worldbarrow
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- Mar 19, 2014
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The reason that Portland has not made a playoff run in the last ten years has little to do with depth. Consider all of the players who never got a good shot here but went on to have successful careers elsewhere. Those players weren't utilized here because a coach in this small market believes that victory depends entirely on his key players and he can't risk using reserve talent. The bench has never really developed because they don’t have enough responsibility, so the reserves feel like victory doesn’t really depend on them and they don’t need to play their best game for any reason except to earn minutes. Naturally, the expectation that a few players do the lion’s share of the scoring also backfires whenever one of those players goes cold, gets hurt, etc. People act like we can’t win without Aldridge, but the notion that he is a superstar is one of the biggest problems we have as a team. We wouldn’t be destroyed if we freed up the cap space and brought in an array of new talent or a free agent who was a better inside scorer.
It was unfortunate when we traded for Afflalo, because we already had good backup shooting guards in McCollum and Barton, and we didn’t have a better garbage man than Robinson, assuming that he had a chance to play to extended minutes. We gave up two young, talented players and a first rounder for an experienced guy that we didn’t need. This is the sort of ‘win now’ myopia that has ruled the back office. “We need scoring off the bench!” someone thinks, but no one understands why we don’t have it. As terrible as it is to watch Meyers miss an assignment on defense, it is great to see him get a chance to perform. Along with McCollum, these are two guys we should remain invested in. Lopez’ performance is usually unimpressive, especially on the boards and above the rim because his feet never seem to leave the floor. Leonard is potentially a better defender and inside scorer if he can learn to put the ball on the floor, post up, and generally, play like a center. Somehow, Terry Stotts won’t let anyone but Aldridge do this. We are still a perimeter team, and we give up a lot of points inside because we are too used to spreading the floor. We aren’t a *bad* defensive team because no one is lazy, or too offensively minded, and we are not a *bad* rebounding team because we have relatively good size, but we are not *good* on defense or on the boards because no one is particularly aggressive inside. That just isn’t our style of play. We won’t really succeed unless we stop trying to run big men off the pick and roll, but leave them inside so there is a real threat to defend in addition to the perimeter.
The winning formula is never predictable, but our losing formula is: shut down our perimeter offense and we don't have much to rely on except the individual efforts of our streaky all-star reserves. Shut them down, and we don't have anything except perimeter offense. We can't win without a balanced attack, and that is easy to achieve if we have the confidence to develop players instead of bedding marquee talent. Imagine if the guy from Moneyball said, "No, we're not going to rely on Sabermetrics, smallball, love and common sense. We're going to waste our cap on a second-rate star who won't help us win." Neil Olshey, meet the Grizzlies, a team full of has-beens and nobodies, and a gritty, hardworking group that knows it can win. We really need to learn from this series, from the failures of Aldridge and Lillard, the successes of McCollum, and Leonard, and the fact that Wesley Matthews or Aaron Afflalo couldn't have solved a team that swept us in the regular season. We need to stop lauding our personnel and demand more of the franchise.
It was unfortunate when we traded for Afflalo, because we already had good backup shooting guards in McCollum and Barton, and we didn’t have a better garbage man than Robinson, assuming that he had a chance to play to extended minutes. We gave up two young, talented players and a first rounder for an experienced guy that we didn’t need. This is the sort of ‘win now’ myopia that has ruled the back office. “We need scoring off the bench!” someone thinks, but no one understands why we don’t have it. As terrible as it is to watch Meyers miss an assignment on defense, it is great to see him get a chance to perform. Along with McCollum, these are two guys we should remain invested in. Lopez’ performance is usually unimpressive, especially on the boards and above the rim because his feet never seem to leave the floor. Leonard is potentially a better defender and inside scorer if he can learn to put the ball on the floor, post up, and generally, play like a center. Somehow, Terry Stotts won’t let anyone but Aldridge do this. We are still a perimeter team, and we give up a lot of points inside because we are too used to spreading the floor. We aren’t a *bad* defensive team because no one is lazy, or too offensively minded, and we are not a *bad* rebounding team because we have relatively good size, but we are not *good* on defense or on the boards because no one is particularly aggressive inside. That just isn’t our style of play. We won’t really succeed unless we stop trying to run big men off the pick and roll, but leave them inside so there is a real threat to defend in addition to the perimeter.
The winning formula is never predictable, but our losing formula is: shut down our perimeter offense and we don't have much to rely on except the individual efforts of our streaky all-star reserves. Shut them down, and we don't have anything except perimeter offense. We can't win without a balanced attack, and that is easy to achieve if we have the confidence to develop players instead of bedding marquee talent. Imagine if the guy from Moneyball said, "No, we're not going to rely on Sabermetrics, smallball, love and common sense. We're going to waste our cap on a second-rate star who won't help us win." Neil Olshey, meet the Grizzlies, a team full of has-beens and nobodies, and a gritty, hardworking group that knows it can win. We really need to learn from this series, from the failures of Aldridge and Lillard, the successes of McCollum, and Leonard, and the fact that Wesley Matthews or Aaron Afflalo couldn't have solved a team that swept us in the regular season. We need to stop lauding our personnel and demand more of the franchise.
