Post by Portland on Nov 17, 2016 19:48:41 GMT
Portland has never been a team which turns the roster over rapidly but this off-season we’ve done quite a bit of it: Gone is our all-time scoring leader Anatoly Myshkin; gone is All-Defense Second Team small forward Gerald Wallace; gone is underrated center and top rebounder P.J. Brown; gone is floor general Si Green one year after setting our single-season assist record; and gone are a few key reserves who got us to the 7-seed last year like Bud Olsen, Brian Shaw, Billy Owens, and the popular Dino Meneghin. And gone is two consecutive years of great cohesion as the new group gets to know each other.
In the place of those players however, we think we’ve added a good group of veteran contributors who can get us back to the playoffs. After the rest of the league makes its final cuts we’ll again be one of the older teams in the ABCA, which suits us fine.
Here’s a look at this year’s team:
Center – Al Horford. Al was acquired from the Bulls for Gerald Wallace and immediately becomes the best center we’ve ever had in my six seasons running the team. Last season we struggled all season with scoring efficiency and it kept us from achieving a much better season. Horford will go a long way toward addressing that. His acquisition cost us a lot of treasure but he should be worth it. He’ll be backed up by Nick Collison, a downgrade from Bud Olsen but the best we could get our hands on in free agency.
Power Forward – Myshkin’s departure has opened the door for second-year man Rudy Gay, who we think is ready to step in. Rudy had a good camp and we have no worries that he’ll score. He’s torched the summer league both of the last two seasons. What he won’t give us is Myshkin’s rebounding. Amazingly the Blazers have increased our RPG ever year for seven consecutive seasons, reaching a pinnacle of 47 last season. The loss of Myshkin and Si Green will probably put an end to that streak, so Gay better produce enough offense to ease our pain. Orlando Woolridge will sub in for Gay and keep the points coming; he had a really good tc but isn’t the defender or rebounder we’d prefer down low. Kermit Washington will get garbage minutes.
Small Forward – This job was supposed to go to Bob Love until Brent Barry fell into our laps in free agency, so Barry – another scoring threat – will start coming out of the gate. Love will backup both forward positions as he did last year; we need him to step up a bit this season. Barry put up a lot of points in his first few ABCA seasons but hasn’t been the all-around player to get maximum minutes in Guangdong or Bamberg. Blazers tend to be well-rounded players historically and Barry doesn’t necessarily fit that description. Young Gennady Volnov is a player we’re really high on. If the season starts to go south for us his playing time will increase so we can see what we have.
Shooting Guard – Finally a position where there’s a semblance of continuity. Jerry Sloan returns on the wing where we know he’ll provide secondary scoring and his typically-stiff defense. Jerry isn’t one to go on scoring rampages although he did go off for 44 points against the Raptors last season in the playoffs. He’s a reliable guy, probably a little underrated around the league, but not at all the stuff of legend. A typical Blazer. Newly-added Ronnie Fields will support Sloan off the bench, if his wallet doesn’t slow him down. We like Eric Murdock – who we think has been miscast as a point guard in the past - to get some minutes here too.
Point Guard – Si Green was a high risk, high reward distributor for us last season and now we welcome back a much steadier veteran in Damon Stoudamire. Damon was the first player I traded away from Portland when I took over the team seven seasons ago. He still holds some of our assist records and he’ll get a chance to add to them this year. He’s a capable scorer but all he has to do to make us happy is get the ball into the hands of Horford and Gay. We think he’s an upgrade even if he doesn’t have Green’s explosiveness and intangibles. Flynn Robinson will back up Stoudamire and hopefully continue the career resurgence he had in Milan last season.
Can Portland make the playoffs again, and more importantly have a winning campaign again after two straight sub-.500 seasons? I think so, but some unknowns have to be dealt with first. Gay has to be ready; it’s not like us to run a 22 year-old out there with the seasoned players we prefer. Barry has to be steady. Stoudamire has to stave off Father Time, and the Sloan/Love/Woolridge faction needs to help us outscore the teams we beat last year via our good defense. I don’t think the other American teams will be able to count on easy wins against us. I guess we’re about to find out.
In the place of those players however, we think we’ve added a good group of veteran contributors who can get us back to the playoffs. After the rest of the league makes its final cuts we’ll again be one of the older teams in the ABCA, which suits us fine.
Here’s a look at this year’s team:
Center – Al Horford. Al was acquired from the Bulls for Gerald Wallace and immediately becomes the best center we’ve ever had in my six seasons running the team. Last season we struggled all season with scoring efficiency and it kept us from achieving a much better season. Horford will go a long way toward addressing that. His acquisition cost us a lot of treasure but he should be worth it. He’ll be backed up by Nick Collison, a downgrade from Bud Olsen but the best we could get our hands on in free agency.
Power Forward – Myshkin’s departure has opened the door for second-year man Rudy Gay, who we think is ready to step in. Rudy had a good camp and we have no worries that he’ll score. He’s torched the summer league both of the last two seasons. What he won’t give us is Myshkin’s rebounding. Amazingly the Blazers have increased our RPG ever year for seven consecutive seasons, reaching a pinnacle of 47 last season. The loss of Myshkin and Si Green will probably put an end to that streak, so Gay better produce enough offense to ease our pain. Orlando Woolridge will sub in for Gay and keep the points coming; he had a really good tc but isn’t the defender or rebounder we’d prefer down low. Kermit Washington will get garbage minutes.
Small Forward – This job was supposed to go to Bob Love until Brent Barry fell into our laps in free agency, so Barry – another scoring threat – will start coming out of the gate. Love will backup both forward positions as he did last year; we need him to step up a bit this season. Barry put up a lot of points in his first few ABCA seasons but hasn’t been the all-around player to get maximum minutes in Guangdong or Bamberg. Blazers tend to be well-rounded players historically and Barry doesn’t necessarily fit that description. Young Gennady Volnov is a player we’re really high on. If the season starts to go south for us his playing time will increase so we can see what we have.
Shooting Guard – Finally a position where there’s a semblance of continuity. Jerry Sloan returns on the wing where we know he’ll provide secondary scoring and his typically-stiff defense. Jerry isn’t one to go on scoring rampages although he did go off for 44 points against the Raptors last season in the playoffs. He’s a reliable guy, probably a little underrated around the league, but not at all the stuff of legend. A typical Blazer. Newly-added Ronnie Fields will support Sloan off the bench, if his wallet doesn’t slow him down. We like Eric Murdock – who we think has been miscast as a point guard in the past - to get some minutes here too.
Point Guard – Si Green was a high risk, high reward distributor for us last season and now we welcome back a much steadier veteran in Damon Stoudamire. Damon was the first player I traded away from Portland when I took over the team seven seasons ago. He still holds some of our assist records and he’ll get a chance to add to them this year. He’s a capable scorer but all he has to do to make us happy is get the ball into the hands of Horford and Gay. We think he’s an upgrade even if he doesn’t have Green’s explosiveness and intangibles. Flynn Robinson will back up Stoudamire and hopefully continue the career resurgence he had in Milan last season.
Can Portland make the playoffs again, and more importantly have a winning campaign again after two straight sub-.500 seasons? I think so, but some unknowns have to be dealt with first. Gay has to be ready; it’s not like us to run a 22 year-old out there with the seasoned players we prefer. Barry has to be steady. Stoudamire has to stave off Father Time, and the Sloan/Love/Woolridge faction needs to help us outscore the teams we beat last year via our good defense. I don’t think the other American teams will be able to count on easy wins against us. I guess we’re about to find out.
