More Pistons than Suns?

by HurraKane212 on Dec 28, 2007 7:19 AM PST Comment 22 comments

So I was looking at some stats (namely pace and offensive efficiency) and thinking about Brandon Roy's statements about pace in his TNT interview about how it's just not his way to rush or go super fast.
So here is what I think our team identity will be:
I think that we'll be a mostly half-court team that moves the ball a lot. I think we're built to run opportunity fast breaks and provide transition defense. I see us as a jump shooting team with a post presence (Greg Oden) who, unlike Ben Wallace, can score. I see us taking high-percentage jump shots (sounds like a oxymoron but basically moving the ball till we get a man open). I see us using the pick-n-roll a bunch and also some back and forth plays between Oden and LMA.

I see people forced to cover our jump shooters leaving the lane open for Roy and the post single covered for Oden. I see responding to double-teams by passing the ball to an open jump shooter.

What I don't see is a running team or even an "up tempo" team. I see a "moving team." I bet we stay in the bottom 10 teams as far as pace, but rise toward the top in points per 100 possessions.

Comments?
~Nathan

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Blazers of the future...

... seem like the Spurs of today. A team that will take easy points off the fast break if available, but otherwise is a team that operates in the half court with supreme efficiency. They have a strong post presence and a couple of strong guards surrounded by several specialists (3-point shooters and defensive)...

by pantelakis on Dec 28, 2007 7:33 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Pritchard

Is an R.C. Buford protege. We stole from the best. The only difference is our time table. We're gonna be like the Spurs if David Robinson had been a 20 year old rookie in Tim Duncan's third year.

by Jumbo on Dec 28, 2007 12:20 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

spurs of today

but better, younger, faster, with a creamier center.

This is Portland. Portland loves its Blazers. Welcome to OUR house.

by ratbastird on Dec 28, 2007 4:11 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I like the Pistons comparison,

and I think it fits in some ways, especially pace. I see Oden helping us a lot in forcing turnovers as a team, helping us rebound and block shots and straight up defense, so we should run more with him in there. For now, we need to get good at keeping our turnovers really low, which we're starting to do, and finding people willing to drive and get to the free throw line so we aren't just a jump shooting team. That last bit we're up and down on.

by ranma on Dec 28, 2007 8:00 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Any chance

we can get Nate to implement a triangle offense in the half-court set?

It ought to work like gangbusters with a triangle of Oden, LMA, and Roy with Blake and Web in the wings.

Then for the White Unit you have Outlaw, Frye, and Jack with Sergio's penetration and Jones' 3pt ability.

Just a thought...we have the shooters and the passers to make it work and it could vary our predictable high pick-and-roll scheme a lot.

"Life is a meaningless sequence of events in between Blazer championships"

by broggerboy19 on Dec 28, 2007 10:12 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

that's what I've always thought

nice diary

by Bruno on Dec 28, 2007 10:44 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

We are going to have three people in our starting

lineup that are going to command double teams. That is going to be tough to deal with. You combine that with people who can stick the open jumper........I likey

by jferg on Dec 28, 2007 11:16 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

They'll have to start playing six on five...

...just to make it fair. </tominhawaii>

I'm not stubborn, just obstinate

by T Darkstar on Dec 28, 2007 6:24 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

many have compared brandon

to walt frazier (whose new york knicks won nba championships in 1971 and 1973). that's how frazier's knicks played, with dave debuschere, bill bradley, willis reed (replaced by jerry lucas past his prime but still not bad), dick barnett (upgraded to earl monroe to form one of the greatest backcourts ever).

those were highly intelligent teams who could every one of them pass and make open shots. i was young when i saw them play but they're still by far my ideal team.

and although i don't like rasheed i admit i can see some resemblance between this incarnation of the pistons and those ny knicks (though the knicks still seem like they were better).

one thing: the players we have likely to be starters are all going to each be about five years younger than those knicks.

ignacio

by ignacio on Dec 28, 2007 12:11 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I agree with the Walt Frasier comparison

Clyde could run, but he generally controlled tempo with a deliberate pace. (Roy also resembles Oscar Robertson in that and other respects.) Magic Johnson and Kenny Smith were commenting on Roy the other day, with Smith listing the ability to control tempo as one of the keys to great play that don't show up in stat sheets.

So I think HurraKane is on target. The Blazers will run opportunistically, but won't be a true uptempo team--like the Suns, Grizzlies, or Warriors. And that's for the best. Uptempo teams are entertaining, but they just can't get it done in the playoffs. That's a fact of life. (Although I do believe the Suns were robbed last season; that was their year.)

"Ime caught the guy in mid-air with a fist and calmly continued his dispatching of oncoming people." -Gabe Muoneke

by hurryup09 on Dec 28, 2007 3:09 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

More Blazers than Pistons or Suns?

Am I being too much a Homer to dream of this scenario?

I think The Blazers are assembling a roster of talent that is extremely versatile. We have players that thrive in an uptempo game, and players that will thrive in the half-court, and players that can do both.

The N.B.A. seems to go through cycles. The recent success of Phoenix and Golden State have teams trying to immitate. My observation over the years is that the immitators are never as good as the originals.

My vision is of a whole new type of team that others will struggle to immitate. A team with enough talent and roster versatility to play either uptempo or half-court with equal assasin like efficiency. I foresee a team that can play like The Suns or The Pistons depending on which way is the best to beat you.

Is that too much of a Homer dream? A team with that much talent? I don't really want The Blazers becoming the "next" SA, Suns or Pistons. How about we redefine a playing style? A hybrid if you will, a team that can run you off the floor, or half-court you into submission.

With Players like Oden, Brandon, Fernandez, Aldridge and Sergio...we may have a way to go, but I don't think it's an "impossible dream".

"Mother Nature started this fight, I think it's about time we ended it!"

by Krang on Dec 28, 2007 1:41 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

It's called

the spurs.

They played at the suns pace and beat them a few years back.

They play at a slow pace and beat detroit.

This is Portland. Portland loves its Blazers. Welcome to OUR house.

by ratbastird on Dec 28, 2007 4:09 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

No...

Tim Duncan led Spurs will never be mistaken for The Suns. Parker and Ginobli give them the ability to run, but a Duncan centered team at this point in Duncans career will not be mixed up with The Suns.

Don't mistake offensive efficency and the ability to score in transistion and on a break with The Spurs being at all like Phoenix.

"Mother Nature started this fight, I think it's about time we ended it!"

by Krang on Dec 28, 2007 4:48 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't read that at all.

It seemed like he was just saying that The Spurs fit the description of the team you were fantasizing about, not that they were "like Phoenix".

It's a fair comparison, especially if you consider their first title run with Twin Towers.

"Life is a meaningless sequence of events in between Blazer championships"

by broggerboy19 on Dec 28, 2007 6:01 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

But even with....

Robinson and Duncan those Spurs teams wouldn't get mistaken for Phoenix of today.

We are talking about examples of two distinctly different playing styles. IMO San Antonio has never played like Phoenix, and Vice Versa. Plus my "Hybrid" dream is a team with so much talent that units can be put out on the court that can play either. So not a team known for precision half-court offense, or a team known for high octane uptempo offense, but a team that can do either or both. The Blazers of the 90's with Duckworth and Williams (half-court) and Porter, Drexler, Kersey (uptempo, running game) might be a better example.

But my point is really I don't want an imitation of either San Antonio or Phoenix. I think we are assembling a historically versatile roster. Our calling card might become that opposing teams can't predict how we are going to play them, or how we are going to beat them.

I want us to become the next "Blazer Juggernaut" not the next San Antonio Spurs or Phoenix Suns.

"Mother Nature started this fight, I think it's about time we ended it!"

by Krang on Dec 29, 2007 11:35 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Neither will the Blazers

get mistaken for the Suns.

You can make too much of comparisons and talk of the Blazers developing a new paradigm is, well, a nice way to pass some time.

To be successful a team needs to be able to
- score in the half court
- get out on the fast break when the opportunity arises
- generally out rebound their opponents
and above all
- play good team defense

Name the last NBA champion that couldn't do all these.

by timg56 on Dec 31, 2007 7:08 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Three teams

In my opinion, we sort of look like three other teams in some ways. The Pistons and Spurs are two of them. The other one is the Raptors. The Toronto-Portland game looked almost like a mirror match. All three of these teams are slow-paced with good shooters. Without Oden, we are probably closer to the Pistons and Raptors than the Spurs.

In any case, I don't think we'll ever be a fast-paced team as long as we have Roy. So far this year, we've played a total of four fast-paced games statistically (games with a pace faster than last year's league average). There's nothing wrong with playing slowly; it seems to frustrate certain faster teams like Golden State, Denver, and Utah. We may have a tougher time with a team like the Spurs, but that's nothing to worry about right now.

by poster on Dec 28, 2007 1:46 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

nice

two of those teams have one championships.

I'd rather be the spurs than suns any day.

This is Portland. Portland loves its Blazers. Welcome to OUR house.

by ratbastird on Dec 28, 2007 4:07 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If Roy runs the team, we'll be slow.

That's how he plays, and he's very good at it. I still think when we get to the highest levels we will need to get some easy points of the break.

Ideally I'd love a Roy oriented team to start, slow, methodical, big, efficient. Then I want to bring in the wild and crazy White Unit that presses, is up and down the floor and is free flowing. If necessary giving that unit to an assistant to run to give it a fully different character. I know that basketball teams have historically picked a style and gone with it. That's one of the reasons I'm in favor of two completely differen styles.

by EnglandDan on Dec 28, 2007 6:45 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I've had this fantasy as well

but I worry it is just that. You may have added the missing piece to the puzzle for me. That is an assistant taking over (Lucas was on a fast break team can he tell the white unit how to run?).

Brandon Roy Western Conference Player of the Fortnight! 12/02/07 - 12/16/07 Credit to Rockingharder! (He's Coming! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin)

by Idog1976 on Dec 28, 2007 11:07 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs