Hickson was terrific at the end of the season for them.
Did Hickson play that well for Portland? My impression of him was that he was getting a lot of minutes in blowout losses and padding his stats both (1) in weak Blazers lineups, and, (2) when the games were already out of hand.
The more Hickson seemed to play, the more Portland seemed to lose.
Hickson, who played 19 games with the Blazers after he was claimed off waivers from Sacramento, averaged 15.1 points and 8.3 rebounds in 32 minutes a game for Portland. -Taken from the Article.
But saying JJ padded his stats is a ridiculous statement given the fact that Portland was tanking after giving away Gerald Wallace and Roy retired.
Exactly -- they were playing these lousy lineups with the likes of Jonny Flynn, Elliot Williams, Nolan Smith, Luke Babbitt, Hasheem Thabeet. Even their better players weren't up to much (Joel Przybilla, Raymond Felton, Kurt Thomas). They were just giving guys a run-out and seeing what they had to offer and getting their butts handed to them on a regular basis.
Hickson's production wasn't coming in tight competitive games against quality competition. They were meaningless minutes. Big blowout losses. No pressure environment. Just run up and do whatever you want because nothing matters. Lose-lose-lose-lose.
Not a good indication of what Hickson can offer on a quality team.