NBA / Blazers Thread

[oregontrack]

disappointing loss to the thunder last night. blazers were getting their shots, and nothing was falling. lamarcus was apparently battling something, he was atrocious. extremely winnable/big game they let slip away.

[thomas time]

Blazers lose another close game, 3 in a row now against the top teams. They kept forcing 3 in the final minute instead of trying to get a 2

[oregontrack]

that's portland's game. live by the long jumper, die and flame out in the 1st round by the long jumper. it's happening.

pdx limps into the AS break 5-8 in their last 13, fwiw.

[oregontrack]

pdx is in quite the bind. i don't think they'll get out of the 1st round, but even if you want to argue that with me, i would hope nobody in their right mind thinks this bunch can get to the WCF.

people "think" that portland could pry omer asik from houston (along w/ casspi + filler) for wesley matthews and meyers leonard. if that's true, i mean... you have to do it. yeah, no one wants to break up chemistry. but c'mon. good chemistry isn't going to win a playoff round. a top-five rim protector like asik could.

and that's really the biggest upside here: asik will improve our ungodly defense, and he knows what to do with the ball down low.

the downside would be that we wouldn't really have an nba-caliber starting 2 guard. but you could always just start batum there, and have casspi play the 3. we'd call on McC and mo williams to play a bit more running alongside lillard, allowing batum to go back to his natural spot.

you'd have to start asik, because he's pouting in houston right now because he's coming off the bench. lopez has played well, but he'd have to accept a reserve role.

[pudgejeff]

pdx is in quite the bind. i don't think they'll get out of the 1st round, but even if you want to argue that with me, i would hope nobody in their right mind thinks this bunch can get to the WCF.

people "think" that portland could pry omer asik from houston (along w/ casspi + filler) for wesley matthews and meyers leonard. if that's true, i mean... you have to do it. yeah, no one wants to break up chemistry. but c'mon. good chemistry isn't going to win a playoff round. a top-five rim protector like asik could.

and that's really the biggest upside here: asik will improve our ungodly defense, and he knows what to do with the ball down low.

the downside would be that we wouldn't really have an nba-caliber starting 2 guard. but you could always just start batum there, and have casspi play the 3. we'd call on McC and mo williams to play a bit more running alongside lillard, allowing batum to go back to his natural spot.

you'd have to start asik, because he's pouting in houston right now because he's coming off the bench. lopez has played well, but he'd have to accept a reserve role.

I like Asik, but I don't like giving up Wes. They can have Meyers, but no reason to give up Wes when Houston is just trying not to eat Asik's contract while he sits on the bench. You can't be giving up a starter for a half starter, who might be an upgrade, but who knows how well he fits with LA.

[oregontrack]

well i don't think he'd be half a starter, he'd be the starter. lopez is lightyears behind him defensively. offensively he should fit in with lamarcus just as well as lopez has. their games aren't wholly different, asik is just better with his back to the basket.

i don't think he's the cure-all, but i do think he's an upgrade. basically by standing pat we've resigned to flame out in the first round. // shrug, i know management is fine with that, but i'd rather take a shot. this season is shaping up like a poor man's 2001 116-win seattle mariners, where the front office was pleased as punch with the W/L record and stood pat at the deadline when a lot of fans saw that the rotation was not going to hold up in a 7-game series against most of the other contenders. not wanting to shake up a 'good thing' ended up costing them big time. difference-making center > decent 2-guard.

[pudgejeff]

well i don't think he'd be half a starter, he'd be the starter. lopez is lightyears behind him defensively. offensively he should fit in with lamarcus just as well as lopez has. their games aren't wholly different, asik is just better with his back to the basket.

i don't think he's the cure-all, but i do think he's an upgrade. basically by standing pat we've resigned to flame out in the first round. // shrug, i know management is fine with that, but i'd rather take a shot. this season is shaping up like a poor man's 2001 116-win seattle mariners, where the front office was pleased as punch with the W/L record and stood pat at the deadline when a lot of fans saw that the rotation was not going to hold up in a 7-game series against most of the other contenders. not wanting to shake up a 'good thing' ended up costing them big time. difference-making center > decent 2-guard.

I guess I just don't see that much difference between Asik and Lopez, maybe what we expected of Lopez before the year, but he's having by far and away a career year, I'm not sure Asik gives you that much more. No doubt it's a little more, but is that little bit worth the starting 2 guard, and giving up on Meyers(who I admit has been terrible) after 1.5 years.

[oregontrack]

offensely asik is a little better, defensively there's no comparison.

all this said, there's no way they pull the trigger.

[dd10snoop28]

offensely asik is a little better, defensively there's no comparison.

all this said, there's no way they pull the trigger.

Asik is better offensively? Have you ever seen him play? He literally has stone hands.

I've seen Asik play quite a bit (as I'm a Rockets fan) and I can say with confidence that there is not a substantial difference defensively between the two. Robin is actually a good interior defender. Guarding quicker guards/bigs is a huge issue just like with Asik.

I wouldn't do the suggested deal

[thomas time]

I like Asik, would help the team alot, but I love Wesley play. I wouldn't do that deal and on a side not Meyers is now injured and out 2-3 weeks. LaMarcus out at least one week too. According to LaMarcus and Damien a couple ALL STARS told them they want to play with them, I know doesn't mean anything, but we'll see in the future.

[oregontrack]

offensely asik is a little better, defensively there's no comparison.

all this said, there's no way they pull the trigger.

Asik is better offensively? Have you ever seen him play? He literally has stone hands.

I've seen Asik play quite a bit (as I'm a Rockets fan) and I can say with confidence that there is not a substantial difference defensively between the two. Robin is actually a good interior defender. Guarding quicker guards/bigs is a huge issue just like with Asik.

I wouldn't do the suggested deal

// shrug

that flies in the face of most scouting reports.

[dd10snoop28]

Stats don't lie. Lopez is playing better offensively this year than Asik did last year . Way better FT shooter and fewer turnovers (Asik has terrible hands). Not to mention that most of Asik's buckets came off of feeds from J-Lin and Harden last year. I'm sure Lopez would score significantly more points if we had guys who could get him easy dunks off of penetration.

Defensively, Asik is a good post defender but so is Lopez. Asik's only real advantage is rebounding. He's very good on both sides.

[OregonFan4Life]

GO SPURS GO!!!!!!! Finally beat Portland, but somehow did it without Parker, Duncan, or Leonard.

[Phenom]

Stats don't lie. Lopez is playing better offensively this year than Asik did last year . Way better FT shooter and fewer turnovers (Asik has terrible hands). Not to mention that most of Asik's buckets came off of feeds from J-Lin and Harden last year. I'm sure Lopez would score significantly more points if we had guys who could get him easy dunks off of penetration.

Defensively, Asik is a good post defender but so is Lopez. Asik's only real advantage is rebounding. He's very good on both sides.

Lopez has terrible hands.

[oregontrack]

Stats don't lie. Lopez is playing better offensively this year than Asik did last year . Way better FT shooter and fewer turnovers (Asik has terrible hands). Not to mention that most of Asik's buckets came off of feeds from J-Lin and Harden last year. I'm sure Lopez would score significantly more points if we had guys who could get him easy dunks off of penetration.

Defensively, Asik is a good post defender but so is Lopez. Asik's only real advantage is rebounding. He's very good on both sides.

Eh, I'm not going to argue with you. Your take is vastly different than most. Hard to really go anywhere with that.