terry stotts refused to answer a question about cj mccollum

[Wizenheimer]

Keep in mind plenty of CJ's shots are forced because of how long he takes getting to the spot he wants to be to take the shot. I mean you can easily watch CJ take around 15 seconds off the shot clock by himself dribbling the ball and moving around. I don't have a problem with everything CJ does, but he is a bit of a black hole in the offense.

Time of possession is a stat that is kept. I don't know where to get it but I know the stat is collected. I would guess CJ's time of possession is much lower than Lillard's, who I would guess is among the league leaders in time of possession.

The difference is Lillard is a much better passer so when he is moving around looking for the right play he makes key passes that get buckets for guys like Nurkic, CJ, Aminu, or Harkless. If CJ could pass as well as Lillard I would have 0 problems with CJ even when his shot is off. Before this season I was a pretty big CJ fan but lately I just have started to get sick of him.

When CJ's shot is on he is a pretty damn nice guy to have out there, but when he struggles he doesn't provide much else. The last two games are perfect examples of CJ in the OKC game he struggles heavily and we lose by 2. Against the Rockets his shot is falling at a much higher clip and look at that we have a nice sizable win against a good team.

if it's individual time of possession, there may be some stats somewhere on it...probably Synergy stats, but they may also be behind a pay wall. Blazers edge posted a bunch of numbers at the end of last year in an article examining CJ's offense. They looked at the 20 most frequent shooters in the NBA and found that CJ held the ball the longest, by far, and had the most dribbles, by far. Jamal Crawford was the only close:



https://www.blazersedge.com/2018/4/3/17193164/cj-mccollums-kind-of-a-ball-hog-does-it-matter-portland-trail-blazers

notice that CJ is 1st in TOP and dribbles, but he's only 14th in points/shot. That's a really bad mix of numbers

I'm not sure where you'd find the numbers on Dame, but it would be an apples and oranges comparison anyway since Dame is a PG who runs the offense and CJ is a SG almost always searching for his own shots. I'd imagine CJ dribbles more each possession and holds the ball longer. Might be close

[Matt800]

If only his maturity and intelligence in that way would translate to more maturity and intelligence with things like passing and taking more efficient shots.

We don't want him to take more efficient shots. We need him to take the shots he is taking. He is the best we have at getting and making inefficient shots. The alternative is 'no shot' or a shot from someone less capable of making the shot.

If you're saying that CJ is good at getting open shots off of dribbling and it is important that he do that to pressure the defense and let other high usage offensive players rest, then I understand that. But he absolutely can work toward doing that more efficiently and also making passes to further disrupt the defense.

[Sinobas]

If only his maturity and intelligence in that way would translate to more maturity and intelligence with things like passing and taking more efficient shots.

We don't want him to take more efficient shots. We need him to take the shots he is taking. He is the best we have at getting and making inefficient shots. The alternative is 'no shot' or a shot from someone less capable of making the shot.

Come on man...this is moronic logic.

[Sinobas]

So, Stotts does not suffer fools. In this case, he isn't going to waste his time with any idiot that would suggest that CJ isn't an important contributor to the Blazers. CJ is the 2nd best player on a good NBA team. The suggestion that CJ's contribution is limited to only scoring is ignorant. It's ignorant to suggest that shooting is 100% of CJ's scoring contribution. NBA basketball would be a completely different game if shooting was the only aspect of scoring. Not even Lillard, probably our best scorer, is just a scorer or shooter. Sure, if Lillard didn't score prolifically, he wouldn't be as good a player, but he also wouldn't be an effective contributor to winning if he didn't contribute in every aspect of the game. The same goes for CJ. Scoring is CJ's best talent. Scoring is what makes him one of the NBA's best players. Shooting has been something that CJ does very well. But, he is nowhere near the best shooter. Most great shooters can't score in the NBA to save their life.

CJ plays his role about as good as any NBA player could. This doesn't make him the best player in the NBA. Our team is constructed around the players we have. It would be great to have LeBron instead of Lillard and Kawhi instead of CJ, but we don't. And, speaking of Quick logic. The reason we don't have LeBron and Kawhi instead of Lillard and CJ is that dummy, Olshey.

On what basis do you claim CJ is the 2nd best player on our team? That is an argument that could easily be picked apart.

Secondly, there's a difference between ability and performance. CJ probably could play better, but right now, he's not.

Thirdly, even if you rank him as our 2nd best player, behind Nurk (which I don't think is an argument that would stand by any metric), that also doesn't mean he's playing good. You could have a team with 1 star and a bunch of schlubs. Labeling him as "2nd best" isn't a good argument.

[Wizenheimer]

Spoiler:

So, Stotts does not suffer fools. In this case, he isn't going to waste his time with any idiot that would suggest that CJ isn't an important contributor to the Blazers. CJ is the 2nd best player on a good NBA team. The suggestion that CJ's contribution is limited to only scoring is ignorant. It's ignorant to suggest that shooting is 100% of CJ's scoring contribution. NBA basketball would be a completely different game if shooting was the only aspect of scoring. Not even Lillard, probably our best scorer, is just a scorer or shooter. Sure, if Lillard didn't score prolifically, he wouldn't be as good a player, but he also wouldn't be an effective contributor to winning if he didn't contribute in every aspect of the game. The same goes for CJ. Scoring is CJ's best talent. Scoring is what makes him one of the NBA's best players. Shooting has been something that CJ does very well. But, he is nowhere near the best shooter. Most great shooters can't score in the NBA to save their life.

CJ plays his role about as good as any NBA player could. This doesn't make him the best player in the NBA. Our team is constructed around the players we have. It would be great to have LeBron instead of Lillard and Kawhi instead of CJ, but we don't. And, speaking of Quick logic. The reason we don't have LeBron and Kawhi instead of Lillard and CJ is that dummy, Olshey

.

On what basis do you claim CJ is the 2nd best player on our team? That is an argument that could easily be picked apart.

Secondly, there's a difference between ability and performance. CJ probably could play better, but right now, he's not.

Thirdly, even if you rank him as our 2nd best player, behind Nurk (which I don't think is an argument that would stand by any metric), that also doesn't mean he's playing good. You could have a team with 1 star and a bunch of schlubs. Labeling him as "2nd best" isn't a good argument.

you're right of course; for comparison:

PER: CJ 16.1....Nurkic 23.4
TS%: CJ .537....Nurkic .560 (neither number is impressive)
FT Rate: CJ .167....Nurkic .436
reb rate: CJ 5.6%....Nurkic 20.2%
assist/36: CJ 2.8....Nurkic 3.9
turnover/36: CJ 1.7....Nurkic 3.0
steal rate: CJ 1.2%....Nurkic 2.0%
winshares/48: CJ .090....Nurkic 1.80
box plus/minus: CJ -0.6....Nurkic +5.2
value over replacement: CJ 0.5....Nurkic 2.0
wins over replacement: CJ 1.35....Nurkic 5.40
Real Plus/Minus: CJ 0.20....Nurkic 4.44
Real Plus/Minus Wins: CJ 2.68....Nurkic 5.09

(that last number, RPM Wins is RPM calculated by factoring RPM with the number of possessions)

it is pretty much a total slam dunk across the board for Nurkic in stats that measure production, efficiency, and impact.

Nurkic is 1st or 2nd on the team in PER; rebounding, both offense and defense; blocks & steals; offensive & defensive winshares; total winshares and winshares/48; offensive and defensive box plus/minus; total box plus/minus; value and wins over replacement; and real plus/minus. It's pretty much a sweep

meanwhile, CJ is 3rd on the team in PER (which makes sense since it's a cumulative stat based upon possession usage). But he's 9th in TS%; 10th in FT rate; 7th in assists/36; 8th in winshares/48; and 7th in box plus/minus

the argument for CJ being the 2nd best player died sometime last season. And there's no doubt at all that Nurkic has the bigger impact. But keep in mind, you're arguing with a poster who will try and swamp you with up-is-down-night-is-day-join-me-in-the-bizzaro-dimension "logic". You'll also get rebuttals that begin by essentially calling you idiotic or ignorant or dumb or lame or a combination thereof. Be prepared

[d-train]

the argument for CJ being the 2nd best player died sometime last season. And there's no doubt at all that Nurkic has the bigger impact. But keep in mind, you're arguing with a poster who will try and swamp you with up-is-down-night-is-day-join-me-in-the-bizzaro-dimension "logic". You'll also get rebuttals that begin by essentially calling you idiotic or ignorant or dumb or lame or a combination thereof. Be prepared

There is no doubt who are the best and most important Blazer players. The only stat you need to look at is minutes played. There are other important stats like shot attempts, but the only stat that isn't deceptive is minutes played. Coaches are funny that way. They play their best players the most. Lillard, CJ, and Aminu are the only players Blazers have that are our best in any situation.

Nurkic's role is interesting. He is our 2nd offensive option in most of the plays Blazers run. This is not because he is our 2nd best offensive player. It's because he complements Lillard and helps make our best offensive player a more effective weapon. The threat posed by the Lillard/Nurkic 2-man game helps create better offense for our role players. The key in this pairing is Lillard and how we can get the most out of Lillards abilities.

CJ is our 2nd best player because he is a dependable source of offense that is independent of Lillard. CJ's contribution is more additive to Lillard's, Nurkic's is more like a multiplier.

[Village Idiot]

CJ's effort and body language were really bad throughout the Sacramento game. It seems like a culmination of a trend where CJ has realized he's never going to be anything but a 2nd fiddle on this team and he hasn't figured out how to make himself useful when he doesn't have the ball in his hands. He has seemed more and more preoccupied with getting his stats and that leads to more pounding, less movement off the ball, ball-hogging and conservation of energy on defense. I wonder if we're at a breaking point where a parting could be mutually beneficical. Maybe this is just wishful thinking.

[armin-x]

I would rather have Malik Beasley than CJ. Bogdan Bogdanovic is more valouble player without doubt. You witness that few nights ago. IQ >> Stupidity...always

Whats surprise me is that CJ looks very clever off the court. But on the court...

[Village Idiot]

I disagree. CJ was a lot better before. He's really forcing it this season and it isn't working. He doesn't seem to be reconciled with what his role should be. His mid-range game is fantastic and he leads the league in corner 3 percentage but he sucks close to the rim and isn't that great shooting long shots off screens. If only he could use his abilities to help make his teammates better rather than killing the offensive flow with his dribbling and ball-hogging.

[JasonStern]

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[JasonStern]

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[Wizenheimer]

Spoiler:

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deceptive single stat with no context because this season, Stotts has gone to more of a platoon system. The reason CJ's number is higher this season is he's spending more of his time on the floor with Dame, Nurk, and Aminu and less time with the 2nd unit

on-court:

Jusuf Nurkic +8.8
Al-Farouq Aminu +6.5
Damian Lillard +5.3
CJ McCollum +4.7
Jake Layman +4.4
Seth Curry +1.6
Maurice Harkless -0.9

on-off:

Jusuf Nurkic +16.6
Damian Lillard +14.3
Al-Farouq Aminu +13.1
CJ McCollum +10.1
Jake Layman +3.8
Seth Curry 0.0
Maurice Harkless -3.3

it's all about drafting off Dame and Nurk

winshares/48:

Damian Lillard .189
Jusuf Nurkic .182
Meyers Leonard .156
Jake Layman .123
Al-Farouq Aminu .120
Zach Collins .107
CJ McCollum .093
Maurice Harkless .093
Evan Turner .056

box plus/minus:

Jusuf Nurkic 5.5
Damian Lillard 5.0
Meyers Leonard 1.5
Al-Farouq Aminu 1.0
Maurice Harkless 0.9
Zach Collins 0.3
Jake Layman 0.0
CJ McCollum -0.7
Evan Turner -1.5

by the way, last year CJ played 65% of his minutes with Dame; this year he's played 91% of his minutes with Dame

[JasonStern]

Spoiler:

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deceptive single stat with no context because this season, Stotts has gone to more of a platoon system. The reason CJ's number is higher this season is he's spending more of his time on the floor with Dame, Nurk, and Aminu and less time with the 2nd unit

has anyone ever told you that you'd make the worst used car salesman? I can just picture you pointing out the flaws and going on how the dealership is asking too much, then asking the customer "so, do you want to buy it?"

[Wizenheimer]

Spoiler:

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deceptive single stat with no context because this season, Stotts has gone to more of a platoon system. The reason CJ's number is higher this season is he's spending more of his time on the floor with Dame, Nurk, and Aminu and less time with the 2nd unit

has anyone ever told you that you'd make the worst used car salesman? I can just picture you pointing out the flaws and going on how the dealership is asking too much, then asking the customer "so, do you want to buy it?"

probably...but in the 11 months, I've completed as many trades as Olshey has. More if you count the times I've traded my dignity for cease-fires in arguments with my wife

[GreenRiddler]

McCollum is just the punching bag now that Meyers doesn't have expectations. People in sports and in life need something/someone to complain about.

Having a bad year from 3 shouldn't be getting this much criticism, everyone has a bad year from outside eventually. Escpecially since his role is changing for the first time since he has been starting. It is the only thing he isn't doing as well as he should be doing and even that is turning around in January. Shooting 40 % since the start of 2019.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

McCollum is just the punching bag now that Meyers doesn't have expectations. People in sports and in life need something/someone to complain about.

Having a bad year from 3 shouldn't be getting this much criticism, everyone has a bad year from outside eventually. Escpecially since his role is changing for the first time since he has been starting. It is the only thing he isn't doing as well as he should be doing and even that is turning around in January. Shooting 40 % since the start of 2019.

It is not the only thing wrong. I'm not going to pull out fancy stats but watching the guy he is often selfish. If he feels like he is hot he will take any shot he can, when he doesn't feel hot he avoids doing much and pulls a disappearing act. I don't see where that type of play is desirable. He has been that same player going on 3 years now. Don't get me wrong, I get why he does it because being an elite scorer is the only way he will be something special in this league, but shot hunting in the way he does is bad basketball in my opinion. At least that is my observation of him, but I don't think I'm alone on many of those criticisms.

[d-train]

McCollum is just the punching bag now that Meyers doesn't have expectations. People in sports and in life need something/someone to complain about.

Having a bad year from 3 shouldn't be getting this much criticism, everyone has a bad year from outside eventually. Escpecially since his role is changing for the first time since he has been starting. It is the only thing he isn't doing as well as he should be doing and even that is turning around in January. Shooting 40 % since the start of 2019.

It is not the only thing wrong. I'm not going to pull out fancy stats but watching the guy he is often selfish. If he feels like he is hot he will take any shot he can, when he doesn't feel hot he avoids doing much and pulls a disappearing act. I don't see where that type of play is desirable. He has been that same player going on 3 years now. Don't get me wrong, I get why he does it because being an elite scorer is the only way he will be something special in this league, but shot hunting in the way he does is bad basketball in my opinion. At least that is my observation of him, but I don't think I'm alone on many of those criticisms.

lol, your statement proves his point.

"Shot hunting the way CJ does it is bad basketball". Shot hunting the way CJ does it is called doing his job and doing it very well. Why is shot hunting the way Lillard does it so much better? I could sort of understand the statement if you said it about Aminu. Aminu's role within our offense isn't to create shots.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

McCollum is just the punching bag now that Meyers doesn't have expectations. People in sports and in life need something/someone to complain about.

Having a bad year from 3 shouldn't be getting this much criticism, everyone has a bad year from outside eventually. Escpecially since his role is changing for the first time since he has been starting. It is the only thing he isn't doing as well as he should be doing and even that is turning around in January. Shooting 40 % since the start of 2019.

It is not the only thing wrong. I'm not going to pull out fancy stats but watching the guy he is often selfish. If he feels like he is hot he will take any shot he can, when he doesn't feel hot he avoids doing much and pulls a disappearing act. I don't see where that type of play is desirable. He has been that same player going on 3 years now. Don't get me wrong, I get why he does it because being an elite scorer is the only way he will be something special in this league, but shot hunting in the way he does is bad basketball in my opinion. At least that is my observation of him, but I don't think I'm alone on many of those criticisms.

lol, your statement proves his point.

"Shot hunting the way CJ does it is bad basketball". Shot hunting the way CJ does it is called doing his job and doing it very well. Why is shot hunting the way Lillard does it so much better? I could sort of understand the statement if you said it about Aminu. Aminu's role within our offense isn't to create shots.

Because Lillard looks to get others involved, especially when his shot isn't falling. Or if a fancy stat will help drive this point home:

Lillard Ast% = 28.4%
McCollum Ast% = 12.4%

I mean really if you're questioning if how Lillard creates offense is better than how CJ does it, we aren't watching the same team.

[Wizenheimer]

Spoiler:

It is not the only thing wrong. I'm not going to pull out fancy stats but watching the guy he is often selfish. If he feels like he is hot he will take any shot he can, when he doesn't feel hot he avoids doing much and pulls a disappearing act. I don't see where that type of play is desirable. He has been that same player going on 3 years now. Don't get me wrong, I get why he does it because being an elite scorer is the only way he will be something special in this league, but shot hunting in the way he does is bad basketball in my opinion. At least that is my observation of him, but I don't think I'm alone on many of those criticisms.

lol, your statement proves his point.

"Shot hunting the way CJ does it is bad basketball". Shot hunting the way CJ does it is called doing his job and doing it very well. Why is shot hunting the way Lillard does it so much better? I could sort of understand the statement if you said it about Aminu. Aminu's role within our offense isn't to create shots

.

Because Lillard looks to get others involved, especially when his shot isn't falling. Or if a fancy stat will help drive this point home:

Lillard Ast% = 28.4%
McCollum Ast% = 12.4%

I mean really if you're questioning if how Lillard creates offense is better than how CJ does it, we aren't watching the same team.

welcome to the fight....I've been pointing out the flaws in CJ's game, and the assumptions about it, for a long time

here's another way to look at it:

points/FGA: Blazers 1.25
points/FGA: All Blazers besides CJ 1.27

points/FGA: Meyers 1.43
points/FGA: Dame 1.36
points/FGA: Nurkic 1.34
points/FGA: Layman 1.30
points/FGA: Zach 1.29
points/FGA: Aminu 1.27

points/FGA: CJ 1.16
points/FGA: Seth 1.16
points/FGA: Turner 1.12

assists/36:

Damian Lillard 6.3
Evan Turner 5.8
Jusuf Nurkic 4.2
Nik Stauskas 3.3
Meyers Leonard 3.0
CJ McCollum 2.8

the point being that CJ is much closer to Turner in efficiency then is is to Dame. He's even closer to Turner then hs is to those other 6 players.

for too long CJ has been granted credit for creating his own offense without the simple context that he's really not that good at it. His TS% is 54.5% when the NBA average is about 55%. Bottom line is he has the ball in his hands way too much considering his low scoring efficiency and his terrible facilitating skills. And, he's become less willing to pass and help teammates:

assists/36

2015-16 - 4.4
2016-17 - 3.7
2017-18 - 3.3
2018-19 - 2.8

he really needs to change his game but the 4 year trend-line is all wrong.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

...
for too long CJ has been granted credit for creating his own offense without the simple context that he's really not that good at it. His TS% is 54.5% when the NBA average is about 55%. Bottom line is he has the ball in his hands way too much considering his low scoring efficiency and his terrible facilitating skills. And, he's become less willing to pass and help teammates:

assists/36

2015-16 - 4.4
2016-17 - 3.7
2017-18 - 3.3
2018-19 - 2.8

he really needs to change his game but the 4 year trend-line is all wrong.

Of course, as we're discussing this CJ goes and drops one of his most well rounded game as a Blazer with Lillard on the bench. He did a great job balancing creating his own shot and getting others involved. It reminds me a bit of the Jamal Crawford controversy under McMillian a couple years ago, where he actually looked pretty good playing PG for a few games but just didn't like that role all the time.

Alternatively, if CJ has the ability, I cant help but wonder if it may partially be a coaching issue. I have said before that what Damian and the team needs is a scorer who is so potent that it can take defensive focus off Damian and let him be a more complete point guard. I can see that they are maybe trying to force CJ into that role, which is also the only way that CJ will be that secondary star for us - if he dialed back his focus on scoring he may end up a more run-of-the-mill type guard, which maybe more appropriate for his talent but you can see why the Blazers and CJ are both trying for more than that.