Game 12: Portland vs Indiana 7:00pm SNW

[BlazersBroncos]

I hope we see some RoCo small ball center lineups. He was really good defensively as a center in Houston, despite his size.

Its time to take calls on Hood + Simons or Little for a rotation worthy player. Whether that be George Hill, PJ Tucker or ???. We need more talent on this team to compete for even a R2 slot right now.

There was a point last night where Stotts trotted out a lineup of Simons / GTJ / Hood / Melo / Kanter. Thats inexcusable. We should never have more than 2 of Simson / Hood / Melo / Kanter on the floor at the same time. Just asking to be run out of the building.

A backup PG like TJ would be so big for this team. But alas, we are allergic to backup PG's.

Indiana clearly wanted the game last night much more. They were playing better defense at stretches than I have seen Portland play in years, they were hustling and playing gritty. We just got outclassed.

EDIT: Was going to correct Simson to Simons but Simson seems like an apt nickname for the basketball abomination that Anfernee Simons is at this point in his career. He suckkkkksssss.

[PDXKnight]

I hope we see some RoCo small ball center lineups. He was really good defensively as a center in Houston, despite his size.

Its time to take calls on Hood + Simons or Little for a rotation worthy player. Whether that be George Hill, PJ Tucker or ???. We need more talent on this team to compete for even a R2 slot right now.

There was a point last night where Stotts trotted out a lineup of Simons / GTJ / Hood / Melo / Kanter. Thats inexcusable. We should never have more than 2 of Simson / Hood / Melo / Kanter on the floor at the same time. Just asking to be run out of the building.

A backup PG like TJ would be so big for this team. But alas, we are allergic to backup PG's.

Indiana clearly wanted the game last night much more. They were playing better defense at stretches than I have seen Portland play in years, they were hustling and playing gritty. We just got outclassed.

EDIT: Was going to correct Simson to Simons but Simson seems like an apt nickname for the basketball abomination that Anfernee Simons is at this point in his career. He suckkkkksssss.

Not a fan of simons for an old pg. not saying I love simons but I don’t think that’s a win in the tradeable assets department and I don’t think we need hill that bad

I do like the idea of roco at center. Ideally we can pick up another center via trade as well but roco for 5-10 mins there isn’t gonna kill us I don’t think

[BlazersBroncos]

Not a fan of simons for an old pg. not saying I love simons but I don’t think that’s a win in the tradeable assets department and I don’t think we need hill that bad

Hill and PJ help us win for the next 2 seasons (This one and 21/22). Simons doesnt.

We then reevaluate the whole composition of the roster the summer of 2022 when Nurkic and RoCo are due to get paid.

I think its the smart move. Sacrafice fringe prospects (Simons / Little) to improve the team from no until summer 2022. Keep our FRP's as we may be due a rebuild if the team hasnt made much progress by then. But in the meantime give Dame all you can by cashing in our meh guys (Basically Simons and Little at this point).

Hill is very good, as is PJ. You can put them on the floor and not expect them to get targeted and abused in the playoffs. Simons and Little are nowhere near that caliber of player right now, and may never be.

[Roy The Natural]

Because quoting is mechanical, whereas paraphrasing actually displays understanding. Oh, maybe you mean using the quote function? I do use it, but not when that to which I am addressing is not immediately above. But I think you don't really care. Rather it is a way to demean something or someone who does not share your views.

No it was an honest question. Would just appreciate the notifications when my post was being addressed.

[Wizenheimer]

Hard to know for sure whether it's BBIQ or just scheme/coaching. We have some really archaic schemes that put our players in really terrible positions defensively. The offense is only functional with an elite ball-handler/scorer. If Pop was coaching this team, I think we'd have a different view of the BBIQ. But that's just my opinion. Pacers play like a Nick Nurse type team - good modern schemes and a good understanding of what to do in each situation.

maybe it was too vague and missed the target, but when I said said "play with BBIQ" I was aiming at scheme and coaching. Certainly individual Blazers can play smarter: Dame could have better shot selection at times; Nurkic could quit throwing up weak shiz around the rim...stuff like that. But Portland's main offensive scheme seems to be that impotent weave around the edge of the three-point line waiting for some one-on-one opportunity to open up.

On defense, well what's the use in debating that? When a team has CJ, Dame, Melo, Kanter, and Hood in their rotation, they are going to have defensive issues. But the team defense should be better, even with that personnel disadvantage. RoCo & Jones can only make up for so much

[zzaj]

It honestly baffles me that Hood is still seeing the floor on a team that says it wants to be a competitor. He might be the worst rotation player in the NBA right now. Send him to the G-league until he gets some offensive rhythm at a minimum. He's honestly been worse than Hezonja was last year, and that's saying something. He's MUCH worse defensively than Hezonja was, and I don't think to this point you could reasonably make an argument that he's been better offensively. Smarter sure, but not really better.

It honestly baffled me when quite a few on this forum were slating him in at the starting SF spot in the offseason, if not counting on him to be a big minute backup. HE WASN'T VERY GOOD BEFORE...and now you're just going to ignore the fact that he's coming off a career killing injury? It literally makes zero sense...wake up people.

Thanks RTH, had to get that off my chest.

[Roy The Natural]

Hard to know for sure whether it's BBIQ or just scheme/coaching. We have some really archaic schemes that put our players in really terrible positions defensively. The offense is only functional with an elite ball-handler/scorer. If Pop was coaching this team, I think we'd have a different view of the BBIQ. But that's just my opinion. Pacers play like a Nick Nurse type team - good modern schemes and a good understanding of what to do in each situation.

maybe it was too vague and missed the target, but when I said said "play with BBIQ" I was aiming at scheme and coaching. Certainly individual Blazers can play smarter: Dame could have better shot selection at times; Nurkic could quit throwing up weak shiz around the rim...stuff like that. But Portland's main offensive scheme seems to be that impotent weave around the edge of the three-point line waiting for some one-on-one opportunity to open up.

On defense, well what's the use in debating that? When a team has CJ, Dame, Melo, Kanter, and Hood in their rotation, they are going to have defensive issues. But the team defense should be better, even with that personnel disadvantage. RoCo & Jones can only make up for so much

Those personnel issues are still there of course. However, as you note, they should be better than they are. I've seen teams with worse personnel play better. There seems to be a strange propensity to have Lillard and McCollum sit in no man's land along the baseline and weakly show help on drives. This of course regularly leads to passes to the corner and then you have to rely on Lillard/McCollum performing a 10ft closeout on some 6'8" shooting wing like Otto Porter. This team gets decimated by corner 3's regularly, and I think it's a feature of how they're being asked to play off-ball defense.

That soft as hell double last night in what was it the 3rd quarter? That was funny as ****. Send the double from the opposite side of the court and rely on CJ McCollum to cover 2 shooters. That was just hilarious.

[zzaj]

Under Stotts, the Blazers have always prioritized jump shooting and players with that skill in this system always get inflated. I think that's part of the reason why Jones and RoCo haven't looked very good yet--poor fit under Stotts. I do think it will get better with more games under them, but clearly both of those players aren't fitting like gloves.

[PDXKnight]

Under Stotts, the Blazers have always prioritized jump shooting and players with that skill in this system always get inflated. I think that's part of the reason why Jones and RoCo haven't looked very good yet--poor fit under Stotts. I do think it will get better with more games under them, but clearly both of those players aren't fitting like gloves.

Roco has a shot, I expect him especially to look better in coming months