bwgood77 wrote:garrick wrote:bwgood77 wrote:While it's pretty ridiculous and sucks that we lost, that was a very entertaining game. Pretty crazy. It was awesome seeing Book get the scoring record. Too bad he missed that last FT. And crazy that Ayton was sinking so many in a row. Haven't seen that Ayton in a while. i haven't watched Portland recently until Saturday, but they are playing much looser, faster, and instinctive. Ayton kind of looked like he did before he started playing more and more with Paul and was overthinking everything and had paralysis by analysis. He seems more to just be playing, making quick decisions. Of course his screening still sucks and he has his lapses I'm sure...
and he was probably more motivated against us. Crazy watching him last night trading him for Nurkic and Allen and people felt Nurkic was a big improvement and then we trade for Richards who people view as a big improvement over Nurkic. I thought Ayton looked better than Richards last night.
When I watched Portland last season a bit it appeared Scoot wanted to find him all the time, but Scoot would get injured or not play well, and most of the rest of the team just seemed to want their shots. He was much much more involved last night and probably lately which probably gives him more confidence too. Of course he may disappear again, but interesting to see.
I can't believe there was that rumor from an insider that we might get Deni for peanuts. I didn't realize he was so good. The Blazers are actually fairly entertaining, surprisingly. Like they looked like a more exciting team to watch than us these last two games for sure.
Ayton looked really good 2nd half of last season after injuries to Grant and Brogdon and he was money from the mid range so he might be once again hitting his stride which is good.
I really think that we could have made Ayton work in our system if Book and KD made more of an effort to be actual leaders in the locker room instead of just chilling and passive aggressively bitching about certain players on the team but Ishiba was in such a hurry to win now and play GM so we really made a bad trade in hindsight.
Yeah, that blaming and passive aggressiveness really hurts a team..and the player. But the fans sour on someone if things are not going well, and they are not a favorite. But he had his faults and could be infuriating.
But had we hired say, Udoka, and had him coach Ayton, and have us run more, and had we not done the KD trade i bet we'd be looking pretty good right now with Book, Mikal, Cam, Ayton and whoever else...probably would have some athleticism and a Paul replacement. Oh well.
KD has always been known as a Superstar player that is a poor leader. Westbrook was or is, a better leader than him and Harden has proven that he is also a better leader.
Booker is no better. He is a bad leader and shouldn't be the one making the speeches behind the scenes or on the court.
Booker's lack of passion after losses also show he lacks that sympathy and empathy and says things that a leader wouldn't do. Losing the finals in 21 and series in 22 and brushing it off as just "a game" is tone deaf. CP3 and Crowder was the true leaders back then and it showed on the court.
KD and Booker being the voices leading the team has proven they are bad leaders. The coach has little power when these two have big input in plays and movements since the GM and owner seems to be appeasing them.
Ayton was awesome during that 2021 finals run.. he was very good the next season. Fans started hating on him soon after those losses and claim he lacks motivation, but yet ignore the hundreds of game posts pointing out how he was ignored so many times during games. KD and Booker's poor leadership and motivation tactics affected Ayton and that's that.
But that's water under the bridge, he is now gelling with his new team and Blazers have a much better short and long term future.
