Shorthanded Blazers Fall
posted: 10/20/2009 at 10:47 PM
The frustration of a 108-97 blowout-loss to the Utah Jazz at the Rose Garden was somewhat tempered by the fact that this is just the pre-season. But, Nate McMillan showed signs of frustration after the game, saying, "we can't just flip a switch." Obviously, the Blazers need to get better, and the preparation time is running out.
While the exhibition time is now short, the injury list is growing for the Blazers, who started their 7th different starting lineup in 7 pre-season games. Greg Oden and Rudy Fernandez were ruled out of this game well in advance, but LaMarcus Aldridge was a late scratch as he recovers from a shin bruise. Just one minute into the game with the Jazz, Nicolas Batum left the game with a thigh injury and didn't return. Oden could return Thursday, but Rudy will likely be out until Tuesday's opener against Houston.
Even though he cited that the injuries were a factor, McMillan stopped well short of using them as an excuse after the loss to the Jazz, a game that saw Utah lead at one point by as many as 25. McMillan was frustrated by the effort, and the fact that many of his players appeared tentative, once again.
Portland's defense, the focus of training camp, is still leaving much to be desired as the Jazz were able to shoot 53 percent from the field, and also shot 43 free throws. Sloppy ball handling by the Blazers was also a concern again, as they recorded 22 turnovers against Utah.
One player who continues to be a bright spot for Portland is Jerryd Bayless, who is trying to show that he's worthy of cracking the rotation. Bayless led Portland with 16 points in 21 minutes against the Jazz. Another player who will also be in a fight to see the floor in the regular season is rookie Dante Cunningham. Following an impressive camp, Cunningham put together another solid effort on Tuesday night, scoring 14 points, and pulling down 6 rebounds in 21 minutes.
Brandon Roy, who has been struggling with his offensive game, had his best shooting night of the exhibition season going 5 for 9, and had 15 points. Travis Outlaw, who has struggled during the preseason, had 10 points in the first quarter, but was scoreless the rest of the way.
Clearly, things aren't clicking as well as we hoped they would be in this exhibition season, but it's difficult to tell what's truly a cause for concern, and what is just a sign of growing pains. McMillan is right on the money saying the team can't just flip a switch next Tuesday night and expect things to magically change. But, until we start seeing games that count, I have a hard time being overly troubled.
More than anything else it simply seems there is too much thinking going on during these games, and not enough reaction. This team continues to overpass the ball, and the result is players passing up shots we expect them to take. They fought the shot clock repeatedly again on Tuesday, and that's something that has to change. Several players have even admitted to me that they're too busy trying to share the ball and not playing enough off instinct.
It was nice to see Roy dial in his shooting touch a bit, but he needs to be taking more than nine shots. He should be the first option on offense, and instead always seems to finally get the ball when the shot clock is ticking down. For a guy who often needs time to create his shot by setting up a defense, this isn't normal. Maybe our idea of "normal" isn't normal anymore.
As I've stated for some time now, an adjustment period is the one thing that is normal, and so this maybe shouldn't be so unexpected. I expect this team to struggle to find its groove now and then early in the regular season, and panic certainly shouldn't set in if that happens. It's not a comfortable prediction, but it seems realistic.
The Blazers have just one exhibition game left, and that's Thursday night against the Phoenix Suns in Vancouver B.C. Then, it's a weekend of fine tuning prior to Tuesday's season-opening game against the Houston Rockets at the Rose Garden.
To listen to McMillan's comments after the Utah game,
click here.
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Good post, as usual, Mike. I have to say that for the first time in 30 years, I left the game early -- after the 3rd when we were down by 24. Between our turnovers, poor defense and the horrible officiating, I just couldn't take it anymore. Injuries shouldn't be an excuse for a team that is SO DEEP, as we keep hearing. I guess I'm just one of those many who has (perhaps unreasonably) high expectations for this coming season, but I hope and pray that is not the case and our guys will start gelling and playing the great basketball we know they can. As much as the regular refs give me heartburn on occasion, I am happy to hear that they may soon be allowed back in the arenas.
based on my observations of the sacramento, phoenix & utah home games during the pre-season i have the following thoughts. some have little to do with pre-season, and more to do with expectations.
our starting line-up will be miller, roy, batum, aldridge and oden. we won't change 3/5ths of our 54 win line-up, but we will change 2/5ths. oden has to start, and andre is the better point guard (i'm not a blake hater, this is just the truth). this is a different team than last season, and changes will have to be embraced from here on out. if the chemistry between blake & b-roy has to be continued, substitutions can be addressed to get them time together.
running the fast break should be very limited. we are a power team. greg, lamarcus and b-roy will be best off playing at a slower pace. they will be our three best players (even if i love rudy, andre and all the rest). grinding out possessions, playing ball control basketball, limiting turnovers and mistakes is our game offensively. making the other team pay every time they execute poorly is how we will win. just about every night, we will have the best center, power forward and shooting guard. we will have the best and deepest bench. our starting small forward can also defend 1s and 2s.
expectations for greg should be realistic. playing in 70-74 games would be totally sufficient. he does not have to be an iron-man. with the depth that we have, he does not have to since he has a great team around him.
shaquille o'neal averaged 73.25 games a season in his four title winning seasons.
tim duncan averaged 69.25 games a season in his four title winning seasons (the first season he played only 50 games in a shortened year, add 24 games to this and he averages 75.25 games).
hakeem olajuwon averaged 76 games a season in his two title winning seasons.
bill russell averaged just over 74 games a season in his 13 years of play. in his rookie year at age 22 he played in 48 games, and at age 23 he played 69 games. russell was 6'9" and only 215lbs.
Bayless and Howard have more than impressed me, even Cunningham looks good. It's Outlaw that I'm dissapointed in. I don't even think he should be in the playing rotation with his poor defesive efforts. I mean it's like all he cares about is scoring points. He scores 10 but gives up 20 on defense.
Very dissapointed with tonights effort. Nice to see Juwan push Dupree. I liked that toughness he brings.
I was looking at nba.com to keep up with the score (as I don't have a radio that works). I saw the Blazers down by 19, and was a bit disappointed. Saw it go down to 12 and was thinking "another comeback win?" I was wrong, as the deficit grew higher and higher.
It is only a pre-season game, and maybe players aren't as serious as we think. I'd rather not play Nicholas Batum, Aldridge, Oden, or Rudy on Thursday. The suns aren't an aggressive team, but I've played basketball before -and even playing against a small child there is a chance at injury, especially when you're already aching.
I agree with you a lot. Players need to find confidence in their shooting selection. I love Bayless because he doesn't care if he's missed a bunch of previous shots, if he has confidence in himself he'll take it and eventually score. He's done this team a lot of good in the short amount of time he's played. He's a valuable asset to the team by being a scorer. Have Andre and Blake lead the team, and when things aren't going the good way put Bayless in there.
Brandon needs to remain the leader. This is his team, and he is one of the big reasons they got to 54 wins. When he wasn't played, people lost morality that the Blazers could win. 9 shots, and 5 seconds to take those shots is unacceptable. You've got a future MvP out there, why isn't he receiving the most attention from his team?
Oh well, one week until we "hopefully" dominate Houston. It's game time!
MB,
I'm not to worried either. As you said it's just preseason. Usually it's the bad teams that win a lot of games in the preseason because they need to get some wins in before the season starts when they know they are going to lose a lot of games. While the better teams play a lot of players that they need to check out more and that may not get much playing time during the season.
I'm much more concern about injuries and would rather sit out anyone that is even a little banged up in the last preseason game.
I think we'll see a lot different team come the 27th. I can't wait since I'm going to be there to see the Blazers kick the Rockets! I'm sure they'll be up for that game considering how last season ended.
GO BLAZERS!!!!
Brandon, time to take over like you did last season. You don't have to learn to play with the new guys, they have to learn to play with you.
Great post Mike:
I am more worried about the injuries then the lost, but Nate seems concerned primarily with the lack of effort. I would say he should know.
I think regardless of whether the players he was talking about turns it on when the regular season starts, Jerryd and Cunningham should get minutes because of their effort. If they are not rewarded then they may start putting out less effort.
I know that more time might be needed to gel. More time might be needed to focus on Defense, but most of the players know that they have to go out and scrap against any team in order to stay in a groove.
I do hope that BRoy becomes the number 1 option when the season starts.
There is only so many shots to be taken and BRoy, LMA, and Greg can take most of them, so for others as Batuum and Andre to get shots, they would be taking shots away from the core. I have heard time and time again that the more scorers we have the less work BRoy will have to do. I have said countless times that I disagree with that. BRoy is a worker by nature, to take that away from his workload is to take his game away. To cut down his work load, cut down his PT, not his shot load. He is our no 1 scorer and that is what we should use him for. Not the last minute effort to beat the clock. That isn't to fair for our franchise player.
Enough said, it is still just pre-season, but I don't buy this crap that the games don't count. Every time you put foot on the court, whether it by practice, regular play or the fourth quarter, it all counts.
hg
Thanx again MB!
I still say the Blazers need a trade....there are some players HOLDING them back. The rotation needs to be narrowed down.
Hey Mike - I hope the team makes the changes soon - I don't seem to remember us having such confusing or frustrating pre-season and its a bit scary that we are on the cusp of the "games that count" and we have these important issues lingering. Hope the team can finish strong vs. PHX and then do that fine-tuning before HOU.
Mike, Solis reporting per usual. I went to the game last night and you are understating the awfulness of the play from the Blazers, specifically from Travis. I am a life long Travis supporter, but he looked awful. Especially having tweeted this summer about how he was doing work and was gonna get "paid" when he re-ups his contract. He was slow, confused, and just looked like he didn't know what he was doing. His saving grace was getting to the FT line and making a few there. Brandon, despite scoring 15, also was not the most graceful out there on the court. At least he is improving. I know this is just pre-season, but Nate has filled this team with heady players and I can't help but worry about the lasting effects this poor performance will have on the regular season.
Now the officiating...how is anybody suppose to get a rhythm when there is a foul called every 40 seconds. I guess the answer is if the Jazz can put up 100+, why can't we. The bottom line from all of this is that the Blazers looked flat. That's it, just plane flat. I know "Merlin" predicted not as many wins this season, and after watching that game it would be amazing if they even got close. I know that 4 key players were missing from the rotation, and that it IS only pre-season, but this team is suppose to be deep at all positions and from what I can see there is still much to do.
Brandon Roy is upset because now it doesn't feel like his team with miller on it.
I don't have the lack of concern about Travis. I don't know what his problem is, but I would suspect that it is the extra pressure of changing his game or sitting on the bench. Many people has the problem of the harder they try the worst they become. Or he might be able to change his game but on a slower pace. If he would have realistically looked at his game before now he could have changed by now.
Travis the Blogger.
I really think that Andre starting with BRoy is a big mistake. Added to my previous comments on the fact, there is to many big scorers on the first unit with the addition of Greg. The big three will take up all the shots available so anybody else wanting shots would just take away from those 3. Besides, I think Andre's leadership would be more valuable on the second unit.
Of course, both units would intertwine but for the main part that, IMO, would be better because Steve and Nic doesn't demand shots like Andre and Webster would.
hg
It appears that much of this pre-season has been a process of going through the motions and just showing up for the games. The experimental rotations have given some "bench players" a time to prove their merit. We have observed their potential. Some "regular" players have floundered, partially because they are working in experimental rotations.
Here are some thoughts, none of which is new but worth reinforcing:
We need to be more shot clock aware. Brandon, Steve, Rudy, etc. should not be only left consistently with 5 seconds on the shot clock to fire at the basket.... much like the game of hot potato. What kind of accuracy does this create?
We can't be turning the ball over or throwing it away.
We have to make foul shots.
We need to be unselfish with the ball, but sharing should only last until there is a sure shot available, then take it.
Defense, defense, defense.....Hello! The coach is stressing it; we expect it. Defense creates offense.
We all have our favorite players and lineups, including me. However, the game will dictate which combinations are best for the team. There will be a core of "regular" players to establish control and flow, but it should not remain static if it fails to do the job (which is to win the game).
We expect our team to win, keep aggressive, and play smart. We expect them to explode on the court, not implode. There are no excuses now. The season is about to begin. The only way the team would let us down is if they didn't try their best. Our bar, which is our standard, is set very high. Don't let us down.
That was painful. 22 TOs. 33 fouls. 13% 3pt shooting. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Just gotta keep telling myself it's only an exhibition game, and look at the positives.
First positive--Martell Webster got 4 blocks! Again, I am loving the energy he's bringing. Shame about going 3-11 from close, and 0-3 from beyond the arc, but that will come back.
Second positive--Jerryd Bayless taking it right at Utah's face! 8-9 foul shooting says it all. We've got to free up something for him. I don't know how, but something's gotta give for this guy. The work ethic that he's invested is beginning to pay dividends.
Third positive--five players in double digits! Maybe we are over-passing, but we've all said that some of the load needs be taken off Roy. If Andre and Juwan had each sunk one more and Webster had buried at least one three, that would have brought us up to eight players with more than nine, and cut the loss to only 4pts.
Fourth positive--one of those double digit scorers was rookie Dante Cunningham, who continues to demand playing time with one of the best lines in the game: 6 rebounds(4 offensive), perfect from the charity stripe, 5-9 shooting, and 2 assists.
Fifth and final positive--only one more game with the scabs! A deal appears to have been struck that will have our good old crooks back in stripes by Tuesday. I can't wait to curse those familiar faces again. If someone's going to call b.s. fouls on the Blazers, I'd prefer it was someone we know.
Now lets bring Channing back down to Earth.
I'm afraid I can't prescribe to the camp that the preseason is just a bunch of meaningless games, and that the good teams don't care about them. This is starting to sound a lot like excuse making to me. What is the Lakers record in the preseason? I'm sure it must be somewhere around 1-6. Travis isn't adjusting to a new game, he's playing the same old game as last year. Guess what? He couldn't guard his own shadow last year, and this year, same f----n' thing. To be down at home by 25 to any team "should" be cause for concern, preseason or otherwise. If this team truly has two starting units, than let's see it. I've been saying all along that the big dipper has to align with Uranus in order for this team to meet some of the fan's expectations. All I expect at this point is effort, especially at the defensive end.
not a big deal ladies and gents. you can't win a game if you get out rebounded. we did not play rudy, La, oden, batum went out early and roy had limited min. Not worth getting upset about.
This is whats been on my mind as of late why is everybody think blake griffen is the next superstar. he does not have the talent that nba.com analist make it seems like he does. they bash oden his rookie year and make blake out to be the next carl malone. So my question: is blake really that good or is it just because he plays for a team that is in LA with better marketing. we shall see
i'd take oden or lamarcus or brandon over griffin any day.
regardless of anything..please allow 1 thing. And thats BRoy!!!..Im starting to think that since these new additions to the team and a healthier more improved Oden mean Brandon doesnt need the ball or score as much. NO!!!...hes our MVP..He still needs to be this teams leading scorer and go to guy. Yes we do need guys to take the "load" off of Brandon and to shoulder more the the offense. but Brandon still needs to be scoring around 25 per game. Michael with the Bulls..Kobe with the Lakers..Lebron with the cavs..those teams all have great supporting players..but had 1 superstar..Brandon in only 3 seasons has moved up to the upper elite of NBA stars..add his willpower to lead this team and his ability to be extremly successfull in the clutch and this makes him our Michael or Kobe or Lebron
btw, on opening night, greg will be guarded by a committee of carl landry, chuck hayes, joey dorsey and chris andersen. no one should be worried about anything. is 25pts and 15rebs too optimistic? ;)
oops, i meant david andersen, and i forgot pops mensah-bonsu.
I just have a question, what is this teams identity great teams have this like the celtics(defense)lakers(offense) and so on i dont think you can expect this team to not be tenative until they know what they are there assignments when they get on the floor and so forth seems like bad coaching to me so far with some poor efforts from a few players and injuries but i call it like i see it my high school team was a defensive team and we knew that and because of this we exceded expectations every year
Hey Mike, thanks for the post. Do you know how serious Batum's hip injury is? Will he be ready on Tuesday for Houston? Thanks.
George
I think alot of the preseason struggles with the Blazers this year is the fact that it is the "pre" season. All this team wants to do it seems is skip straight to the playoffs. I just hope they realize they still have to earn their spot in the post season and keep that switch turned on. We have the talent to finish with the best record in the league, we just need to make sure we show up to every game. The team needs to go after every opponent like they have something to prove. Dont take anybody lightly, go for the kill in every game!!
C- Greg Oden
F- Lamarcus Aldridge
F- Nicolas Batum
G- Brandon Roy
G- Steve Blake
Bench
G- Andre Miller
F- Rudy Fernandez
F- Travis Outlaw
G- Martell Webster
C- Joel Pryzbilla
G- Jerryd Bayless
F- Juwon Howard
F- Ime Udoka
Reserves
Dante Cunningham
Jeff Pendergraph
Jarron Collins
Patrick Mills
I know it doesn't have much to do w/ this barret blog but the list above is a problem.... :/
Lol i love our team but howww are we going to share good minutes around each player?? lol Bayless wants good minutes, Howard wants to play and Udoka was a key bench reserve in San Antonio and look where their at?? Worse yet, look at the IR players below them..
thanx for keepin us current Mike My preseson obs are that we are still overthinking.FanMan....ditto on D, free throws and turnovers.Those are basics that we dont have any excuses for. IMO Trav is still clueless on D and is not really showing much improvement or passion.We know he can score at times but bfd,we need him to Reb and play D.Something he hasn't shown a compensity for.Dare I say tradebait? I've argued lineups till I'm blue in the face.GO should start,BRoy,LMA obvously.Think Martell is comin on but Nic should get the job because of defense.But depending on Nics offense and Martells defense and shooting ,that could eventually change.I'm an obvious DRE fan,whether he and Brandon can cohabitate remains to be seen.Blake might fit better but Dre has out played him so far.The bench(Howard,DC,Bayless,Martell)have been very productive.The chem issues will get better ,I hope the D does .Thats just effort. BLAZERSROCK
I agree with Happy Camper and the other comments here that say that Roy needs to assert himself more. However, it's much too early to panic. Pre-season, after all, is about giving people a chance to play.
I would not worry about B-Roy. He didn't magically lose his skills or leadership ability over the summer. He is not going to play full-out in preseason. He knows that he can't risk injury. He also knows that he needs to give less confident players a chance to find their offense.
My biggest concern is with Nate. I understand using 7 different line-ups in 7 games in the preseason, but during the regular season he better start coaching this team like their an NBA team with championship potential, not a D-league team. "Growing" talent is overrated and rarely wins championships. Finding the "right combination" of players is also overrated. Play your best, most-talented players at each position right now. Don't give playing time for the sake of "seeing what happens." Do you think Phil Jackson would give Outlaw 30 minutes of playing time? Or would he start Joel ahead of a healthy Oden? Or Blake ahead of Andre?
Rick,
Mills got the last spot so Ime isn't on the team any more.
whitefeather,
Kobe had Shaq and Jordan had Pippen. Kobe did finally win without Shaq, but you can have two super stars. With our team we might have 3 that's how the Celtics did it.
Just the regular season has to start, they don't call it preseason for no reason, it's before the season and win/loss wise means nothing. Every game counts, but what counts in preseason isn't wining or losing, for us it's trying different lineups, evaluating players, and getting in sync. Because of injuries it's been tough to do the latter.
whitefeather......Broy is our leader.However ,it takes the whole team to win.I think with this team,I predict that he WON"T be havig as many 25 point games.IMO in the final minutes not very many are more clutch than BRoy.But,With Odens emergence,the addition of Dre,LMA,during parts of the game he will be deferring to others because he is a team player.But when we need him to score,he still will.
Wahoo! I am very happy about the Mills/Aldridge deals going through. It took a lot longer than many were comfortable with, but I think the right decisions were made.
First, giving Aldridge an all star's salary when he's not one would have been a mistake. He's still got some work to put in before he's in the same class as BRoy. I think he will get there this season and when it comes time to renew, you can be sure that he'll get a maximum contract.
Then there's the Mills signing--I love it! I said earlier that neither Udoka nor Collins had knocked my socks off, so why not take a chance? He was a pain in Team USA's butt and I've heard he is fast, fast, fast. Not to mention, we don't have a long term PG yet. Blake and Miller are going to have to be renewed at the end of the season, and Bayless isn't quite there yet(so close!). There is a possibility that Mills could be a solution to the point guard question.
I'm not about to say that I think Patty Mills is the future starting PG for the Blazers, but I am happy to know that there will continue to be competition at that position.
Whitefeather.. Scottie Pippen avg. 21 ppg the first year MJ left the bulls and if i am correct is his highest ppg average of his career + he had a great supporting cast that got the bulls team to the 2nd round of the 1994 playoffs. I predict the same w/ Roy, maybe 23 ppg at the most and an all-star appearance but let's not forget about the great talent that surrounds him :)
By the way does any one know the total number of players you can have on a team?
i agree brandon needs to start playing some better ball and did so as of late but it needs to start flowing. the other stuff with miller and the batum webster thing will work it self out as we go. It will all fit together here shortly not all at once or over a few preseason games but it will happen.
I totaly agree!...I guess I got ahead of myself...and yes we can have more than a star..Im thinking brandon-l.a-oden as maybe a good 1-2-3- punch...and Im not trying to compare our team with the bulls or lakers..but pointing out lets not forget where we came from with Roy being our leader..hes our franchise player. But we wont win any rings without a team effort 8duh* thats obvious..This team just needs to gel and find thier way and well be fine. Think with a defensive mindset..I swear if all our blazers played with the same heard bayless does we would go 82-0 haha..man hes just fearless and have sooo much respect..cause win or lose he goes out there and puts his entire self on the floor. GO BLAZERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rick,
15 players are the max. I'm not positive when the cut down date is, but it's before the first reg season game which is Oct 27th.
Originally the 15th and final spot was a fight between Ime and Collins, but when Mills accepted the tender offered my the Blazers that changed. If they didn't sign him they'd lose his rights.
This is from a article at Oregonlive:
"""""
Udoka averaged averaging 6.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 19 minutes a game this preseason and appeared to be the front-runner to secure the Blazers’ 15th and final roster spot. However, the competition took an unexpected turn last week when the Blazers followed NBA draft protocol and tendered an offer to Mills, which the point guard accepted.
That left the Blazers with a decision: go with an experienced veteran in center Jarron Collins, go with an experienced player who had earned the trust of coach Nate McMillan three seasons ago in Portland, or go with an inexperienced and injured guard in Mills.
The decision to go with Mills was one that few predicted.
""""
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/10/ime_udoka_i_thought_these_time.html
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