Now that we confirmed Denver sucked

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Cugel said:
It confirmed how portland needs a guy like Ayton. He was remarkable on keeping jokic in check w/o fouling. I mean jokic still did his thing of course. Portland also needs a veteran backup PG. You can't win without a backup PG. Neil is a moron to think Ant is a PG. Ant is about a close to a pure SG as you can get. It really hurt the team.
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I have always advocated for having a backup point guard in case Dame got hurt. However, a healthy Dame means only 12-14 minutes a game for the backup.

Also, a backup PG who is not a really good outside shooter is useless on a Terry Stotts offense. Combo guards is what I think Terry preferred. Maybe Neil forced it on Terry by who he signed, but I have a hard believing that since it was the same every year. You think he would have asked for a different type of player at PG.

Now Terry would use a point forward at times to run the 2nd team, (i.e ET) but that still usually left 2 shooting guards on the floor. The bottom line is I think Terry had a lot of input on the type of player he wanted at the backup PG position. The more shooters the better.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
I have always advocated for having a backup point guard in case Dame got hurt. However, a healthy Dame means only 12-14 minutes a game for the backup.

Also, a backup PG who is not a really good outside shooter is useless on a Terry Stotts offense. Combo guards is what I think Terry preferred. Maybe Neil forced it on Terry by who he signed, but I have a hard believing that since it was the same every year. You think he would have asked for a different type of player at PG.

Now Terry would use a point forward at times to run the 2nd team, (i.e ET) but that still usually left 2 shooting guards on the floor. The bottom line is I think Terry had a lot of input on the type of player he wanted at the backup PG position. The more shooters the better.
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that's because people mistakenly think a backup PG at the Time Frazier of aging Steve Blake level is the suggested solution. That was never it. What Portland has needed is a backup PG at the level of George Hill or Derrick Rose or Rajon Rondo. A player like that would get a hell of a lot more than 12 minutes a game
 
wizenheimer said:
that's because people mistakenly think a backup PG at the Time Frazier of aging Steve Blake level is the suggested solution. That was never it. What Portland has needed is a backup PG at the level of George Hill or Derrick Rose or Rajon Rondo. A player like that would get a hell of a lot more than 12 minutes a game
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Rondo is exactly who I was thinking of when I said Terry would not use him. Whether you or I think he would have helped, IMO Terry would not have thought he was a good fit. He preferred the Seth Curry, Napier, Mo William types.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
Rondo is exactly who I was thinking of when I said Terry would not use him. Whether you or I think he would have helped, IMO Terry would not have thought he was a good fit. He preferred the Seth Curry, Napier, Mo William types.
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how do we know that Stotts preferred the Curry Napier types? Those are the only types Olshey gave him
 
julius said:
The Denver/Portland series, and the subsequent Denver/Phoenix series showed a few things.

one of the glaring things was that the Blazers defense sucked still. But it also showed the Blazers have pieces that work, and pieces that don't.

The pieces that don't are CJ, Melo, Kanter and the coach.

So far they gotten rid of one of them, and hopefully 2 of the other 3 are gone too (or have their roles drastically changed).
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I believe we should re-sign Kanter. He is a perfect backup.
 
wizenheimer said:
how do we know that Stotts preferred the Curry Napier types? Those are the only types Olshey gave him
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So in 9 seasons Terry never mentioned to Neil what type of back PG he preferred? Or that he did and Neil ignored him for 9 years?
I have a hard time believing that.
 
Even Michael Malone commented that it was "remarkable" that his Nuggets beat the Blazers. Of course, he was coming from the standpoint that they were shorthanded.
 
ABM said:
Even Michael Malone commented that it was "remarkable" that his Nuggets beat the Blazers. Of course, he was coming from the standpoint that they were shorthanded.
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What was even more remarkable is that no Blazer made a shot after a 9 pt lead for 11 straight minutes and we only scored 14 pts in the 4th qtr of the most important game of the season....worst time ever to have a complete team wide shooting slump..it was so bad it almost made one wonder if they weren't laying down and taking a dive....they weren't but it was that exaggerated on the big stage.
 
Natebishop3 said:
The reality of Ant is this - he has proven to be a very good three point shooter.... but that's literally it. He can't drive. He can't pass. He can't defend. He provides one skill, and while that skill is very valuable, he really needs to at least become a decent defender.
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I would argue he was pretty close to decent at the end of the season. He improved a lot and some people didn't notice.
 
BonesJones said:
I would argue he was pretty close to decent at the end of the season. He improved a lot and some people didn't notice.
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He's young enough and athletic enough that I would hope he could improve under the right coach.

I still don't understand why he's so bad at driving though. He's a dunker that can't drive.
 
Ant ended the season as one of the hottest 3pt shooters in the league. I would like to see him shore up his mid-range and attacking the rim with ferocity. His athleticism looks effortless. He keeps that shooting up and he will be feared by opponents; he has not reached his potential, not even close. Next year is is break out season MIP candidate (I'm optimistic).
 
craigehlo said:
2021 Blazers were always a team with very few quality wins IMHO. The playoffs always expose those squads.

Aaron Gordon being trash in the Suns series was a silver lining.
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Thank you. Said it from the start of the season this team wasn’t good at all
 
Didn't you listen to olshey? 4/5ths of our starting lineup is returning = we're in great shape #neillogic
 
Scalma said:
Rivers playoff career: 7 ppg on 40% shooting.
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Yeah it makes me almost sick to think about honestly.

We got shit on by role players.
Like HCP at his dungeons and dragons nights.

Austin Rivers is also a scrub, best known for that year he pooped on Portland in the first round.
 
Natebishop3 said:
This is what pisses me off when people say "Neil is a GM, you guys are just fans on a forum, if you think you know more blah blah blah"

A LOT of us were calling for a backup point guard before the season started. Why is it that we can see that Ant and CJ aren't point guards, clear as fucking day, but Neil's dumb ass can't get it through his skull?
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The problem is the Blazers have been missing a starting forward forever, so that needs to be addressed before backup PG. Secondly what good backup PG want to sign a cheap deal to a DameCJ team with limited opportunities?

You post makes it sound like we have solutions at every backup position. Ant was the only backup who provided any help. So you could say the team needed a backup SF, PF, C along with PG.
 
KSF-ERIC said:
If Kanter is the perfect backup, how did we end up playing 6'6" 10 day contract RHJ all the backup minutes in the playoffs?? And people say Zach Collins wouldn't have helped.
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Just my take but Kanter is a great backup and wins games in the regular season. You make a good point on the flip side. Kanter might have been more playable with Collins available. The problem might have been more about playing Melo with Kanter?
 
Fairly-Hard said:
Just my take but Kanter is a great backup and wins games in the regular season. You make a good point on the flip side. Kanter might have been more playable with Collins available. The problem might have been more about playing Melo with Kanter?
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I think this is all valid. Kanter is nice to have as a security blanket during the regular season if Nurk misses 25 games. He keeps you in the playoff hunt and allows you to run a lot of the same plays in the offense. And Kanter would've been more tolerable if we had quality defenders at 1-4 during his bench minutes.

The real problem with Kanter is that he's unplayable in the playoffs. The league has moved even more toward pace-and-space since he played significant minutes for us in the playoffs a couple seasons ago. He's just too slow and opponents just pick him apart when there's time to prepare. Plus he can't pass for shit.

Do we really want a significant salary and role player to just use during the regular season? Doesn't this force the coach and players to get used to a guy who won't be around when the real season starts?

Really, you can say the same thing about Melo and CJ. They are guys who can win you regular season games but when shit gets real you want bodies who can defend and play a team game around Dame's greatness. These aren't the guys we're looking for.
 
Agree on Kanter; I'd like to see the team bring him back as the 11th man on a cheap contract for the regular season. But if he wants multiple years or a guaranteed role let him walk.

He is the perfect gatekeeper as a bench big/emergency starter; he can help in the season but if Zach or Giles type of prospect gets healthy and contributes they can take Kanters minutes. The playoffs Kanter is often unplayable except for situational matchups.

I also think the Melo/Kanter pairing was a mess on the bench, especially in the playoffs. If RHJ or DJJ was in Melo role then maybe pairing them with Kanter when Dame sits would have given the bench rotation the offense/defense balance it needed. Instead we had a combo of offensive skilled+shit defense players on the floor together (CJ, Simons, Melo, Kanter)
 
WesleyMatthews said:
Agree on Kanter; I'd like to see the team bring him back as the 11th man on a cheap contract for the regular season. But if he wants multiple years or a guaranteed role let him walk.

He is the perfect gatekeeper as a bench big/emergency starter; he can help in the season but if Zach or Giles type of prospect gets healthy and contributes they can take Kanters minutes. The playoffs Kanter is often unplayable except for situational matchups.

I also think the Melo/Kanter pairing was a mess on the bench, especially in the playoffs. If RHJ or DJJ was in Melo role then maybe pairing them with Kanter when Dame sits would have given the bench rotation the offense/defense balance it needed. Instead we had a combo of offensive skilled+shit defense players on the floor together (CJ, Simons, Melo, Kanter)
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It's really hard to expect guys like Melo and Kanter to take end-of-bench roles once they've been featured so prominently on a team. It's just a recipe for locker room battles. Is this really what we want our new coach to be worrying about while he/she implements a new system?

Do we want that coach to be worried about what Melo or Kanter are muttering under their breath when a rookie takes their job?

They are both good guys and professionals. But egos are egos. These guys don't offer anything that special that 30 other guys couldn't duplicate without all the historical issues.

CJ is not so replaceable. But again, I'd rather have him gone so he's not there expecting anything out of the new coach just because it's the way it's always been. Hopefully we get something back for him that can be plugged into the new coaching system.
 
mook said:
I think this is all valid. Kanter is nice to have as a security blanket during the regular season if Nurk misses 25 games. He keeps you in the playoff hunt and allows you to run a lot of the same plays in the offense. And Kanter would've been more tolerable if we had quality defenders at 1-4 during his bench minutes.

The real problem with Kanter is that he's unplayable in the playoffs. The league has moved even more toward pace-and-space since he played significant minutes for us in the playoffs a couple seasons ago. He's just too slow and opponents just pick him apart when there's time to prepare. Plus he can't pass for shit.

Do we really want a significant salary and role player to just use during the regular season? Doesn't this force the coach and players to get used to a guy who won't be around when the real season starts?

Really, you can say the same thing about Melo and CJ. They are guys who can win you regular season games but when shit gets real you want bodies who can defend and play a team game around Dame's greatness. These aren't the guys we're looking for.
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Kanter would not and most likely will never be “Significant Salary” ever again. He also doesn’t seem to mind his role.
 
mook said:
It's really hard to expect guys like Melo and Kanter to take end-of-bench roles once they've been featured so prominently on a team. It's just a recipe for locker room battles. Is this really what we want our new coach to be worrying about while he/she implements a new system?

Do we want that coach to be worried about what Melo or Kanter are muttering under their breath when a rookie takes their job?

They are both good guys and professionals. But egos are egos. These guys don't offer anything that special that 30 other guys couldn't duplicate without all the historical issues.

CJ is not so replaceable. But again, I'd rather have him gone so he's not there expecting anything out of the new coach just because it's the way it's always been. Hopefully we get something back for him that can be plugged into the new coaching system.
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Agree on Melo.

I'm not sure about Kanter. He got extensive DNP in Boston. He had DNP in our last playoff games and I didn't hear any comments.

I think Neil needs to be upfront and honest with Kanter, if he wants a bigger role he can leave. If he enjoys being part of the team and more of a Chris Kaman role then keep him.
 
Kanter is perfectly happy as is. He was our only consistent scorer in many regular season games, that we would have fallen far behind. His claw-like sure hands (compare to Butterfingers Nurkic with small hands and many missed close easy shots) put him way above average in reliable scoring for a sub center. He is cheap. What is the problem?
 
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