Let's name names

[blue9]

Plumlee.
Harkless.
Aminu, as long as they're not outside jumpers.
Turner, with the same caveat.
Crabbe, with precisely the opposite condition.

And it's not necessarily that Aminu or Harkless needed more shots (certainly not Aminu!). But they type of shots they're given. Aminu should NEVER shoot a 3 unless it's from the corner and he's wide open...and even then he probably should drive (no more than TWO dribbles, please!) & dish. Harkless is at his best when he's catching a pass on a cut towards the hoop. I don't know what to say about Vonleh - I like that he took 10 shots, but cringe at his conversion rate. But given that he's not being developed at all what can you expect?

I'm cool with Dame/CJ each taking 18 shots. But Harkless, Crabbe, and Turner should all be in the 9-12 range. Plumlee 8-10. Aminu/Vonleh/Ed/Meyers should be in the 4-6 range. And 90%+ of these shots should be taken from an area of strength for each player. Fuck having Aminu/Turner shooting 3s - that's some stupid Tater Totts bullshit.

 

[blue9]

Not that it's fair to compare any team to the Warriors, but...

I love watching them pass the ball, because you never know who's going to get the shot on any given play. It seems like with the Blazers, it's "receive the ball, look to see if you have a shot, look to see if you can pump fake or drive to get your own shot, find out that you're stopped, give it up reluctantly", whereas with the Warriors, it's simply "Shoot if you're wide open or give it up and move; rinse and repeat until someone gets a great look."

There are severe limitations to what you can do running the weave above the 3-point line.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Plumlee.
Harkless.
Aminu, as long as they're not outside jumpers.
Turner, with the same caveat.
Crabbe, with precisely the opposite condition.

I think they are all getting enough shots. If you look at almost all teams you have 1-3 players who get the majority of shots, and the rest get around 7-10 shots....more if they are hot.

No different from the Blazers. Last night Harkless got his 10 shots, Aminu 7 (5 of which were 3's- THAT HAS TO STOP) Turner 8 shots, Crabbe 7. 18 for Dame and CJ is not too much. The more we run the more shots the other players get. Easier said than done but we need to run more. But other than Crabbe all those guys you mentioned are not good outside shooters. The offense Terry is running is on him not Dame and CJ.

 

[TBpup]

Just out of curiosity, looking at the boxscore from last night, who do you want to see get more shots?
http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400900050

I agree that some of the options don't make you jump up and down with expectation of grandeur. But any player is better when they get into a rhythm which is tough when you are mostly setting screens and being asked to play defense. Harkless, Crabbe, Layman...even Vonleh can get on a roll when they get some confidence and a flow.

No one really has a chance to get in a flow because of how many shots Dame/CJ take and how ball dominant they are. Watch a possession when CJ gets the ball. It is dribble.....dribble.....step-back.....change direction....dribble....dribble and often ends in a made shot. That's great that he gets the bucket but does nothing to make his teammates better or help get them involved.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I agree that some of the options don't make you jump up and down with expectation of grandeur. But any player is better when they get into a rhythm which is tough when you are mostly setting screens and being asked to play defense. Harkless, Crabbe, Layman...even Vonleh can get on a roll when they get some confidence and a flow.

No one really has a chance to get in a flow because of how many shots Dame/CJ take and how ball dominant they are. Watch a possession when CJ gets the ball. It is dribble.....dribble.....step-back.....change direction....dribble....dribble and often ends in a made shot. That's great that he gets the bucket but does nothing to make his teammates better or help get them involved.

Somewhat reminds me of dominant pitchers who will strike out 15 batters, but get no run support because his defense basically isn't involved in the game during the 45 minutes between each individual player's at-bats. Induce a few ground balls and you might be better off overall.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I agree that some of the options don't make you jump up and down with expectation of grandeur. But any player is better when they get into a rhythm which is tough when you are mostly setting screens and being asked to play defense. Harkless, Crabbe, Layman...even Vonleh can get on a roll when they get some confidence and a flow.

No one really has a chance to get in a flow because of how many shots Dame/CJ take and how ball dominant they are. Watch a possession when CJ gets the ball. It is dribble.....dribble.....step-back.....change direction....dribble....dribble and often ends in a made shot. That's great that he gets the bucket but does nothing to make his teammates better or help get them involved.

This is exactly why I think the dynamic duo has to be broken up. They're both on the "good to really good" level, but the team seems to suffer when they are taking 50% of the shots. I don't even really blame them. It's only human nature to call your own number when you don't trust the guys around you, but it's also only human nature to get disinterested or have trouble getting engaged when you are a bystander on offense and then have to cover for their defensive deficiencies on the other end.

 

[TBpup]

This is exactly why I think the dynamic duo has to be broken up. They're both on the "good to really good" level, but the team seems to suffer when they are taking 50% of the shots. I don't even really blame them. It's only human nature to call your own number when you don't trust the guys around you, but it's also only human nature to get disinterested or have trouble getting engaged when you are a bystander on offense and then have to cover for their defensive deficiencies on the other end.

...and I think that is very much what is happening. Also, when you are losing with that approach, resentment can start to build.

 

[Pinwheel1]

...and I think that is very much what is happening. Also, when you are losing with that approach, resentment can start to build.

So we don't want a big 2 or big 3? Teams with multiple stars taking most of the shots does not work? I guess we better not trade for Cousins. Westbrook and Durant looked pretty good last year taking most of the shots on their way to the Conference finals.

 

[TBpup]

So we don't want a big 2 or big 3? Teams with multiple stars taking most of the shots does not work? I guess we better not trade for Cousins.

Not what I was trying to say at all. More people shooting the ball would be better.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Not what I was trying to say at all. More people shooting the ball would be better.

But very few teams do that. ET gets plenty of shots when he comes in. So does Crabbe when he is feeling it. Harkless is not a scorer but still got 10 shots last night. I think you guys are embellishing how much Dame and CJ shoot. Aminu gets too many shots for my liking....

 

[noknobs]

Our defense is just a cluster-fuck and so far the coaches/players are unable to show any signs of improvement, so lets set that tire-fire aside and look at offense:

Except for CJ, all the guys who got paid this past off-season have lower PER's than last year (Harkless is pretty close though). We can all speculate as to why that might be, but it's a fact whatever the reason.

But the three guys who stick out the most to me are Ed Davis, Aminu and Leonard, and of those three only Leonard got paid. So I'm not sold on the idea that the team has gotten lazy or something since they got contracts, but perhaps there are exceptions. Meyers has career lows in FG% and 3PT%, and it's not close. Similarly, Aminu is shooting a career worst from the field and his 3PT% is down a whopping 10.8% (to 25%) compared to last year. And then there's Davis, who's PER drop is far and way the largest on the team, going from 18.76 last year to 11.01 this year (also a career low by a wide margin).

Stott's offense works best when we have bigs that can shoot from outside, so as long as Aminu and Leonard are shooting like this it hurts the entire offense. Davis and Plumlee obviously aren't threats and Noah can barely get off the bench.

None of our wings (Mo, Turner, Aminu) are what I'd describe as deadly threats from outside either, so it's basically left to our guards (Dame, CJ, Crabbe). I don't buy for a minute that players are sucking because they think Dame/CJ are getting too many shots. Like any good players they call their number often, but from what I've seen they try to get others involved, but it too often results in a brick or turnover. When your team is struggling it's only natural for two of the best offensive guards in the NBA to try to shoot their team back in it.

 

[riverman]

We haven't been a good passing team in ages....maybe since Dre...Nico was good in a Plumlee way but our pt guard distribution is not dazzling anyone..CJ overdribbles and the ball really does stick with him.

 

[TBpup]

But very few teams do that. ET gets plenty of shots when he comes in. So does Crabbe when he is feeling it. Harkless is not a scorer but still got 10 shots last night. I think you guys are embellishing how much Dame and CJ shoot. Aminu gets too many shots for my liking....

It's not embellishing the amount of shots. It's percentage of shots versus percentage of defense. That is WAY out of whack.

 

[Denny Crane]

Dame's FGA/game are down a fraction. CJ's is up a fraction. That's vs last year.

Between the two, they get 37.4 of our 86.3 attempts per game.

But you really should look at FTA, too. Many, if not all, are FGA that are not counted on the scorecard. Between the two, 10.9 FTA/game.

 

[Pinwheel1]

It's not embellishing the amount of shots. It's percentage of shots versus percentage of defense. That is WAY out of whack.

No one is playing defense! Harkless and Aminu are our best defenders and they looked horrible last night. Which I blame on the scheme.

 

[noknobs]

It's not embellishing the amount of shots. It's percentage of shots versus percentage of defense. That is WAY out of whack.

It's in every players power to get more shots, if that's actually all they're worried about.

Play better defense = more playing time = more shots
Don't shoot career lows from the field = more shots

 

[Five Second Violation]

Crabbe seems like a mental midget much of the time.

If he makes his first couple jumpers, then he's locked in and engaged. Can even help out a little defensively. Moves more off the ball, and helps the offense out greatly.

But as soon as he bricks an open shot and especially if he misses his first couple looks in a game, he seems to completely disengage on both ends and just hide in the corner.

I wouldn't call it coasting exactly, but it's frustrating to say the least, and is exactly why I don't feel that he can ever transcend the streaky overpaid role player label that has now.

 

[Chris Craig]

Meyers mother fucking Leonard

 

[TBpup]

Having 2 guys being paid starter money....that aren't good enough to start is frustrating.

 

[Minstrel]

 

[Strenuus]

Having 2 guys being paid starter money....that aren't good enough to start is frustrating.

I'm wondering how the podcast would sound this year if we were doing it. LOL.

 

[Sinobas]

At least we have Evan Turner to take the pressure off of Lillard and CJ. That has come in handy so many times this year just like Olshey and Stotts said.

 

[Cippy91]

We haven't been a good passing team in ages....maybe since Dre...Nico was good in a Plumlee way but our pt guard distribution is not dazzling anyone..CJ overdribbles and the ball really does stick with him.

that 2014-15 team had great ball movement.

 

[ebott]

Lillard is our leader and superstar player. I think he is doing a ton, but he has to bear a lot of the burden and reason that we are under performing as a team. It comes with the position as team leader. He doesn't necessarily need to do more, but he does need to adjust his game in a way that will create winning basketball. And of course I don't know what that is besides better defense.

I concur. For the Blazers to take the next step they need to become a mediocre defensive team. Unless Lillard starts putting in effort on that side of the court nobody else is going to follow suit.

 

[riverman]

I'm going to bring up the missing link this season....swish3 has abandoned the forum...now without the swish3 we just aren't the same team!

 

[Strenuus]

I'm going to bring up the missing link this season....swish3 has abandoned the forum...now without the swish3 we just aren't the same team!

Or he goes to the team we face each night and helps them. :MARIS61:

 

[MarAzul]

That Pat Connaughton guy is clearly dogging it. Why, he hardly leaves the bench!

He isn't dogging it! He can't play that good.

 

[rasheedfan2005]

I would imagine it is difficult for some players to watch Dame/CJ take ~40% of the shots on a nightly basis but play very little of the 'D'. It's also tough to get an offensive rhythm when you get maybe 1-2 shots a quarter. If you don't have offensive rhythm, it's tougher to get into a groove offensively. Much of this roster is being asked to play defense without an offensive set/play being run for them the entire game.

That is just a tough proposition to ask for on a nightly basis.

I disagree with this mindset. If you pay me millions of dollars and expect me to only have to play defense id be thrilled.

 

[Mediocre Man]

It's been said by more than one NBA observer that the Blazers are coasting this year, and just not playing as hard. I have to admit, however, that I can't tell who is guilty of that. Maybe that's my blind spot. So help me out, you more astute fans. Which Blazers are coasting this year? Let's name names.

All of the above