Game 27: Portland vs Phoenix 6:00pm SNW

[Brandon-Clyde]

The ref's really tried to dictate the game tonight. It was really ridiculous. Glad the boys pulled it out, despite BC missing the B in the GLB tonight.

You don't find the Lady Sif attractive? Thor is going to hammer you

[monopoman]

The player we need back for our defense is Collins. Nurkic will help our offense but our defense is at least as good with Whiteside.

I see so many teams make one pass into the paint and get easy buckets against Whiteside that **** is just infuriating, they try that **** against Nurkic and they are going to enjoy a bevy of blocked shots or balls knocked away.

Whiteside is nowhere near the paint defender that Nurkic is and the stats back this up 100%.

Put Aminu and Harkless next to Whiteside, rather than what he has had next to him this season, and I bet you'd have a different perspective regarding Whiteside's defense. The inability of Protland's guards to stay in front of their men for a reasonable count, puts tremendous pressure on the backline. When that backline lacks length and quickness on the whole, then bad things happen.

Aminu+Harkless gave us one of the worst defenses in the league until Nurkic got here, I also think you are neglecting that we do have a decent defender in Baze out there at times.

Nurkic is what made this team a good defensive team and the timeline of when this team was at it's best defensively backs this up. Now would Aminu+Harkless help Nurkic defend sure but I think Nurk alone will make the defense perform much better. Yes our guards are not even average defensively and that hurts us, but even still Whiteside just does not have the tools to defend the paint like Nurkic does.

[Epicurus]

Yes, Nurk is a better defender than Plumlee. Bazemore does not provide the defensive roles played by A and H. He is not nearly as long nor can he stay within the defensive scheme.

[Epicurus]

BTW, opponents' efg% is .8% lower than last season. The concerns should be rebounding and fouling, maybe not the optics of opponents getting too much at the rim. If Whiteside's devensive rebounding rate was not so high, then one could easily blame him. I think the blame is on inexperience replacements, both for the rebounding decline and the fouling (sometimes just getting phantom fouls from refs disdaining inexperienced players).

[d-train]

I see Blazers got the $2.86M DPE they applied for. It will be interesting to see if NO can do anything with it this February.

[d-train]

Heck, maybe we won't have to wait. With the additional money plus a little kick-in from the player, maybe a buyout can happen before the trade deadline. There are players out there that have been shopped for months and aren't playing that haven't been traded. A buyout could save a team $4M mostly paid by Blazers.

[monopoman]

BTW, opponents' efg% is .8% lower than last season. The concerns should be rebounding and fouling, maybe not the optics of opponents getting too much at the rim. If Whiteside's devensive rebounding rate was not so high, then one could easily blame him. I think the blame is on inexperience replacements, both for the rebounding decline and the fouling (sometimes just getting phantom fouls from refs disdaining inexperienced players).

I just think that fouling is partially due to guys getting beat and grabbing, we are the 21st best defense in the league. The only teams below us are clearly worse than us in most cases assuming both teams are at full strength (Warriors are also below us but fully healthy they might be better).

Last year we were 16th in defense and the year before that we were 6th so this team is trending in the wrong direction in that regard.

[BlazersBroncos]

While I agree Nurkic is the lynchpin of this defense, there is no argument that Hark and Aminu gave us more on defense than Kent. Baze is pretty small, both length wise and in terms of mass, compared to them. He cant switch as well, cant defensive rebound as well after the shot goes up (Doesn't have the length), isn't as disciplined as them.

I think its a pretty big stretch for anyone to say that Baze has been better than either Mo or Aminu. I trade him for either of those guys in 0.1 seconds.

[monopoman]

While I agree Nurkic is the lynchpin of this defense, there is no argument that Hark and Aminu gave us more on defense than Kent. Baze is pretty small, both length wise and in terms of mass, compared to them. He cant switch as well, cant defensive rebound as well after the shot goes up (Doesn't have the length), isn't as disciplined as them.

I think its a pretty big stretch for anyone to say that Baze has been better than either Mo or Aminu. I trade him for either of those guys in 0.1 seconds.

I never said Baze was better I just claimed he was probably a net positive on defense and one of our better defenders. We have lost our two best defenders to injury and then we lost more in free agency with Aminu+Harkless.

[Wizenheimer]

Aminu+Harkless gave us one of the worst defenses in the league until Nurkic got here, I also think you are neglecting that we do have a decent defender in Baze out there at times.

Nurkic is what made this team a good defensive team and the timeline of when this team was at it's best defensively backs this up..

Portland defensive ratings:

2015-16 - 108.0 (20th) - Plumlee, Harkless, Aminu + Ed Davis
2016-17 - 110.8 (20th) - Plumlee (54 games), Nurkic 20 games, Harkless, Aminu + injured Ed Davis (46 games)
2017-18 - 106.4 (8th) - Nurkic (79 games), Harkless, Aminu + healthy Ed Davis (79 games) + Zach + Napier
2018-19 - 110.5 (16th) - Nurkic (70 games), Harkless, Aminu + Zach + Kanter (23 games) + Curry
2019-20 - 111.1 (20th) - Whiteside + 7 dwarves

as usual, IMO, a lot of Blazer fans are mis-remembering what actually happened and who was responsible for what. Nurkic is a good defender, no doubt, but he isn't a miracle worker. Portland had it's 2nd best defensive rating with Plumlee, instead of Nurkic AND a healthy Ed Davis. The Blazers have only had one season out of five when their defensive rating actually was in the top half of the league. One season. Looking at two consecutive seasons, 2017-18 and 2018-19, the defensive rating got worse by 4.1, by far the biggest negative differential in that list and the one variable was Ed Davis.That's why giving so much credit to Nurkic is so lame. He averaged 27 minutes so for 21 minutes a game he wasn't on the floor, and without Ed Davis, the Blazers suffered defensively in those 21 minutes. Aminu and Harkless (and Turner) were important, but no individual, including Nurkic, is going to make a defense good by himself...it's a team effort

teams need a mix of offense and defense to be successful. They need to post a positive differential btween their offesive rating and defensive rating. Look at those same years with Portland offensive rating and the net differential:

2015-16 - 108.8 (6th)....+0.8 (44 wins)
2016-17 - 110.3 (11th)....-0.5 (41 wins)
2017-18 - 109.1 (15th)....+2.7 (49 wins)
2018-19 - 114.7 (3rd)....+4.2 (53 wins)
2019-20 - 110.2 (9th)....-0.9 (13-16 record)

you can draw a pretty direct correlation between net differential and records. Maybe it's a chicken-egg thing but it's definitely there.

Olshey made several bad bets last summer. The biggest one was that Portland could somehow sacrifice perimeter defense and team rebounding in favor of hypothetical better offense & floor spacing, and come out ahead in that exchange. Another was that Portland could have gaps on the roster and not pay for it in case of injuries. A 3rd bad bet was that Portland's play-making could be covered by players who had never filled that role. And the 4th bad bet was that Zach and Simons were going to be good enough to cover for the defensive losses, rebounding and play-making deficits, and roster holes.

this isn't just on the defense, and it isn't just the absence of Nurkic. Injuries have played a role for sure, but Portland was 9-14 with Hood. Unless Olshey makes a miracle trade, there will be no savior riding over the ridge. Portland's SOS is about average now, but it's going to get crazy difficult for a 23 game stretch starting the day after Christmas. Portland is 1-10 against teams with winning records. Over those 23 games, Portland plays 15 games against teams with winning records....yikes!!