Wasted talent? An offense searching for movement

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> Basketball is a game of movement.   Without ball and player movement, offenses become predictable, stagnant and easy to disrupt.  Defenders are only made to work when the offense is moving.

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> Unfortunately, right now the Trail Blazer offense is stagnant, without movement, stuck in concrete, unsurprising, predictable and way too easy to defend.

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Our family watched the Utah game.  We all came to the same conclusion:  the stagnant, direction-less Portland offense was comic compared to the serious, disciplined and purposeful Utah execution. 

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Frustrated, we decided to randomly sample ten possessions and count the number of passes and the players who touched the ball on each team.  It confirmed our collective angst that Portland's offense was in trouble.   Utah averaged 6.5 passes per possession. The Blazers averaged 3.5.  The Blazers were up against the shot clock in 3 of their ten possessions. Utah made more passes, had more players involved in each play and never ran up against the shot clock.

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This lack of a motion causes obvious deficiencies:  Desperation shots at the shot clock buzzer.  Clumsy post ups and one-on-one attacks.  Isolations that draw double teams.  Bad, rushed or contested shots.

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The proof is in the numbers:  there’s something fundamentally amiss in Blazer land.  How can Portland's knowledgeable coaches continue to teach and tolerate a motionless offense?

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If a team can win 12 games without an effective offensive philosophy, think what it could do if it had one.  It’s a shame to waste the talents of this roster.