What is the core issue with this team?

[Rastapopoulos]

I think Dame has shown that he can carry a team, at least a certain distance. So why is it that we so often look so bad, and are currently being embarrassed by the genuinely good teams? It's easy to say "the coach!" or "the GM!" - I want something more specific. And I'm going to say (as many have) that it's Olshey's love affair with CJ. CJ has rewarded him by being better in the NBA that perhaps could ever have been expected, even given Lehigh's historic defeat of Duke. And he's genuinely elite at creating (and making) his own shot for somebody who's a SG in a relatively unathletic PG's body. But YOU CAN'T HAVE TWO SMALL NON-DEFENDING GUARDS AS YOUR TWO BEST PLAYERS. It just has never been done (at least since the time when EVERY guard was a small non-defender). It's bad enough having to compensate for Dame's defensive problems, let alone Dame's AND CJ's.

Now, the optimist might look at the acquisition of Powell and say - Olshey has finally realized this, and is auditioning CJ's replacement. But is Powell that much better? He draws more fouls and he plays SLIGHTLY better defense, and he's more athletic, but on the down side, he's been more injury prone in his career, and he's gonna want a huge pay raise. And if CJ could keep up his performance from the beginning of the year, he's better than Powell even given Powell's D.

I think the best case Portland team, assuming Lillard remains our cornerstone, is something like the Larry Brown Sixers' team that reached the finals. It was built round a small, high volume scoring guard, who was actually a good deal less efficient than Dame. But it was defensively ELITE otherwise, and it's just enraging that we seem to ignore that. I really do believe that Stotts is a very good coach (oh look, I just lost everybody) who finds creative ways to maximize the DEEPLY FLAWED players he's given. I defy the best defensive coach in history to do much with this bunch. You'd have to completely bench Kanter and Carmelo, and then you'd probably be losing games 85-80 instead of 130-110. Better margin, but ugly, and still losing. And the "good defense" would probably just be incredibly slow pace to minimize errors.

So, the question remains - does Olshey have to go before CJ goes? And then: would Jody ever get rid of Olshey?

 

[Natebishop3]

 

[Labinot41]

From a "human standpoint" Dame is everything you can ask from a Franchise Player, his loyalty is absolutely admirable.

Unfortunately his loyalty to Stotts and CJ will kill all his chances of winning a Championship in Portland.

 

[Chris Craig]

The core issue is Stotts isn't using this roster correctly. He is way overplaying Melo and continuing to play him at center and next to Kanter.

Powell needs to come off the bench and DJJ needs to start again. The three guard lineup is not working. It is too much having three ball centric players to be in at the same time. Powell doesn't get enough shots.

The Blazers need more movement on offense. There is too much standing around and ISO ball. With so many shooters, the ball needs to get worked around to open shooters. The other benefit of said ball movement is that it tires out the opponents.

Little should be playing over Melo off the bench. If Little and DJJ played and Melo sat, it would fix a number of Portland's issues.

There is not enough focus on the defensive end. Again and again I see Blazers lag off their assignment because they are looking elsewhere and lose them, leading to open shots. I see players hedging on help defense and leaving their guy wide open. I see disorganization and a lack of effort or care.

Stotts is using this roster the wrong way. He is not making adjustments. He refuses to try alternate rotations or player younger players like Little more minutes because he is beholden to the veterans like Melo. He has even said he will keep doing it. And, he will because there is no accountability.

 

[andalusian]

The most important ingredients for championship teams in the recent nba seems to be having very good forwards that are both offensively and defensively dominant and the blazers do not have that.

Lebron, kl and durant are the recent obvious examples, and even the first warriors championship had a dominant draymond on defense with a dominant point forward role on offense.

 

[Natebishop3]

The most important ingredients for championship teams in the recent nba seems to be having very good forwards that are both offensively and defensively dominant and the blazers do not have that.

Lebron, kl and durant are the recent obvious examples, and even the first warriors championship had a dominant draymond on defense with a dominant point forward role on offense.

I have no idea why Neil has been so stubbornly steadfast on keeping on with this Dame/CJ foundation. It's like he thinks it's our version of the Splash Bros, but neither Dame nor CJ play like Curry or Thompson. Our guys are iso scorers and Curry/Thompson are excellent running of screens.

 

[Scalma]

Stubbornness from not only Stotts, but Olshey.

It was clear that we needed another ball handler in the offseason. Did Olshey get one? Nope, because “our backup point guards are CJ and Simons,” as if that’s a reasonable justification.

It was also clear very early that Kanter and Melo would never work together. Now Zachs setback didn’t help, but Olshey should’ve brought in a defensive minded big the minute that setback happened. John Henson for example was there for the taking.

As for Stotts, his stubbornness is more obvious and I don’t need to type it all out again.

 

[Natebishop3]

Trading GTJ for Powell will hopefully get Neil fired.

GTJ is going to blow up for Toronto and Norm will leave in the offseason with nothing to show for it.

 

[royo]

Covering drunk friend at work every day.

 

[Labinot41]

I wonder if the ownership recognize the frustration of a large part from the Fanbase, and even if they recognize it, i'm not sure that they care about and do something. But something is different this season, we haven't seen this much frustration from the Fans on Social Media, i just hope changes are coming in the offseason

 

[Natebishop3]

I wonder if the ownership recognize the frustration of a large part from the Fanbase, and even if they recognize it, i'm not sure that they care about and do something. But something is different this season, we haven't seen this much frustration from the Fans on Social Media, i just hope changes are coming in the offseason

They're going to get a nice wakeup call here in the next month. We were able to coast against bad competition for most of the season, but the end of the season is going to be brutal.

There are really only a handful of cupcake opponents left on our schedule. Detroit, Houston, Cleveland.... but the rest of those games could very easily be losses for us. We might drop out of the playoffs entirely.

 

[wizenheimer]

core issue = Stolshey

 

[HolyBackboard]

This is a really good question. Salutes to the thread-maker for bringing this up. I've been thinking about this a lot myself.

A lot of good points have been already made -- roster imbalance, lack of additional all-stars, etc.

To me, those are surface-level issues. The root of the problem feels like a lack of discipline and accountability from this team and coaching staff.

Take last night's Jazz game for example: Nurkic, already playing with two fouls, stops a fast break out of frustration and picked up his third while in the second quarter.

Let's go back to the Pacers game: Nurkic, a game prior, was talking with media about how the coaches don't want him to reach on defense as it leads to foul trouble. Yet, in the first-half, he reaches in on defense, but this time it led to a broken wrist.

I know both of these examples were Nurk-centric, and I'm not trying to isolate him in this thread, but it shows a lack of discipline on his part and a lack of accountability by the coaching staff. The staff allows bad behavior on the court to take place and does nothing of substance to put a stop to it. No one gets benched. No one loses opportunities on offense. Do you think Pop or Phil would put up with plays like that?

Back to the Jazz. There's no way they should be 10+ games ahead of us in the standings. You can't tell me their roster is significantly better than outs. Yet, they've blown us out by 20 twice already this year. Why? They play sound basketball. Phoenix does too. All of the elite teams do. When I watch other top teams play, rarely am I left scratching my head at their shot attempts compared to the Blazers hoisting up quick, contested jumpers on the regular because "we want to shoot more 3's this season."

The defense has been dissected every which way, so I'm not even going to bother.

I think the inconsistent effort (and play) is a bi-product of a lack of accountability and discipline.

For these Blazers to turn it around they need a new voice in the locker room and sidelines, a new decision-maker in the front office who can assess this team with fresh eyes, and a championship-caliber veteran whose been there before and can command respect.

 

[Scalma]

Trading GTJ for Powell will hopefully get Neil fired.

GTJ is going to blow up for Toronto and Norm will leave in the offseason with nothing to show for it.

the same Gary Trent you were trashing on here consistently? That Gary Trent? Btw Trent is shooting 6-30 in his last two games. I’m sure you wouldn’t have said anything about that if he were still here.

 

[Natebishop3]

The core issue is that Dame/CJ does not work. The foundation of this team was built on sand.

Neither one of them play defense.

Neither one of them run off screens.

We built our team around two iso oriented guards, which leads to a lot of ball stopping and over dribbling. It's easy to stop and extremely boring to watch. It doesn't help that Stotts is garbage. It doesn't help that Neil doesn't seem to understand how to build a winner. But the foundation is already weak so it doesn't really matter what else we do.

 

[Natebishop3]

the same Gary Trent you were trashing on here consistently? That Gary Trent? Btw Trent is shooting 6-30 in his last two games. I’m sure you wouldn’t have said anything about that if he were still here.

Wait what....... ?

How was I trashing him? Are you talking about how his defense is overrated? I wanted to trade him because I knew we weren't going to re-sign him.

 

[Labinot41]

They're going to get a nice wakeup call here in the next month. We were able to coast against bad competition for most of the season, but the end of the season is going to be brutal.

There are really only a handful of cupcake opponents left on our schedule. Detroit, Houston, Cleveland.... but the rest of those games could very easily be losses for us. We might drop out of the playoffs entirely.

View attachment 37997

I like this schedule tbh, enough of those weak ass opponents, i wanna see the Blazers play against playoff competition. Only these games tell us where the Blazers really stands

 

[e_blazer]

This is a bit of an oversimplification but, looking at the roster, the Blazers are height- and strength-deficient at every position except center...and they often go small there as well because of injuries, fouls, or an intentional decision to play small ball. Seems like something of a core issue to me in a conference stacked with talented, bigger players.

 

[e_blazer]

Wait what....... ?

How was I trashing him? Are you talking about how his defense is overrated? I wanted to trade him because I knew we weren't going to re-sign him.

Exactly. So why is it an issue if the Blazers ultimately let Powell walk with nothing in return?

 

[Tince]

The core issue is that this roster is not built to win a championship. Every championship team int he last 30 years has had an all-star of above average height. Every finals team in the last 19 years has had an all-starof above average height. Most these teams have multiple all-stars and one of them is almost always a two-way player.

We attempted to properly build a realistic championship roster in 06-07, but injures got us (no guarantee it would would've won anyway). The plan we're on now, while not impossible, is incredibly unlikely.

We need two all-stars, one of which is above average height and can play defense. That's the core you build around.

 

[Scalma]

Wait what....... ?

How was I trashing him? Are you talking about how his defense is overrated? I wanted to trade him because I knew we weren't going to re-sign him.

What happened to Gary Trent man. He has been shooting like shit lately.

Hard pass on trading Little. I'd rather trade Trent.

Yup. Trent and Collins is who I would be looking to move.

Except Trent is not really good at the D part.

So you wanted to trade him and are now complaining that Olshey traded him? You also didn’t think he was good defensively and wondered what happened to his shooting, but now he’s going to blow up when he’s having the same issues in Toronto? Just stop please.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

The core issue is Stotts isn't using this roster correctly. He is way overplaying Melo and continuing to play him at center and next to Kanter.

I think it's complicated. Ideally we wouldn't HAVE Carmelo. But since we have Carmelo, and he's looked up to by a lot of players, you cannot just not play him and have that create a problem. And besides, he genuinely can create buckets - that's one thing he's historically good at. So how to use him? Not in the fucking starting lineup (thank CHRIST we've moved past that) so off the bench. And you can't just play him garbage minutes, because see earlier. But wait, we also have Kanter. He's also got undeniable strengths, and to his credit, Stotts has got more positive good out of Kanter than any other coach. But... playing him alongside CJ and Dame? Only in emergencies. So: play him alongside Melo? I guess you have to.

tl;dr:THERE'S NO "CORRECT" WAY TO USE THIS FUCKING ROSTER

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I like this schedule tbh, enough of those weak ass opponents, i wanna see the Blazers play against playoff competition. Only these games tell us where the Blazers really stands

"I like this schedule" he says through gritted teeth, as another team blows out the Blazers with contemptuous ease

 

[Rastapopoulos]

This is a really good question. Salutes to the thread-maker for bringing this up.

Ahem: that's what the "like" button is for

 

[Natebishop3]

Exactly. So why is it an issue if the Blazers ultimately let Powell walk with nothing in return?

Because we could have traded Trent for a player at a position that we WOULD have paid. It never made sense to pay starter money to Trent while we still had CJ. The same issue applies with Norm, except we don't have any leverage with Norm. He's a UFA. I wanted to trade Trent for a forward.

 

[Minstrel]

This is a bit of an oversimplification but, looking at the roster, the Blazers are height- and strength-deficient at every position except center...

Exactly. This is a huge factor, probably the largest (no pun intended). In fact, in this sense, the roster is upside-down. It's small at every position except center and at center they have a huge lumbering man when that's really not what you want anymore. A correctly constructed roster would have taller players at nearly every position and a lighter, more fluid player at center.

Even if the team has a few isolated good defenders on the roster, the Blazers are poorly constructed overall to defend and, in addition, they also have awful defenders who have to be key reserves (because they have no real talent beyond them). It's not Stotts' fault for playing Melo and Kanter--the roster forces him to play them significant minutes. You can complain about playing them together, sure, but it's not clear whether it's worse to play them together or to separate their minutes and essentially ensure one of them is on the court at all times sabotaging the defense.

I don't think Stotts is a great coach, but I also don't think Popovich or Thibodeau would be getting significantly better defense out of this roster. When it comes to defense, it's broken at the construction level.

 

[Natebishop3]

So you wanted to trade him and are now complaining that Olshey traded him? You also didn’t think he was good defensively and wondered what happened to his shooting, but now he’s going to blow up when he’s having the same issues in Toronto? Just stop please.

You think that's shitting on him?

Yes. I wanted to trade him, but not for another shooting guard who is a UFA. Why trade a young asset and get nothing in return? Now, if we deal CJ and re-sign Norm, that's cool. I'm ok with that, but I'm hot going to hold my breath.

Anyone can cherry pick out comments. Go look at what I said when the trade was first announced. I didn't like it then either.

You stop.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Obviously there's an important element that us keyboard warriors know nothing about: the locker room (AKA team dynamics). Managing that is an element of coaching that we are entirely ignorant of, and that Stotts has to care deeply about, because it's the difference between a team caring and a team not caring. Now, some of you will instantly say that it's obvious that the team doesn't care and that Stotts has already lost it. I disagree. You have no idea how much worse it could get.

 

[Natebishop3]

Obviously there's an important element that us keyboard warriors know nothing about: the locker room (AKA team dynamics). Managing that is an element of coaching that we are entirely ignorant of, and that Stotts has to care deeply about, because it's the difference between a team caring and a team not caring. Now, some of you will instantly say that it's obvious that the team doesn't care and that Stotts has already lost it. I disagree. You have no idea how much worse it could get.

Sure we do, we have seen it happen before with Dunleavy and McMillan. But it sure seems like the team is headed that direction.

Dame is out there talking about heart and pride, but the fact is that I think a lot of the guys are probably tired of watching him, CJ, and Melo jack up shots and not move the ball or play a lick of defense.

 

[e_blazer]

Because we could have traded Trent for a player at a position that we WOULD have paid. It never made sense to pay starter money to Trent while we still had CJ. The same issue applies with Norm, except we don't have any leverage with Norm. He's a UFA. I wanted to trade Trent for a forward.

I am sure that Olshey tested the market for Trent with other teams before making the deal for Powell. I see this decision as an attempt by Olshey to try a 3 guard lineup to see if it can solve the issue of Lillard getting constantly blitzed. So far, results are mixed, but not overly encouraging. Stotts and the team have the rest of the regular season to see if there's something there that works. The Blazers do have the leverage with Powell of holding his Bird rights and being able to offer a bigger contract if they so choose. If Powell is happy here and thinks things are on the upswing, there's really no reason that he wouldn't consider re-signing here. If he does, then Olshey would have the option next summer to make a commitment to Powell at SG and potentially trading CJ for a position of need.