Game 12: Portland vs Toronto 7:00pm SNW

[Wizenheimer]

a lot of miscalculations in the off-season followed by a crucial injury

the next 9 games are big. If the Blazers go something like 3-6, they'd be 7-14. That's a real deep hole with Nurkic maybe not returning till February and Collins maybe missing the rest of the regular season.

what makes it worse is that Portland has a 4-8 record AND, the highest payroll in the league

I think Stotts really screwed up by not playing Little in the 4th Q. That's when Siakam went crazy

[Epicurus]

At some point this has to fall somewhat on Stotts. He's not working with the best players, and I understand that, but we've lost to quite a few teams that put less talent on the floor than we theoretically have.

What opponent has had to put on the floor players as bad as Toliver and Mario for meaningful, or even any, minutes?

[Epicurus]

Could it possibly be that a rookie who must expend much energy to be a decent player may have been somewhat gassed after playing 23 minutes in a tight game against an all star? Could it possibly be that the choice to use Ant as the third guard instead of Little at PF may have been in hope of opening up lanes for Lillard, with better distant shooting?

[GEE]

A few takeaways from tonight:

1. Stick with Little at the starting 4. He was the only one that was able to handle Siakam, and should have played more in the 2nd half. Hood cannot play at PF, and also got torched late in the game. Going small down the stretch, and even smaller toward the close was a mistake IMO.

2. Mario went 10 and 6, but looked like garbage to me. I think bringing him in WAS the right rotation move, but I think I would have brought Tolliver in when he was clearly not up to the task in the 2nd quarter. Let Mario and Tolliver battle for those backup PF minutes.

3. I don't want to see all three of Dame, CJ and Ant on the floor at the same time, unless it's a special situation, we need a 3 type of situation. It makes us unbalanced, and horrible on defense. Going small again at the end of the game killed us.

[GEE]

Roll with it:

Dame / Ant
CJ / Baze
Hood / Baze
Little / (Mario/Tolliver)
Whiteside / Skal

[Norm2953]

I'm of the opinion this team was setup for next summer for they have two very large expiring
contracts in Whiteside and Bazemore to play with at the trade deadline.

They could have opted to preserve continuity by using bird rights to keep Aminu, sign Hood
and kept Harkless, Meyers and Turner. That would have led to a serviceable roster and some
options after Meyers, Harkless and Turner leave as free agents but the team seems to have
really valued Whiteside and perhaps hoped he would have a monster season prior to free
agency. Strange to have so much turnover from a team that made the WCF but they can
press the reset button next summer and can build around Dame/CJ, Simons, Little and
a healthy Nurkic and Collins in 2020-21.

[monopoman]

I'm of the opinion this team was setup for next summer for they have two very large expiring
contracts in Whiteside and Bazemore to play with at the trade deadline.

They could have opted to preserve continuity by using bird rights to keep Aminu, sign Hood
and kept Harkless, Meyers and Turner. That would have led to a serviceable roster and some
options after Meyers, Harkless and Turner leave as free agents but the team seems to have
really valued Whiteside and perhaps hoped he would have a monster season prior to free
agency. Strange to have so much turnover from a team that made the WCF but they can
press the reset button next summer and can build around Dame/CJ, Simons, Little and
a healthy Nurkic and Collins in 2020-21.

I don't think we really valued Whiteside it was more we needed a center in the short term and Whiteside is an expiring contract so we either trade him or let him walk out the door at the end of the season.

[Roy The Natural]

At some point this has to fall somewhat on Stotts. He's not working with the best players, and I understand that, but we've lost to quite a few teams that put less talent on the floor than we theoretically have.

What opponent has had to put on the floor players as bad as Toliver and Mario for meaningful, or even any, minutes?

The Kings, the Hawks, the Warriors, and the Raptors tonight have all put scrubs out on the floor. The overall talent of those 3 teams isn't any better than Portland's. It's a lame excuse.

The Hawks roster is abysmal, the Blazers squeeked that one out despite being vastly more talented.

The Kings were playing without their best player, plus their best big.

Raptors were missing 3 of their top 6 player.

There's no real excuse for the loss to the Warriors. They're playing a bunch of G-leaguers.

I wouldn't put this all on Stotts, but he deserves some of the blame. Tonight Nassir Little played vastly better defense than anyone else on Siakam, but he was nowhere to be found. The offense is a stagnant, gross, mess. The roster isn't great, but the coaching has been abysmal to this point as well.

[Epicurus]

You didn't answer my specific question with specifics, only repetition of your general claim.

[Roy The Natural]

You didn't answer my specific question with specifics, only repetition of your general claim.

Those players aren't on other teams. So no opponent has had to put them on the floor. But the aforementioned teams put players who were just as bad on the floor. And now we find out that all this time that Tolliver has been seeing the floor, the Blazers had a better option on the bench in Little.

[GEE]

We do have options at the deadline or in the summer, which is nice for a change. Getting Stotts to figure things out, to me, is the biggest hurdle. His experimenting is an issue every year, but I like the moves Olshey made with personnel.

Also noticed since my last post, that Slal only played 18 minutes. A rotation like this could also be effective, but I'll keep beating that dead horse... Small-ball sucks. These guys should get most of the minutes IMO, with Mario, Tolliver and Moses getting just a few minutes per game.

Dame / Ant
CJ / Baze
Hood / Baze
Little / Skal
Whiteside / Skal

[Epicurus]

You didn't answer my specific question with specifics, only repetition of your general claim.

Those players aren't on other teams. So no opponent has had to put them on the floor. But the aforementioned teams put players who were just as bad on the floor. And now we find out that all this time that Tolliver has been seeing the floor, the Blazers had a better option on the bench in Little.

I've been watching NBA basketball since the early 1950s and unless the rookie is some college phenom, the veteran will always get the first crack at more minutes. It is not something unique to 2019 and the Blazers.

[d-train]

You didn't answer my specific question with specifics, only repetition of your general claim.

Those players aren't on other teams. So no opponent has had to put them on the floor. But the aforementioned teams put players who were just as bad on the floor. And now we find out that all this time that Tolliver has been seeing the floor, the Blazers had a better option on the bench in Little.

This is the first time we played the Raptors with Siakam. As good as Tolliver is, I doubt he could defend Siakam with his quickness and shot creation skills. Little did a great job but he was beat to the basket in the same manner that Mario was beat. The difference I noticed is Little kept his hands up and never stopped contesting. Mario's hands were always down. The bottom line is Siakam made his shots against Mario and missed them against Little. On a different night Siakam could have made all his shots against Little.

[zzaj]

Anybody heard any actual reason Little didn't get any burn to close out the game?

Siakam is the exact kind of player that is the Blazers (and most teams', actually) kryptonite. He's one of those handful of new breed of tall PF/SF players that are a nightmare matchup because they can score at all three levels. We all knew going in that the Giannises, LBJs, Durants, Siakams, Georges, etc...of the league were going to be an issue, because the Blazers don't have a single player who can handle that type defensively. Little did better than anybody thought he would...no idea why he didn't play in the fourth.

Nice to see Hood continue his uber-efficient play that started the year. I still think he can be a fairly low usage starter for the Blazers, long-term if he continues to play like he has this season.

Lillard was obviously trying to get others involved out of Toronto's defensive pressure. They have a lot of guys in that 6'6"-6'11" and long category, which this Blazers backcourt have always had trouble with.

Speaking of that, Lillard has also often had trouble with smaller, lightning-quick defenders. VanVleet is in that category. Offensively, FVV's more traditional, 'probing' PG style is something that I really miss having on the Blazers, although that's not how Stotts' system is set up.

CJ shot better tonight and actually got to the FT line a couple times...but as always, the ball lives and dies in his hands. He had the hot hand a couple of times in this game, but he still ignores or can't see the better looks for open teammates...a couple of them tonight were egregious.

[Norm2953]

At Norm and Mono,

We do have options, which is nice for a change. Getting Stotts to figure things out, to me, is the biggest hurdle. His experimenting is an issue every year, but I like the moves Olshey made with personnel.

Also noticed since my last post, that Slal only played 18 minutes. A rotation like this could also be effective, but I'll keep beating that dead horse... Small-ball sucks. These guys should get most of the minutes IMO, with Mario, Tolliver and Moses getting just a few minutes per game.

Dame / Ant
CJ / Baze
Hood / Baze
Little / Skal
Whiteside / Skal

The team as its currently setup is simply incapable of running the Terry Stotts (Dallas) offense. He's an offensive
coach but the GM has not offered him a replacement for Batum since they traded him in 2015. The SF in the
Stotts offense is a ball handler, defender and a threat from the 3 point line. They literally have nobody up
front capable of developing into a NBA starter for the forseeable future.


They could have opted for continuity for lets say they signed Hood and used Bird rights for Aminu and made do
with Turner, Meyers and Harkless.

Dame, Ant
CJ, Hood
Meyers, Skal
Harkless,Turner
Aminu, Turner

The team would be serviceable but likely a 6 seed in a rugged western conference. They rolled the dice on the
physical tools of Whiteside and likely are going to struggle until Stotts figures out Whiteside isn't going to be
a fit in the Stotts offense. Meanwhile somebody is going to be a scapegoat for ownership has the highest
team payroll in the league and will finish in the lottery.

[Norm2953]

You didn't answer my specific question with specifics, only repetition of your general claim.

Those players aren't on other teams. So no opponent has had to put them on the floor. But the aforementioned teams put players who were just as bad on the floor. And now we find out that all this time that Tolliver has been seeing the floor, the Blazers had a better option on the bench in Little.

I've been watching NBA basketball since the early 1950s and unless the rookie is some college phenom, the veteran will always get the first crack at more minutes. It is not something unique to 2019 and the Blazers.

Nazr Little like most rookies today is a 19 year old player who did not start in his only season in college and in the
Stotts system, is an undersized PF. He does have better physical tools and perhaps in 2 seasons can develop into
a Crash Wallace type of player. Portland's big problem is that they have nobody to play the SF in the Stotts system
and overall are lacking ball handlers for Simons and CJ are scorers,

[Roy The Natural]

Those players aren't on other teams. So no opponent has had to put them on the floor. But the aforementioned teams put players who were just as bad on the floor. And now we find out that all this time that Tolliver has been seeing the floor, the Blazers had a better option on the bench in Little.

I've been watching NBA basketball since the early 1950s and unless the rookie is some college phenom, the veteran will always get the first crack at more minutes. It is not something unique to 2019 and the Blazers.

Nazr Little like most rookies today is a 19 year old player who did not start in his only season in college and in the
Stotts system, is an undersized PF. He does have better physical tools and perhaps in 2 seasons can develop into
a Crash Wallace type of player. Portland's big problem is that they have nobody to play the SF in the Stotts system
and overall are lacking ball handlers for Simons and CJ are scorers,

I disagree. Rodney Hood is a fine fit at the 3 for Stotts. Their big problem is that they haven't had a 4 who could do anything of value on either side of the ball to this point. Little might need to be the guy at this point. He's athletic enough to rebound and play good defense. He needs to shoot better at some point to slot in at the 3 long-term, which is where he belongs.

[Village Idiot]

I'd much rather start Bazemore at the 3 alongside Little at the 4. Energy and defensive effort is contageous. Hood and McCollum are too laid back on that end of the floor.

[Epicurus]

I'd much rather start Bazemore at the 3 alongside Little at the 4. Energy and defensive effort is contageous. Hood and McCollum are too laid back on that end of the floor.

Wow, that would be a short coupling of forwards, who also aren't that good of shooters. Isn't the need to improve the defense while not regressing the offense?

[Epicurus]

BTW, no one has mentioned Skal's fine locating and delivering the ball to shooters, while in the post. I wish he were broader physically.