Game 6: Portland vs Golden State 5:30pm SNW

[Epicurus]

I didnt watch the game closely, but it looked like Nurkic was not playing well, and even lacked effort. That's one of my bigger concerns about this season. It seems like Covington, Jones, Trent jr etc are all the sort that will figure it out and do their part. But if Nurkic regresses this team is in trouble. Especially with Collins out.

Has anyone watched Nurkic closely enough to see if he's had good games or stretches? Maybe he just needs to get in shape to be consistent. I think I remember him being decent in the houston game and parts of the lakers game. And I think he historically has been bad against Golden State so maybe it's not something to read into much.

It's hard to come back all the way from such an injury. Yet Nurk's head doesn't seem totally into the game. He doesn't seem to respect each possession, each shot he gets. Right now he looks like a guy whom to get Plumlee a team would add a 1st round draft choice. Without the '19 Nurk this team will gasp to get a .500 record.

[Matt800]

I didnt watch the game closely, but it looked like Nurkic was not playing well, and even lacked effort. That's one of my bigger concerns about this season. It seems like Covington, Jones, Trent jr etc are all the sort that will figure it out and do their part. But if Nurkic regresses this team is in trouble. Especially with Collins out.

Has anyone watched Nurkic closely enough to see if he's had good games or stretches? Maybe he just needs to get in shape to be consistent. I think I remember him being decent in the houston game and parts of the lakers game. And I think he historically has been bad against Golden State so maybe it's not something to read into much.

It's hard to come back all the way from such an injury. Yet Nurk's head doesn't seem totally into the game. He doesn't seem to respect each possession, each shot he gets. Right now he looks like a guy whom to get Plumlee a team would add a 1st round draft choice. Without the '19 Nurk this team will gasp to get a .500 record.

It could be conditioning. or whatever it is hopefully he will play a lot better and consistently so soon. If he continues to not play well, I think they could be over .500 but they would need to be willing to sit Nurkic. And Giles would need to play well, or Collins would need to be back and play at or better than his best. But I don't think they would sit Nurkic.

[Pattycakes]

This whole team does more complaining than playing when things aren’t going their way. We can’t single out Nurk and act like the whole team and Stotts are in it to win it.

[PDXKnight]

I didnt watch the game closely, but it looked like Nurkic was not playing well, and even lacked effort. That's one of my bigger concerns about this season. It seems like Covington, Jones, Trent jr etc are all the sort that will figure it out and do their part. But if Nurkic regresses this team is in trouble. Especially with Collins out.

Has anyone watched Nurkic closely enough to see if he's had good games or stretches? Maybe he just needs to get in shape to be consistent. I think I remember him being decent in the houston game and parts of the lakers game. And I think he historically has been bad against Golden State so maybe it's not something to read into much.

It's hard to come back all the way from such an injury. Yet Nurk's head doesn't seem totally into the game. He doesn't seem to respect each possession, each shot he gets. Right now he looks like a guy whom to get Plumlee a team would add a 1st round draft choice. Without the '19 Nurk this team will gasp to get a .500 record.

It could be conditioning. or whatever it is hopefully he will play a lot better and consistently so soon. If he continues to not play well, I think they could be over .500 but they would need to be willing to sit Nurkic. And Giles would need to play well, or Collins would need to be back and play at or better than his best. But I don't think they would sit Nurkic.

Covington played small ball center in Houston, while undoubtedly that’d be a Major liability with rebounding it’d be interesting to see if that lineup would work in some sets

[Epicurus]

The Blazers took 35 open and wide open 3s last night and make only 10 of them. The Warriors took 26 of the same and made 9 of them. Neither team did that well on open and beyond 3s, with the Warriors doing only slightly better. The story last night was comparable 2s. The Warriors took 36 tightly and very tightly contested 2s and made a whopping 24 of them. The Blazers took 41 of such shots and made 17 of them. W: 12 of 18 in open and wide open 2s and the Blazers 10 of 14 in the same. Better Warrior shooting of contested 2s made a noticable difference last night.

[Wizenheimer]

Warriors have quite possibly the worst announcer crew in the NBA.

Kent & Hurd are giving worst crews a run for the mony

[Wizenheimer]

* Lillard would have shot 28 FT's if he was officiated the same as Curry in this game. He was hammered all game long

* Nurkic's injury was 20 months ago. It's a poor excuse for the way he's playing especially considering what he did in the bubble. He came in overweight, out of shape, and seemingly disinterested. Most good players will work on their games in the off-season and come into a season improved in an area. Dame always has; CJ came into this season improved in passing. Trent looks like he's improved his handles. Nurkic looks like he's regressed everywhere. He used to be the 2nd best Blazer and 2nd most impactful player on the team. Now he might not even make the top-5
************************************

* we're seeing some of the issues with Roco & Jones. They are good on defense; really disruptive to the opponents ball and player movement. But their impact on the offensive end is inadequate at this point. Last night they combined for 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers. For the season they are averaging 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 assists with terrible efficiency (they are shooting 33% on FG's and 29% on three's). That's not going to cut it for the starting forward positions on a team that wants to contend.

Portland's biggest problem over the last 5 seasons (other than that the Blazers collapse in the playoffs when Dame is hogtied) is that they are weakest where the rest of the league is strongest: at the wings.....at SF/PF. That's where champions are made. But Olshey has heavily invested in the Dame/CJ back court spending 6 seasons now "settling" for role players at wing. Portland desperately needs a good, two-way wing; a player who can consistently contribute on BOTH ends of the floor. Not a one-dimensional specialist that is substituted for a different wing with a different specialty

but the parade of flawed, limited wings has continued: Aminu, Harkless, Gerald Henderson, Crabbe, Vonleh, Evan Turner, Zach, Hezonja, Bazemore, Tolliver, Melo.....yeeeeeeesh, that's ugly. Now it's Roco & Jones. That's not to say those guys don't have an upside as a tandem. But Roco is 30 years old and in the what-you-see-is-what-you-get stage. Plus, he's at the age where many SF's plateau and begin decline (remember Gerald Wallace?). He's also established a 7 year record of offensive inconsistency. And Jones just seems a questionable fit in the Stotts iso-heavy offense. His offensive strengths: transition - baseline cuts - lobs....all three of those areas are exactly what the Blazers do poorly.

remember all the hype about how improved the Portland defense was going to be with Roco & Jones? Well, right now the Blazers are 28th in defensive rating (last year, their worst in the Stotts era, they were 27th)

the Blazers, and Blazer fans, will just have to be content to watch Dame's prime burn away because of Olshey's emotional investment in CJ being option 1b on the floor and on the salary cap, and the irrational belief that somehow, a different group of role players will magically transform the Blazers from being a pretender into being a contender

[BlazersBroncos]

the Blazers, and Blazer fans, will just have to be content to watch Dame's prime burn away because of Olshey's emotional investment in CJ being option 1b on the floor and on the salary cap, and the irrational belief that somehow, a different group of role players will magically transform the Blazers from being a pretender into being a contender

Exactly. This team is never getting substantially better until we upgrade CJ, and even then the only chance to be a true contender was to upgrade CJ and have 18/19 Nurkic. Even upgrading CJ doesnt put us in true contention if Jusuf is playing like this.

[Norm2953]

Any thoughts of the Blazers getting involved with the Marvin Bagley talk coming out of Sacramento?

[JasonStern]

Read on Twitter

[Epicurus]

On " iso heavy offense"--last season the Blazers were 2nd in ISO possessions, but much close to the median than to the leaders, the Rockets, which ran twice the ISOs than the Blazers. This season the Blazers are 7% ISO, 11th in the league. Their 8.8 % cuts frequency is 4th in the league, behind league leader Denver at 19%. Pick and roll (ball handler) is also forth in frequency at 20.6%, behind the 23.5% of the Bulls, the league leader.

Jones who was a sensational finisher last season is quite simply missing too many at the rim this season. On cuts, 22% of his used possessions, he is scoring just 0.91 per possession. Last season 18.4% of his possessions were on cuts and he made 1.46 pts per that type of playtype. That has been very disappointing.

[Sinobas]

Nurk has been getting out played big time by Kanter. I notice he fumbles the ball a lot, and he just takes weird shots. It's almost like he's reverted back to being a rookie.

[Matt800]

* Lillard would have shot 28 FT's if he was officiated the same as Curry in this game. He was hammered all game long

* Nurkic's injury was 20 months ago. It's a poor excuse for the way he's playing especially considering what he did in the bubble. He came in overweight, out of shape, and seemingly disinterested. Most good players will work on their games in the off-season and come into a season improved in an area. Dame always has; CJ came into this season improved in passing. Trent looks like he's improved his handles. Nurkic looks like he's regressed everywhere. He used to be the 2nd best Blazer and 2nd most impactful player on the team. Now he might not even make the top-5
************************************

* we're seeing some of the issues with Roco & Jones. They are good on defense; really disruptive to the opponents ball and player movement. But their impact on the offensive end is inadequate at this point. Last night they combined for 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers. For the season they are averaging 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 assists with terrible efficiency (they are shooting 33% on FG's and 29% on three's). That's not going to cut it for the starting forward positions on a team that wants to contend.

Portland's biggest problem over the last 5 seasons (other than that the Blazers collapse in the playoffs when Dame is hogtied) is that they are weakest where the rest of the league is strongest: at the wings.....at SF/PF. That's where champions are made. But Olshey has heavily invested in the Dame/CJ back court spending 6 seasons now "settling" for role players at wing. Portland desperately needs a good, two-way wing; a player who can consistently contribute on BOTH ends of the floor. Not a one-dimensional specialist that is substituted for a different wing with a different specialty

but the parade of flawed, limited wings has continued: Aminu, Harkless, Gerald Henderson, Crabbe, Vonleh, Evan Turner, Zach, Hezonja, Bazemore, Tolliver, Melo.....yeeeeeeesh, that's ugly. Now it's Roco & Jones. That's not to say those guys don't have an upside as a tandem. But Roco is 30 years old and in the what-you-see-is-what-you-get stage. Plus, he's at the age where many SF's plateau and begin decline (remember Gerald Wallace?). He's also established a 7 year record of offensive inconsistency. And Jones just seems a questionable fit in the Stotts iso-heavy offense. His offensive strengths: transition - baseline cuts - lobs....all three of those areas are exactly what the Blazers do poorly.

remember all the hype about how improved the Portland defense was going to be with Roco & Jones? Well, right now the Blazers are 28th in defensive rating (last year, their worst in the Stotts era, they were 27th)

the Blazers, and Blazer fans, will just have to be content to watch Dame's prime burn away because of Olshey's emotional investment in CJ being option 1b on the floor and on the salary cap, and the irrational belief that somehow, a different group of role players will magically transform the Blazers from being a pretender into being a contender

I think these are all great points. Hopefully DJJ's talents has guys looking for those other types of plays you mentioned. There have been flashes of that at times. He seems like he could be a good player, but it was a dangerous move to stack a lot of question marks at the F spot on the roster. DJJ is young, Hood is off a major injury, GTJ is still young, Carmelo is old, etc. I think Carmelo is one of the more dangerous people to have on the roster because he is inconsistent and questionable at defense, but also requires a major role due to his reputation. If he had to earn the minutes based off productivity then it would be fine, but that's not the case.

Nurkic looks like the biggest problem the team has right now, and I'd put Lillard second. Lillard has had some decent games, but he was bad in a couple games. And he needs to be dominant for this team to be successful.

It's possible that Nurkic's issues will leave the team better, if other guys get opportunities and then Nurkic starts playing well leaving the team with more options and more guys ready.

But as of now Portland hasn't shown they will be much more than a .500 team. I think they will most likely get better, but how long will it take, and will they be good enough to consistently beat top teams?

[Case2012]

Warriors have quite possibly the worst announcer crew in the NBA.

Kent & Hurd are giving worst crews a run for the mony

You didn't have to suffer through the warriors broadcast team like I did the last 2 games.

[Case2012]

I think you either fire stotts, or trade for harden at this point. Ssdd with this team. Of course, olshey would be my first choice to go but that's not happening.

[Epicurus]

The purpose of either alternative is what?

[BlazersBroncos]

I think you either fire stotts, or trade for harden at this point. Ssdd with this team. Of course, olshey would be my first choice to go but that's not happening.

We clearly should try to trade for Harden. This team is fodder. As for coaching, I think you re-evaluate that in the offseason. Making a big trade for Harden and bringing a new coach in midseason seems a bit much.

For all we know the 'your turn, my turn' offense we run with Dame / CJ would work better is we add another offensive iso savant like Harden.

Anyone who has paid attention to the NBA the past 10-15 years knew that adding some nice role players wasn't moving the needle much. This type of middling team should have been expected. We are a bit better than this, some guys are slumping, but even at our best we are not that good.