Shabazz “Shabazzledazzle” Napier has been marginalized for almost his whole time in Portland. If that’s even the right word. Either way, hard to get minutes when you’ve got an All-Star ironman playing ahead of you at your position. Every minute Lillard isn’t in the game for the Blazers feels like wasted time. Just like with most other near-superstars. Tough for the backups, but that’s how it is. Shabazzledazzle just has to deal with it and be ready when his time comes.
This year, the Blazers are experimenting more with three-guard lineups featuring Lillard, McCollum, and Shabazzledazzle. I’m no defensive expert, but that sounds like it would be a fiery trainwreck on defense. They’re trying it, though, and they’re seeing some success with it. I think. Maybe if I go look at that three-man combo on one of those fancy stats websites it will turn out that it’s not working at all. But until I figure out how to do that, I’m gonna go with my eye test, which says it looks good except for the huge black blotch in the middle.
Yeah, I looked directly at the eclipse for too long. Couldn’t help myself.