Game 13: Portland vs San Antonio 5:30pm SNW

[monopoman]

I like Little starting even if he isn't producing points, he plays the Aminu role a hell of a lot better than Tolliver.

Little had a huge play at the end of the game he hustled his ass off and hit the ball off a Spurs player as it went out of bounds. I love what he brings and that type of play inspires the whole team.

[d-train]

We are still struggling to play good offense. We just aren't finding our best shots and we aren't rebounding. We need to figure out a way to move the ball better and get Whiteside in better rebounding position.

Dame missed a lot of shots he often makes, thought we passed better tonight overall, for me our depth is just so lean with Nurk and Zach out, we got too many guys who should not be on an NBA roster or who are 14/15 type roster players. Mario looks awful as does Tolly IMO, Trent is yuck, Skal 14/15 type as well. I like overall how ANT is playing for a 2nd yr 20 yr old and Little I also like what I see, but he is a 19 yr old rook - gonna be a long year IMO

I like all our players. I have no problem with our depth. The problem is our play as a unit. And, I doubt think the new players are a good excuse. We were having the same breakdowns at the end of the playoffs last year.

[DusterBuster]

i dont even care about the win, im so indifferent about this team right know

cause im highly skeptical that things will get better anytime soon

You just don’t care cause Nurk is out.

Not trying to be confrontational, but you’ve made it pretty clear you’re more of a Nurk fan than Blazer fan over the last few years.

[GEE]

That's how you win BB games. Great job by the whole team. That first quarter was a model. IMO, it was like night and day from the way they'd been playing. Great job by Stotts with the rotations, and the offense was in motion almost the whole game. Some of our players didn't have their best games offensively and struggled a bit, but overall they played well as a team on both ends.

[DusterBuster]

We are still struggling to play good offense. We just aren't finding our best shots and we aren't rebounding. We need to figure out a way to move the ball better and get Whiteside in better rebounding position.

Dame missed a lot of shots he often makes, thought we passed better tonight overall, for me our depth is just so lean with Nurk and Zach out, we got too many guys who should not be on an NBA roster or who are 14/15 type roster players. Mario looks awful as does Tolly IMO, Trent is yuck, Skal 14/15 type as well. I like overall how ANT is playing for a 2nd yr 20 yr old and Little I also like what I see, but he is a 19 yr old rook - gonna be a long year IMO

I like all our players. I have no problem with our depth. The problem is our play as a unit. And, I doubt think the new players are a good excuse. We were having the same breakdowns at the end of the playoffs last year.

I’m with Blazin, the depth on this years roster is trash. Olshey is usually good at finding diamonds in the rough, but he really pooped the bed this summer in that regard. Tolliver and Herzonja are painfully bad. Worse depth combined with a largely brand new team and significant injuries to key guys is simply a recipe for ... something other than success.

As far as I’m concerned, this is a whatever season. In other words, whatever happens is fine. It’s just a placeholder season until this trade deadline or summer when they reload the team, Nurk is healthy again and Ant, Collins and Little all have another NBA season under their belts.

All that said though, there’s been a bit too much handwringing in general this early in the year. At least in terms of the team chemistry. The injuries and depth worries are totally warranted tho.

[monopoman]

Dame missed a lot of shots he often makes, thought we passed better tonight overall, for me our depth is just so lean with Nurk and Zach out, we got too many guys who should not be on an NBA roster or who are 14/15 type roster players. Mario looks awful as does Tolly IMO, Trent is yuck, Skal 14/15 type as well. I like overall how ANT is playing for a 2nd yr 20 yr old and Little I also like what I see, but he is a 19 yr old rook - gonna be a long year IMO

I like all our players. I have no problem with our depth. The problem is our play as a unit. And, I doubt think the new players are a good excuse. We were having the same breakdowns at the end of the playoffs last year.

I’m with Blazin, the depth on this years roster is trash. Olshey is usually good at finding diamonds in the rough, but he really pooped the bed this summer in that regard. Tolliver and Herzonja are painfully bad. Worse depth combined with a largely brand new team and significant injuries to key guys is simply a recipe for ... something other than success.

As far as I’m concerned, this is a whatever season. In other words, whatever happens is fine. It’s just a placeholder season until this trade deadline or summer when they reload the team, Nurk is healthy again and Ant, Collins and Little all have another NBA season under their belts.

All that said though, there’s been a bit too much handwringing in general this early in the year. At least in terms of the team chemistry. The injuries and depth worries are totally warranted tho.

To be fair we did have a pretty rough depth situation at the beginning of last year, picking up Kanter+Hood was huge at the deadline and turned a pretty good team into a good team.

[Shem]

I missed the game and we won. Coincidence? I think not.

That's it, we're cancelling your cable.

[GEE]

To say Olshey pooped the bed is a bit harsh IMO. Whiteside and Baze are definite upgrades, while Mario and Tolliver are 3rd string guys that shared the starting PF spot because Stotts was hesitant to start a rookie in Little. With the addition of Melo, Mario and Tolliver's minutes likely just went to zero. Gasol, I never thought would be anything more than a player-coach.

I also don't think that moving Baze or Whiteside is a foregone conclusion. We might keep them longer term.

WAR - Nurkic busting his ass to get back on the floor.

[DusterBuster]

I like all our players. I have no problem with our depth. The problem is our play as a unit. And, I doubt think the new players are a good excuse. We were having the same breakdowns at the end of the playoffs last year.

I’m with Blazin, the depth on this years roster is trash. Olshey is usually good at finding diamonds in the rough, but he really pooped the bed this summer in that regard. Tolliver and Herzonja are painfully bad. Worse depth combined with a largely brand new team and significant injuries to key guys is simply a recipe for ... something other than success.

As far as I’m concerned, this is a whatever season. In other words, whatever happens is fine. It’s just a placeholder season until this trade deadline or summer when they reload the team, Nurk is healthy again and Ant, Collins and Little all have another NBA season under their belts.

All that said though, there’s been a bit too much handwringing in general this early in the year. At least in terms of the team chemistry. The injuries and depth worries are totally warranted tho.

To be fair we did have a pretty rough depth situation at the beginning of last year, picking up Kanter+Hood was huge at the deadline and turned a pretty good team into a good team.

It was still better than this year. Granted, it got exponentially better after getting Hood and Kanter, but it wasn’t as bad as this years team was, particularly in the front court.

[DusterBuster]

To say Olshey pooped the bed is a bit harsh IMO. Whiteside and Baze are definite upgrades, while Mario and Tolliver are 3rd string guys that shared the starting PF spot because Stotts was hesitant to start a rookie in Little. With the addition of Melo, Mario and Tolliver's minutes likely just went to zero. Gasol, I never thought would be anything more than a player-coach.

I also don't think that moving Baze or Whiteside is a foregone conclusion. We might keep them longer term.

WAR - Nurkic busting his ass to get back on the floor.

In terms of his finding gems on the scrap heap as he has years past, he did. I’m one of the more pro Olshey Blazer fans here, but I can openly admit when he has failed and this summers depth is pretty bad. I’m also not convinced Baze is any upgrade. He’s been a pretty big disappointment imo. Whiteside has been fine, probably getting a lot more shade than he really deserves based off of his reputation, but also it’s a bit disappointing that his numbers seem a bit hollow in terms of overall team impact.

Mario and Tolliver however are hot trash players. I’d rather be seeing some high end g-league guys or something getting minutes.

[PDXKnight]

We were lucky to win, tried to blow another one

[zzaj]

Kind of a bonkers game. I really didn't expect the Blazers to come back in the 4th after SA had controlled the flow of the game since the time Pop was ejected. At this point I pretty much expect the Blazers to fall behind whenever Mario and Baze are on the floor...Skal is still a little iffy as well.

Gotta love what Hood has brought to the table this year. He's being incredibly efficient with his play so far and only taking good shots.

I LOVED seeing the ball get passed more in the 1st quarter. If CJ can consistently find the open man more like he did tonight that would take a huge amount of pressure off of Lillard by making defenses force to adjust. The team simply has to find away of not being last in the league in assists...although the past few years haven't boded well for that becoming an eventuality.

I never worry about Lillard...sure, his shot has been off a little bit, but it feels like he's still probing trying to find the best ways to attack team defenses that will put the Blazers as a team in a position to win. ie. figuring it out from a PG perspective...

Little is reminding me a lot of Ruben Patterson on the court. There will always be room for hustle players, and boy do the Blazers need every advantage they can get winning those 50/50 balls.

San Antonio is a team without a real star. DeRozan is too limited by playing off of his lack of a 3pt shot, and Aldridge is what he has always been--a very good 17-20' face up jump shooter. LA back on the Blazers? Ick...no way. He still doesn't make big shots. I actually feel like Melo is going to be a lot like Aldridge-lite. They play a similar style, but at this point Melo has probably about 50% of the ability offensively and 20% of the ability defensively..

[Norm2953]

I do think its a bit harsh to criticize NO for guys like Mario and Tolliver but Portland's move
for Whiteside forced NO to shop in the veterans minimum market but with the big moves
in the league for AD and PG, the veterans minimum market was tight for Portland for we
all know how high Portland rates in free agency.

Things will change come next summer for while Portland could make a move at the trade
deadline if they keep themselves above water, Portland will no longer be forced to make
due with replacement level talent or gambling on Melo. Let's see if NO can find a way to
get the next Batum or Matthews, a player with a more complete game up front who can
pass, handle the ball, play defense, rebound and shoot.

[Dzon Dilindzer]

i dont even care about the win, im so indifferent about this team right know

cause im highly skeptical that things will get better anytime soon

You just don’t care cause Nurk is out.

Not trying to be confrontational, but you’ve made it pretty clear you’re more of a Nurk fan than Blazer fan over the last few years.

yeah, thats why i stay up till 4:00 am or 4:30 am to watch the blazers play without nurkic, cause i am nurkic fan

also, this my very first post on realgm forum, written on "jun 24, 2016" (date i was registered on this forum) and im pretty sure nurk wasnt blazer at that time, but you are entitled to your opinion

[Dzon Dilindzer]

this is pathetic

it sounds like the blazers are defending champs, and not having 5-8 record while playing like crap, that cj mccollum is an multiple time all-star and wasnt playing like crap this season... yeah, we want him gone cause were haters and not cause we want to see something else, that might improve this team

Read on Twitter

[Blazinaway]

We are still struggling to play good offense. We just aren't finding our best shots and we aren't rebounding. We need to figure out a way to move the ball better and get Whiteside in better rebounding position.

Dame missed a lot of shots he often makes, thought we passed better tonight overall, for me our depth is just so lean with Nurk and Zach out, we got too many guys who should not be on an NBA roster or who are 14/15 type roster players. Mario looks awful as does Tolly IMO, Trent is yuck, Skal 14/15 type as well. I like overall how ANT is playing for a 2nd yr 20 yr old and Little I also like what I see, but he is a 19 yr old rook - gonna be a long year IMO

I like all our players. I have no problem with our depth. The problem is our play as a unit. And, I doubt think the new players are a good excuse. We were having the same breakdowns at the end of the playoffs last year.

I don't dislike any of them as people, my comments about them referred to whether they were productive NBA players. I disagree with you on our depth "at this time", to me its hard to argue our depth is not poor especially at the C/F spot, likely very poor there. I like how Little is playing, fantastic energy/hustle and for a 19 yr old not forcing things which will keep him in the rotation given the other things he brings. Be very interesting to see what Melo has left.

BTW I apologize if I came off too strong several days ago, I've been in L,A. as my sister had a serious surgery (was dicey for a while but looking better now) and have been spending 8-10 hrs a day at the hospital supporting her. I was emotionally wrung out.

[Epicurus]

Two offensive rebounds in first three quarters; seven offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter. Getting an adequate share of your misses is important. Glad the Blazers got more board aware in the fourth. I hope they recognize henceforth how offensive rebounding produces wins ( ceteris paribus).

[PDXKnight]

I’m in agreement that we need to play little now and I’ve been saying this since he’s been starting. I’m hoping that melo doesn’t knock him out of the rotation but who knows

[Epicurus]

I’m in agreement that we need to play little now and I’ve been saying this since he’s been starting. I’m hoping that melo doesn’t knock him out of the rotation but who knows

The lineup of the four starters plus Little is 24.5 net, compared to the starters plus Tolliver which is a -7.1 net. Collins with the starters, in about the same number of minutes as Little with them, was 20.5. Thus so far, using Little with the starters is working pretty damned well.

Starters = Lillard, McCollum, Whiteside, Hood.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I’m in agreement that we need to play little now and I’ve been saying this since he’s been starting. I’m hoping that melo doesn’t knock him out of the rotation but who knows

I doubt he gets knocked out of the rotation as he will probably become the primary backup forward but his offense is still a work in progress. Some good reasons to have optimism, he seems to have the green light from 3 meaning he knocks those down in practice. He had one little 10 foot jumpshot but besides that if he cant dunk he has struggled to finish. Our coach seems to preference offense however, so if Melo has it going he will close game.

Little's defense and hustle has been excellent for a rookie however. I imagine he will have a shot at closing games when Melo doesn't have it going and we need to grind it out. Which, if history is any lesson, should be pretty often. I really don't think we win last night without him.

We have needed someone to provide help defense and rebounding when Hassan leaves his man chasing a block (which he does all the time) and Nas stepped into that role. Melo isn't going to fill that role so I will be sad to see Little get fewer minutes with the starting lineup.