So Nolan?
Nate feels that Nolan is pg? All the guy seems to do is put up shots, bad shots, shots not in the flow of the offense, ignoring open players...and Nate thinks this guy is a pg. Man, if you have a Duke background I guess you get a lot of rope from Nate. I wonder how good Bayless would have been if he had spent that year at Duke instead of Arizona?
At least Bayless scored more points than shots...I mean, it sucked watching all those blocks, but the guy was pretty efficient...which is supposed to be a big thing with Nate. But these days Nate seems to like chuckers..
who knew?
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Lol, what other options does Nate have?
It’s not like there is some stud PG sitting on out bench getting overlooked.
by hoodieNation on Jan 24, 2012 9:08 PM PST via mobile reply actions
I've seen PG's play much worse than Nolan
That’s not saying Nolan is good, just that he’s not actively torpedoing the team by being on the court.
Heck, I’ve seen worse PG’s get more minutes than Nolan, for the Blazers, in the last 5 years. Nolan’s a rookie. He’s getting less than 10 minutes a game. He may never improve, but he’s apparently earned a few minutes to try to do so.
I wouldn’t mind seeing EW get some run, but if he’s not surpassing Nolan in practice, actual game minutes could be ugly.
by Timmay! on Jan 25, 2012 12:49 AM PST up reply actions 2 recs
Nolan will be fine.
He’s still nervous. Look how high his shorts are, and how much jersey he tucks in, he really wants Nate to like him ;)
He doesnt miss any more shots than Cupcake or Crawford the wonder from Seattle. He just plays less minutes, but plays better on the ball D.
I’m still wrapping my head around dickau the " shooting coach" .
just win baby !
by FrenchieFan on Jan 25, 2012 10:54 AM PST up reply actions
Yeah its not like Nolan is doing anything out there but trying to defend
EW can do that and is a far better athlete. I’m curious what Nate see’s in Nolan, cause It seems to me his skill set is very limited.
It seems to me his skill set is very limited.
I actually had to re-read the comment to confirm if you were talking about Smith or Williams.
I guess I don't know what EW's skill set is
because I’ve never seen him play with the ball in his hands, but his potential seems significantly higher based on his athleticism alone. He’s also made every shot I’ve seen him take this season and he seems to have a little swagger to him. What do You see in Nolan that gives you Hope?
Hope?
All I said was that I’ve seen PG’s play worse than Nolan. I’m not sure how that translates to hope.
At the moment, neither neither Nolan nor Elliot inspire any hope for me. But if Nolan has pulled ahead of EW in practice, I’m ok giving him some room to see if he can grow into an NBA player. If it was EW playing instead of Nolan, and he was doing little on the court, I’d be typing the same thing. For some reason, there seems to be a “you’re either a Nolan person or an Elliot person!” mentality going on recently, shades of Bayless/Sergio (And Sergio/Jack before that). I’m not a Nolan fan, nor am I an Elliot fan. I’m simply a Blazer fan, so I hope both do well.
I don’t have a horse in this race. I just want the best available player on the court. I haven’t seen any reason to believe Elliot should have that role over Nolan (I mean EW can dunk, but that doesn’t mean he can play at an NBA level), so I’m ok cutting the Blazers some slack on this.
Not unlike NFL fans chanting for the QB holding the clipboard because “he must be better”, the role of third-string PG seems to be a fan favorite in Portland.
I don't yet prefer one over the other
I just haven’t got to see EW yet, so I want to. I think people are anxious to see him because he has a bit of excitement to his game, while Nolan seems pretty vanilla.Other than that I have no reason to think one is better than the other.
Being vanilla is what will keep Nolan here.
Nate hates flashy rookie pgs who turn the ball over trying to do too much. EW was not Nates pick, he was the next contestant on pg musical chairs. Double knee surgery too, it could be a reality tv show by now. We should be able to vote them off the island. EW is trade bait, imo.
just win baby !
Maybe
Hes being taught by Crawford. Nate seems to talk that selfish player up without much in return.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/%E0%B2%A0%E0%B2%A0-look-of-disapproval
I hope this helps.
by Oden Mad, Oden Smash! on Jan 26, 2012 12:06 AM PST up reply actions
Very cool,
but I’m feeling lazy. Nice to know, though.
Aaron Brooks
Bring him back to Oregon after he finishes the Chinese season.
by odensraven on Jan 24, 2012 10:42 PM PST via mobile reply actions
agreed
"I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all."
by thankyouforblaze on Jan 24, 2012 11:22 PM PST up reply actions
There's a fundamental problem
I don’t think Nolan really wants to be chucking it up from 3. It wasn’t his game at Duke. There, surrounded by very good shooters, there was better spacing, and more importantly, he was physically gifted enough to get penetration, and then had less imposing bigs to score on in the paint. It seems pretty clear to me that Smith is not physically gifted enough to penetrate on a regular basis (a la Westbrook), nor a good enough ball handler (Stockton), nor savvy enough (a la Andre, who a Rotoworld columnist made a great joke about, saying that Andre at 35 was fine, because he’s had an old man’s YMCA game his entire life), nor can he shoot well enough to force people to get close enough to where he can toast them (Steve Nash). I think he’s a hard working, good kid who will bust his butt on defense, but I see no meaningful upside, unless he becomes a very good 3-point shooter, which doesn’t seem likely but does occasionally happen.
Too early to criticize a player's shot selection
Let him find his heart song besides there arent too many rookie guards shooting well above 40%. Fredette is shooting 35% from the field and he is a great shooter. Thats the nature of the beat.
no nolan
Time and time again i see people setting picks for nolan and he tells them to back off. he ist an isolation player man. when you got people on the court with that much more experience you gotta be using them, and he isnt. id love to see aaron brooks in portland.
by ripcitymadness on Jan 25, 2012 10:47 AM PST reply actions
OMG
a rookie with about 15 minutes NBA game experience isn’t looking like the next CP3? SOMEBODY DOOOOO SOMETHING!
by AR-15 on Jan 25, 2012 11:07 AM PST reply actions 2 recs
Actually
Should he be coached these things? Aren’t players supposed to follow what the coaches is telling them? Could the problem be that the coach isn’t telling these guys anything but play hard, play defensive, hustle. Just like iso Roy, the team kind of just works with one or two player plan. What is the game plan? Is is there one for anyone but Aldridge and Crawford?
Your telling me
they are paying the coach millions of dollars to say “play hard”. Please.
Its not that he looks that bad but
that he doesn’t really seem to have any qualities that make you hopeful. He’s not a physical specimen like AJ, he doesn’t have great athleticism like EW, and he doesn’t shoot the ball particularly well like Babbit( supposedly). where does his upside lye?
really?
you don’t really watch college ball do you?
pretty much...
2010 NCAA Champion
2011 ACC Player Of The Year
2011 First Team All American
2011 First Team All-ACC
2011 First Team All-ACC Defensive Team
Are you all kidding me?
He’s hardly had enough minutes to form any kind of opinon on him as of yet. Some players take some time to develop, and some never do. N.Smitty is one that WILL develop. He was the starting PG for Duke, and lead the team to a National Championship. He is also a better PG than Kyrie Irving. Duke is one of the BEST college programs in the country and one of the best coaches (coach K) brought him up in one of the best systems. Nolan is a hard worker, and a fierce competitor. He wants to win, and he wants to play. I have read that he is already asking the veterans like Crawford and Felton how he can improve his game. Give him time, because I believe he will start producing once he adapts to the NBA style of play. He has a VERY high basketball IQ, and has great athletic ablilty. In case you haters think he’s a garbage player go watch some of his highlight videos and look at what he’s capable of doing once he adapts to style of play…
2010 NCAA Champion
2011 ACC Player Of The Year
2011 First Team All American
2011 First Team All-ACC
2011 First Team All-ACC Defensive Team
not a better PG than Kyrie Irving.
Not to knock Nolan, but Irving is having one of the best rookie years in the past few seasons
"Wide, girthy. Just like a Rhino. Sometimes my horns are visible."
Duke has a long history of underperforming guards
Amaker, Wojo, William Avery, Duhon to name a few that have starred for Duke but weren’t NBA caliber players. Jason Williams was the rare exception but had the terrible motorcycle accident. So he fits into a larger pattern. Good kid, smart, hard working, but I just don’t see it. Would love to be proved wrong.
theres one thing about all those things you mentioned....
they are all college achievements!! get over the college achievements cause a lot of the guys that did that well in college cant do it in the pros its a different game!! dont believe me ask adam morrison hahahahahahaha
some...
some make it some don’t… NdotSmitty will make it.
more guys that stay four years dont make it
and nolan smith does nothing to me to say that he is going to make it. his shot isnt very good, he isnt very good on offense i could possibly see him as a back up but i think elliot will pass him up. most four year guys come out right away and show they can play nolan hasnt.
kind of a snap judgement
he has had barely any real game time mins. give him a year or 2 and he will be a solid player, maybe a starter.
Give him time!
I agree- he will be solid in this league… he will contribute
by powerplayexpert on Jan 25, 2012 10:19 PM PST up reply actions
Imagine if blazersedge was like the nba
and nobody could post until their high school class had been graduated for one year.
what a wonderful world that would be.
dinasour type of guys choir boys
he has gotten
minutes and he shows nothing in them.. i say give elliot those same minutes and see if he does better! look at the rhino he gets the same minutes and helps the team out nolan does nothing in those minutes and shoots way to much!

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