RealGM

Went to the game last night and while the comeback win was exciting and all and happiness reigned supreme in the Rose Garden, the sobering fact is this

THE BLAZERS CAN'T REBOUND!

One of the worst teams in the league whipped them inside everytime a ball came off the rim. It got to the point that you felt it was a lucky bounce when we actually got a rebound. At one point the difference in 2nd chance points was 19-2!

Oden or no Oden, the Blazers need a bruiser at the 4 and that should be as much a trade goal as a star point.


What kind of options do you think are out there? [/b]

Oden or No Oden?

Patience is what can be done about our rebounding. Oden should easily be good for 10-12 a game. Przybilla, not Frye will get back-up minutes at center. It's hard to see a better rebounding center duo than those two.

At PF Aldridge and Frye could be better but they're not that bad.

At SF Webster and Outlaw are both good rebounders

At SG Roy is above average for the position.

Frankly I don't see this as a long-term issue. The short-term deficiency is one I can live with.

I agree with VI. Patience will solve most of the issue of rebounding.

Oden will help a lot, I think that's certain. Not only by the rebounds he grabs, but because portland won't be using a zone defense as much with him on the floor.

And a 23 year old Aldridge will rebound better then a 22 year old one. And 26>25>24>23

for that matter, the maturity equation will factor in at every position.

Village Idiot wrote:Oden or No Oden?

Patience is what can be done about our rebounding. Oden should easily be good for 10-12 a game. Przybilla, not Frye will get back-up minutes at center. It's hard to see a better rebounding center duo than those two.

At PF Aldridge and Frye could be better but they're not that bad.

At SF Webster and Outlaw are both good rebounders

At SG Roy is above average for the position.

Frankly I don't see this as a long-term issue. The short-term deficiency is one I can live with.

I very much agree.

It seems to me like Aldridge is trying hard to carry a large part of the scoring load right now, but as the team matures and gets to add Oden to it's frontcourt next year he'll have less pressure on the offensive side. Plus, right now he's drawing a lot of attention from defenders, next year Oden is there as the worlds biggest decoy which will help LMA in the rebounding department too I think.

I don't see a problem. As well as the Blazers are doing this year, I still see this year as a learning year, which is exactly what they're doing.

Wizenheimer wrote:Oden will help a lot, I think that's certain. Not only by the rebounds he grabs, but because portland won't be using a zone defense as much with him on the floor.

That's a very good point Wize. It's easy to overlook how dramatically different both the offensive and defensive will look with Oden getting minutes. And the zone certainly hurts the Trailblazers' rebound numbers.

I think part of the problem is that the Blazers don't really crash the boards. LMA is often floating out around the elbow, Travis and Martell are usually out on the perimeter. A lot of times, its basically Joel against three interior defenders. If the Blazers want most of their shooters away from the basket, they need to be crashing the boards when the ball is in the air.

Of course, if the perimeter players move towards the basket, long rebounds can turn into easy fast break points. However, those guys aren't really doing either particularly well, but I'd like to see the perimeter players helping Joel on the boards.

another subtle thing portland could do that might reduce their vulnerability on their own defensive glass:

look to run more when they do get the defensive rebound...maybe a lot more. Even run a bit off of made baskets.

Right now, opponents are sending 4 and 5 guys to their own offensive glass. They do that in part, because they know portland is no threat to run off of a rebound. After all, they never do.

If the blazers were to add some transition offense after defensive rebounding, then part of the opponents scouting report would be "get back". And if the opponents guards and sf's were spending more time retreating accross the timeline, they wouldn't be in position so often to grab long offensive rebounds...and portland has given up a ton of those this season.

There would also be the likely added benefit of portland scoring 3 or 4 extra points a game on transition baskets (or denied 2nd chance points). And wouldn't 3 extra points have been nice to have in the final seconds of the Cleveland game.

I agree with wiz's last post, that running more breaks would make teams respect our ability to run, but I still think we could use a banger to match up better with the stronger teams, not to mention that with our slow pace(we are certainly not a fast break team) a big 4 would seem to be a logical piece to the puzzle

By getting a big "4" do you mean that Aldridge should go to the bench? Because I think that he will only get better. I see him averaging about 9 rebounds in the future, which I think will be sufficient when playing alongside 13+ from Oden. Joel is a good rebounder, but he is such an offensive liability that it is hard to play him. And Channing is a pretty good rebounder himself. There is a significant difference when we play zone, as it is more difficult to box out. If we could get some defenders and not have to play zone, our rebounding should do better (another reason to take Devin Harris)

Oden will solve all of our rebounding issues. We don't need to trade for a big 4...

In the offseason we should go out and get a big, young, once-in-a-generation type center who is renowned for his defense and rebounding. ::wink::

But seriously, I think the coaches should focus Aldridge's offseason training on rebounding. If a guy can develop new offensive moves during the offseason then he should be able to learn how to rebound better too.

The biggest issues have been touched on here, Oden + willingness to run = winning the rebound battle.

The comment about D.Harris is also very true, not only is Harris a great man defender ( so less zone), but he's a one man fast break( so less crashing of the boards by the opponent).

Lastly when Oden gets back Super Trout won't be on the floor playing PF with a PF playing center. LMA/Trout or Frye/Trout becomes a weenie roast as legit C and PF tandems burn us over and over again.

I think our biggest need is scoring (a scorer).
If the Blazers could get a PG who can do that
then that would take care of two things in one.

Rebounding is a big need to, but Oden will help
some of that, but not all. So I think a good role
player could help with that. Also LMA will get a
little better over time in the rebounding area.. .