Portland Trail Blazers
5
(April 26, 2009)
(This review was made after watching the blazers lose Game 4 of the series against the Houston Rocket. This day they took the 3-1 series lead.)
The blazers is a great team. Great talent all-around. A team that is lead by the ROTY and 2-time-all-star (this is his 3rd year) Brandon Roy, alongside honorable mention co-captain LaMarcus Aldrige. The problem is is that they lack the will/determination/energy when it comes down to the final stretch of the game. The talent is obvious, but the "statue-like" standing is mysterious.
The "holes" in Portland's Offense and Defense is what is disappointing.
1) We're a pure jump shooting team.
- The ENTIRE team lives and dies on pure jumpers. Brandon Roy is the ONLY player who has the natural ability to slice through the defense to draw the And-1 play on a strong take to the basket. Steve Blake may do layups from time-to-time, but Brandon is the only attacker.
2) No low post presence.
- If you were a '08-'09 Blazer maniac fan, you too would also notice that LaMarcus is the only low-post man who constantly does a fade away after posting up. And our two centers, Joel Pryzbilla and Greg Oden, hardly score, if not any. Joel basically does the job of center: Block, contain the paint, and rebound, but does not score. Greg Oden on the other hand, is a totally different situation. With him, the main focus is his health at this time, not his game. He missed his entire rookie year due to a microfracture knee surgery. Opening game of the season at Lakers: he starts for the game. Within the first five minutes, he hurts himself AGAIN. He did not return to another game until January. Hurts himself AGAIN, and out till February. As a result of all these ridiculous injuries, G.O. has lost his game. He can't bang the boards, cannot shoot, cannot get rebounds, and cannot help himself stop fouling every defensive possession. He probably averaged only 15-20mins a game, and still managed to obtain nba player who averaged most fouls per game that year (with 5 fouls). G.O. is not playing like the #1 draft pick he is when we chose him over the other possible candidate, Kevin Durant. It's going to take some serious time for G.O. to get his game back, learn how to play D w/o fouling, MOVE FEET, and learn how to post up to score.
3) Besides the starters, each player off the bench has only ONE special attribute.
- let me explain. Nicolas Batum is a starter mainly for his defensive-stopping specialty due to his lengthy extremities, but he is DEFINITELY not a scorer/shooter. With Joel, like I said earlier at the top. Travis outlaw LOVES to fade away from right inside the 3-point line and is not that very consistent game-to-game. He needs to take his 6'9" body to the basket and draw the contact; be the second blazer to obtain the layup ability. This goes for Rudy Fernandez too. Sure he can drain those 3 bombs every game, but he'd be more scary if he can penetrate or score layups. Sergio Rodriguez needs to be taught NBA ball from the starter Steve Blake, who's done an awesome job as a PG, improving his own game gradually. Jerryd Bayless is a good PG, but doesn't fit on this team. Martell Webster will be back soon to hopefully make an impact. The others aren't worth mentioning.
4) Our Offense is too simple.
- We tend to make the same play every other posession: have the PG at the top of the 3-point line, the baseline runner (SG) comes out to the wing to retrieve the pass, which he then gives the entry pass to the low-post man LaMarcus. He'll hold/dribble the ball till about 10 seconds left on the shot clock. Two options from here: either he does a fade away J, or he passes the ball back out for one of the other players to make an unexecuted "miracle" play with less than 7 seconds left on the shot clock. That's the one play. The other play is Brandon Roy. He carries the team on his back. Thank god we have such an amazing player. He manages to clutch time-to-time whether it be free throws or 3 points from half court. He's the man who does the penetrating and driving it to the basket. He makes the plays 2-guard.
5) ENERGY
- Cannot stress this enough. They should run sprints and/or miles every blazer practice. Also work on getting back quickly into the defensive set. Their weak side help is horrible. They NEED TO PLAY EVERY GAME WITH ENERGY. At home, you can see their energy vibe. On road games, they walk the ball up the court, JUST making it pass the half-court line before they get called for a 8-second back court violation. They all need to learn how to operate w/o the ball in their hand. MOVE THE FEET!
Summary: This team WILL make a great run within these next 2-3 years. Right now they're realizing their game; the goods and bads. Also they're just missing parts in their offense/defense --- They need to do layups, rely less on jump shots, have a interior game, more movement w/o the ball, and play with more energy on the road.
