Truly believe the "weak bench" is all on the coach.

[bemac]

And by coach, I put it on Stotts and Nate equally. There is absolute talent on this bench. I know, Pops is as good as it gets, but you give him Robinson, McCollum, Claver, Barton and Freeland, and he puts together one of the best benches in the league. This does not even include Mo Williams and Wright.

I feel that there is no excuse the the lack of development and playing time for Barton, Claver and CJ....

I'm just so tired of announcers clamoring on about the weak Portland bench, when it could have been different. So many wasted minutes on Leonard, along with minutes wasted on countless poor performances by Mo Williams(and just to be clear, I like Mo, but there are times where we could go with a hotter hand).

Okay, vent over....Just see too much potential for this team, and would love to have a coach who prioritizes the bench.

 

[KingSpeed]

And by coach, I put it on Stotts and Nate equally. There is absolute talent on this bench. I know, Pops is as good as it gets, but you give him Robinson, McCollum, Claver, Barton and Freeland, and he puts together one of the best benches in the league. This does not even include Mo Williams and Wright.

I feel that there is no excuse the the lack of development and playing time for Barton, Claver and CJ....

I'm just so tired of announcers clamoring on about the weak Portland bench, when it could have been different. So many wasted minutes on Leonard, along with minutes wasted on countless poor performances by Mo Williams(and just to be clear, I like Mo, but there are times where we could go with a hotter hand).

Okay, vent over....Just see too much potential for this team, and would love to have a coach who prioritizes the bench.

What are you talking about? Stotts gave everyone a chance this year. TRob played at first but then Stotts benched him and have Leonard some minutes. CJ got minutes when he came back but then Barton got an opportunity. Claver got to do good things for us when Aldridge/Leonard/Freeland were hurt. Everyone got a chance.

 

[riverman]

We played a whole lot of games decided within 5 pts this season so the bench didn't get as much end game. Stotts wanted to win and he did

 

[bemac]

I get it....People see things differently. I just feel that this bench is nowhere near as bad as their stats and reputation. They have the fewest minutes in the league, and that is all on Stotts. They could be a strength going into the playoffs, rather than the perceived weakness.

I honestly put Stotts on par with Nate.....I don't believe he is the guy to take this team to the next level. Bench and defense are his two weaknesses.

Sorry, just not a fan of this current coach. Yes, I know they just won 54, but I feel they could be better prepared for the playoffs.

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

When you have one, if not the best starting 5 in the NBA it's hard to give the bench guys a lot of minutes consistently. I would like to see us rest some guys some nights and let the bench play a bunch in the future though.

 

[jlprk]

The no-D Stotts system can't hold a lead and guarantees a close finish. So the stats inflate for starters and shrink for subs.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Please, Please, PLEASE have this conversation with Greg Popovich. I would love to see his reaction to hearing that one of his coaching colleagues helped improve a team's record by 21 wins in one season without adding a marquee talent didn't play his young players enough. Seriously, let's have a pool - I'd kick in $10 to see an authentic youtube video of this.

 

[KingSpeed]

I get it....People see things differently. I just feel that this bench is nowhere near as bad as their stats and reputation. They have the fewest minutes in the league, and that is all on Stotts. They could be a strength going into the playoffs, rather than the perceived weakness.

I honestly put Stotts on par with Nate.....I don't believe he is the guy to take this team to the next level. Bench and defense are his two weaknesses.

Sorry, just not a fan of this current coach. Yes, I know they just won 54, but I feel they could be better prepared for the playoffs.

What are you talking about? Nate and Stotts are nothing alike.

 

[MARIS61]

And by coach, I put it on Stotts and Nate equally. There is absolute talent on this bench. I know, Pops is as good as it gets, but you give him Robinson, McCollum, Claver, Barton and Freeland, and he puts together one of the best benches in the league. This does not even include Mo Williams and Wright.

Odd that you left out the one Blazer bench player Pops would take before ANY of those guys.

 

[MARIS61]

When you have one, if not the best starting 5 in the NBA it's hard to give the bench guys a lot of minutes consistently. I would like to see us rest some guys some nights and let the bench play a bunch in the future though.

Just the opposite. A super starting 5 should build huge leads quickly and leave plenty of time for the bench to make mistakes and learn without the pressure of a close game.

 

[MARIS61]

What are you talking about? Stotts gave everyone a chance this year. TRob played at first but then Stotts benched him and have Leonard some minutes. CJ got minutes when he came back but then Barton got an opportunity. Claver got to do good things for us when Aldridge/Leonard/Freeland were hurt. Everyone got a chance.

We probably lost 10 games this season due to our starters being dog-tired. Only Indiana paid more dearly for overplaying their starters. Our bench development was non-existent this season.

Claver and Leonard were buried all season except for a few games when we were injury-ridden. Both performed great and won games but were buried again once the injuries healed. Wright inexplicably got heavy minutes ahead of them.

 

[H.C.]

We probably lost 10 games this season due to our starters being dog-tired. Only Indiana paid more dearly for overplaying their starters. Our bench development was non-existent this season.

Claver and Leonard were buried all season except for a few games when we were injury-ridden. Both performed great and won games but were buried again once the injuries healed. Wright inexplicably got heavy minutes ahead of them.

After watching all 82 games this season.... I agree with you on Claver but...
Meyers Leonard won the Blazers games? Besides what two games where he played decent and got rebounds(max of what 5?) on the defensive glass against the nuggets................................. where was I for these games he won for the Blazers? Where was I when he performed "great" Am I missing something here? Besides two games every time Meyers Leonard touch the court this year the other team went on a run. Did I mess something? is 25 so old that my memory eludes me? I pray Freeland is healthy enough to sub Lopez when he gets in foul trouble, because the Rockets will have a field day on Nards the enforcer........

 

[jlprk]

After watching all 82 games this season.... I agree with you on Claver but...
Meyers Leonard won the Blazers games? Besides what two games where he played decent and got rebounds(max of what 5?) on the defensive glass against the nuggets................................. where was I for these games he won for the Blazers? Where was I when he performed "great" Am I missing something here? Besides two games every time Meyers Leonard touch the court this year the other team went on a run. Did I mess something? is 25 so old that my memory eludes me? I pray Freeland is healthy enough to sub Lopez when he gets in foul trouble, because the Rockets will have a field day on Nards the enforcer........

You sound like you're losing your marbles, so I better jump in fast. I'm sure that all that Maris meant was that we won some games when Leonard was in the rotation. You read it as, Leonard won those games all by himself.

 

[Natebishop3]

I get it....People see things differently. I just feel that this bench is nowhere near as bad as their stats and reputation. They have the fewest minutes in the league, and that is all on Stotts. They could be a strength going into the playoffs, rather than the perceived weakness.

I honestly put Stotts on par with Nate.....I don't believe he is the guy to take this team to the next level. Bench and defense are his two weaknesses.

Sorry, just not a fan of this current coach. Yes, I know they just won 54, but I feel they could be better prepared for the playoffs.

Listen, it's simple. Those guys you mentioned are all very young, and young guys have a hard time earning minutes on a playoff team. That's why Jermaine O'Neal failed so completely in Portland, and yet went to Indiana and instantly became an All-Star. The Pacers were willing to put him into the starting lineup and play him through his mistakes. His biggest problem in Portland was that he would only get into the game for a few minutes and then Dunleavy would have to bench him because he had guys like Brian Grant, Detlef, Sabonis, and Sheed waiting to play. We were also trying to get the best record in the league.

It's somewhat similar with Stotts. We can definitely see the potential in guys like TRob, CJ, Barton, Claver, and Leonard, but they all make mistakes pretty regularly. They need to be developed and to be developed they need minutes. Young guys press, especially when they know they only have a few minutes, and they're afraid they're going to mess up and get the yank. This inevitably leads to them messing up and getting the yank because they're nervous. Stotts is in a tough spot because he wants to develop these guys. He can see that guys like CJ and Robinson have bright futures, but he's also trying to win games and get us the best seeding that he can. He has vets like Mo, Wright, and Freeland who can play and make limited mistakes. If the team was horrible, you'd probably see Robinson and CJ play 20-25 minutes every night, but as we had one of the best records in the league for the first half of the season, Terry couldn't really afford to play them that much.

I've been saying it for a while, we don't have a weak bench but we do have a young and inexperienced bench, and that can sometimes be confused as the same thing. Give these guys a few years and I think Robinson, CJ, and Barton will be very big contributors to our rotation.

 

[maxiep]

I think what we saw last night was a talented group that just needs more time and seasoning. The end of the bench just looked lost. They had the talent, they had the drive, but they just need experience. That's what makes SA so good is that they have an established system. They can just plug and play their guys and each has a defined role.

It would be my hope that all the guys at the end of the bench come back to play for summer league. Leonard, Barton, McCollum, Crabbe, Claver, Freeland and Robinson. We may not have a draft pick, so it should be about getting these guys comfortable with one another. And if they could return to Portland a month early before camp, it would do them a world of good.

 

[Natebishop3]

The fact that our third string beat the Clippers second string is pretty remarkable. They were going up against some pretty seasoned vets like Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, Darren Collison and Big Baby.

 

[maxiep]

The fact that our third string beat the Clippers second string is pretty remarkable. They were going up against some pretty seasoned vets like Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, Darren Collison and Big Baby.

Indeed. Especially the way we came back after the Clips made that 27-4 run.

 

[lawai'a]

one game probably won't affect a lot of gm's opinions but on a team playing in the playoffs we still developed damian and trob. claver's an offensive liability and this makes his court time problematic. myers just isn't ready for primetime minutes. you can't give all of the big man bench guys 20 minutes a night in order to develope and win 54 games. did barton do anything in the early opportunities to push mo 's minutes? trob got to play through his lapses and even himself admitted that he had to adapt and play to his strengths in order to garner court time. double that for willbthrilled. cj was injured and a rookie. claver was a victim of the need to develop robinson and myers. i take last nights game as a testament to how well the young guys have been brought along if you look at it in comparison to the beginning of the season. no one wanted to see the starters take a blow as the drop off was so bad.

 

[mook]

It was one of the worst benches in the league this year. (Still a radical improvement over the prior year, but that just shows how bad it was then.) Meyers and CJ especially had the minutes to prove their worth, and it just didn't happen.

A lot of teams' benches are evolutionary products over many years. Last year with Lillard coming in and immediately starting, and every other rookie/sophomore sucking crap, there just wasn't much of a bench talent pool to build on. Thank heavens Mo and T-Rob fell in our laps, because there wasn't much else there.

I'm happy to see the 3rd stringers have a really good game after 81 largely forgettable/non-existent ones. Shows that maybe they are getting some stuff done in the gym. Hopefully the evolution continues:
Year 1: Utter horse shit.
Year 2: Shitty in a fertilizer kind of way. <-- our bench now
Year 3: Average soil. <-- our bench next fall
Year 4: Daffodils.

I'm all for getting daffodils earlier, but Christ, we just added 20 wins. How many massive leaps can you really expect from a team?

 

[maxiep]

It was one of the worst benches in the league this year. (Still a radical improvement over the prior year, but that just shows how bad it was then.) Meyers and CJ especially had the minutes to prove their worth, and it just didn't happen.

A lot of teams' benches are evolutionary products over many years. Last year with Lillard coming in and immediately starting, and every other rookie/sophomore sucking crap, there just wasn't much of a bench talent pool to build on. Thank heavens Mo and T-Rob fell in our laps, because there wasn't much else there.

I'm happy to see the 3rd stringers have a really good game after 81 largely forgettable/non-existent ones. Shows that maybe they are getting some stuff done in the gym. Hopefully the evolution continues:
Year 1: Utter horse shit.
Year 2: Shitty in a fertilizer kind of way. <-- our bench now
Year 3: Average soil. <-- our bench next fall
Year 4: Daffodils.

I'm all for getting daffodils earlier, but Christ, we just added 20 wins. How many massive leaps can you really expect from a team?

I think we're going to need an improved bench just to match 54 wins next year. Almost everyone will be as good or better in the West next year.

 

[maxiep]

I think there will be a consolidation trade this summer.

 

[Natebishop3]

I think there will be a consolidation trade this summer.

I think we need one. We have way too many guards, and like I said in another thread, we need to really focus on developing a few key guys. There's only so many minutes to go around.

 

[blue9]

Wonder if CJ has much trade value? Of course it'd be in some sort of package, but with him as a primary piece.

 

[Natebishop3]

Wonder if CJ has much trade value? Of course it'd be in some sort of package, but with him as a primary piece.

I think he does. Most GM's know he sat out a big chunk of the season, and he was widely considered a really good prospect after the draft. That was before we truly knew how bad this draft was, so his value is probably even better now.

 

[mook]

I think we're going to need an improved bench just to match 54 wins next year. Almost everyone will be as good or better in the West next year.

It always looks like the conference will only get better, but it really isn't so most years. New talent comes in from the draft, capturing headlines. Great rookies have even better sophomore seasons, grabbing more headlines. But the 7 year quality vet gets cut to bring in the next 20 year old and nobody notices. Perennial superstars who seem to be able to last forever suddenly don't.

I think the talent in the NBA is much more steady than many think. There's just so much churn that people tend to notice what goes in more than what falls off.

Our bench will be fine if we can replace Mo with a similar talent (or re-sign him), get more progress out of T-Rob, get a healthy Freeland back, and see dramatic improvement in youngsters like McCollum/Leonard or parlay them for something that will show that improvement. That's probably enough right there to make this bench average instead of bad.

 

[maxiep]

It always looks like the conference will only get better, but it really isn't so most years. New talent comes in from the draft, capturing headlines. Great rookies have even better sophomore seasons, grabbing more headlines. But the 7 year quality vet gets cut to bring in the next 20 year old and nobody notices. Perennial superstars who seem to be able to last forever suddenly don't.

I think the talent in the NBA is much more steady than many think. There's just so much churn that people tend to notice what goes in more than what falls off.

Our bench will be fine if we can replace Mo with a similar talent (or re-sign him), get more progress out of T-Rob, get a healthy Freeland back, and see dramatic improvement in youngsters like McCollum/Leonard or parlay them for something that will show that improvement. That's probably enough right there to make this bench average instead of bad.

I simply look at the health issues that supposed playoff teams had to deal with this year. Denver got wiped out, and so did NO. Meanwhile, we had amazing health. Perhaps SA might start showing signs of age, but I don't expect them to drop to a .500 win team next year. Dallas might slip a bit, but other than that, and MIN, UTA and LAL being not very good, the West will be even stronger next year.

 

[blue9]

I simply look at the health issues that supposed playoff teams had to deal with this year. Denver got wiped out, and so did NO. Meanwhile, we had amazing health. Perhaps SA might start showing signs of age, but I don't expect them to drop to a .500 win team next year. Dallas might slip a bit, but other than that, and MIN, UTA and LAL being not very good, the West will be even stronger next year.

Agreed. We really made out well due to some slippage from other teams. In addition to DEN/NOP, MEM took a hit early, but managed to salvage the season. And GSW under-performed. DAL just put together a stop-gap team - don't they have a bunch of cap space this summer? They could put together one last contender around Dirk this summer. Plus the Lakers are always a threat to put together a good roster in no time at all.
All we can count on is UTH, SAC, and probably MIN sucking next season. I still think NOP are a ways away from making a push, too.

 

[Drttimmy]

The fact that our third string beat the Clippers second string is pretty remarkable. They were going up against some pretty seasoned vets like Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, Darren Collison and Big Baby.

I think the bench improvement has been one of the underlying success stories this year. They're miles better than when the season began. The same group that won last night, is the same group that nearly blew a 40 point 4th quarter lead at Dallas earlier this year. They've got a ways to go before we can consider them a true asset, but they've certainly improved from point A to point B. Can't ask for much more.