I've been reading a fair amount of posts in here, and other sites, that seem to question Nate's play calling, substitution patterns, and/or general coaching ability. My gosh, guys, we're nearly halfway through the season and may very well be all alone in first place in the NW Division (depending on the Nuggets' outcome) tonight. I mean, aren't we already at, or above, the point where anybody might have thought we'd be at this juncture? Personally, I don't get it.
We're moving into the "playoff contender" status ABM. We want to win. Some of us are not convinced that Nate is the coach that will take us to the next level. There's no reason to beat around the bush. I like Nate, but I think he's sub-par as far as x's and o's.
I'm still of the opinion that much of the Nate bashing comes from an inflated view of how good the roster is.
It's criticism of his offensive and defensive schemes. If you're okay with an offense that largely depends on one player iso'ing and the pick and roll with little to no motion otherwise, kudos to you. Many of us are not and realize in the playoffs the other teams will largely take away our over-reliance on the Roy iso and make us pay for it dearly.
Criticizing a coach takes the least amount of thought and effort, that's why it's common place on every message board. Most people don't want to take the time and energy needed to really think critically, therefore they come up with things that in retrospect haven't worked out perfectly.
Hey cool, be blind to Nate's flaws and what he needs to improve. If you don't want to get the most out of the team that's fine with me, but don't get uppity at those of us who want this team to win multiple championships.
Wherever you go, fans seem to bash the coaches. When I was in Sac, Adelman was bashed. Here it was Mo, and now Nate, (though Mo deserved it!) Geez, we start 3 rookies, beat the world champs, and are in 1st place. I say Nate is doing a heck of a job!
Uppity? Hardly. Just voicing my opinion, as well. As I said at the outset, we're probably further along than most would have expected us to be at this point. This, with a regular starter (Martell) injured.
Bingo! Every message board. Sad but true any very annoying. Nothing wrong with playing the arm chair QB and disagreeing with the coaches decision. That is part of message boards. But IMO the fans that go to the extreme of blaming everything on a coach (and I mean EVERYTHING) is exactly what you said.......lazy and quite frankly not the most credible poster. Now don't get me wrong I am not talking specifically about this board. I surf a lot of sites in a lot of different sports. And almost every single one has certain posters that think the coach has to go. Which means there are about 5 coaches out there that are considered good. So if we fire the one we have, I still am not sure who we hire, because apparently they suck too.
<table class="sortable stats_table" id="CHI"><tbody><tr style="" onmouseover="hl(this);" onmouseout="uhl(this);" class=""><td csk="jacksph01c:1992" align="left"> </td> </tr> <tr style="" onmouseover="hl(this);" onmouseout="uhl(this);" class=""> <td align="left">1990-91</td> <td align="left">NBA</td> <td align="left">Chicago Bulls*</td> <td align="right">61</td> <td align="right">21</td> <td align="right">.744</td> <td align="right">1</td> <td align="right">8.57</td> <td align="right">114.6</td> <td csk="105.2" align="right">105.2</td> <td csk="1:4:1991" align="left">Won Finals</td> <td csk="jacksph01c:1991" align="left">Jackson (61-21)</td> </tr> <tr style="" onmouseover="hl(this);" onmouseout="uhl(this);" class=""> <td align="left">1989-90</td> <td align="left">NBA</td> <td align="left">Chicago Bulls*</td> <td align="right">55</td> <td align="right">27</td> <td align="right">.671</td> <td align="right">2</td> <td align="right">2.74</td> <td align="right">112.3</td> <td csk="109.0" align="right">109.0</td> <td csk="0:3:1990" align="left">Lost Eastern Conference Finals</td> <td csk="jacksph01c:1990" align="left">Jackson (55-27)</td> </tr> <tr style="" onmouseover="hl(this);" onmouseout="uhl(this);" class=""> <td align="left">1988-89</td> <td align="left">NBA</td> <td align="left">Chicago Bulls*</td> <td align="right">47</td> <td align="right">35</td> <td align="right">.573</td> <td align="right">5</td> <td align="right">2.13</td> <td align="right">109.1</td> <td csk="107.7" align="right">107.7</td> <td csk="0:3:1989" align="left">Lost Eastern Conference Finals</td> <td csk="collido01c:1989" align="left">Collins (47-35)</td> </tr> <tr style="" onmouseover="hl(this);" onmouseout="uhl(this);" class=""> <td align="left">1987-88</td> <td align="left">NBA</td> <td align="left">Chicago Bulls*</td> <td align="right">50</td> <td align="right">32</td> <td align="right">.610</td> <td align="right">2</td> <td align="right">3.76</td> <td align="right">109.0</td> <td csk="105.5" align="right">105.5</td> <td csk="0:2:1988" align="left">Lost Eastern Conference Semifinals</td> <td csk="collido01c:1988" align="left">Collins (50-32)</td> </tr> <tr style="" onmouseover="hl(this);" onmouseout="uhl(this);" class=""> <td align="left">1986-87</td> <td align="left">NBA</td> <td align="left">Chicago Bulls*</td> <td align="right">40</td> <td align="right">42</td> <td align="right">.488</td> <td align="right">5</td> <td align="right">1.27</td> <td align="right">108.6</td> <td csk="107.6" align="right">107.6</td> <td csk="0:1:1987" align="left">Lost Eastern Conference First Round</td> <td csk="collido01c:1987" align="left">Collins (40-42)</td></tr></tbody></table>
Nah, just saying sometimes a coach gets you to the finals where you lose, and he's still not THE ONE.
Like most coaches dealing with a young team, McMillan is dealing with more variables than the average coach, because he's still learning (and the players themselves are still learning) what they're capable of. The only guy he knows he can depend on is Brandon Roy, though lately, Blake and Przybilla have been pretty dependable, too (though the three of them aren't going to win games entirely on their own). That means McMillan has to constantly push guys, maneuver new lineups, etc. in order to win. And he's done that, overall, remarkably well. He's made some big mistakes (like playing LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy too many minutes), but overall, I'd give him at least a B+, probably an A, for some games.