Defense is exactly where I'm comparing them.....none of the four really play any. And as for Ellis being a "me-first" player, I don't disagree with that at all and yet his assist numbers are almost double CJ's. I played with a guy like CJ and after a while it got old watching him dribble, over dribble, go 1-on-2 and after not passing for an eternity, finally jacking up a tough shot which he (like CJ) would make as often as he missed. He was the best scorer on our team and yet we never won anything with him and won multiple titles after he was gone. There was just growing frustration as teammates would stand around waiting for him to do his thing knowing he wouldn't pass and we were there just to set screens and run back on defense.
I see quite a bit of that in CJ. INCREDIBLE scorer but it doesn't surprise me that outside of a hot stretch when Nurkic went nuts last year, this team led by Dame/CJ just isn't very good.
This is exactly why I've stopped coming to these forums as often, and even more so stopped participating in any conversations.
You want to talk about the defense of Portland's back court & compare them to Ellis/Curry.
That's a completely legit conversation. As defense is the comparable factor between the two back courts.
However you then go to talk about offense, when the two back courts just aren't comparable on that end.
Both Lillard & CJ can shoot. Where Ellis was/is a god awful shooter.(even more so during his time in GS, he knew it and his attempts reflected that)
Despite having the arguably the better player in Curry. Portland's back court on the offensive end is 10x better than Curry/Ellis was.
Outside of the second round appearance, and the hot stretch after the Nurk trade you mean.
At the end of the day last year imo was more of a outlier than the year previous.
Even coming back from how many games under .500 is an outlier. That doesn't typically happen in the NBA... You don't get to play Philly every night.
This year Portland has lost some tough games, and under performed in another.
Fans hit the panic button too soon and frankly it's as tiring as when HCP feels the need to drag shit out for how many months now?
3 out of the 4 games against potential playoff teams Portland has been right there.
Exactly where I expected them to be if healthy.
What I find encouraging is the leader of the Blazers isn't going out there and just trying to out score the other team.
He's made two potential game winning defensive plays late in games.(The charge he took in the Clippers game & the travel he forced last night)
It's not the flavor of the month to talk about this stuff because people live in the moment. So sorry if I'm not part of the doom and gloom crowd.
As I said, if you want to talk about CJ's defensive effort... Or lack there of and cite that as why Portland 'sucks' and needs to trade one of the two. Okay perfectly reasonable.
Although I'd say it's more so the Portland role players aren't good enough on either to sustain an off night from one of their stars. But to each their own.
(No I'm not talking about the role player Evan Turner. This guy can ball, but I always knew that. This time last year though the forum was up in arms.)