The Pick and Pop Must Stop

my calling for his head was hyperbole on my part, it’s a major point of contention that I’ve had this entire season — as well as during his duration as head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics — and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

Also, this whole mumbo-jumbo about “spacing” is total tripe. In all reality, the lack of motion within the Portland Trail Blazers’ offense is the true issue at hand. As other posters have already brought up in this thread, the failed pick-‘n’-pop centered around LaMarcus Aldridge needs to be replaced with more pick-‘n’-rolls for the centers, backdoor cuts for Nicolas Batum, et cetera.

Travis Outlaw playing one-on-one basketball and shooting contested mid-range jumpers needs to stop, too, for it’s killing the second unit’s flow — especially that of Oden and Rudy Fernandez — yet, he’s all buddy-buddy with McMillan and Brandon Roy, so he’ll probably be allowed to get away with his selfish play.

Aldridge’s mark. Travis Outlaw, moreover, has 47.9% eFG% on jumpers — although that’s mostly due to his long-distance shooting than mid-range shooting — so there’s another big disparity. It’s one thing to compare Aldridge to teammates, although it’s even more damning to compare him to some fellow power forwards in the NBA.

Effective Field-Goal Percentage On Jumpers

Rasheed Wallace: 48.8%
Dirk Nowtizki: 48.2%
Pau Gasol: 46.1%
Kevin Garnett: 45.1%
Amare Stoudemire: 44.5%
Luis Scola: 43.9%
Chris Bosh: 43.6%
LaMarcus Aldridge: 41.8%
David West: 41.6%

Now, while your optimism regarding Aldridge’s potential to eventually become an efficient shooter with his face-up game, nobody can deny that he’s not yet there. Then again, I’m of the mindset that a power forward should actually have a “power” game. That’s definitely not the case with Aldridge, who doesn’t have a developed back-to-the-basket repertoire (e.g., Pau Gasol) nor draws fouls at a high rate (e.g., Chris Bosh) ’cause of an aversion to dribble-drive plays.

So, although Aldridge may miraculously pull a Rasheed Wallace and become deadly from beyond the arc, it’s neither prudent nor desireable for him to become that type of player. Instead, Aldridge should work on his back-to-the-basket game down on the block and his first step from the elbow.

With Wallace, however, it must be noted that he came into the NBA as a small forward who could knock down three-point buckets with the Washington Bullets, is a top-notch man-to-man interior defender — which isn’t a part of Aldridge’s skill set — and is a poor offensive rebounder (i.e., the Portland Trail Blazers staple) by being such a perimeter-oriented player offensively. Y’know, I’ve always thought Aldridge was way more comparable to one of Wallace’s old teammates, Juwan Howard, than Wallace himself; those are the reasons.

When Oden sets a screen Blake should be quick to get inside so his man has to switch on Oden, who is now rolling to the hope, and Yao would then would have to commit to Blake cuz he would have a lay-up. At the point Oden is close to the rim and Blake throws a lob. But Blake is not quick or something cuz most off the time his defender recover on him after he goes around the pick, and Yao remains on Joel.