Maybe the best postmortem story you'll read about this team

[Nikolokolus]

Greg Jayne from the Columbian really captures some critical stuff here:
http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/apr/30/injuries-masked-what-truly-troubled-blazers/

And the fact that the series turned on one thing and one thing only: The Suns’ decision to have Grant Hill guard Andre Miller after Miller torched them in Game 1.

Miller had 31 points, eight assists, and shot 59 percent as the Blazers won the opener. The rest of the way, those numbers were 13, 5, and 35.

Oh, it’s not that Andre Miller was going to be the best player in the series. It’s just that his production was indicative of the difference between the teams. Phoenix saw a problem and made an adjustment; Portland never did.

and perhaps the most important lesson to be learned (inspiring and gritty as the team was this year)

The temptation is to place the blame on injuries. And that would not be egregiously misguided.

What if Brandon Roy had been healthy? What if Greg Oden had played all year? What if Nicolas Batum hadn’t missed 45 games, and then not been hampered by the injury in the playoffs?

In many ways, this was a lost season, providing few of the answers necessary to determine whether this team ever will grow into a championship contender.

But to use the injuries as an excuse would be to ignore some immutable facts: The Blazers lack the necessary ability to get a good shot when they absolutely need one; LaMarcus Aldridge will never be good enough to be the second-best player on a championship team; and Oden’s inability to show up and support his teammates until the final game of the playoffs is disconcerting.

Some of those shortcomings are related to coaching, some are related to personality. And while Portland enjoyed a successful season by any measurement, that doesn’t mean you should lose sight of the goal — competing for a championship.

Food for thought at least even if you disagree with the conclusions

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Wow, very well put Mr Jayne.

 

[THE HCP]

Nik- alright brother you HAVE TO CHANGE THAT AVATAR PIC AND DUMP THAT FUCKING BABY! They are honestly both stressing me out! I am skipping some of your posts because that baby makes me nervous. I value you your opinions on here, but if you don't, I will have Denny ban you from this place for life!

 

[Nikolokolus]

Nik- alright brother you HAVE TO CHANGE THAT AVATAR PIC AND DUMP THAT FUCKING BABY! They are honestly both stressing me out! I am skipping some of your posts because that baby makes me nervous. I value you your opinions on here, but if you don't, I will have Denny ban you from this place for life!

LOL


LOOK INTO MY EYES!!!!! HAPPY LITTLE TREES ... trees ... trees ... trees.

 

[Shooter]

Good article. Jaynes seems to agree with me that the once-rosy future of this team is looking a little less rosy every day . . .

I hope we're both wrong.

 

[e_blazer]

But to use the injuries as an excuse would be to ignore some immutable facts: The Blazers lack the necessary ability to get a good shot when they absolutely need one; LaMarcus Aldridge will never be good enough to be the second-best player on a championship team; and Oden’s inability to show up and support his teammates until the final game of the playoffs is disconcerting.

This part is just silly. The Blazers lack of ability to get a good shot is not influenced by what players are available or fully healthy when they're on the court? You don't think that Roy and Batum being at about 50% strength impacts how the Suns are able to overplay the Blazers on defense? You don't think that not having Oden in the middle demanding a double makes a difference in the Suns' ability to pressure our perimeter players? And, if Oden develops into anywhere near what we expected when we drafted him, Aldridge won't have to be the second best player on a championship team. He'll be a damned good third best player. Finally, I really don't get this anti-Oden crappola about him not being here to support his teammates. Where's the angst over Joel not being here? How much rooting can you do from a training room where you sit to watch the games because you're 7 feet tall and you can't fold your knee up for long periods?

 

[MrJayremmie]

Wow, very well put Mr Jayne.

Thanks!

 

[GriLtCheeZ]

"For two years, we have believed the Blazers are in the infancy of a championship run. And in two straight playoffs, we have watched them spit up on themselves."

 

[Public Defender]

How good does the 2nd best player on a championship team have to be?

It depends on two things: how good the 1st best player is, and how good the rest of the team is.

Aldridge is capable of 20+ points and up to 8-10 boards on a given night, while playing good defense on the lesser of a team's interior players (there's a reason a team needs a guy like Oden or Camby in the middle, too).

When healthy, Roy can create his own shot, make good decisions under pressure, play good team defense (remember his block vs. Carmelo?), and he can get to the free-throw line seemingly at will. He's the best #1 option the Blazers have had in a long time.

As for the rest of the team - the Blazers need guys who can hit shots from the outside. Miller, Fernandez, Webster, Batum, and Bayless were all pretty lackluster in that regard during the Suns' series.

I'm not saying Aldridge is good enough to be a #2 option on a championship-level team - but all this series taught us is that Aldridge isn't good enough to carry a team where everyone else is underachieving. No surprise there.

Let me ask this: replace Aldridge with Garnett or Stoudemire, or the PF of your choice - do the Blazers win this series? I don't think so.

 

[craigehlo]

Aldridge is capable of 20+ points and up to 8-10 boards on a given night *

* Denotes regular season

 

[Public Defender]

* Denotes regular season

* = sample size too small for statistically significant evaluation of non-regular season.

 

[oldmangrouch]

* = sample size too small for statistically significant evaluation of non-regular season.

Which is the way the play-offs work. So I guess we are never allowed to judge post-season performance?

 

[Public Defender]

Which is the way the play-offs work. So I guess we are never allowed to judge post-season performance?

We could judge Aldridge on his actual numbers, but with the caveat that the sample size is small. I would argue that the sample size is sufficiently large for lots of other players... but two series is probably too small.

But, if we're going to judge LaMarcus solely on the numbers he's put up in the post-season, I'd say they're actually quite GOOD.

Witness:

'08-'09 regular season: 18.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg
'08-'09 playoffs: 19.5 ppg, 7.5 ppg (actually averaged more points, and same # of boards)

'09-'10 regular season: 17.9 ppg, 8.0 rpg
'09-'10 playoffs: 19.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg (averaged more points, but fewer rebounds)

To go back to my earlier point, I would say that 19 ppg and 6 rpg, or 19.5 ppg and 7.5 rpg (as Aldridge averaged in his two playoff series), may actually be good enough for a #2 player on a championship team - if the #1 scorer is putting up 25 ppg and decent rebound or assist #'s, and if the rest of the team is doing its job.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I agree with Jaynes. Though, the last season was due to all the injuries. A healthy Roy/Batum/Przybilla would have made a HUGE difference in the Suns series. Howard has been great but he's a PF, not a backup C.

Also, the first move to recovery should be trading Greg Oden. Put down the KP Kool-Aid.

The guy is a jinx.

 

[oldmangrouch]

While the averages for LMA look OK, what they don't reflect is the inconsistency.

A dirt cheap bench player like Outlaw is going to be erratic - that's why he's cheap! LMA is being paid to bring it every game.

 

[Public Defender]

While the averages for LMA look OK, what they don't reflect is the inconsistency.

A dirt cheap bench player like Outlaw is going to be erratic - that's why he's cheap! LMA is being paid to bring it every game.

Game by game this series, Aldridge scored between 16 and 22 points in four out of six games. The other two, he scored 31 (I'll applaud that inconsistency, gladly!) and 11. His rebounding was down in half of the games, but was OK in the other half. I'd acknowledge that's a problem, but I don't think those game-by-game stats reflect a huge consistency problem.

Consider, Tim Duncan, usually the picture of "consistency" had two lackluster scoring games (where Aldridge really only had one), in which The Big Fundamental scored 11 and four points. And he had two poor rebounding nights as well (five and six boards, respectively).

 

[Rhal]

I read that article and got two things from it.
1) our coach does not know how to adapt to problems in a playoff series so we will never win one with nate as our coach
2) Championship caliber teams play threw injuries and never give an excuss or an inch of ground in playoff games.

Dunno if anyone else got that but thats what I did. I definatly don't agree with #2 and #1 I'm trying my best not to sell out the coach after what he did this season so i'll save my opinions on him for another week tell I don't see the need to pick a scapegoat whenever I think of the blazers playoff series.