McMillan can say all he wants right now and fans are either going to throw a fit or applaud his decisions. Nothing he says really matters until the players come back and show what they can do. It wouldn't surprise me to see Blake start for one single game before being beat out by Miller. OTOH, Miller would do SOOO well with Rudy, Travis, and Greg on the floor together. Just sayin', don't overreact to these kinds of statements.
Hell if I had to say that certain players looked like they would work well together the guys I would look at are: One group I see playing well together is Miller, Aldridge and Rudy. Aldridge because he runs the court so well. Rudy because he moves without the ball so well. Miller because he can handle on the break and throw the alley oop pass, as well as break down the paint. Oden will work well with any unit. The same with Roy. A lot of this will come down to if some guys have improved. We can't afford a doughnut out of the SF spot scoring wise if Joel is on the floor at the same time. We also can't afford a PG who puts no pressure on the defense except for spreading the floor. Having 2 and almost 3 non scorers in the starting lineup ensures slow starts and more pressure on Brandon and Aldridge, and will not succeed in the playoffs. So that being said, a lot of it rides on how Batum has progressed. It is obvious Joel is never going to be a scorer. Blake is Blake. An outside shooter and only effective if guys leak off of him.
This is exactly the point. You don't commit to starting somebody because they "should be" ready. You start them after they have shown that they ARE ready.
For Nate to say that publicly -- and it looks like he DID NOT -- but if he did, it would be as stupid as last season when he annointed Oden the starter before training camp. Nate, keep your mouth shut, take off your blinders, erase your pre-conceived biases, and let the players earn it on the court.
Why is it stupid to have a depth chart going into training camp? Do you think that Brandon Roy needs to beat out Rudy in camp to win the starting SG job? It's a non-story, and frankly is just another platform for the same critics of Nate to level the same baseless charges.
It doesn't matter who starts. It matters who gets more minutes and who plays with who. If Miller gets 28-32 mpg off the bench and Blake gets 16-20 mpg while starting I think we're fine Does anyone really think Blake + Rudy should share any minutes in the back court? That back court would be hamstrung with no penetration to set up the outside shooting. I'd much rather see Miller come off the bench mid to late first quarter and give our second unit the ability to run with LA and Rudy.
You guys misunderstood. I think they should start Miller and Greg. I think bringing Blake and Pryz off the bench is the way to go.
I agree with you and I suspect it will end up that way. Roy typically gets off slowly anyway; and the first play of the game is usually a dump down to a post player. Miller and Oden and Aldridge and Roy should be able to get us off to some good starts for a change.
Yeah... but I think even OdenisGod could coach this team to 30 wins with the talent level that they have.
Why would McMillan even say that at this point? Why not just say every position is an open competition and the best team of 5 will start.
Well, that's only because Yao is afraid of exclamation marks. Otherwise... not so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111
Because it isn't an open competition, at least in terms of who lines up with the starting unit the first day of camp? Seems like you're asking Nate to lie.
I concur completely. I also happen to think that Blake doesn't work well as a backup. Same as Derek Fisher. He needs to be the fourth or fifth option, which wouldn't be true if he came off the bench. (Or if it was, that would be a red flag...) Maybe this is just a coded way of saying: "Brandon, you're going to have to do some scoring early, and not save it ALL until the fourth. Because if you don't, we'll be in a big hole to start the game." Roy has said something to that effect, that he's going to look to score a bit more in the early going.
As Pippen once said, "The players are the first to know who deserves to be on the court, even before the coaching staff" because they're the ones trying to defend or score against each other. I think the right rotations will come out in the wash of competition. Who's designated the starter in the off-season isn't particularly relevant. And who actually starts isn't necessarily very relevant. What is relevant is minutes played. I'll be very surprised if Miller doesn't play significantly more minutes than Blake, whether he starts or not. And I'd expect Oden to play more minutes than Przybilla if he can stay on the court. But if I were McMillan, I'd be challenging everyone except Roy and Aldridge (who are too obviously the starters for it to work/matter with them) to feel that they're not guaranteed of anything. I think Miller, Batum and Oden should all be the main players at their positions, but I want them as motivated to fight for their positions as possible.
