Exclusive Whiteside To Portland (1 Viewer)

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Scalma said:
LAS VEGAS — Damian Lillard acknowledged he was wowed by the Clippers’ power play Friday night to bring Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to Los Angeles, but the Trail Blazers star was far from intimidated.

Yes, the Clippers appear formidable, and upon learning the news, Lillard said he immediately texted former teammate and now Clippers reserve forward Maurice Harkless, to tell him, “Y’all going to be nice.”

But as the basketball world imagined the star-studded Clippers and newly fortified Lakers in the Western Conference finals, Lillard held to himself a bit of knowledge about the Blazers.

“This” he repeated on three separate occasions Saturday, “is what people don’t understand …”

What they don’t understand is Lillard has been making some important moves of his own behind the scenes — moves that could translate to the Blazers entering the conversation as contenders to win the Western Conference.

Yes, the Clippers and Lakers now have some of the biggest names in the NBA. Yes, Utah became a factor by adding Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic and Ed Davis. And the Nuggets, Rockets and Warriors all return enough firepower to be considered dangerous.

But the Blazers have been busy, too. They added shooters (Rodney Hood, Kent Bazemore, Anthony Tolliver), defense (Hassan Whiteside) and gambled that a youngster will blossom (Mario Hezonja). On opening night, there will be three new starters and seven departures from last year’s team that advanced to the Western Conference finals.

“Obviously, you look around at what’s happening for other teams — the Clippers, the Lakers, Brooklyn — and it jumps off the page. But I think we got better as well,” Lillard said. “We had a great team the past few years, but now we got a different team. The way I look at it, sometimes change is good.”

And here is where the behind-the-scenes stuff comes in. As Lillard said, change can be good. So it was with that in mind that he called Whiteside, the Blazers’ biggest acquisition of the summer.

Some have panned the Blazers’ trade for Whiteside because of his checkered past. Throughout his career he has been a dominant shot blocker, elite rebounder and proficient scorer, but he has also at times been a headache. He has, at times, complained. At times, he lacked effort. At times, he lost his temper. And for how talented he is, he has, at times, lost his starting position in Miami.

But where others saw problems, Lillard saw potential.

So he drew on the experience of a relationship developed with Whiteside over random encounters from the last three summers. One in Miami. One in Portland. And one in Las Vegas.

He understands the book on Whiteside, but he also understands Whiteside the person. So he picked up the phone and started the 2019-20 Trail Blazers season.

“It’s going to be a challenge going forward,” Lillard said. “But I’ve already accepted what it is. I’m ready to bring it together.”

The hidden truth about the Trail Blazers’ run of six consecutive trips to the playoffs has been the finesse and force with which Lillard has worked to create one of the NBA’s best cultures, which in turn gets the most out of players.

He has an innate ability to read teammates, and then has the sensitivity to reach them. He inspires with his work ethic, sets an example with his toughness, and he influences the mood with an unwavering outlook of positivity. Those inside the organization point to Lillard’s leadership just as much as his play for the reason Portland has almost annually exceeded the win totals of preseason oddsmakers.

Lillard’s guidance has helped turn around the careers of Jusuf Nurkic, Hood and Harkless, all of whom credit Portland, and Lillard, for showing them the value of team and the joy of pulling together for a common goal.

“He never has an off day as far as attitude,” Hood said. “A lot of guys in his position care about themselves first. But he is always checking up on guys. I remember coming in to do some late-night shooting with my wife and he would be in there with Anfernee (Simons), taking him to side.

“And stuff like him texting me after a good game, a bad game, telling me how important I am to the team. Those are things you don’t … it’s rare. He’s a rare leader in this league. And that’s a big reason why Portland has sustained its success. He’s leading the way.”

This season, with seven players departed, much of the team’s vaunted culture and chemistry went with it. And with Whiteside’s mercurial past, Lillard knows how he handles the locker room in general, and Whiteside specifically, could be one of the key factors in which way the season goes.

So he knew it was a big moment for the upcoming season when he picked up the phone recently to reach Whiteside.

“Hassan might have a little temper at times, he might be hard to deal with at times,” Lillard said. “But that’s something for me to be excited about it.”

When Lillard called Whiteside, he was direct.

“I said, ‘Listen, I understand you are going to get mad sometimes. I understand you are going to get frustrated with Coach. I understand that if that is who you are, that is who you are,”’ Lillard recalled. “But this you need to understand: I’m here to bring the best out of you. If we are going to win, I’m going to need you, and you are going to need me.”

He was able to talk so frankly with Whiteside because this is not a new relationship. In fact, Lillard and Whiteside have met for the past three summers in three different cities. Each encounter was unplanned and organic and evolved into more than just small talk.

“Oh, we know each other real well,” Lillard said.

In summer 2017, Lillard vacationed in Miami and happened to post a picture on social media. Whiteside saw it and invited him to his home.

“He was like, ‘Man, come to the house, I’ll have my chef make us some good food,” Lillard recalled. “So we ended up hanging out … and he was like, yeah, man, I’m trying to get to Portland. And I was like, ‘We have a center (Nurkic) ‘ … because I would never go behind Nurk’s back and be like, ‘Come to Portland!’ I just don’t get down like that.”

Last summer, Whiteside was in Portland, and Lillard and Whiteside went over to CJ McCollum’s home, where Lillard learned that Whiteside used the Trail Blazers while playing basketball video games.

Then this May, when Lillard was in Las Vegas, he received a message from Whiteside, who again saw one of Lillard’s social media posts. He asked for Lillard’s hotel and room number.

“I’m thinking this dude is not going to be like, coming to the room,” Lillard said. “So I’m in the room with my cousins, and (he knocks on a table) … I had forgotten by that time that I told him what room I’m in. My cousin went to open the door, and he comes walking in! This dude actually came to my room. He actually came. So we kicked it for a couple hours.”

So it was with that familiarity that Lillard talked so frankly with Whiteside. It helped, too, Lillard said, that he has experience dealing with tough personalities.

“The thing people don’t understand is I grew up around real crazy people,” Lillard said. “Like, in a real neighborhood. So I know, not how to manage them, but I know how to work with people. I have the approach of I’m really crazy, too. Like, that stuff don’t scare me, don’t move me at all. But I always let people know I have their best interest, and people accept it, because people know I’m not fake about shit. I just tell it how it is.”

And that’s how it came to be that Lillard outlined to Whiteside how he envisioned this season.

“I said, ‘So this is what this is going to come down to: If in the middle of the game, you are not getting the ball and you mad, and you felt like somebody should have done something, you come and say something to me,” Lillard said. “And if Coach is getting on you, or Coach takes you out and you get mad at Coach, me and you have to be able to communicate. Even if we argue, that’s fine. But we have to be able to get through to each other. That’s going to be a part of this. We have to be able to communicate.”

Whiteside, according to Lillard, said “OK.”

Unofficially, the start of the NBA season began Friday night when the Clippers trumpeted their arrival.

But that clamoring also stirred something inside the Blazers. Once again, the Blazers are being overlooked, and that’s just fine with them.

“When I see stuff like (George and Leonard going to L.A.), I automatically feel challenged,” Lillard said. “It’s going to be a topic. It’s going to be a discussion because two star players are joining up in a market like that. So I just take it as a challenge. It’s almost exciting, like, another team is expected to pass you by, so it gives you something to look forward to, something to be excited about.”

The Blazers likely are not done revamping their roster. They have two roster spots open and can offer minimum contracts to free agents. They will likely pursue a veteran center and an experienced point guard. Then, they will head into training camp with a projected starting lineup of Lillard, McCollum, Hood, Zach Collins and Whiteside, with the second unit featuring Simons, Bazemore, Hezonja and Tolliver. Nurkic, meanwhile, is loosely targeting a February return.

“The West is even better, which is unbelievable,” Collins said. “But I think we are up there. We traded away a lot of good players, but we got a lot of good players back. It’s just about how well we mesh. If we get that down, we will be good.”

The meshing has already started, the leader with the finesse and force reaching out to Whiteside. Lillard cautioned that before Whiteside is labeled, he should be understood. He came into the league in Sacramento, without a strong leader at guard. And in Miami, once Dwyane Wade left, there were players trying to figure out how to lead.

In Portland, he will be welcomed, appreciated and encouraged to be himself, as long as he puts the team first. If that happens, the Blazers believe they might have traded for one of the league’s best centers, vaulting them into the conversation for the West’s elite.

For the leader who has been working behind the scenes, it’s a question of whether Whiteside this season makes his name with his play, not his attitude.

“I know Hassan well enough that I’m literally not worried about it at all,” Lillard said.

https://theathletic.com/1065473/201...-been-making-his-own-moves-behind-the-scenes/
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SuperLike.
 
TBpup said:
Quick may have a poor reputation here...but I have appreciated his work on The Athletic. Good article.
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Does he have a bad reputation? Why? He’s like the biggest homer for the blazers why would he
 
Reep said:
If Meyers has a quicker release with no hesitation, I would agree. He got away with it for one game, but won’t fora full season. Last time he tried to speed up his shot his % went down.

And, when Nurk gets back there would have been. No minutes for Leonard. Whiteside is a placeholder
For Nurk.
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Your logic reminds me of Stotts.
 
Quick has melodramatic tendencies, but I’ll read his articles before a holdahl/Freeman/richman piece any day. You will rarely, if ever, learn or read anything interesting from those three. One of them also has the grammar of a high schooler, which makes reading his shit a chore.
 
AldoTrapani said:
Does he have a bad reputation? Why? He’s like the biggest homer for the blazers why would he
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He was a melodramatic shit stirrer for many years. His reputation precedes him. Although a lot of that may have been at the direction of his employer, the Oregonian. New employer, new focus?
 
BBert said:
He was a melodramatic shit stirrer for many years. His reputation precedes him. Although a lot of that may have been at the direction of his employer, the Oregonian. New employer, new focus?
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He's mentioned often in radio interviews that now he can spend more time on a piece and writes when and what he wants. That was not the case previously when he had to produce something almost every day whether it was a good topic/subject or not.

I really like what he has done at The Athletic.
 
Reep said:
I liked Meyers, do partially agree. Do you think Meyers was an adequate to plus defender in the post?
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Meyers has the mobility and size to be a good one-on-one defender and does a good job defending the guy with the ball, even out to the perimeter.

Stott's defense where the big man sags back by the hoop, goes against Meyer's strengths to his weakness, which is shot blocking near the hoop, or "rim protection".

So, I think Meyers does a good enough job defending his own man in the post (like Cousins or Jokic) but not when he has to go over and try to stop a smaller player.

Here are some highlights of Whiteside vs Portland going against both Nurkic and Leonard.

 
Reep said:
I liked Meyers, do partially agree. Do you think Meyers was an adequate to plus defender in the post?
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No, just barely. But then he was the best we had at helping get coverage on the top notch three point shooter and be effective on offense too. We need a coach that understands this sort of game and pushes the concept.
Look way back, to Dr. Jacks days, two completely different systems in play on the same team. The guard oriented offense, with Twardzik running a guard assist team, with the main stay being a Walton lead Highpost center team, with a low beast PF/center, Lucas there,
and three motion men, Hollins, Gross, and one of three others. When they switched it the other teams were just lost for several minutes. It was beautiful.

Now of course Meyers was not Walton on D, but god dammit he could shoot the damn ball and help guard the best guards in the league. Whitehead ain't any of this but I suppose it matters little. Stotts is no Dr. Jack, wouldn't know Pete Carril from a Cheerleader.
 
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I feel like Meyers fans are like Trump fans when he leaves office. They'll have tears in their eyes and remember a time when everything in the world was right which is mostly made up fantasies in their head.

I can't believe people are still talking about Meyers. Dementia sucks.
 
Dame is the greatest Blazer of all time. What he has done on the court, off the court, in the locker room....... no other blazer that I can think of has ever done it at this level.
 
AmirIcon said:
I feel like Meyers fans are like Trump fans when he leaves office. They'll have tears in their eyes and remember a time when everything in the world was right which is mostly made up fantasies in their head.

I can't believe people are still talking about Meyers. Dementia sucks.
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He was on the team for six years and only left a week ago??????
 
AmirIcon said:
And, he's contributed about as much as Brazil has in the fight against AIDS.
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Bs. He was a great towel waver and i say in all seriousness, seemed to be one of the best bench warming teammates a player could want. He helped dame creat dame culture.

You don't have to like him or his game but his loyalty and unselfish persona demands respect.
 
Orion Bailey said:
Bs. He was a great towel waver and i say in all seriousness, seemed to be one of the best bench warming teammates a player could want. He helped dame creat dame culture.

You don't have to like him or his game but his loyalty and unselfish persona demands respect.
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This is BS. You could have replaced him with anyone else and the results of the team would have been the exact same. I'm not spending a minute thinking about one of the team's biggest busts. I wish him well though.
 
AmirIcon said:
I feel like Meyers fans are like Trump fans when he leaves office. They'll have tears in their eyes and remember a time when everything in the world was right which is mostly made up fantasies in their head.

I can't believe people are still talking about Meyers. Dementia sucks.
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If you can’t believe people are discussing an NBA player in an NBA forum you have some issues yourself.
Ironically, you are very much like Trump yourself with your clever putdowns aimed at Blazer fans who think differently from you. Why discuss when you can throw insults.
 
AmirIcon said:
I feel like Meyers fans are like Trump fans when he leaves office. They'll have tears in their eyes and remember a time when everything in the world was right which is mostly made up fantasies in their head.

I can't believe people are still talking about Meyers. Dementia sucks.
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Seems like quite the reach...

I appreciated a few things about Meyers, he obviously put the work in. He never created problems, seemed great with younger players the last few years. I actually think his BBIQ is fine, but as a player he just doesn't play by instinct.

That said he barely played for many good reasons, while he was an exceptional shooter he was a slow decision maker, and just straight up never was a good defender, he was a decent match up on slower big centers, but theres like 3 of those in the NBA these days.

Whiteside feels a need for the team defensively and on the boards that ML never has had the ability to do.
 
blazerfan11 said:
If you can’t believe people are discussing an NBA player in an NBA forum you have some issues yourself.
Ironically, you are very much like Trump yourself with your clever putdowns aimed at Blazer fans who think differently from you. Why discuss when you can throw insults.
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Me? Issues? Fake news!

Really though, I didn't put down anyone specific so your sensitivity to the topic is a bit out there. Sorry if I hurt your feelings. I've just seen a ton of stuff on the Blazers Facebook and here about it and can't for the life of me understand it. I'd rather talk about Chief or Mo if I want to talk about any player that just changed teams.
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
Seems like quite the reach...

I appreciated a few things about Meyers, he obviously put the work in. He never created problems, seemed great with younger players the last few years. I actually think his BBIQ is fine, but as a player he just doesn't play by instinct.

That said he barely played for many good reasons, while he was an exceptional shooter he was a slow decision maker, and just straight up never was a good defender, he was a decent match up on slower big centers, but theres like 3 of those in the NBA these days.

Whiteside feels a need for the team defensively and on the boards that ML never has had the ability to do.
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Hyperbole is fun.

Me and you don't disagree. I just think spending time discussing Meyers Leonard is the equivalent of discussing Wang Zhi Zhi or Ha Seung-Jin. Again, a bit hyperbole but not really that much.
 
Scalma said:
Whiteside is in Portland right now, I wonder if there’s going to be a presser to introduce him? If only there were people to find out such things..
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hoopsjock said:
They can't even find out Hood's exact terms. It's quite pathetic.
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If they keep everyone guessing, he might be getting some extra $$$ under the radar.
 
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