Posted 12/09/2012 8:39 AM

Love Matthews and his competitiveness.  In this era of long-term guaranteed contracts, truly rare and an example to all.  Was curious as to the reasoning behind sending Barton down for the Sac game with the team as road weary as they were and with little to no rest.  If Wes is injured, where will the blame fall?  Many on these boards, myself included, have long cautioned against the gross minutes being logged by Portland's starters.  Now this.  Very unfortunate.  Thoughts and prayers with you Wes.

 

Coaching staff, players, and fans want to win.  Management wants to lose.  The conflict of interests continue.

Posted 12/09/2012 9:02 AM

Posted By BDawg on 12/09/2012 8:39 AM

Love Matthews and his competitiveness.  In this era of long-term guaranteed contracts, truly rare and an example to all.  Was curious as to the reasoning behind sending Barton down for the Sac game with the team as road weary as they were and with little to no rest.  If Wes is injured, where will the blame fall?  Many on these boards, myself included, have long cautioned against the gross minutes being logged by Portland's starters.  Now this.  Very unfortunate.  Thoughts and prayers with you Wes.

 

Coaching staff, players, and fans want to win.  Management wants to lose.  The conflict of interests continue.

I am still trying to figure out the Logic of Management wanting to lose.  Arew the rumors out thier that Paul Allen is looking to sell?

Posted 12/09/2012 9:43 AM

I don't for one minute believe management wants to lose one game. On the contrary I think management wants to see a handful of bench players play to their potential and start clicking..so far it hasn't happened and don't think for a second that Paul Allen isn't just as frustrated as the players, coaches or fans. If you do, you don't know or understand Paul Allen's love of the game and investment in RIP city. We're really lucky to have an owner like him. We don't need pitchforks and torches here, we need time and adjustment. It's a process.

Posted 12/09/2012 9:49 AM

BDawg, first of all, this wasn't a wear-and-tear injury. It sounds like the knee to the hip caused some inflammation or tension that lead to a pulling or damage to some muscle fibers. It's a specific injury caused by a specific incident.

There's quite a leap you made from losing last night to management wanting to lose. I really don't see it. They've brought in high-caliber guys that want to win. Everything about the Blazers right now is an atmosphere of desire to win. The problem is that we just don't have the pieces to be winning consistently. I would rephrase to say the management isn't afraid of losing; they know they're in a rebuild, and missing the playoffs means a lottery pick. There may be some moves made to bring in the right type of players to this team. In other words, this team is being assembled to make a serious run in 2-3 years. These guys can lose all they want and learn together, because in the end they're trying to build OKC 2.0.

Posted 12/09/2012 9:53 AM

I have a hard time explaining why it is effort hasn't been made to relieve the starters with as blatantly obvious a problem as it has become.  How many more starters will have to be sacrificed to injury while we await the development of this bench?  Team was 6 deep before injuries began to be an issue and this team was 8-10.  Now what can realistically be expected as we adjust to being 4 deep?

Posted 12/09/2012 6:20 PM

JJ missed a game early with a shoulder injury, LaMarcus had a strained lower back and sat out Brooklyn, Wes wouldn't sit down over the road trip when most guys would. I think the last game Batum was trying to be like Wes and it just couldn't happen. Better early and at home than later in the season Easy schedule ahead for once. One thing I liked about Pop sending his starter home early from the road game is his desire to take care of the vets when he could. Better yet, that night against Miami the Spurs bench almost beat them, ended losing by 5 on national TV..now that's what needs to happen in Portland. We need guys to step up and compete.

Posted 12/09/2012 6:21 PM

I also think if Wes goes down for a stretch, Pavlovic with big minutes might get it going. Ronnie Price as well.

Posted 12/10/2012 6:29 AM

If a loss is a loss and we are building for the future, why doesn't Stotts play the bench more? It doesn't matter if we get blown out with starters on the floor or bench players, what is important is to get these bench rookies some time on the court where they learn how to play the game, and keep our vets healthy. Stotts shouldn't yank them, he should give them the freedom to succeed and fail. Second quarter and beginning of the 4th should be bench time, face it guys this team is lottery bound, what can be done though is to use this season as teaching time for those we saw nba potential in.

Posted 12/10/2012 7:54 AM

That is where the conflict is.  Stotts wants to win, and Managements wants supposedly to build an OKC which took to three years.  As BDawg has said Stotts is a stop gap coach until we get rid of Nates contract next year.

Management wants to wait to develop the younger palyers, however at the same time they want to win which is an oxymoron, and are putting pressure on Stotts to win.  That is the problem.

I do not know how Stotts can win with the third lowest payroll in the league.  Yes we have rookies under contract, but if he do not play them how do they develop?  If we play them a lot we lose.

I agree with BDAWG, you have to give the Coach the tools to win with and it is obvious management has not done this.  In this past off season, they could have gone after more FA's then just Hibbert.  Say if you went after two centers and got them both, we have a triple threat with LA and the two new centers.  Or go after some good quality SF to back-up Batum. The list could go on and on.  They went after one and lost and we are left with a bunch of rookies.

Yes we got burned last year with Felton and Crawford.  But to go from one extreme of spending the money to the other of the third lowest payroll in the league does not make sense to me if you want to win.

That showed to me Management was ok with having a Bad Season.  BDAWG you have it right.

Again, if Wes is down for a few games I am going to hate to see what happens.

Posted 12/10/2012 1:41 PM

This happens when max offers like the one we gave Hibbert sit in limbo for most of the free agent period. Making offers to restricted players has a risk factor. Nobody knew how our bench players would play or how to rotate them. The players are not only learning a new system, the coach is learning new players unlike other NBA teams with returning coaches and similar lineups. Fortunately Freeland, Barton, are starting to play better. Sasha has been used to little in my opinion in favor of Smith. Coach Stotts is tinkering with rotation trying to find right guys and unfortunately they haven't produced much yet. Meyers Leonard is not defending or rebounding well for a 7'1 guy at all. I think we'll see some changes before the deadline.