Is Miller's lack of ability to shoot a liability in crunch time?

Roy drove into a double team and passed to Blake who missed a three, then he turned around and did the same thing. Roy should have drove to the basket and made the refs call a foul.

You don’t have to be a 3 point shooter to be considered a good shooter. His midrange is pretty decent otherwise he would have trouble getting to the basket. Everyone has off nights shooting wise, and besides it’s pretty well known for those who have followed him that Andre starts slow and really gets going mid season.

Blake isn’t really a guy that keeps a defense honest. There’s a reason why defenses sag off of him in half court sets and he’s left open. He’s not seen as a big threat despite his good outside shooting, Roy still gets doubled. That could certainly be a reason why he can be considered a good fit because of the fact that people do leave him open and he’s able to hit the shot. However where Blake hurts in crunch time is when he’s handling the ball. Blake gets pressured way too easily. A full court press or trap and there’s a high chance Blake will turnover the ball one way or the other. He struggles to even inbound the ball at times. Like I’ve said I think Blake is a great 2-3 quarter back up for this team, but shouldn’t be in the game and especially handling the ball in crunch time.

Andre can fit with Roy playing off of the ball as well as Blake. Andre is a guy that really does keep a defense honest. Teams know he won’t be hitting the dagger 3 but you cannot just help off of him because he can normally hit the midrange and if left with no man can drive and lay it up or get to the line way better than Blake. To me it’s not a matter of Blake fitting better because of his shot but fitting better early on because Roy has not learned to play with a guy like Miller. Once those two click teams will have trouble doubling Brandon because they will have to look for Miller as well. Most doubles will leave guys like Aldridge or Webster/Rudy/Batum open.

The fact of the matter is with Blake/Roy we’ve really got two options as far as back court play goes. The Roy iso fadeaway jumper, or the drive and dish/layup off of a pick. Other teams know this by now. By adding Miller it creates a ton more trouble for the defense because a play can come from either guy and adapt much better than with Blake just camping out in the corner.

With Blake in the game Miller and Blake share PG duties, which takes the ball out of Brandon’s hands. People are saying Roy isn’t being aggressive enough and that’s because he’s sharing the ball with 2 point guards and playing out of position. This is why Nate needs to pick one guy and stick with him which is where picking the better option comes in. And that’s Miller. He makes up for his lack of long range shot in so many other ways.

When Blake is not handling the ball he’s just waiting to take 3s. Which is where Batum or Webster should be in instead (once Batum is healed) because they can defend and rebound as well. This would allow Brandon to play where he’s comfortable and greatly improve the D.

We shouldn’t forget how much we’ve been waiting for a better PG. We have one now and it’s time Nate let’s Miller run the offense for 3 quarters (while Blake does so as Miller rests) and then let Brandon do his thing in the 4th. Having 2 point guards play together has worked out against teams who don’t have players who can really take advantage of the small ball outside defense but it won’t last. It’s going to be difficult to really find a rhythm that really gets the team rolling if you have two point guards playing together with an out of position 2 guard who thrives on having the ball in his hands.

The Blazers are getting away with wins against mediocre teams, and boy are they some ugly wins. Once our schedule has us playing playoff teams they are going to punish us in big ways if we keep playing this line up.

I’ve gone a bit off track here but what it really comes down to is Miller + Roy in his natural position will be a lot better than what we’ve got going now. Nate needs to let those 2 really play together without a 3rd ball handler. We need bigger bodies at the 3 and none of those happen as long as Blake is starting or playing major crunch minutes.