Game 55: Portland vs New Orleans 5:00pm SNW

[Roy The Natural]

Yea... I don't know. I have a feeling that Whiteside is one of those guys who's COMPLETELY unplayable in the playoffs. Like a 6 minute a game guy. He's just so easy to take out of a game. He's got stone feet, and is piss poor at so many things that are going to matter come playoff time. It almost feels like a waste to not try and resign him for a 1 year deal because we can still get the MLE... but man, what a god awful decision to not trade him plus some assets at the deadline for something better fitting long-term.

[Roy The Natural]

I'm a big-time Simons believer. There's just so much in his game that SCREAMS he's going to be good.... but even I'm wavering at times here. I mean, WTF was that layup attempt? This guy has a ton of talent, but he's not even close to fully ready.

Probably should be in the G-league for a week or so to get some confidence back. He literally has NO confidence at all right now. He's completely second guessing everything he does. Couldn't even decide whether to dunk it or lay it up.... it's sad.

[zzaj]

I had to tape the game, but a "friend" told me the score. Not sure I'll watch. I knew going in that Lillard was going to have issues (he always seems to against Jrue) and that Zion was going to go off.

The Blazers certainly don't have anybody with the strength/quickness/length to stick with Zion...not sure many teams do. Additionally, I don't think he's been scouted really deeply yet.

Looking at the boxscore, Blazer wins are going to be a rare occurrence against ANY team if they are outrebounded by 10 and the difference in 3pt% is 24% vs 41%. Lost the FT line tonight as well...

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I had to tape the game, but a "friend" told me the score. Not sure I'll watch. I knew going in that Lillard was going to have issues (he always seems to against Jrue) and that Zion was going to go off.

The Blazers certainly don't have anybody with the strength/quickness/length to stick with Zion...not sure many teams do. Additionally, I don't think he's been scouted really deeply yet.

Looking at the boxscore, Blazer wins are going to be a rare occurrence against ANY team if they are outrebounded by 10 and the difference in 3pt% is 24% vs 41%. Lost the FT line tonight as well...

If you were a person who only watched New Orleans basketball over the years you would be thinking "what is with all this Lillard hype, he doesn't look so good to me".

I dunno what exactly it is but that team has had our number.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Probably should be in the G-league for a week or so to get some confidence back. He literally has NO confidence at all right now. He's completely second guessing everything he does. Couldn't even decide whether to dunk it or lay it up.... it's sad.

Didn't the Blazers give up our G-league team because Olshey didn't think it helped players? Even if we had it, Simons is our only backup PG and Olshey seems determined to force him into that slot by not giving Stott's any other options.

I don't get why every team should not have a veteran pass-first PG as a 3rd stringer, just some old dude that knows his role. If for no other reason than it helps the other 3rd stringers get some legitimate offense going. Olshey is dead-set against that type of player and is all-in on the score-first PG - which I get for your starters and star players, its a modern look in this 3 point era - but score-first offensive initiators doesn't work as well on bench and role players where you have lower or more undeveloped talent. So for someone like Simons, you let him get a little hot before moving him into that primary offensive initiator role and on nights where he isn't doing enough to succeed in that role you at least have another option (one that, in theory, might even help Simons get himself going).

[Epicurus]

I don't think someone who scores 17 points at a two-thirds rate isn't giving a ****. Three offensive rebounds indicate a bit of trying. He has, as he has had, little help in the backline. He is not good at fighting 2 to 1, nor does he quickly gather lose balls. But I don't see his not caring. Given the poor outside shooting tonight, I would have preferred more feeds to him.

[DaVoiceMaster]

I actually fast forwarded the last 15 minutes of the game. Not one Blazers player had a good game. I didnt expect Lillard to have a good game, cuz he never does against the Jazz, but no one played well? I dont know why the Blazers cant finish quarters strong. It seems like they always give up their lead at the end of the quarter. Whiteside and Ariza seemed a bit lazy at times tonight.

[Epicurus]

I actually fast forwarded the last 15 minutes of the game. Not one Blazers player had a good game. I didnt expect Lillard to have a good game, cuz he never does against the Jazz, but no one played well? I dont know why the Blazers cant finish quarters strong. It seems like they always give up their lead at the end of the quarter. Whiteside and Ariza seemed a bit lazy at times tonight.

Nobody particularly good at either end of court coming off of bench to allow at worse a low negative impact. We know it and so do the players. That's tiring mentally, if not physically.

[Sinobas]

I see a lot of people crapping on big men for being too slow to guard the perimeter, but isn't their primary job to defend inside? You don't hear people lamenting that their PG isn't a good interior defender...

[DaVoiceMaster]

I always hate seeing the Blazers center (Whiteside, Nurkic, Lopez, Oden, etc.) guarding the opposing PG outside the 3 point line. I really hate the defense when they switch everything. I don't have as much of a problem with the big men in that situation. What I hate most about watching Whiteside is when he stands there and lets the guard drive straight to the basket. Sure, he gets 3-4 blocks per game, which is great, but how many times do we watch him not commit to anyone. He just kind of stands in the middle between his man and the driving guard. I get that if he commits to the guard, he can simply dump the ball to the big man for a score, but at least look like you're doing something other than watching a basketball game from the court. Maybe that's just me, a guy who's never played organized basketball.

[BlazersBroncos]

Sounds like people are basically saying that Hassan is a flawed basketball player that is very good at a few things. Sounds good because he is a backup in this league and will resign as a backup. We cant afford to lose him as an asset. That would mean relying on only the MLE to improve this team, and even then if Melo wants money we may have to allocate that to him (Rather than the BAE, which is my hope).

Losing Hassan, resigning Melo to the MLE and ending up picking 14 while missing the playoffs is a really depressing, but shockingly likely, scenario.

[Matt800]

I wouldn't be surprised if guys were hesitant to expend a lot of energy in this game with the Memphis game the next day. We'll see today if they play better against Memphis.

[Epicurus]

Even really bad teams, certainly not ones with playoff hopes, don't have Swanigan as the prime backup center, nor Anthony as a starting PF. We probably can throw Ant in there as the first off the bench ball handler. It is amazing the Blazers are still in the playoff hunt.