Game 61: Portland vs Atlanta 4:30pm SNW

[zzaj]

About a million years ago I remember reading a quote by some coach (maybe it was Jerry Sloan, or Phil Jackson)..."great teams are made up of 90% fit and 10% talent". This coach went on to say that he thought that the talent level in the NBA was pretty static except for the top 10 or so players. Meaning, an average NBA player will look great if the fit is right and a good player can look pretty average if the fit is bad...we've seen this time and time again when players switch teams--the fit changes and suddenly the player is better or worse than he previously was.

I bring this up because I think that's partly what the Blazers have been running up against this season. On paper Whiteside is a better player than Nurkic, but Nurkic's fit on the team makes him the better player.

Whiteside
Melo
CJ

are all players that would likely look much better on teams that were a better fit for what they bring to the table on the court. Fit meaning roster construction, locker room impact, and system on both sides of the ball.


All that being said, I do think that the criticisms of Whiteside are slightly off-base. If you take him off the roster at the beginning of the year I believe the Blazers would be in the mix for worst record in the league--subtracting Whiteside's 7.3 winshares from the Blazer's 26 wins confirms that notion. Whiteside needs to find the right fit with his skill set...perhaps alongside an aggressive secondary rim defender/rebounder and a team that plays good perimeter defense that can successfully funnel opposing players.

[monopoman]

Yep, I agree Whiteside could be so much better if he really cared he just does not have the drive of a great player.

[Epicurus]

Yep, I agree Whiteside could be so much better if he really cared he just does not have the drive of a great player.

Perhaps he would care more if he had some competition for court time at his position. But without Collins and Gasol that just doesn't exist this season. i think folks have severely ignored what was expected from Gasol this season. Not that anyone thought of a return to his prime, but a solid player, mistake free, who could take a n age-appropriate chunk of minutes productively.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

All that being said, I do think that the criticisms of Whiteside are slightly off-base. If you take him off the roster at the beginning of the year I believe the Blazers would be in the mix for worst record in the league--subtracting Whiteside's 7.3 winshares from the Blazer's 26 wins confirms that notion. Whiteside needs to find the right fit with his skill set...perhaps alongside an aggressive secondary rim defender/rebounder and a team that plays good perimeter defense that can successfully funnel opposing players.

Obviously we would be in a worse situation without Whiteside. If that is what you and Wiz took away from my comment then I was misunderstood.

[d-train]

All that being said, I do think that the criticisms of Whiteside are slightly off-base. If you take him off the roster at the beginning of the year I believe the Blazers would be in the mix for worst record in the league--subtracting Whiteside's 7.3 winshares from the Blazer's 26 wins confirms that notion. Whiteside needs to find the right fit with his skill set...perhaps alongside an aggressive secondary rim defender/rebounder and a team that plays good perimeter defense that can successfully funnel opposing players.

Obviously we would be in a worse situation without Whiteside. If that is what you and Wiz took away from my comment then I was misunderstood.

While I don't agree with Olshey that Whiteside has exceeded expectations, I also don't agree with Whiteside's critics. I believe Whiteside plays hard and is a team player. Whiteside wants to contribute and do what is best for his team. He is a bigger, stronger, slower, and overall more talented version of ED, whom we discarded because he was incompatible with Lillard. The upcoming question is, is Whiteside more compatible because he's bigger, stronger, and has more range but only if he is wide open. Whiteside's outside shot goes in, but it's not a thing of beauty.

As for Whitesides stats, like with any player, stats are useless when used to compare a player to other players. Stats are an incomplete measurement of how a player performs in a specific role. There are not 2 players on the Blazers that share identical roles. There are not 2 players in the league that share identical roles. So, stats are useless when used the way 99.99% of people in these forums use them.

I believe 100% Blazers should pursue retaining Whiteside in free agency. The PT questions surrounding the center position with 3 premiere players (Nurkic, Whiteside, & Collins) sharing 48 minutes, I believe are assets and not problems. It's an asset to have 3 good options to fill what is probably the 2nd most important role on the team. It's an asset to have 3 good options that have different strengths to help Stotts answer different challenges the team faces against varied matchups. The problems are mostly imagined to generate conflicts that live only in ridiculous theories. Every good team has players on the bench that are better than other players starting on other teams.