Portland Trail Blazers Breakdown: Blazers Future Has Eroded With Roy's Knees

[Erick Blasco]

The Portland Trail Blazers are a perfect example of success-starved fans getting carried away. Three seasons ago, the Blazers were the NBA’s jewel, with greatness predicted thanks to the youth and talent of Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and first overall draft pick Greg Oden. Fast forward to the present and you’ll find Oden perpetually injured, Aldridge still too soft, and Roy’s knees and patience with Andre Miller shot.

 

Indeed, on the basis of Portland’s 103-98 loss in Dallas, the Blazers play hard, but have difficulty generating easy baskets and are shy on elite defenders.

 

By my unofficial count, excluding transition, extreme early offense, and broken plays, the Blazers ended only 26 of 87 possessions with plays at the rim. This does not even take into account successful possessions, it’s simply plays at the rim.

 

This is a result of many factors.

 

For starters, the Blazers lack an authentic low post scorer. Marcus Camby, Joel Pryzbilla, and Dante Cunningham generated zero possessions at the basket on their own accord. LaMarcus Aldridge wound up with 15 post up possessions—and countless others where he posted, failed to gain an advantage and harmlessly kicked the ball out—but he rarely carves space in the post.

 

He mostly looked to turn and shoot hooks over his left shoulder, and was largely unsuccessful against Tyson Chandler’s sturdy defense. When Chandler did go to his right shoulder, it was largely against smaller checks, usually Shawn Marion. Either way, Aldridge’s 15 post possessions only led to 14 Blazers points, an unsuccessful number.

 

There were several muscle-moves to Aldridge’s game, namely a tough catch, spin, and finish in heavy traffic with just a few minutes to go to keep the score tied, but Aldridge is too finesse-oriented to generate reliable post offense against most good defenses. Also, Aldridge pauses in the post to survey the defense instead of anticipating where the defense has left an opening and attacking it. As a result, Aldridge allows defenders to get too comfortable in their post defense instead of punishing them before they get set.

 

Normally, Aldridge’s post shortcomings would be overlooked, but they become more pronounced with Brandon Roy’s zapped athleticism. Indeed, Roy looked like a shell of his self against the Mavs—2-5 FG, 0-2 FT, 5 AST, 0 TO, 4 PTS.

 

Roy’s never been super quick, and has always relied more on long strides, shiftiness, and smart decision making to craft his success. This is why in screen/roll situations, he still produced a modicum of success with the Blazers scoring seven points in five possessions.

 

However, with his knees drained of juice, Roy simply can’t get any explosion out of his lower body, which makes him painfully average in one-on-one situations. The Blazers were 0-3 in three Roy post opportunities, where he posted 20 feet away and couldn’t get inside the free throw line extended. Roy also was only able to isolate twice, leading to two points.

 

However, despite Roy’s smarts, he’s always preferred to dominate the ball. On multiple perfunctory cuts and curls, Roy simply jogged through the motions, completely removing himself from the play. Instead, aside from one well-timed flash and dish on an Andre Miller corner screen/roll, Roy would lounge around the perimeter spectating rather than participating. Also, Roy has never been a player who pushes the ball in early offense, which hurts a team starving for easy points.

 

His insecurities towards not playing a brand of basketball he’s most comfortable with have been evident since Andre Miller’s arrival, and his constant subtle jabs at Miller breed a disharmony that chokes fluid, team basketball.

 

For sure, the duo is totally ill-suited for each other. Miller is at his best in transition and probing in early offense while Roy is totally a half court player. Both players need the ball to be most effective. When Roy has the ball, Miller doesn’t space the floor because he‘s a poor shooter, and when Miller has the ball, Roy becomes disinterested.

 

In fact, Roy has always been at his best with shooters surrounding him, something Miller is not. And Miller has always been at his best in a freelancing, up-tempo system where his open court play and court IQ generate opportunities for athletes needing direction, a description that hardly fit’s the Blazers.

 

But for a player like Roy who has been described essentially as a golden child, his habit of quickly coming up with excuses to explain his shortcomings with Miller in tow, wreaks of pettiness.

 

 

http://www.blazersedge.com/2010/12/17/1882868/portland-trail-blazers-breakdown-blazers-future-has-eroded-with-roys