We all know our bench needs improvement. The question is, who goes? (1 Viewer)

[Blazer4ever]

The coach's fault.

 

[Rz4k]

And then next season Jameer Nelson is a perennial choker?

Jameer Nelson has had many clutch games in the playoffs while I can't think of any for Mo Williams off the top of my head.

 

[Blazer4ever]

CJ is a 3 point shot away from being very competent offensively, also a decent defender.

 

[Blazer4ever]

Mo should play less minutes maybe but I hope he stays.

 

[MarAzul]

Stotts is playing two bench players. In game 4 they won the game for us. Stotts is stupid, the bench has talent.

umm, the bench played 44 minutes tonight, and made three goals. I don't know exactly what about that is Stotts stupid.

 

[PDXFonz]

CJ is a 3 point shot away from being very competent offensively, also a decent defender.

I think McCollum needs to work on his balance. I find that he gets too low on dribble penetration which causes him to get out of control and creates turnovers. CJ needs to work on his ball handling over everything else this off season!

 

[PapaG]

CJ is a 3 point shot away from being very competent offensively, also a decent defender.

He's 2 straight full court shots from being even bad on defense. I don't understand why CJ gets a pass for being so shitty. He's an 8th Man, at best, on a bad team.

 

[PDXFonz]

Try not to turn this thread I to an argument about Stotts getting or failing to get production out of his bench. Pop has only had a 9 man rotation in the playoffs, 10 on a great day.

Let's focus on the fact that your traditional championship team has a 9-10 man rotation, and talk about who should go(and if you want to delve deeper, talk about who you think should replace them)

Thanks!

 

[Blazer4ever]

He's a rookie who started to play mid-season and was used to being 1st option on offense. He should get more time.

 

[PapaG]

He's a rookie who started to play mid-season and was used to being 1st option on offense. He should get more time.

Why? He was literally the worst oncourt/offcourt player on the team. He was historically bad. I hope he improves immensely, but I just don't see the size and athleticism to be any well-rounded guard. Maybe stick him in a corner and try to make him a 3-point specialist?

 

[PDXFonz]

He's a rookie who started to play mid-season and was used to being 1st option on offense. He should get more time.

I assume you are still talking about CJ?

I think next season we will see if we are ready to take the next step by seeing how deep of a structured rotation Stotts plays during the regular season. I think optimally if we want to win a championship next year CJ should be a 3rd option pg/sg. I don't think 1 offseason will be enough time for him to produce 18 quality minutes off the bench.

Now if CJ is able to make substantial improvements then I think the team would do well to add a sharpshooting veteran(veteran minimum) 2 guard who can play limited third string minutes while helping offer their veteran experience. I think a perfect candidate for that would be Jason Richardson.

I don't know if JRich could get still attract a good offer sheet from other teams, he's on the decline of his career and I think he is definitely a candidate for a veterans minimum contract.

 

[Blazer4ever]

If he's able to hit that in-and-out kick-out 3 pointer he would be able to make room to attack off the dribble, get to the mid-range or pass.

 

[jlprk]

Our coach refuses to develop rookies, even with only 1st half minutes. So we have a logjam of bench talent that produces no boxscore stats, diminishing their trade values. So we have to guess at the potential of each player before giving away some for free.

We wouldn't have to go through this exercise if the damn coach would get off his ass and play the bench in the 1st half.

 

[Blazer4ever]

CJ should give us at least 10 solid minutes next season IMO.

 

[PDXFonz]

CJ should give us at least 10 solid minutes next season IMO.

10 minutes is hardly enough to be considered a rotation player. Especially in the post season. If you want to strengthen your bench you want players who can give a minimum of 15 minutes per game without decreasing production.

 

[PapaG]

Our coach refuses to develop rookies, even with only 1st half minutes.

Stotts really fucked up Lillard's rookie season.

 

[PDXFonz]

Our coach refuses to develop rookies, even with only 1st half minutes. So we have a logjam of bench talent that produces no boxscore stats, diminishing their trade values. So we have to guess at the potential of each player before giving away some for free.

We wouldn't have to go through this exercise if the damn coach would get off his ass and play the bench in the 1st half.

I think he will play the bench more next season. I think this season was about developing that starting core, and next season will be about strengthening the bench.

I would argue that TRob might as well have been considered a rookie before come here. He was never given an opportunity under abysmal coaches in Sacramento and Houston.

 

[Blazer4ever]

T-Rob, after his rookie season, was considered a bust.
10 minutes for CJ is good if we play a deeper rotation.

 

[jlprk]

Starting 5(Included for response diversification purposes):
Damian Lillard
Wesley Matthews
Nicolas Batum
LaMarcus Aldridge
Robin Lopez

Bench:
Mo Williams
Earl Watson
CJ McCollum
Allen Crabbe
Will Barton
Dorell Wright
Victor Claver
Thomas Robinson
Joel Freeland
Meyers Leonard

Sayonara to Williams, Watson, Wright, Claver, and Leonard. Of those, only Leonard will get us back a player or pick.

 

[PCmor7]

Trading Batum would be a terrible move. SF and PG are the premier positions in the NBA right now, and you guys actually have premier players in those positions. Keep that infact. Move Matthews for a defensive swingman who can hit the three ala Green/Brewer. Not sure if there's any way you could pry Tony Allen from Memphis, but he'd be a tremendous fit as well. With Allen and Batum on the perimeter and Lopez in the paint, I could see Portland rising to be an elite defense; combined with y'alls offense it'd catapult the team to contender.

It depends what you are getting back.

I mentioned this in another thread. If you can trade some kind of package of Batum, Wes and Lopez (maybe with some filler) for a player like Noah (with spare parts), you do it because it makes this team better. You can get 3s and 2s that are similar in ability to Batum and Wes, even if not quite as good or not quite as good of fits for this team; Deng already has been mentioned as a guy to acquire in the offseason to come off the bench. But getting a third star has much more value, and it's been proven that you can attract players that contribute when you have three star players as your core.

 

[blue32]

Stotts really fucked up Lillard's rookie season.

I see what you did there.....

CJ deserves one more season at least until next seasons trade deadline to see if he belongs.

I believe Stotts was so hellbent on making the playoffs he choked the bench from developing / playing (and in his mind, lose us games).

 

[adrenalize74]

Only bench players I keep are:
Robinson
Claver
Barton
Those 3 just need consistant minutes to develop. Claver may never be a reliable scorer, but he does EVERYTHING else well. Perfect point-forward.

Could include Leonard there, but I dont really have much faith in him improving enough to be a legit backup C.

Even though CJ had a limited season and will most likely improve. I really did not see much from him that tells me he will be anything more than a 7th-8th man. He just doesnt seem to have the size, atheletic ability, or natural shot to be a difference maker. I would support a trade package with both Wes and CJ for a legit starting SG.

 

[Eastoff]

T-Rob, after his rookie season, was considered a bust.
10 minutes for CJ is good if we play a deeper rotation.

TRob was drafted for being crazy athletic, but didn't know what to do. CJ was drafted because he was suppose to be NBA-ready with a low ceiling. He was not NBA ready.

 

[Kaydow]

When CJ got healthy in Jan I thought we were using him well. 10-20 min, and we saw what you'd expect to see from a rookie who missed training camp and almost half a season. Flashes of potential, mixed in with rookie mistakes. He showed some nifty ball handling/moves and ability to score in a variety of ways. Then after we got housed by 30 @ Charlotte, he completely fell out of the rotation as Barton/Wright took his min. We didn't hear much about why this move was made. We could see CJ and Mo didn't exactly compliment each other's game, but the thing I hated was w/o CJ the only half court offensive option was Mo forcing a jumper with the 2nd unit. The kid has a chance to be a good offensive player. Don't know why we stopped using him when bench scoring was such an overwhelming deficiency.

 

[Eastoff]

Must keep:
Damian
Nicolas
Lamarcus
Robin

Should keep:
Wessley
Thomas
Will
Joel

Not bad if we keep:
Mo
Victor

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Here's my unrealistic/magsish/hyperoptimistic/neverwillhappenbutIdontcareaboutreality blazers offseason:

Trade CJ+Matthews for Oladipo+cap dork
Sign Deng with mid-level

We become a much, much better defensive team, and a much better team overall.

Give me a couple of months, then I'll consider more realistic options. However, I will say this: Claver is likely gone. The coach wouldn't play him, he wants to play.

 

[ppilot]

It's ridiculous how undervalued Mo is. Same thing happened to Jamal Crawford. He has an average Crawford season, and got run out of town by the fans.

CJ McCollum is terrible. Try to dupe some team into taking him for a later pick in the first round.

No, you are dramatically overvaluing Mo. He was a bottom third PG/SG in the NBA who got consistent playing time.

 

[Natebishop3]

I like CJ, and I'm not ready to give up on him, but I'm concerned about his ability to transition to the NBA.

After watching him in summer league and in the D League, I'm not sure if he has the quickness to do the things he used to doing. Much of his game was predicated on being able to get past his man and either drive or do a pull-up jumper. He really doesn't strike me as especially quick though. He has an okay outside shot, but not one that I'm super confident in. He needs to work on his outside shot this summer because that's going to be his best weapon going into next season.

 

[Pinwheel1]

He's 2 straight full court shots from being even bad on defense. I don't understand why CJ gets a pass for being so shitty. He's an 8th Man, at best, on a bad team.

Probably because we have seen fans write off a rookie too early too many times before. When i think back on the idiotic comments that were made about Patty Mills I can only shake my head in amazement. Maybe CJ is shitty maybe he is not. But it's way too early to write him off.

 

[Natebishop3]

Probably because we have seen fans write off a rookie too early too many times before. When i think back on the idiotic comments that were made about Patty Mills I can only shake my head in amazement. Maybe CJ is shitty maybe he is not. But it's way too early to write him off.

I don't think people understand how hard it is to not play ball for essentially a year, and then come back and be expected to produce right away as a rookie on a playoff team. He didn't get a training camp, he didn't get to play in the first half of the season, and now he's supposed to be a seasoned vet who doesn't make mistakes? It's completely unrealistic.