ClutchFans Game Thread: Blazers @ Rockets 1/24/2024

Yeah it is hard to win when you are giving up 6 more points per game than you are scoring.

 

Bench played with energy

starters played with no energy

IME is either dumb or stone has mandates on who plays

new year same “development”

im surprised Fred and brooks don’t complain . I guess that’s what the hush money is for

Jalen and alpy had decent stat lines but their defense was atrocious tonight .

Stone should still be on the hot seat . Only reason we are near .500 is because brooks and Holliday had astronomically hot starts to the year

3 years of tank and 60+ million in cap space and this is the best he can do

 

Can you explain how Jalen's defense was atrocious?

One thing I've noticed is how much better he is at communicating switches making sure there isn't a gap in the defense after switching. His off ball defense has improved tremendously.

 

I'm surprised that you're surprised Fred and Brooks don't complain.

Dillon single-handedly gifted the game away to the Blazers in the 4th with dumb play after dumb play and bad defense after bad defense.

 

I do not think so

I remember watching a stretch where he got hot on offense and he was jogging back on D and calling for other team ages to pick guys up and literally guarding no one

he may have a good play here or there , but overall the effort and intensity is near 0

off-ball , on-ball it doesn’t matter . He’s probably the worst defender on the team … outside of cam , but cam is a rookie and shows effort he just makes dumb fouls .

I see jalen try hard on D for like 2 min a game

 

someone lied to you badly

 

Theres luck surely, as we seen last night, but we just havent had that same hustle and defensive intensity on the perimeter either.

A lot of teams start to slow down in january historically, and thats why the all-star weekend serves as a nice resting period. Im thinking maybe everyone is a bit gassed overall and so more lazy tendencies tend to happen.

Also got a lot of "energy" bench guys playing significantly more minutes, and you kinda lose that energy your used to expending when the minutes expand.

 

Ive been getting hammered on the board for saying how improved his defensive positioning has gotten, be careful.

 

They are playing brooks on guys that are too quick for him. The defensive problems are with a short pg that is tenacious but just an ok defender (really good at steals though). If we would have put Amen on Simon’s most of the game we would have won.

 

Its wild how y'all claim to watch ball and not realize only one way defenders play more intense defense over long stretch because its all they do

The scorers in the nba for most part play matador defense for 46 minutes, but I get the difficulty in actually being a legit two player, its tough to do both equally, especially for those who carry a heavy load on that either end

The Bucks traded their defensive perimeter ace for a offensive machine who plays defense for 2 minutes per game

And that got a coach who was damn 15+ games over .500 the can, that damn 2 minute defense per game is league wide epidemic, for vets and 21 yr olds alike

 

most young guys play hard to get mins

jalen green can coast once he scores efficiently and leads us to the playoffs

until then he should get no slack

post a vid of jalen green going to floor for the ball. his effort on d is bad

jabari was #3 pick , he plays hard on D , but makes a lot of mistakes

weve given Jalen an easier defensive role and less offensive responsibility AND hes supposed to be one of the best athletes in the league. dude should be flying around with his hair on fire. hes loafing around. which... yes if you are a premier scorer and you have the team success to back it up is accepted in the todays NBA. Jalen has neither .

There are no excuses for his lack of effort.

If he was just missing shots on offense and playing the right way otherwise I'd be positive on him. I love tate and the dude cant buy a bucket. As is it now i think we would be significantly better if Tate was our starting SG .

 

That's way too flattering for me and not nearly flattering enough for my wife! But that's hilarious!

 

There is a difference between playing intense defense and not being a turnstile.

Lots of good offensive players in the league play good defense throughout the game.

And Jalen isn't carrying any offensive load. He's not exerting any major energy on that side of the floor to put points on the board.

He's just a bad defender.

 

Just want to point out that this isn't considerred defense. This would be a hustle play.

Do agree that he never sacrifices his body for loose balls. Nor does he ever try to use his speed and athleticism to try and track down 50/50 balls and rebounds full force.

Then again hes not really a hustle player or wver has been or had to be i guess.

Not everyone is Patrick Beverley.

 

Most young guys are not established and are product of their upbringing on the hardwood leading up to the NBA, so they play according to their style they have developed and silly or good habits are hard to shake, its a process annually

Green dropped the ball by skipping college and then being given free reign first two NBA years which mirrored his weak HS coaches

Green should not coast when he gets more efficient/lead to playoff, he should play hard on both sides, but I don't expect him to defend with energy like Eason or Holiday just like I don't expect Tari to blow by people and offense ran thru him....... Or even Bari who is like 4th option so he can provide that and plus he was known as a semi-dog in college, he played with fire that carried over, like KG and others in past

Before becoming premier scorer/playoffs the majority of guards had to go threw the rigor and they were mostly scoring guards who gave effort on defense here n there

We can single Green out or lump him with the rest as it should be, he doesn't get a pass, but coming straight out of HS skinny built as a guard is way harder to do then as a big(peak faster)

Green would have been way better off right now to have improved offensively as they say his defense has, then you could at least say well he is a sure bucket in the making, and just live with the matador defense

That's one of the shocking things, it seems Green plays the right way for most part

He may waive Sengun off a play every handful games but he seems to make the extra pass to the open man most times

If you think Tate would be better that's your GM skills that would not fly in my circle, Tate is a dog and plays as he should from the bench as spark plug energy and spot starter if necessary

Green has until next off-season to convince Tilman/Udoka

Enjoy the show, sincerely

 

Lots of good offensive players play horrible defense as well, its why its the perpetual cliche phrase when they say that defense wins titles

but the team with the most points(offense) at the end of the game has always won in the NBA, Jalen shouldn't be carrying the load when you have a 40 million dollar player and a killer on the block

But his calling card was never defense, which is why my he should have just pulled all his eggs in offense and lock that down and just give passable effort and let the better defenders shine, its a team game for a reason, not golf or singles tennis

Jalen doesn't come off screen like Klay, so his shots mostly are self created/off bounce, so that is a lot of energy being spent, and its on the staff to get him easy open mid range shots off a screen ala RIP Hamilton

Well I guess being a bad defender is better than being the worst in the league as some labeled him first two years

Next

 

And i dont want any of those guys as a cornerstone on my team either?

Lots of players just flat out suck also. Whats your point?

The energy expenditure on offense as a reason why he sucks at defense is a huge reach anyways. Not even worth addressing tbh.

 

@Ancient Moabite

I disagree that guards take longer to mature . For many years the idea has been that bigs peak later . Their defensive contributions and roles generally take longer to learn .

now maybe in the switch era … guards do take longer . But what you want from your guards is to hit shots and play with effort . Many bigs need years to learn how to avoid foul trouble / bring up their skills to nba level.

you said no excuses for green but you listed several reasons why he is playing without effort . There is one reason . It’s him . He could decide to play harder .

Just because others didn’t require it to get to this point isn’t a reason to continue . He talked about his drive and other talked about his work ethic . I don’t see it . I see (fake) confidence .

I agree we’ve been doing him a disservice. We shouldn’t continue to do that .

 

Shaq had a high TS percentage.....but not because of his free throws...........

 

We were not even predicted to be higher than 12th before the year started. This is what getting early wins does, it moves the expectations away from the original goal.

My goal was for the team to win at least 30 games. Everything after that is a bonus