ClutchFans Game Thread: Blazers @ Rockets 1/28/2021

And look where they are now? Nowhere. They are actually in not a great spot. Hoping a superstar gets traded for pennies on the dollar is not a good bet to make imo. Look at Philly right now, once they got good management.

Morey was never allowed to. And there are always exception to these rules....but you also have to get very VERY lucky. The Raptors were very lucky to get Kawhi for pennies on the dollar and they were lucky that GS got injured in the finals. The odds of these things are much lower than playing the draft and tanking. And all the teams you have mentioned are teams that have been poorly managed for awhile until recently(sac and minnny just got good management very recently).

 

They have a championship lol. They are not 'nowhere' they have nice players and flexibility. they are in a much better spot than Minnesota or Sactown or Chicago.

 

Thats great. They played it and they won it. But lets be honest, ALOT had to go there way for it to be so. The only nice player I can think of that they have is OG? Minny and Sactown will be in a better position than them really soon. Those two teams actually have good management. Ehhh......actually Minny might take a little longer lol.

 

You missing out on the season Val Vleet is having and they also have Siakam and Lowry is likely going to get moved for a haul.

A lot ALWAYS has to a teams way, a lot has to go your way for tanking and it still might be all for nothing. At least their way and Miami's way and even OKCs way the teams competed and they are still flexible. You can be locked into tanking and never get out of that hole.

How? Well, how many players do you want from Chicago or Sactown right now? Players on losing teams don't always have value (Look at Wood for an example of that) while players on winning teams get raised value. Ariza was offered a helluva deal after his championship run with the Lakers for example.

We're raising the value of our players when we win and we're keeping flexible.

 

Kawhi left Toronto for absolutely nothing and they still won more games last season, in a shortened season, than Philly has in the past 20 years. But you're saying forget Toronto's championship and that they beat Philly on the way there. Forget that Philly lost in the first round last year while Toronto got to the second round. Ujiri just got lucky. Are you even arguing in good faith at this point? Toronto can't even play home games right now. They aren't looking to contend this season, but they have cap space and their core pieces are 26 years old and under while Lowry is a tradeable expiring contract. They're still well managed.

Ujiri got to the Raptors a year after Philly started their process and had better results despite not tanking. You call that, as well as all of the teams have that have also tanked during that period, the exception. You hold up Philly as this great model for tanking success and discount Utah's chances when the latter has a better record and their stars are also young. You say Denver was bad before they got Murray, but they did not obtain him through tanking. I completely understand your viewpoint, that tanking has a chance of benefit to us while trying to compete is fruitless, but you are just ignoring evidence that is contrary to your opinion. Morey got lucky, Ujiri got lucky. Every good team that did not tank is not that good. Every team that tanked and sucks was just poorly managed.

At the very least I hope you find some enjoyment in this season, because tanking is not going to intentionally happen.

 

Mase is still with the Rockets, not being assigned to Vipers.

 

I'd love to see more Martin!

 

I hope Martin comes back soon. Granted, I've only seen him play in one game since I started watching the Rockets again, but he was killing it against the Jolly Green Giant with the blocks and dunks when I watched him. It sure looked like more than a G League style play. What is it that Silas doesn't like? What am I missing?

 

OW nowhere to be found?

 

chris A white is a dumbass

idk if wood was limited by his ankle but he needs to play 36 !1!1!

#1 - he IS coming off an ankle
#2 - I can understand the nitpicks about rotation if we were a contending team , but we just traded an MVP level player and have 3 guys coming off Achilles injury and one more off a quad tear .. cut Silas a ****ing break
#3 - we just saw what happens when you play a guy heavy heavy mins in the regular season , it effects him should we make the playoffs
#4 - we won the game
#5 - the guy who got too many minutes in this situation has been on fire and if wood played 30 , he got less than 20 min
#6- the biggest blazer run was at the beginning of the game with wood on the floor iirc

pisses me off .. lol

 

I mean, how much is Lowry gonnna actually get traded for? Van Fleet and Siakm are fine and Dandy...but they arent gonna win you won unless a "guy" is there.

Higher odds favor the tanking than banking on covid bubble playoffs. Miami is unlikely to do what they did again.

Im sure a lot of people would want KAT, Deaaron, and Zac Lavine and they would go for more than Lowry. Bulls have also been better than they have been. And so will the Kings. Rosas and Monte havent been there long but they will make those teams flourish.

Flexible for what? It makes no sense. Nwaba, 28 2 year deal probably traded next year. Brown one year deal. Tate 25 3 year deal, Woods 25 3 year deal. We are not gonna be like the LA teams or the Nets if that is the plan than its really a weird one.

 

Question. What are those big red blotches that some players have on them? Usually on the shoulders.

 

The biggest Blazer run was due to Rockets putrid 1st quarter offensive strategy - Wood rarely got any touches in favor of launching 3's primarily by OW.

Wood finally got involved in 2nd and he only went 5-5 for 14 and got team back from 20 point deficit.

Additionally, Rockets were playing drop coverage and soft man vs. Dame and his team of flame throwers in the 1st. Going back to small ball switch everything defense in 2nd put clamps on Portland.

And Wood may have been restricted due to still been injured but he sure did not play like it. But it is worthy of discussion since both Wall and Dipo both got greenlight to play more minutes after returning from their own respective injuries. Limiting Wood but not the more injury prone "stars"?

Now THAT is being a dumbass.

 

That's from cupping therapy.

Cupping therapy is a form of alternative medicine in which a local suction is created on the skin with the application of heated cups. Its practice mainly occurs in Asia but also in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Cupping has been characterized as a pseudoscience and its practice as quackery. Wikipedia

 

It is very round? Then, I think it’s from cupping. Where they heat up cups and put in on your skin to make a natural vacuum to suck out toxins.

 

And they lost in the second round, lost Ibabka and Gasol and dont looks so hot right now. Philly has had bad management and roster construction until this season and look at where they are now. Masai did a great job. Everything involves luck. My point is that trying to replicate something like that is an incredibly bad gamble. ALOT had to go their way. And its unlikely he ever does that again. But I trust him to make Toronto to contenders again, but its not happening any time soon imo. The only reason Kawhi was even in Toronto was because the Spurs refused to trade with LA. Toronto has Cap space for what? Giannis isnt signing there? Who do you think is going there? Beal? For what? That is losing too. Core pieces as in Siakm....Siakm is not going to be the dude who leads you to a championship. OG? Yea he could be great but that's gonna take awhile. Van Fleet is nice...but its the same deal with him as it is for Siakm. They are well managed but are they winning another championship sooner than later, no I doubt it, if OG becomes a top 10 player very soon this all changes though, if not.....idk.

Philly had Hinkie managing the whole thing and then they fired him and hired Colangelo and then Brand. Those guys were bad and squandered Philly for a long time. Look at what happend the second Morey got there. Is Mitchel better than Embid? No. Gobert is better than Simmons but its not as huge of a gap as the former. Gobert is also 28 as well. Philly is in a better position. They also have a better chance of coming out of the east than Utah does. Denver won 33 games the year prior to getting Murray, he was a 7th pick in the draft, being bad absolutely helped them in this situation. Im not saying you cant have sucess but I am saying that you want to be a title contender and not just a team thats in the picture. Morey and Masai are great and they did a wonderful job at capitalizing. Two of the best gms in the league. But Morey was never allowed to tank, keep that in mind. And trying to replicate the way they did things is incredibly hard and depends on way lower odds than the draft. Utah is also great but I dont see them ever winning a title. Do you? Maybe, if Donovan Mitchell takes a giant leap in like 2 years. I like Mitchell a lot. But I dont see a guy like Mitchel on our roster, unless you think we'll find another low lottery guy like him ....in which case, why not go for the higher pick.

I want it to. Im not here to spoil the fun,Im really not. I wont cheer for them to lose in the game threads anymore. But Im not going to say tanking isnt the best option when it is imo.

 

we are prolly trying to trade Oladipo . Contenders want to see him play and play well . If we sat him out every other game it would send a message something is wrong . We’ve been careful with wall .

cant argue on the offense , but the offense was bad with wood in . I was mainly referring to the minutes .

as the guy said . Cousins only got 11 min .

it’s a nitpick . But I feel like nitpicking isn’t productive right now . My expectations are lowered and there are more important things than trying to maximize wins . We are trying to build guys value and develop players .

 

Wood was a +16 on the court.

He was on fire. Play him more, build his value, get him an All Star.

And Wood was just as effective on defense. He has become one of best defenders depending on lineup.

I believe the "nit picks" were justified.

 

you just said yourself the biggest hole was in the first quarter (with wood in) because he wasn’t getting involved in the offense .

playing him more minutes doesnt change that . He changes that or the ball handlers get him more involved .

Also this guys take “rockets are way better when they get out on the break and need to play faster” ... serious question . What team is NOT better on the break ?

we are crediting the rockets defense for being great . Is it possible that Portland came out and played hard defense in the early part of the game ? Especially knowing they have some guys out and wanting to try to set a tone early .

we won . We’ve won 4 in a row . Everything is not perfect . But Silas has done a pretty damn good job so far and we’ve had some guys step up .

I just feel that the certainty with which this guy states things is a bit idiotic . How many players play 36 mpg ? How many players go from playing 21.5 mpg to 36 and play all 82 ?

right now wood is at 33.5 . That’s more than good enough . He will have nights where we need him to play more and he will have nights (especially when boogie has it going ) when he can play less .

IMO Oladipo is playing a few too many mins right now . Brown and nwaba (and Gordon !)
Have been playing very well . But we will see how that 1-2-3 rotation shapes up if wall and Gordy can stay healthy .

 

Whether Wood is being used effectively is on Silas. If other players are being used inefficiently, that is on Silas too.

Dipo was shooting 20% from 3 last game.

That is very typical.of his 3P% since joining Rockets. Should he be allowed to continue shooting as many 3's?

Of course all teams SHOULD be better playing the break, that doesnt mean all teams ARE.

IT IS A COACHING ADJUSTMENT BASED ON PERSONNEL.

And Wall is one of the fastest if not THE fastest players in the NBA. MDA recognized that pace was a strength of Westbrook's and adjusted so Rockets became top 3 in pace during Westbrook's time with Rockets. Silas needs to recognize his advantage in Wall and adjust accordingly.

And if you want to disregard the analytics that is up to you.

Silas has been below average offensively, fact. He has been elite defensively but only when he dumps his hybrid D preference and plays switch D that MDA installed and had so much success with.

That is also fact.

And Wood is vastly improved on D, especially when not playing drop coverage: