About that New Orleans game . . .
Hey, look — the real truth about these things is that without Brandon Roy, you can’t expect a whole string of miracles. The Boston game was great, but the Hornets are the same kind of good young team as the Blazers and even with Roy, worthy competition. Without him, Portland is playing uphill all night long. A few observations:
- With or without Brandon in the lineup, the Blazers are going to have to work out that kink in their pick-and-roll defense that finishes with all the mismatches of “bigs” on guards. Oden gets half his fouls trying to defend some point guard on baseline drives. Aldridge usually simply lets them drive past him. The big men need to “show” on the screen and occupy the ball until the Portland guard can fight through the pick and get back to his man. Either that or just “blitz” the guy with the ball — double-team him — every time and rotate to the guy who is rolling off the pick. It drives me nuts to see this happen several times a game — even in situations where the defenders who have switched have time to get back to their own men and don’t.
- I don’t care how many points Travis Outlaw scored, he had another night of making some very poor decisions.
- OK, isn’t it time the Jerryd Bayless experiment came to an end? That first-half stretch when the coach tried to use two small guards at the same time was painful. To their credit, the Hornets just went directly at Bayless with postups time and again — punishing him on the block. This kid just isn’t ready to play real minutes yet — and it almost seemed to me the coach was trying to show somebody that in the harshest terms.
- Portland seemed to think LaMarcus Aldridge had a big matchup advantage over David West because the Blazers started the game by constantly posting Aldridge and clearing out. Problem was, Aldridge wasn’t getting ANYTHING out of it. His willingness to settle for long fallaway jump shots can be maddening at times. Doesn’t it drive you crazy to see 6-foot-11 guys, people born with a size advantage others can only dream about, not capitalize on it?
- Rudy Fernandez surely hasn’t stepped up much in Roy’s absence. I would like to see the Blazers run more plays for him but in that system, a guy who can move without the ball seems not as valuable as someone who simply wants the ball in his hands to play one-on-one. Without Sergio around to look for him, Rudy’s sort of forgotten.
- Over the long haul, the Blazers absolutely must figure a way to get points in the paint — either off fast breaks or halfcourt offense. You live by that jump shot and too many nights it’s just not going to be there.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | January 3, 2009
Brandon Roy, David West, Jerryd Bayless, LaMarcus Aldridge, Nate McMillan, New Orleans Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, Rudy Fernandez
On nights like last night, sometimes I spend about as much time trying to figure coach Nate out, as I do trying to understand our young team. Each game is interesting and that’s all a fan can ask for.
Minor suggestions:
-fast break more than a couple of times a game
-don’t leave your feet to pass (blake, bayless, outlaw, sergio)
-employ a press once in a while to change it up, rather than letting West and Paul pick you apart
-Channing may stink most nights but we could have used 3 or 4 of his jumpers largely because Batum had ZERO points again in 20 minutes
-Outlaw needs to have more than ZERO rebounds in 30 minutes for this team to win
The blazers may very well make the playoffs with the roster they currently have, but I seriously doubt anything more than a 1st round exit.
With Webster coming back before too long you have to think K.P. is going to do something. We have Outlaw, Rodriguez, Diogu, and Frye not to mention LaFrenz’s contract we can use to get another piece of the puzzle.
From my amateur view, I would think we need to try to find a quality PG, and an inside scoring threat at the 4. Keeping Rudy happy is not reason enough to keep Sergio around.
Bayless should continue to get minutes in Roy’s absence.
How did Oden do last night…. 4 points, 5 boards, and 4 fouls. Wow !!! Impressive….
Pryz….. A double double and got Chandler tossed. Now that’s how a starting center plays.
Welcome back Bob I am not complete without you
I am the Robo Bob 5000, I am programed to say the same information over and over and over and over.
Greg Oden is Sam Bowie
Greg Oden is a bust
Joel should be starting
Do not try to argue with me I am incapable of analyzing data outside of my programming. I am the Robo Bob 5000 and I am here to spread negativity and dreary feelings. GO LAKERS GO LAKERS GO LAKERS. I am off to crawl back under my bridge.
Basically the game came down to simply being beat by a team that had its best player and us not.
Our team flaws are very apparent without Brandon. We don’t have a guard who can create yet (Bayless analysis later). We don’t have a consistent sf on this team that has an all around game.
Bayless to me would have been a great fit last night on CP3. I know he makes mistakes but he went to the hole and was fouled a few times and got no calls. I am of the mind to use the same mentality with Bayless that many use with Oden. Blake is a warrior and I respect what he does. He cannot stay with cp3 and that was apparent in the 4th when cp3 decided to kick it in.
I don’t get the pick and roll defense either I don’t get the switching big to little and little to big. Excuse the analogy but BAD IDEA JEANS (SNL).
Travis reverted back to tunnel vision thinking last night. No rebounds, no assists, no steals. He had chances to crash from the weakside wing and he didn’t.
Rudy is Rudy. I think what you see is what you are going to get this year. In the offseason when he has time to get stronger and work on things like going left it will make a huge difference for next year.
GO got in foul trouble but I still am seeing more energy. It is just a process that will take awhile for consistency.
For the love of God, please fix the allowing 3pt shooters wide open looks because “we forget” to rotate
I am with arvydas on the people leaving their feet passing. That is junior high stuff.
New Orleans is good, sometimes you tip your hat and say they were better.
Bob, I can’t believe you’re so high on Pryzbilla. He’s too young for you. Shouldn’t you wait until he’s 37 years old and then sign him to an eight year, 90 million dollar contract?
Let’s see over the last 30 days:
Brook Lopez: 10.8 pts, 8.9 rebs, 2.3 blocks
Greg Oden: 7.9 pts, 6.8 rebs, 0.8 blocks
Greg Oden wasn’t the 10th pick of the draft. He was #1. Greg Oden is 3 months OLDER Than Lopez.
Kevin Durant: 25.7 pts, 8.1 rebs, 1.3 blocks, 1.5 steals, 1.8 threes, 3.1 assists.
Too early to decide, I agree. Let’s just say it hasn’t started of well.
If Pryz would just take up Oxycontin, I’m sure Bob would like him even better.
New Jersey losing record (Lopez), Durant OKC, terrible record. Granted, they have better stats, but do you really want Lopez over Oden? Durant plays no defense, which probably would make him fit in quite well on the Blazers perimeter d. Their situations are different. Time will tell the truth on Greg. Just have to wait and see.
Also hate to keep harping on it but you just don’t bounce back instantly from microfracture.
New Jersey is 16-17, not exactly bottom feeders. You wouldn’t take Devin Harris from them? I’d trade Oden for Derrick Rose in a millisecond and the Bulls aren’t very good. I’d also take Danny Granger from Indiana and their terrible. I do agree that guys can pad stats on terrible teams a la Damon Stoudamire in Toronto. Just funny that Durant is starting to average more rebs and blocks than Oden, supposedly his strengths.
Too soon to give up on him so no…I wouldn’t trade him for Lopez. No way. I’m just pointing out that I expect a little more than the meager production he’s been giving so far. I hope that half of it is recovery from surgery. We’ll see. I’m not off the Oden bandwagon.
I don’t read the Bayless thing the same way. Bayless was playing out of position due to injury of Roy and Webster, NO was playing big at the 2 so they took advantage of it. He actually played pretty well fronting a much bigger man once later when switched (Armstrong). I don’t think it’s fair to say Baylesss isn’t ready yet as he has had very little time to adjust to the nba game. We still don’t know what he can do even in the short term yet.
Stew,
I get what you are saying, but it is a lot easier to find a point guard than a quality big man. Harris is a fine player, can’t knock him. but 16-17, c’mon. Granger talented, but not for Oden. Rose, rookie need to see more, just like I need to see more with Oden. He does have like 10 double doubles, he is foul prone which has limited his time. I just think maybe by this time next year we will have a better picture. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I am right. I just want a little more time to see. I do see games where he has more impact and they tend to be happening more and more. Ankle injury didn’t help his cause but I think IF he pans out he will have a bigger impact for us than Durant, Rose, Harris etc. By the way I do think we could get better at guard so I am with you on that.
Please forgive me for having a different opinion on Oden…. I will now fall into lockstep and drink the kool-ade….
on a side this is the only blog to get decent pdx sports info.