Post#23 » by Wizenheimer » Sat Apr 3, 2021 3:57 pm
Giannis is the most difficult guy to defend in the league. I believe the thinking behind having Nurkic guard Giannis was that Portland could live with his mid-range shot and Nurk's length would be the best defense against Giannis in the paint.
The Greek Freak is a generational talent and the Blazers had a chance to draft him. Dame + Giannis would win rings. And before anybody comes flying to defend Olshey for not drafting Giannis, my statement wasn't an indictment of the decision. It was pointing at the reality that a small market team has maybe one or two chances every 30-40 years to build a dynasty. The 2012 & 2013 drafts was Portland's chance. They could have actually had Dame, Giannis, and Gobert (affording all three is another matter); and yeah, the odds of them landing on all three players were very low. But it's been 44 years since everything broke right for Portland so they really needed a payout on those low odds
***********************************************************
at the all-star break, when Stotts challenged his team to make it to the top half of the league in defense, they ranked 29th in defensive rating at 116.4. Twelve games later, there's lots of chatter about an improved defense, but the Blazers are still 29th in the league and their rating has dropped from 116.4 to 117.2. And 10 of their remaining 24 games are against top-10 offenses, and 13 games are against top-15 offenses.
what are the chances Portland will be a top-15 defense by the end of the season?
**************************************************************
so far, Blazer magic at work: both Powell and Jones are playing worse since the trade than before. Powell as the long-term SF doesn't seem like a good idea to me. So far, it hasn't even been a good idea short-term