Game 52: Portland vs San Antonio 7:00pm SNW

[Epicurus]

Hezonja is a great example of what happens when you find a player who won't accept his limitations and seemingly doesn't work to become a player within those constraints.

Dribbling the ball up the court, not passing... and taking a bad mid-range shot is completely unacceptable.

Yes, that was bad, but I thought he had some good possessions also. If this season is to save money as the first objective, I prefer seeing him and Gilbert rather than Anthony.

[Roy The Natural]

Hezonja is a great example of what happens when you find a player who won't accept his limitations and seemingly doesn't work to become a player within those constraints.

Dribbling the ball up the court, not passing... and taking a bad mid-range shot is completely unacceptable.

Yes, that was bad, but I thought he had some good possessions also. If this season is to save money as the first objective, I prefer seeing him and Gilbert rather than Anthony.

Who is Gilbert? You mean Gabriel?

[Epicurus]

Resisting learning his name, until I think he may remain.

[Epicurus]

i 'm happy thar for now Anthony is making me look stupid. Maybe he just needs to stay away from the lane.

[Klinky]

It's a 3pt party out there

[d-train]

The ref could have called 3 in the key on that. Whiteside was camped in there. Then he passed out instead of shooting. It should have been 3 seconds.

[Klinky]

Two pointers are banned from the nba

[monopoman]

Gary is a hell of a player, I think we could end up with a very nice bench piece if he develops at all from what he shows now.

[monopoman]

Gary doing a Lillard impression here with Lillard setting him up.

[d-train]

Two pointers are banned from the nba

I don't like quick 3's. Conventional wisdom seems to be that any 3 is a good shot. I don't like any shot until after the defense is broken. I'll take any 2 point attempt against a broken defense over a quick 3.

[d-train]

Biggie is playing good basketball for us. I liked him before he was traded. He improved in Sacramento even though they never played him.

[d-train]

I wonder if Popovich is going to forfeit the remainder of the season and take 31 losses. That's the next logical step to Popovich's famous load management BS.

[zzaj]

Nice to see the Blazers gain some momentum toward the end of this one...of course it really helps when the ball starts going in. Spurs were only playing defense on about 3-4 passes. Anything more than that and Blazer looks were wide open. Blazers also pushed pace a little bit and caught the Spurs playing defense downhill a few times.

Carmelo is so much better when he goes quick offensively. When he thinks about things it never turns out well...that nice hesitation pass to Trent in the corner being the exception for this game.

Speaking of Trent Jr...he's shown that he has an NBA skill. Let's hope he continues to build consistency.

CJ is so interesting on the court this year. Much less demonstrative, with less "fire" in his game. Perhaps, that's what happens when you start your prime at 24 and don't get appreciably better in 5 years...

As frustrating as Whiteside is to watch, he sure comes up with some timely defensive plays. That block on Aldridge made me smile inwardly and outwardly.

Speaking of Aldridge...dude still can't hit a clutch/important shot in endgame situations.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Simon's will be just fine. He's getting tons of experience this year, but struggles are mostly due to a lack of physical strength. He gets pushed around quite easily now, but that will all change soon. Wait til you see the difference a summer can make, when he gets on a "program", and bulks up. I'll bet the differences will be similar to that of Collins.

Also, The Refs. He should get more love from them soon, as he moves into his 3rd year of service. We all know rookie and sophomore players get screwed pretty hard on the calls.

Yeah, that's what we heard last summer. Sigh

And I'm not a Collins fan either. I was supposed to become one this season, but that didnt happen either.

I am becoming a Trent Jr fan though.

[PDXKnight]

Kate Brown got hella bood

[Brandon-Clyde]

Victory GLB pic

Spoiler:

[d-train]

Kate Brown got hella bood

Good

[BlazersBroncos]

And I'm not a Collins fan either. I was supposed to become one this season, but that didnt happen either.

Well in his defense he has only played 86 minutes this season.

I am down on Simons, but getting down on Zach is premature. He got injured, albeit he wasn't playing too great before that. The sample size is too small and while the advanced stats don't quite show it (Albeit his 3.3 DBPM is terrific), he was very poised in the playoffs last season. I still think he can be very good. Not nearly as good as some here think, but I try not to have unrealistic expectations on role players. I think a poor mans Myles Turner would be a great projection, and make him worthy of that 10th pick. I take a poor mans Turner over a, say, John Collins 10 days of the week.

Gary is showing a true NBA skill, and he has also flashed the ability to put the ball on the floor when closed out on. He has the strength to guard SF's and the footspeed to guard SG's. He just needs to keep developing his IQ on that side. I don't think he has as much natural talent as Simons, but his style is much more conducive to being a contributor on a playoff caliber, no nonsense type team than Anfernee. Speaking of Gary, he now has the 3rd best WS/48 of active players on this team, 4th highest VORP, the 3rd best OBPM and a DPBM above our other turnstile guards (CJ, Dame, Simons). He is a net positive about every time he steps foot on the floor at this point.

If Portland sees Little as a PF moving forward, I would have no issues trading Simons and our FRP to move up and get our long term SF. Whether it be Deni Avdija, Isaac Okoro, Tyler Bey, etc. I also think Obi Toppin could be an immediate game changed, albeit he is more of a pure PF. Gary is the same age as Simons, a better compliment to Dame and CJ, cheaper and better by every raw and advanced metric. He should be given just as much, if not more, a fair shot to be our SGOTF as Simons. His fit as a backup right now clearly is much better.

[DaVoiceMaster]

And I'm not a Collins fan either. I was supposed to become one this season, but that didnt happen either.

Well in his defense he has only played 86 minutes this season.

I am down on Simons, but getting down on Zach is premature. He got injured, albeit he wasn't playing too great before that. The sample size is too small and while the advanced stats don't quite show it (Albeit his 3.3 DBPM is terrific), he was very poised in the playoffs last season. I still think he can be very good. Not nearly as good as some here think, but I try not to have unrealistic expectations on role players. I think a poor mans Myles Turner would be a great projection, and make him worthy of that 10th pick. I take a poor mans Turner over a, say, John Collins 10 days of the week.

Gary is showing a true NBA skill, and he has also flashed the ability to put the ball on the floor when closed out on. He has the strength to guard SF's and the footspeed to guard SG's. He just needs to keep developing his IQ on that side. I don't think he has as much natural talent as Simons, but his style is much more conducive to being a contributor on a playoff caliber, no nonsense type team than Anfernee. Speaking of Gary, he now has the 3rd best WS/48 of active players on this team, 4th highest VORP, the 3rd best OBPM and a DPBM above our other turnstile guards (CJ, Dame, Simons). He is a net positive about every time he steps foot on the floor at this point.

If Portland sees Little as a PF moving forward, I would have no issues trading Simons and our FRP to move up and get our long term SF. Whether it be Deni Avdija, Isaac Okoro, Tyler Bey, etc. I also think Obi Toppin could be an immediate game changed, albeit he is more of a pure PF. Gary is the same age as Simons, a better compliment to Dame and CJ, cheaper and better by every raw and advanced metric. He should be given just as much, if not more, a fair shot to be our SGOTF as Simons. His fit as a backup right now clearly is much better.

I'm not down on Collins because of this season, I've always been down on him. He shows signs here and there, which are great, but I'm ready for him to be more consistent, which was supposed to happen this season. The jury is still out on him and I am very hopeful he turns that corner (next year now). At times, I just think the Blazers selected the wrong Collins in that draft.

I'm liking Trent Jr. and glad to see Stotts is rewarding him with playing time that Simons was supposed to get. That guy may be the best 3 point shooter when left open.

I've never been high on Simons. The guy was a chucker up until this season and he wasn't good at that. This season, he doesn't seem to have much of a shot. Sure, last night he got some buckets, but one game out of 10 doesn't move the needle in my book. I hate his shot to begin with; it just looks horrible. He needs to play stellar these last 30 games to change my mind. Otherwise, trade him this summer like you mentioned to move up in the draft IF there is someone worth drafting. The Blazers moved up to get Collins, leaving a few good players still on the table.

I'm leaning towards liking Little. Too bad he got injured, he was just starting to find his shot. He's got a ways to go offensively still and needs more experience guarding smaller players, but I was leaning more towards liking him more than not.

[Wizenheimer]

And I'm not a Collins fan either. I was supposed to become one this season, but that didnt happen either.

I am down on Simons, but getting down on Zach is premature. He got injured, albeit he wasn't playing too great before that. The sample size is too small and while the advanced stats don't quite show it (Albeit his 3.3 DBPM is terrific), he was very poised in the playoffs last season. I still think he can be very good. Not nearly as good as some here think, but I try not to have unrealistic expectations on role players. I think a poor mans Myles Turner would be a great projection, and make him worthy of that 10th pick. I take a poor mans Turner over a, say, John Collins 10 days of the week..

you can argue some sample size issues for Simons, although that's getting harder as he continues to log consistent minutes. It's also getting harder to believe it's just a matter of age and experience. Trent is only 6 months older than Simons and has played about half the NBA minutes as Simons. They have both gone thru two summer leagues and two training camps. Yet, Trent is much better right now and shows signs of being a two-way player. He looks like Crabbe with defense. A young Wesley Matthews? Simons is way behind at this point. If Trent can develop a dribble-drive game and get to the FT line, he's going to have consistent impact

There can be some optimism with project big men. A decent chance they will be worth the investment. Project guards fail at a much higher rate. They rely more on intuitive skills and those are there early. I think Simons will end up being a decent player, but he's very unlikely to live up to the ridiculous hype Olshey pumped out about him last summer. He has two more years on his rookie deal, like Trent, so there's plenty of time to be patient

still, I wish Olshey wasn't so damn stubborn about not adding a competent backup PG to the roster
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as for Zach, there is no sample size issues with him. He's had consistent, predictable minutes since he arrived, and a set role in the rotation. You can return to that project big man analogy and project him improving quite a bit. But he also has flaws, and some of those are going to be hard to resolve. He's not like Aminu on defense. He doesn't have the same mobility to go out on the perimeter and guard stretch-4's, SF-hybrids, & SF's as well as Aminu did. In fact, when he did try to was often when he was in foul trouble. He's also a really weak rebounder for a C/PF. That perimeter defense and rebounding have been the two biggest weaknesses for the Blazers this season and Zach couldn't help in either area much.

poor man's Myles Turner? that may be a good comp, but I would hope Zach would get a little closer than just being a poor version. How about Turner-saddled-with-a-big-student-loan?

with a 10th pick I would hope for a certified starter; not a starter because there was no better alternatives. We saw 4 years of that at forwards with Aminu and Harkless. I'm not sure Zach will reach that certified level. He's going to be solid on defense for sure, but again, he'll have issues on the perimeter. His offense is so-so, at best, but if he can develop a consistent 3 point shot, he'd bring more to the floor

as far as the acquisition cost of that 10th pick...it was pretty expensive when viewed thru the lens of that 2017 draft. Blazers could have had 3 of John Collins, Jarret Allen, Thomas Bryant, Og Anunoby, Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, Derrick White, or Dillon Brooks. Instead they have Zach and Swanigan. Yeah, that's hindsight but I might take door number 2