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Your Blazers’ Edge Podcast starting lineup of Tara and Dan recap recent news and take a deep dive into the Portland Trail Blazer’s defensive outlook for this season.
With a roster much like last year’s, we attempt to set a baseline by which to measure if the team has improved:
- What areas of the floor do they defend well?
- In which areas do they allow the most scoring?
- What is the key to improving defense against the pick-and-roll?
- Is this the year continuity pays off?
We talk about how new personnel might improve defense in the paint and why CJ McCollum is the key to a defensive turnaround.
Finally we predict how the Blazers are going to start the season. Tara has them starting with a blazing-hot five-game winning streak. Where do you suppose Dan put them? Tune in to find out all this and more!
Highlights
2:07 CJ’s suspension. Is he ornery?
5:39 Who starts on opening night?
7:30 Blazers waive Anthony Morrow, Isaiah Briscoe and Archie Goodwin
9:19 Jusuf Nurkic will be a restricted free agent
13:29 Setting the baseline for defense this year
16:06 Blazers defense didn’t get better (overall) last year, it got worse
19:13 How good a defender is Jusuf Nurkic?
23:47 What the Blazers are good at on defense: corner 3s and at the rim, the two best shots in the league. Good news!
31:27 Can Zach Collins play effective defense in the paint?
33:10 Al-Farouq Aminu reads the offense well and is a good weakside help defender
35:20 Caleb Swanigan has the ability to react quickly on defense in the painted area
36:58 What type of offense is this team probably best equipped to defend?
37:30 Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are effective isolation defenders
39:00 Blazers are going to do better against teams that play heavy isolation, like the Lakers who don’t yet have an identity
44:03 How will we be able to tell when the pick-and-roll has improved? Is Chris Paul getting shots off in his favorite spot?
46:03 Here’s where continuity comes in
47:19 An improved CJ will make a big difference
48:37 How will the Blazers start the season?
Resources
Traditional stats for 2015-16 and 2016-17, splits (opponent) for 2016-17 from Basketball-Reference.
Opponents shooting from stats.nba.com.
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Dan and Tara will be at the Blazer’s Edge Opening Night Viewing Party with Peter Sampson of Blazer’s Edge Radio at Spirit of 77. Stop by and say “Hi”!