Will Barton > Mo Williams

[OSUBlazerfan]

i dont know if barton is better than wes, who's a very good defender, but is handles are 10x better

 

[blue9]

Wes tries to do way too much indeed. But his defense on SG's is crucial. If it wasn't for him we would not have beat Houston/Harden.

Yup. Gotta take the good with the bad. Wes is the heart & soul of this team, and that counts more in the plus column than his limitations do in the minus column.
I'm not against upgrading ANY position, but I think we'd be hard pressed to find a better SG. Mostly because there just aren't that many good SGs in the league, and the ones that are good aren't really available.
There were two factors for us beating HOU:

#1 - Two historic performances from LMA
#2 - Wes's defense on Harden

One of those things you can count on, the other was a fluke.

 

[Natebishop3]

Wes tries to do way too much indeed. But his defense on SG's is crucial. If it wasn't for him we would not have beat Houston/Harden.

His defense was definitely key against Houston, so how do you balance his poor shooting and the impact he brings on defense? I think he needs to play with more control and within himself. Some of his shots are just head scratching.

 

[Natebishop3]

Yup. Gotta take the good with the bad. Wes is the heart & soul of this team, and that counts more in the plus column than his limitations do in the minus column.
I'm not against upgrading ANY position, but I think we'd be hard pressed to find a better SG. Mostly because there just aren't that many good SGs in the league, and the ones that are good aren't really available.
There were two factors for us beating HOU:

#1 - Two historic performances from LMA
#2 - Wes's defense on Harden

One of those things you can count on, the other was a fluke.

Honestly, I would move Nic to shooting guard and bring in a consistent scorer like Deng at small forward.

 

[HailBlazers]

His defense was definitely key against Houston, so how do you balance his poor shooting and the impact he brings on defense? I think he needs to play with more control and within himself. Some of his shots are just head scratching.

Terry just needs to put his foot down. Mathews has to start passing better/faster/more often. The Blazers success is 100% determined by its sharing of the basketball.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Pizza with mustar > Pizza with mustard and dill, shrug.

I don't want to sound too much like Nate Mcmillan here, but in the playoffs each possession really does matter. Both make careless mistakes.

That being said, I feel like we've seen the future: Barton, C.J., and Robinson off the bench.

 

[blue9]

Terry just needs to put his foot down. Mathews has to start passing better/faster/more often.

And this goes double for LMA.

 

[Schilly]

I find it humorous when people say a guy isnt a good outside shooter, yet for his career is 39% from 3 and on the season is 37% from 3. Sure he's no Kyle Korver but those aren't bad numbers at all.

 

[Natebishop3]

I find it humorous when people say a guy isnt a good outside shooter, yet for his career is 39% from 3 and on the season is 37% from 3. Sure he's no Kyle Korver but those aren't bad numbers at all.

I think he has horrible shot selection. I wouldn't say he's a bad shooter.

 

[magnifier661]

I find it humorous when people say a guy isnt a good outside shooter, yet for his career is 39% from 3 and on the season is 37% from 3. Sure he's no Kyle Korver but those aren't bad numbers at all.

Mo's frustration for me isn't missing shots, it's how he doesn't work within the team concept. His defense is maddening, plus his turn-overs are just fucking disgusting!

 

[Eastoff]

Terry just needs to put his foot down. Mathews has to start passing better/faster/more often. The Blazers success is 100% determined by its sharing of the basketball.

Matthews were does a poor job of giving the ball back. He will do a skip pass to the open man, but that's about it.

 

[Natebishop3]

Mo's frustration for me isn't missing shots, it's how he doesn't work within the team concept. His defense is maddening, plus his turn-overs are just fucking disgusting!

Yup, that pretty much sums it all up.

 

[tester551]

Honestly, I would move Nic to shooting guard and bring in a consistent scorer like Deng at small forward.

That would be my choice as well. S&T for Deng. Wes+Freeland would allow Deng to be signed for around $11M/yr

 

[tester551]

That being said, I feel like we've seen the future: Barton, C.J., and Robinson off the bench.

I still have yet to see anything out of CJ to warrant this type of optimism. He is OK, but I don't see him more than a 8/9th man in the rotation.

 

[MARIS61]

Ha. Amazing. After we win on Wednesday, I'm flying in on Friday. Are you gonna be there?

fify

 

[Fun in the Sun]

I still have yet to see anything out of CJ to warrant this type of optimism. He is OK, but I don't see him more than a 8/9th man in the rotation.

He hasn't even had a training camp yet - way too early to judge.

 

[DHawes22]

I think Wes is too streaky, and I think his defense is overrated. I like Wes a lot because of the intensity that he brings, and the leadership, and the heart, but he's pretty limited offensively. He hit another level early in the season when he was hitting virtually anything he threw at the rim, but those shots slowly stopped falling for him.

During the regular season Wes averaged 16.4 ppg, 3.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 0.9 steals, while shooting 44% from the field and 39% from three with a PER of 15.7.

In the playoffs Wes is currently averaging 14.6 ppg, 3.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.4 steals, while shooting 40% from the field and 31% from three with a PER of 9.7.

His TS% and EFG% are down too.
Regular season: 58.8 TS% and 54 eFG%
Post season: 52 TS% and 48 eFG%

So while Wes is getting more rebounds and steals, his shooting is way down, especially from three. I think that's one of the reasons why we have struggled so much. Our team was at its best when Wes was hitting those crazy stepback threes like they were layups early in the season. That's when we went on that long winning streak. Since then, Wes has come back down to earth and our team has struggled at times. Part of the problem is that I think Nic and Wes are too similar. They're both so streaky, so when both are struggling we have a real hard time scoring the basketball. Nic does so many other things, I'm usually fine with him taking a lesser role, but we really need Wes to contribute more on offense.

I don't know how people feel about ORTG and DRTG, but Wes had an ORTG of 118 during the regular season, but he only has a 101 in the playoffs. I think that tells a pretty clear story about how well he has been shooting in the post season.

What the stats don't show is how he made life miserable for James Harden. Wes is one of those players whose intangibles carry so much weight. He's our heart. I really don't think we can find a better option at shooting guard, especially with how depleted the position is. I mean, Harden is considered the best SG in the game, and to me he's not an All-NBA player. Keep Wes.

 

[ripcityboy]

He hasn't even had a training camp yet - way too early to judge.

I have a feeling CJ is just trying to get used to NBA level. But he's missed so much playing time in college and
at the pro level he can't slow down. We owe him at least a year before we dump his ass. We've kept that human
toadstool Meyers Leonard here forever.

 

[Schilly]

Batums pervasiveness on offense forces Wes to be our 3rd scorer which takes focus away from the defensive end.

 

[blue9]

I have a feeling CJ is just trying to get used to NBA level. But he's missed so much playing time in college and
at the pro level he can't slow down. We owe him at least a year before we dump his ass. We've kept that human
toadstool Meyers Leonard here forever.

I disagree - I think he's a prime trade candidate. He, unlike Leonard, has some trade value despite (or maybe because of) not playing this season.
He might become a good player - I just don't see a spot for him on this roster. May as well sell while there's value there. If he under-performs - or if we (Stotts!) doesn't take the time to develop him next season - his value will plummet. And based on how this season went I don't have high hopes for Stotts developing him next season, when we will have even greater expectations than we did this season.

 

[Eastoff]

I disagree - I think he's a prime trade candidate. He, unlike Leonard, has some trade value despite (or maybe because of) not playing this season.
He might become a good player - I just don't see a spot for him on this roster. May as well sell while there's value there. If he under-performs - or if we (Stotts!) doesn't take the time to develop him next season - his value will plummet. And based on how this season went I don't have high hopes for Stotts developing him next season, when we will have even greater expectations than we did this season.

Exactly! He's still the lottery ticket where you scratched two spots out of six, and you need three to win.

 

[Boob-No-More]

We've kept that human toadstool Meyers Leonard here forever.

Interesting definition of "forever". We drafted Leonard less than 2 years ago. We gave that much time to Nolan Smith, Elliot Williams, Ha Seung-Jin and Shavlik Randolph. We gave Luke Babbitt 3 years before we cut him loose. I think next season is make or break for Leonard. He needs to show the kind of off-season improvement Joel Freeland did this year. If he does, great. If not, bye-bye.

BNM

 

[Toros]

I think Wes is too streaky, and I think his defense is overrated. I like Wes a lot because of the intensity that he brings, and the leadership, and the heart, but he's pretty limited offensively. He hit another level early in the season when he was hitting virtually anything he threw at the rim, but those shots slowly stopped falling for him.

During the regular season Wes averaged 16.4 ppg, 3.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 0.9 steals, while shooting 44% from the field and 39% from three with a PER of 15.7.

In the playoffs Wes is currently averaging 14.6 ppg, 3.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.4 steals, while shooting 40% from the field and 31% from three with a PER of 9.7.

His TS% and EFG% are down too.
Regular season: 58.8 TS% and 54 eFG%
Post season: 52 TS% and 48 eFG%

So while Wes is getting more rebounds and steals, his shooting is way down, especially from three. I think that's one of the reasons why we have struggled so much. Our team was at its best when Wes was hitting those crazy stepback threes like they were layups early in the season. That's when we went on that long winning streak. Since then, Wes has come back down to earth and our team has struggled at times. Part of the problem is that I think Nic and Wes are too similar. They're both so streaky, so when both are struggling we have a real hard time scoring the basketball. Nic does so many other things, I'm usually fine with him taking a lesser role, but we really need Wes to contribute more on offense.

I don't know how people feel about ORTG and DRTG, but Wes had an ORTG of 118 during the regular season, but he only has a 101 in the playoffs. I think that tells a pretty clear story about how well he has been shooting in the post season.

I think a large part of that drop comes from playing against Spurs for 4 games? Your ORTG will naturally be higher against less defensive teams rather than better defensive teams, and in the regular season, you have tons of games against poor defensive teams to up your rating. I am sure if you have 82 games against spurs, his ORTG will be much lower than 118

 

[Eastoff]

I think a large part of that drop comes from playing against Spurs for 4 games? Your ORTG will naturally be higher against less defensive teams rather than better defensive teams, and in the regular season, you have tons of games against poor defensive teams to up your rating. I am sure if you have 82 games against spurs, his ORTG will be much lower than 118

He said "playoffs," not "second round." We played against Houston too. What's your reasoning there?

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

Barton just looks funny on the break. The results are quite different than one might expect. He actually seems to finish and has a soft touch. Sure, it is scary to see the shot roll around and take time going in. They just seem to go in.

 

[Eastoff]

Barton just looks funny on the break. The results are quite different than one might expect. He actually seems to finish and has a soft touch. Sure, it is scary to see the shot roll around and take time going in. They just seem to go in.

Yeah, he definitely has a lay-up deal with the devil or something.

 

[Toros]

He said "playoffs," not "second round." We played against Houston too. What's your reasoning there?

Houston, even though they have defensive struggles, are still ranked above average in their defensive rating if I am not wrong.

 

[Eastoff]

Houston, even though they have defensive struggles, are still ranked above average in their defensive rating if I am not wrong.

I stand corrected.

edit:

PS what happened to all the shit talk in this thread?

 

[sol12]

Barton just looks funny on the break. The results are quite different than one might expect. He actually seems to finish and has a soft touch. Sure, it is scary to see the shot roll around and take time going in. They just seem to go in.

I expected some of those shots to roll out but they went in to my surprise. He must put a pretty good spin on the ball release (guessing, haven't played bball since middle school, lol).

 

[BlazerCaravan]

I stand corrected.

edit:

PS what happened to all the shit talk in this thread?

To me, that is the worst type of board. It comes off as douchey, but I really don't mean it that way. They don't have any posters from what I have read that add anything of true value. It's basically just a bunch of articles and game thread quality threads with no real insight.

Then on top of that, they aren't really funny and moderate heavily. I agree that certain things here (racism and other stupid stuff) should be stopped, but overall there are people here that troll and actually make you laugh.

They have neither. It's literally one giant unfunny game thread over there with a bunch of "go Lillard!!" or "OMG, can we please get a stop!!!".

I guess he has a point. We all kind of hate each other and the level of discourse and ground into the basement in the last year or so.