins and Giles should play minutes together though. They compliment each others games, at least on paper. There’s no reason, short of Giles pricing himself out of Portland’s price range, they couldn’t both be part of the plans beyond this season.

 

[Hoopguru]

well yeah, I don’t think anyone was saying Collins wasn’t a young player as well.

I still think Collins and Giles should play minutes together though. They compliment each others games, at least on paper. There’s no reason, short of Giles pricing himself out of Portland’s price range, they couldn’t both be part of the plans beyond this season.

I think Zack could play 5 and harry the 5.

 

[Hoopguru]

Im vary moderate in my excitement about the team finishing near the top of the West.
We've always been live and die by the 3, Im hoping that changes but with Dame and CJ leading the team Im not sure it will change that much?

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Im vary moderate in my excitement about the team finishing near the top of the West.
We've always been live and die by the 3, Im hoping that changes but with Dame and CJ leading the team Im not sure it will change that much?

Top 2 offense, bottom 2 defense.
We never really "died" by the 3. We died by bad defense. That has been addressed.
Hence, the excitement.

 

[blazerkor]

Top 2 offense, bottom 2 defense.
We never really "died" by the 3. We died by bad defense. That has been addressed.
Hence, the excitement.

I feel like with our two weakest perimeter defenders playing the most minutes on the team, we'll still struggle to defend the three ball, which will impact other parts of our defense too. At the same time without those two we might not be one of the best offenses in the league. It's a tough situation but I hope you're right and our new personnel covers for our same old weaknesses.

 

[B-Roy]

Top 2 offense, bottom 2 defense.
We never really "died" by the 3. We died by bad defense. That has been addressed.
Hence, the excitement.

in the regular season sure, but the playoffs are different, and time and time again our offense gets stalled in the playoffs

 

[Scalma]

in the regular season sure, but the playoffs are different, and time and time again our offense gets stalled in the playoffs

Portland had a top 5 offense in the 2018-19 playoffs.

 

[oldfisherman]

This preseason proves Stotts has more quality tools/players to work with than he has ever had.

Sure each player has his strengths and weaknesses. We would all love to have 14 top 5 two way players, but that is not possible. What we now have is the next best thing. Too many quality players that deserve minutes.

It is up to Stotts to find the right tools/players to get the job done each game. And to get those players working together like a fine tuned machine, rather than playing hero ball.

This should be a very fun season. IF, Stotts gets it right.

 

[wizenheimer]

Top 2 offense, bottom 2 defense.
We never really "died" by the 3. We died by bad defense. That has been addressed.
Hence, the excitement.

Portland was 8th in the NBA in defense in 2018 when they got swept by the Pels. That's a good defense and could very well be the ceiling on this year's team

and were 16th in defense when they made it to the WCF

portland has exited the playoffs in series when their offense has stalled

 

[riverman]

portland has exited the playoffs in series when their offense has stalled

You could replace this with "when the bench was on the court"

 

[JDC]

Derrick Jones' jumper looks improved. Trent and Dame look great. Giles has been the biggest surprise.

A little shocked we are blitzing or VERY hard hedging nearly every ball screen regardless of personnel or where it's on the floor. I understand it's preseason though and I'm sure Terry wants to see as many reps of it as possible. Backside rotations have not been very consistent or well timed. Some good moments though and have looked the best on empty side pnr's with Cov at the nail.

Really hope this is not our base coverage though. It isn't taking advantage of our two best defenders most valuable defensive skills. Nurk's rim protection and Covington's stunts and digs off the ball.

 

[BlayZa]

Giles has been great off a small sample, but he's playing with purpose and hungry to impress - im good with that, i think he'll earn whatever minutes he gets and hopefully will pressure those ahead to maintain their minute share.

good competition for minutes is great for any team, helps build assets and options.

 

[BonesJones]

Derrick Jones' jumper looks improved. Trent and Dame look great. Giles has been the biggest surprise.

A little shocked we are blitzing or VERY hard hedging nearly every ball screen regardless of personnel or where it's on the floor. I understand it preseason though and I'm sure Terry wants to see as many reps of it as possible. Backside rotations have not been very consistent or well timed. Some good moments though and have looked the best on empty side pnr's with Cov at the nail.

Really hope this is not our base coverage though. It isn't taking advantage of our two best defenders most valuable defensive skills. Nurk's rim protection and Covington's stunts and digs off the ball.

Nurkic and Giles look great at hedging IMO. The team needs to fix some aspects of that specific defense and the rotations behind it, but I'm very encouraged!

We shouldnt even gave a base scheme. Run the best defense given our personnel on the floor, the opposition's personnel, as well as time and score. Be unpredictable and keep the offender off-balance while being better situationally and harder to gameplan for. Been asking for it for years, I think Stotts might finally do it!

 

[kjironman1]

Is Blevins really Dames cousin or did I miss a joke somewhere?

 

[Big Dog]

Is Blevins really Dames cousin or did I miss a joke somewhere?

That is correct. He looks like a serviceable player as a 2 way contract player.

 

[kjironman1]

Let's see what the coaches think. I think they'll agree with me.

Yeah I don’t think Giles has actually ever played in a game that “counted”.
Also both have had injuries. Both had season ending injuries as I recall?

 

[kjironman1]

That is correct. He looks like a serviceable player as a 2 way contract player.

Thanks
That’s actually kinda cool no?

 

[tlongII]

Yeah I don’t think Giles has actually ever played in a game that “counted”.
Also both have had injuries. Both had season ending injuries as I recall?

I think most posters are reacting to these 2 preseason games. I think Collins is the better player.

 

[Big Dog]

I think most posters are reacting to these 2 preseason games. I think Collins is the better player.

No matter where Giles ends up fitting in, he's definitely an upgrade over guys like Swanigan, Skal Labisserie or Weyen Gabriel. If he stays healthy I can see him working into being a rotation player.

 

[kjironman1]

I think most posters are reacting to these 2 preseason games. I think Collins is the better player.

I do too at this point. I'm gonna watch how things progress.

 

[Cugel]

I think they start off 10-10, but after that win 2/3 of their games. It's clear they need time. Two new starters = more time to click.

They will continue to be torched by teams that are outstanding from 3. They have not altered the perimeter defense. You can pass faster than a defender can run.

 

[Hoopguru]

Derrick Jones' jumper looks improved. Trent and Dame look great. Giles has been the biggest surprise.

A little shocked we are blitzing or VERY hard hedging nearly every ball screen regardless of personnel or where it's on the floor. I understand it's preseason though and I'm sure Terry wants to see as many reps of it as possible. Backside rotations have not been very consistent or well timed. Some good moments though and have looked the best on empty side pnr's with Cov at the nail.

Really hope this is not our base coverage though. It isn't taking advantage of our two best defenders most valuable defensive skills. Nurk's rim protection and Covington's stunts and digs off the ball.

Id like to see DJ guard the oppositions best scoring wing, including two guard. As an example he should guard Doncic, Butler, Mitchell rather than CJ or Dame.

 

[TBpup]

I think most posters are reacting to these 2 preseason games. I think Collins is the better player.

Perhaps....and yet I think we've all seen things (albeit in 2 pre-season game) that Giles could do that Collins hasn't come close to doing. That would make sense as one of these two was the #1 high school recruit in the country and one was not. From a skills standpoint, Giles seems to have more ability. Both have struggled with missing time on the court. Would be nice to see their max potential when healthy.

 

[Natebishop3]

That is correct. He looks like a serviceable player as a 2 way contract player.

I don't think he looks serviceable at all. He looks like a placeholder. Any time the ball came to him he immediately swung it. I didn't see good defense. He did hit a shot but overall the guy almost looks like a fan that they put out on the floor.

 

[wizenheimer]

Nurkic and Giles look great at hedging IMO. The team needs to fix some aspects of that specific defense and the rotations behind it, but I'm very encouraged!

We shouldnt even gave a base scheme. Run the best defense given our personnel on the floor, the opposition's personnel, as well as time and score. Be unpredictable and keep the offender off-balance while being better situationally and harder to gameplan for. Been asking for it for years, I think Stotts might finally do it!

the hedging on screens and picks by Portland's bigs has always been bad-to-downright-horrible in the Stotts defense. It has been way too passive and left ball handlers too much open space. So any improvement will probably seem like big improvement

if starting Covington and Jones means Portland is going to be contesting passing lanes a lot better and getting steals and deflection then maybe the biggest room for improvement is to be able to switch from defense to transition offense. Portland has sucked at that under Stotts and some of the blame has to go to Dame and CJ. Dame was only in the 63rd percentile in transition possessions, but CJ was much worse down in the 45th percentile. Not sure if it's because they are short or just haven't ever run transition with any regularity

but that's just transition points; they can still up their transition games by timely passing. Derrick Jones was in the 96th percentile last year, and transition was 21% of his offense. That's a weapon the Blazers need to use. Surprisingly, Covington was only in the 56th percentile in Houston and 63rd in Minny (Ariza was in the 87th percentile; Hezonja in the 82nd). Hood was in the 70th percentile and Giles was in the 71st. Trent was only in the 32nd percentile. Blazers really need to improve in this area

 

[tlongII]

Perhaps....and yet I think we've all seen things (albeit in 2 pre-season game) that Giles could do that Collins hasn't come close to doing. That would make sense as one of these two was the #1 high school recruit in the country and one was not. From a skills standpoint, Giles seems to have more ability. Both have struggled with missing time on the court. Would be nice to see their max potential when healthy.

I understand that Giles was the more decorated high school player. However, Collins was more impressive in college. I think that counts for more.

 

[Scalma]

I don't think he looks serviceable at all. He looks like a placeholder. Any time the ball came to him he immediately swung it. I didn't see good defense. He did hit a shot but overall the guy almost looks like a fan that they put out on the floor.

It’s embarrassing that he’s got a contract. If you’re gonna be giving handouts at least give it to the guy that can somewhat play (McCollums brother)