I don’t know if adopting the Triangle would by the change that is needed. I also don’t know if constantly changing the lineups in the change needed too. I have no idea to be honest…something just needs to change.

1) Roy has the skills to be a focal point of the triangle.
2) Blazers seem to struggle making post-entry passes. Until players (like Blake and Batum) can do this consistently, the Triangle can’t be properly initiated. However, Blake and Batum can space the floor, and that’s pretty much a pre-requisite for an effective offense.
3) Aldridge is a good but not great fit. In the triangle, the 4 man plays on the weakside, and you just have to think of the open mid-range looks guys like Horace Grant and Bob Horry have gotten to see how that well that would suit Aldridge. An example of a great fit is Pau Gasol, who can post up, cut, and hit cutters in addition to hitting from mid-range. If I were Kupchak, and were offered Aldridge for Odom, I’d probably stick with Odom. It’s not that I think he’s superior to Aldridge, but because he and Gasol have great chemistry. Gasol enhances his abilities to pass and cut, two skills that are very important in the triangle.
4) Bynum’s game is very polished now. He has poise and confidence whethere he’s on the low block, the mid post, or the high post because he can play with his back to the basket or face up. This is important because the triangle begins with a pass into those zones. He’s still not at Gasol’s level when it comes to court awareness and reading defenses, but he’s good enough to merit some attention from help defenders and make the easier passes; he can’t hit cutters like Gasol, though. Oden needs a broader offensive repetoire and to improve his poise, confidence, and court awareness to be truly effective in the triangle.

They just have not been executing with any consistency. There have been short stretches where things have looked great and long stretches where they look like a high school team running plays without shooting so they can learn all the options to the plays. In these stretches of ineffectiveness, they look like they have forgotten what they are trying to accomplish by the sets. Instead of running hard and getting to spots where they can take advantage of the defense and moving the ball quickly to those players, they are just moving around in the offense until someone has to throw the ball up to beat the clock.
The offense looked purposeful against the Spurs until about midway through the third and then got bogged down again. I see the bad stretches getting shorter as Miller gets more court time and guys get comfortable with their roles.

so I think there’s little chance it happens here in Portland in the Mcmillan era. I can remember the announcers saying during the first Kobe / Shaq championship that this was the first year the players truly understood the triangle. Also, as our friendly LA fan posted above, the Blazers have trouble passing into the post. Let’s take baby steps toward being a good post team before talking about totally re-designing the offense.