and I’m glad you brought up this point. Young teams should run up-tempo games because they always will out-hustle the other team; this is where their young and athletic bodies thrive over the other teams.

This is the problem I have with Nate McMillan (sp?)…. he’s very set in his ways as far as half-court offense goes.

One thing that comes to mind is that it’s hard to have a good defense (which you seem to focus on a lot in your post) while playing a run-and-gun style. Maybe the Twin Towers can just throw some outlet passes.

When was the last time a running team won a championship?

Let me know.

In reality, the right mix for an offensive scheme is to have players that can run when the opportunities arise, and play a half-court game in order to take advantages of match-ups.

Pheonix’s running experiment failed. So did Dallas’. So has Golden State’s. Running teams just don’t win championships.

In watching the Redeemers throughout the Olympics, one thing that really stuck out to me is how their pressure perimeter defense and forcing turnovers is what allowed them to fast break. The Blazers need to work on that and hopefully the addition of Bayless and some off season work by Marty and Outlaw can improve that. I agree that by patching up the rebounding will help produce more FB opportunities. Due to the improvement in those two areas, the team should see nice improvement in FB points but I don’t think that it will even come close to becoming its mantra.

Despite the Blazers’ current roster depth, I don’t think that their abilities would be best utilized in an uptempo, run-and-gun type offense. Roy needs to be in the half-court to be fully effective. He’s at his best when he has the ball and can work for a high percentage shot, or create for others by drawing double-teams. Oden is going to dominate the paint but if players are taking quick shots without allowing him to establish in the low post, you might as well just keep down on defense. Even though you have Joel as a substitute, you don’t want to gas the big man by making him do laps. A lot of running is also taxing those knees and I know I would like to keep them around for a long while. LMA on the other hand would fit nicely on a running team due to his speed and ability to hit the outside jumper but he’s just as suited to play in the half-court working off of the pick and roll.

I think we will see a team that takes the fast break opportunities that are presented but doesn’t force the tempo of the game.

about this team, but some other posters have made some pretty good points here also. Run and gun is great, but none of the teams that do this the best, have made it very far in the playoffs because none really play good defense.

We have a really balanced roster and we have a coach that knows how to play D and is able to inspire and sell this to his players. I think that your right on when you make the point of playing pressure D for 48 minutes straight. No one else can maintain this for a full game, but I believe we can. Its good to be a Blazer fan!

Blazers just have to out run the other team cuz they are young. If they run faster and pass ahead its going to be easy to get a dunk and that is a almost always better than a jumper. the other teams could not win the ring because they didnt have a big man like we do in Oden that can play deffense. We can run and get a dunk, but if the other teams deffense is back then we can give the ball to Roy for the half court set, that it.

I believe that this team CAN and SHOULD run. Web and LMA should be allowed to run to take advantage of their strengths. There will be games however where we will not dictate the pace of the game and I feel that this team is versatile enough to play the half court game as well. On paper, I believe we are as versatile as the 08 Lakers.

Some good teams play in the halfcourt. Good teams can slow the pace down with their defense. Good teams can force turnovers or eat shot clock with their pressure defense.

Great teams are capable of doing any of the above at given times. Great teams are the ones that pull out victories no matter which the opponent tries to impose. San Antonio is a classic example from the current era. Force them into the halfcourt? You’re dead. Slip up and let them run? Bye-bye. Try to grind it out on their defense? Welcome to your 82 points. Try to run on them? They always end up five points ahead.

One of the reasons Portland was decent, but not really good (let alone great), last year was that they were capable of playing certain styles well but just horrible in others. They could contain you defensively by staying in front of you but they could never get out and pressure. They could make you miss a shot but they couldn’t rebound it consistently. They worked the ball around well in the halfcourt but didn’t get enough penetration. They couldn’t run to save their lives because they couldn’t rebound well enough and they had spotty execution. If it came down to basic defense and jump shots Portland had a great chance. When it got rough or fast or the opponent had a hot streak that night the Blazers couldn’t hang as well.

Beginning with this season (and I say “beginning” because it may take awhile to even explore the possibilities we have, let alone gel enough to exploit them fully) the Blazers’ roster will be more complete and multi-talented. We should begin to explore different methods of attack and defense, running and pressuring among them. We have the horses to do some of that now. Eventually we should grow into one of those great teams who can win with any dimension.

Keep in mind also the Blazers were still very young last year and remain so. You have to crawl before you can walk. This team has been schooled in basic, percentage defense and offense. That’s the base from which they will branch out. A 13-year veteran can shift gears easily because he’s seen it all. He knows not just how to run and pressure but when and against whom. Young guys take a little more time to figure that out. You don’t want them shifting gears all over the place and not getting any of them right so you coach them pretty heavily. They’ll learn, though.

—Dave