i think roy is injured alittle. the miller addition i dont think is as big of a deal as the oden addition this year.

it may be harder this year if we arent jellin for 20 some games.

I think this season will really test Coach Nate. With so many players who can play he will have the minutes arguement all season, but more importantly, he has to change the way the offense runs. With Greg’s improvement the Blazers must find a way to get him 10-15 shots per game, because those are easy shots, close in dunks, layups, or hooks. In addition to this they need to get LMA going with 10+shots close in along with a few of his sweet jumpers from outside. He is proven that he can score on the block, those easy shots along with Greg’s will really improve the Blazers over all offense.

Brandon’s role has to increase not decrease. To keep the defense honest Brandon must play the Kobe to Greg’s Shaq. With Martell, Blake, Rudy, Travis, and Batum providing long range spacing, the Blazers could be a very good offensive team. Eventhough their offensive eff was very good last season, that was really influenced by their offensive rebounding. They still took too many jumpers to win consistantly in the playoffs, changing the offense to run through the post will give the Blazers an offense that is not as easily defended in the post season. Roy must find a way to create his offense and offense for others within this system. He must be able to beat his man, drive to the hoop, draw defenders then hit LMA or Oden for close in shots, instead of Blake or Rudy for 3’s.

It’s not particularly hard to take advantage of a player of Brandon’s talents. At any point in any game, you can give him the ball, go 1-4 (four players spaced along the baseline), and let him work. No PG playing next to him will take that option away.

That isn’t exactly true. If the 4 players on the baseline can’t shoot, Roy will be going 1-on-5 instead of 1-on-1 and that isn’t going to work very well.

And I would say that it is clearly more important to have a PG that fits Roy than it is to have a PG that fits Oden. Roy is a much better and more proven offensive player than Oden at this point. The Blazers led the league in offensive efficiency last year while running a Roy-centric offense. With more Oden and less Przybilla, the offensive efficiency should continue to increase, even if we don’t run plays for Oden (Oden will still contribute with offensive rebounds, put-backs, cuts to the basket, fast break points, and catch-and-finish plays if his man leaves him). So we know we can have the best offense in the league if we build around Roy, but we don’t know if an offense built around Oden can achieve the same results.

There is significant overlap between what skills a PG needs to have to complement Roy and what skills they need to complement Oden. A PG who can defend well and hit the outside shot would be good for both players. A PG who is focused on isolation scoring wouldn’t complement either of them. One difference is that a PG who is great at running the pick-and-roll would benefit Oden but not Roy. However, if Oden becomes a good enough pick-and-roll man that we want to run a lot of those plays for him, we would probably do alright letting Roy be the pick-and-roll ball-handler, so I don’t think there is a huge need for the PG to be an elite pick-and-roll player.

And isn’t it looking like a great problem to have. Oden is showing us more than we were hoping for and, in answer to question #2, we will indeed take a step backward before making progress.

• We were hoping for a 60+ win season, because we ended the last season on such a dominant role. However, the Oden factor, disrupts the assumption that we can pick up from where we left off. But, given how much he seems to bring to the table, it would seem like a reasonable investment to temper our early season expectations. Note: the team gelled pretty fast last year, and played way beyond expectations against the toughest starting schedule ever. Was it luck, or is there something about this team that will let them repeat their “rapid gel”? We shook off the abortive start-Travis experiment pretty quickly and developed great chemistry with Batum.
• Expect that LMA will face bigger “disruptive” challenge. The PowerForward spot in the Shaq/Kobe era was always looked at as a filler. AC Green, Horace Grant, Samaki Walker (???) … The power forward on those teams was required to not be an offensive liability, but was certainly not an offensive option. Even with the Bird/McHale/Parrish teams, Parrish was an extremely competent center, but was not the offensive centerpiece ala Shaq. Investing in developing Oden, will almost certainly impact usage of LMA. For example, wouldn’t it be great if LMA could contribute mid-range jump shots with high efficiency,as an outlet after an Oden post? Will depend on whether can be effective/efficient with his game, even without having to be the post-up option.

I would also add, that Nate is tinkering. Nothing about Batum’s preseason last year told us what to expect, and yet regular season was very different. Rudy too became a key cog. Yet both of them have seen very limited action in pre-season games. LMA is used very sparingly in his primary scorer role. We are not asking Brandon to be Brandon. Across the board, Nate is not exercising his “real options/line-ups”. If last year’s start was any indication, the regular season just cannot be predicted from the pre-season.

Agree with you that the chemistry will develop. Have no idea how long it will take. Will it happen almost overnight like it did last year, or will we lose a lot of games, and then have to put together some long streaks to climb back up in standings? Will BEdgers call for Nate’s head if we lose early games (probably a stupid question), or has the management team earned our trust? Given that Nate hasn’t proven himself yet with a ring, how good is Nate? Would Phil Jackson be second guessed quite as much?

Great insight about Brandon. Excellent perspective/viewpoint.

Basketball is about line ups… its a team sport. I know people are tired of hearing this, but I’ll try to use an example to illustrate my point.

While the Blazers aren’t the Redeam team, the same concept can be used to create the perfect team. You need role players and star players so that everyone knows their role on the court. Some players can focus on rebounds, some more on defense, some on passing, and some get the majority of offensive looks. So, when creating the best five man line up, you also need a Tayshaun Prince to play a role. When Kobe, Wade or Lebron are scoring, then Superman probably isn’t getting as many shots.

While the Blazers don’t have players of that caliber, the concept remains the same. When Miller, Roy and Oden are all getting their shots, Aldridge is not. Furthermore, he is getting frustrated and out of rhythm. His FG% will likely drop and his head won’t be in the game. This all happens, because he no longer has an offensive role.

The same concept goes for the rest of the line up. On any given night, one player may feel left out and lost. While we can all arm-chair coach and say, this guy or that guy needs to man up or “they get used to playing with one another” they will likely continue to have difficulties.

There is some preconceived notion that the best players deserve to start the game. If they don’t start, may people believe we won’t be utilizing these players full abilities.

I disagree with this sentiment. I see no reason why the best players must start the game. Instead, they deserve the most minutes. The best players should end the game. The best players win the game.

I don’t think Pryz is the better player. I also salivate when people show how Odens projected averages per 36 minutes = 22points and 15 rebounds. Thats Insane! Or how Miller calmly drops 25pts, 6 boards and 5 assists in 30 minutes of preseason action. This team will rock if we can get that kind of production out of all our guys.

Yet, Roy stated in an interview recently he doesn’t know how everyone is going to get all their shots. Blake looks lost of the bench, because he is used to playing off the star player. Aldridge is still getting used to Oden’s new found offense down low.

Thats why the best players don’t have to start the game. Everyone needs a role on the team. Some players talents are better utilized when a proportion of their minutes, they are the go to guys.

So, say “fire Nate” or anything else derogatory about the head coach, but the Blazers are in good hands.

If the starting line up ends up being BRBAP instead of Rambo, it won’t be as flashy, but we should at least know that it’s because thats what is effective.

Miller 32 min, Blake 14, Fernandez 2
Roy 36 minutes, Fernandez 12
Batum 22 minutes, Webster 13, Fernandez 13
Aldridge 36 min, Outlaw 12
Oden 30 min, Pryz 18.

Starting line up: whatever Nate thinks works best

Thanks