Teh Blazerz R St00pid

all of it very true. Some of us see the same things, but you should know better than to post the truth. The Blazers Edge Moral Militia will come and lambaste you— and thats not even the mods.

Z-bo redux. Minus the strippers anyway. Too bad about that, (the strippers at least made it somewhat interesting).

Refute my evidence. Oh yeah you can’t. Sounds familiar.

Yet I find your ideas compelling, I would like your pamphlet.

Best closing words I ever heard

This season Roy has been asked to sacrifice too much and not enough.

The original plan that we saw in the pre-season was to have Roy and Miller in the back court together. This involved Roy having to give up some control (not all) and allow Miller to run the offense.
Most of the time in the last few seasons Brandon Roy has been known as “Mr. Fourth Quarter.” This is because he almost always deferred to his teammates in an effort to get their offense going early in the game. Roy would only take over early in the games if nothing else was working. So threalistically Brandon receiving the ball from Miller early in the game really isn’t that much of a sacrifice when Roy was acting as distributor for the most part anyway. Roy may feel it is a sacrifice because he doesn’t control things on the court like he used to, but really, in the over all scheme of things, I would think that he’d have his number called on offensive plays more consistently throughout the game because Miller can get him the ball when the defense doesn’t have time to compensate.

The main sacrifice that has happened this season for Roy has been being forced into the SF position in the 3 guard lineup that McMillan used as a compromise when Roy couldn’t see the big-picture benefits of allowing Andre to get him open to finish with much easier drives and cuts to the basket.
Roy should never have been put in the SF position. Nate should have set his feelings of loyalty to either Roy or Blake (or both) aside and looked at the picture clearly. Miller is obviously better than Steve Blake at everything except outside shooting. Miller can get Brandon the ball in the flow of the offense instead of Brandon having to create and breakdown the defense constantly. This is vital for Roy’s game in the future and the longevity of his career, regardless of who you think needs to or has the right to have the ball in their hands and control the offense.

Looking at the outside shooting of the starting unit: Besides Blake, Roy,Martell and marginally LaMarcus as well can hit the three, so keeping Steve Blake in the starting lineup only to stretch the defense seems like a moot point to me. Do we really need all four guys besides the center able to hit the three in the starting lineup? What’s better? Have a player that stands there on the three point line and simply waits for the ball or having a player that forces the defense to move around and compensate for his court vision and excellent passing precision? Which would confuse the defense and allow the offense to get going better? A “zone busting” three point shooter that really isn’t that good at hitting contested shots, or someone who can break up the zone by hitting anyone with a pass from nearly anywhere on the court, including the other three guys who are there with outside shooting capabilities?

To me it really isn’t that big of a puzzle. McMillan botched things up when he didn’t simply continue with the Roy/Miller back court after only two games in the preseason. By now Roy and Miller would have some clearer idea of how they are to work together. Roy would be starting to see the benefits of not having to play 4 or 5 on 1 and everyone else would be getting better looks at the basket instead of Roy driving, being cut off and having to throw the “flaming bag pass” with 2 seconds on the shot clock.

Yes Roy has sacrificed too much, but not in the right areas.

but ’twas a finely honed rant. Keep up the passion.

I mean I have no idea what your impression of the team was during the low years, but in my opinion it was drastically different than now. The comparison in my mind isn’t even there. Now we complain (yes complain) about things that shouldn’t warrant a mention, but only do under the guise of the ‘slippery slop’ or a vague resemblance or I didn’t like the jail blazers and I also don’t like this so I will make what I consider a valid comparison.

Yes Miller in the past has played a different style of basketball, and in the past the Blazer’s haven’t run the fast break, and yes in the past the Blazers have had a great amount of offensive success. That does not mean that we should change our offense because of a single player. If we have the opportunity to run Andre will push the ball, but we haven’t had that opportunity in the past, its unreasonable to think that the addition of a single player will make some drastic change.3

tldr: I see nothing in this team that even vaguely resembles the Jail-Blazers, and think that people are either mis-( not) remembering that era. A single fast playing person does not warrant changing a successful system, no are they likely to be able to.

is also not stupid. Just a control freak who wants things his way. Well he will see where that gets him.

Playing with a deep post guy like Oden (on offense), for instance. Playing off the ball. Hitting cutters. There is work to be done there.

But the whole Brandon = Z-Bo, or Brandon = Iverson, meme strikes me as nonsense— nonsense which seems to spring from a few quotes taken wildly out of context. Randolph was a black hole. Roy leads the team in assists (or has until recently)—and many of his passes don’t get an assist because the guy he passes to has, more often than not, missed the shot.

A lot of folks are frustrated. Many are frustrated at the coach (with some justification); many expected World Domination this season and are not getting it. A few fans seem to have reverted to a bit of longstanding received basketball wisdom that Only The Point Guard Gets To Handle The Ball, and regard Roy’s current role as—well, unwise.

But this whole the-Blazers-are-done-lets-blow-up-the-team-and-try-again-in-another-five-years vibe, is kinda starting to tick me off.

Brandon is the best player on this team. He will likely continue to be the best player on this team for the length of his contract (barring injury). This seems to be the national and local consensus. Can he play a different style? I don’t know why he needs to do so,

Calling Roy=Zach is just plain wrong.Here are the facts -

1. Brandon is a much more willing and capable passer than Zach. For this year Brandon is assisting on 25% of the possessions for his team when on the floor. That is consistent with prior years. Zach is assisting on 9%. No comparison. For reference Andre assists on 29%. Brandon would have much higher assist % of our outside shooters were actually hitting their averages from last year.

2. The last year Zach played in Portland he used 33% of the team’s possessions. Brandon is using 26.5% of the team’s possessions (down from last year). For comparison Andre is using 22%, Bayless uses 24%, LA uses 22%, Travis uses 25% and Greg used 21%. (These do not add because they are % of possessions when on the floor). Around the league: LeBron uses 33%, Kobe uses 33%, Carmello uses 35%, D-Wade uses 35%, CP3 uses 24% and Daron Williams uses 24%.

3. Brandon is acknowledged as a leader on this team. His teammates respect him and he speaks for them with Nate. That statement could never even be imagined with Zach.

Players adopt language of other players they admire. I have read quotes from NBA players for over 50 years (yeah I am that old) and many have used this expression of sacrificing their game – including HOF players . Magic Johnson sacrifice his game for the team. He could easily have been in the top ten scoring all time. For Brandon to say he is sacrificing his game is not whining to me. I accept that you see it differently but then I do not see our role as fans to be kicking players and coaches when they are down. You are welcome to do so (not that you need my permission!).

is like watching the coaching in the 4th quarter of game 7 in the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers. Only it lasts all 4 quarters, every game of the season. It’s like watching a coach seemingly trying to make his team lose, or at least make it difficult. I’ve yet to see anything like it with any past Blazer team. I try to never think I could honestly know more than a coach, but it just seems so obvious this year.

And continues on until it reaches its limitations. It is generally not wise to keep making excuses for it and continue giving it passing grade after passing grade as a way of remaining positive and supportive. At some point dealing with reality is better for all concerned.

In short, no one should continue to want to be a brain surgeon when they are incompetent at it.

Nate’s old “reason/excuse” to start Blake over Miller so Andre could run the 2nd unit is now officially impossible. Guess what Nate, we don’t have a 2nd unit anymore. We have 7 players so just start Miller you stubborn, stubborn man.

   Zach Randolphs Max Contract extension came under Nash/Patterson. I seem to remember Nash making comments to the affect of that he had no problem “hitching” The Blazers future to Zach Randolph. Whittsit stepped down in 2003, we gave Zach his extension in 2004.