Well, Roy got what he wanted...

[Natebishop3]

He's back to putting up super star numbers. The offense is running through him. One little problem... we're losing.

Can Roy be a dominant scorer, playing in the offense that makes him comfortable, without sacrificing ball movement and flow?

 

[BenDavis503]

He can, but he also needs to be a dominate passer and rebounder. He needs to put up 30\8\8

 

[julius]

As much as fans want to bitch about what he said, missing 2 starters and and 2 bench players, kind of makes a difference.

But we need someone to blame. Nate, KP, Roy, Blake, Miller or LMA.

I prefer to blame the team for sucking shit.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I prefer to blame Pritchard.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

As much as fans want to bitch about what he said, missing 2 starters and and 2 bench players, kind of makes a difference.

But we need someone to blame. Nate, KP, Roy, Blake, Miller or LMA.

I prefer to blame the team for sucking shit.

Is our purpose here to lay blame? I didn't read the Terms of Service, to be honest.

 

[Buzz Killington]

As much as fans want to bitch about what he said, missing 2 starters and and 2 bench players, kind of makes a difference.

But we need someone to blame. Nate, KP, Roy, Blake, Miller or LMA.

I prefer to blame the team for sucking shit.

Golden State rolled us up with less.

 

[Nate Dogg]

I blame Nate for showcasing Blake and Miller and not letting Bayless play more.

 

[Natebishop3]

As much as fans want to bitch about what he said, missing 2 starters and and 2 bench players, kind of makes a difference.

But we need someone to blame. Nate, KP, Roy, Blake, Miller or LMA.

I prefer to blame the team for sucking shit.

I'm just saying, his scoring is back up, but the team isn't doing well. Do you think we can have a balanced scoring effort across the board, and Roy still average 25+ ppg?

 

[julius]

Is our purpose here to lay blame? I didn't read the Terms of Service, to be honest.

has to be.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

has to be.

Okay, just wanted to make sure.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Honestly I don't think there's enough fire power on this roster for it to matter.

 

[illmatic99]

We're 2-5 in games in which Roy has scored 25 or more pts. So, that's 11-4 in the other games.

Not good.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Honestly I don't think there's enough fire power on this roster for it to matter.

We are definitely depleted. In 2007-08, when we were waiting for Oden to get better, we had Webster, Jones, Jack, Outlaw, Roy, Blake, LMA, Joel, and Channing Frye as our main 9-man rotation. 7 of those players had range beyond 15 feet. This year, when we are forced back into that mode, we have Roy, Blake, Webster, LMA, Joel, Cunningham, Miller, Howard, and Bayless. 9 men, but only 5 have range beyond 15 feet. This means there's less reason for defenses to play honest with Roy. He won't get the room to operate that he used to get.

I have to say, it doesn't look promising from a pure basketball perspective. Having Outlaw and Batum would have made the loss of Oden significant but bearable. But now, after losing so many other offensive weapons? I'm just not sure how many games we can eek wins out of now.

EDIT: Wow, I forgot Rudy. Shows you how little he's contributed recently.

 

[KingSpeed]

One little problem... we're losing.

One game. We lost one game to a hot team that blew out the Phoenix Suns. Don't forget that we won the Houston game. Let's reserve judgement til the trip is over. If we win 2, we finish the trip at 15-10. I'm happy with that given all the injuries.

 

[oldmangrouch]

I was amazed to look at the boxscore, and see that Roy had 27 points. He must have gone berserk in garbage time, because he was doing diddly when the Knicks were building that ginormous lead.

Superstar numbers? Only in the most superficial sense. Zach put up more meaningful stats than what Roy did tonight. (yes, I went there)

 

[Minstrel]

Superstar numbers? Only in the most superficial sense. Zach put up more meaningful stats than what Roy did tonight. (yes, I went there)

So does "Roybe" become "Roybo?"

I don't think it's fair to say Roy's stats weren't meaningful. Or, if they weren't, it's because his teammates' combined lack of production made them non-meaningful. I think Roy held up his end of the bargain tonight. He didn't have his best game, but he showed up and produced.

 

[Nikolokolus]

All I will say is that Wade put up fantastic individual numbers last year and that was barely a 41 win team (or something close to it), that doesn't mean he's selfish, it just means he wasn't surrounded by enough go to talent to make his big numbers mean anything. Brandon isn't being selfish by putting up big numbers, we're going to need everything he's got to give just to stay afloat and other people are going to have to step up. But right now we've got 3 starters who average single digit scoring and a couple of them are big minute players.

Minus a trade -- and even then don't expect too much -- this team is going to struggle to break 90 points most nights. About their only hope is to give Bayless more minutes, and put Miller in the starting lineup where he's most comfortable and productive.

It's going to get ugly folks.

 

[maxiep]

I wouldn't hold out much hope for a trade. We're going from baking the cake to moving it to the bunson burner and subjecting it to the heat of the crucible. We're going to see who has character and who doesn't. Who is willing to play hard every night and who isn't. Who is willing to be a team player and who is going to look out for themselves.

There's simply no reason to make a trade that will benefit us in the short term but cost us in the long term. We've lost 4 of 5 and have trailed significantly in every single game. This trend is likely to continue until we find our spine. Right now, it's just fleshy tissue.

 

[Kaydow]

I wouldn't hold out much hope for a trade. We're going from baking the cake to moving it to the bunson burner and subjecting it to the heat of the crucible. We're going to see who has character and who doesn't. Who is willing to play hard every night and who isn't. Who is willing to be a team player and who is going to look out for themselves.

There's simply no reason to make a trade that will benefit us in the short term but cost us in the long term. We've lost 4 of 5 and have trailed significantly in every single game. This trend is likely to continue until we find our spine. Right now, it's just fleshy tissue.

This.

And as for the title of this thread - I don't think this is ANYTHING like what Roy wants. He didn't look very happy out there tonight. Sure he wants to put up numbers, what All Star doesn't? But he wants to win.

 

[KingSpeed]

There's simply no reason to make a trade that will benefit us in the short term but cost us in the long term. .

Keeping Miller costs us in the long term. His best years are behind him. By the time Roy, LMA, Batum, and Oden hit their prime, Miller will be out of the league but players like Bayless and Blake will still be playing decent ball.

 

[rocketeer]

Honestly I don't think there's enough fire power on this roster for it to matter.

on the roster or healthy?

 

[Natebishop3]

Keeping Miller costs us in the long term. His best years are behind him. By the time Roy, LMA, Batum, and Oden hit their prime, Miller will be out of the league but players like Bayless and Blake will still be playing decent ball.

Blake isn't playing decent ball now, what makes you think he'll be playing decent ball in 2-3 years?

 

[Mediocre Man]

Roy and Aldridge both better start putting up huge numbers because this is what they have wanted all year.

The one slight problem is that other teams can easily stop our offense, so good luck guys.

 

[craigehlo]

on the roster or healthy?

In my opinion, not enough talent even if healthy. This team has needed one additional go-to scorer in the starting 5 for quite a while. This team is rife with inconsistent scorers like Martell, Rudy, Blake and Bayless. If we want to make the playoffs, the current lineup isn't looking like it will cut it.

 

[Nikolokolus]

on the roster or healthy?

Mostly because they aren't healthy. But even then it's an awfully finesse oriented team that doesn't seem to have much finesse -- that is to say, if you are going to play a lot of isolation basketball you probably need better one-on-one scorers and ball-handlers than guys like Rudy, Blake, Martell, etc. who all struggle with driving into the lane or handling the ball in traffic. There are offensive minded guys on this team, but they just seem to be a weird fit for the type of ball this team tends to play (even when Roy has his drive and kick game going).

Or maybe I'm just misdiagnosing the problem? Perhaps if Blake, Martell, and Rudy were hitting consistently from three point range, Roy would have more space to operate and defenses wouldn't be able to double and triple team him all night long.

 

[craigehlo]

Perhaps if Blake, Martell, and Rudy were hitting consistently from three point range

Perhaps Blake will grow another foot and he can play backup center. Both scenarios are just about as likely.

 

[PapaG]

He's back to putting up super star numbers. The offense is running through him. One little problem... we're losing.

Can Roy be a dominant scorer, playing in the offense that makes him comfortable, without sacrificing ball movement and flow?

Roy wanted Oden to get hurt?

Lame thread.

 

[maxiep]

Keeping Miller costs us in the long term. His best years are behind him. By the time Roy, LMA, Batum, and Oden hit their prime, Miller will be out of the league but players like Bayless and Blake will still be playing decent ball.

Uh, did I say Miller was a part of our future?

 

[PapaG]

Uh, did I say Miller was a part of our future?

With Oden out, and a championship unlikely this year (with the playoffs seeming iffy), what's the point of keeping Miller around? May as well trade him, give his minutes to Bayless, and figure out what to do about the starting PG position next summer.

 

[Buzz Killington]

With Oden out, and a championship unlikely this year (with the playoffs seeming iffy), what's the point of keeping Miller around? May as well trade him, give his minutes to Bayless, and figure out what to do about the starting PG position next summer.

Bingo. Miller was here to "put us over the edge" with the "big 3". Since that will not happen for at least 3 seasons, he will be too old for our core, therefore, essentially useless without any major roster moves.