1) Nate's rotations continue to fail miserably and clearly lost us the game. I've lost all confidence in him. 2) When we're playing 3 guards against a superior athletic team, THAT's the time to put in Bayless. But he just sat. 3) Roy, as usual, too much one on one. His defense also was also horrible. 4) Travis needs to learn about the shot clock. I'm beginning to think we may need to trade a few players for a good, tough SF. All year our offense looks pathetic. No flow.
The offense looks EXACTLY like it did last season, but our jumpers against the shot clock aren't falling this year.
I don't agree MM. We didn't run many 3 guard lineups last season. Nate is actually getting worse as a coach. He's so obsessed with playing his favorites that he goes against common sense and tries to play Blake and Miller together with either Roy and Rudy.
I liked Nate for help building a team up but he just seem like he can't handle a team thats actually good.
GOTTA PLAY BLAKEY. Gotta go without a center for a good portion of the 4th quarter. Gotta do it. Gotta.
Some of this blame falls on KP ... his blind refusal to trade away any of "his guys" is really starting to hurt this team. It's like Whittsitt but only in reverse -- instead of trading for too many pieces that don't quite fit together he's retaining too many pieces that don't quite fit together.
How about this observation: Brandon Roy is becoming a volume shooter. 8-19 tonight. 1-6 from downtown. Think he's worried about his numbers just a bit?
I made the point in a nother thread that Brandon needs to trust his teammates more. Portland will not win many games if Brandon tries to score 30 a night.
Roy had a mental block for some reason. he was a few steps off. I was actually nervous for him with the ball tonight. Travis was the guy who the Blazers had the most confidence in tonight. Scary
I couldn't agree more. I have great respect for Nate as a person, but now have lost hope for his ability to lift this team to the next level. His method of rotations is questionable at best. I haven't been this disappointed in a coach for a whole lot of years. Nate has a stranglehold on this teams neck and is choking the life out of it. Brandon played very low IQ ball tonight and needs to understand he might be the franchise face, but he is not a one man team. Travis... I love ya... but you will never "get it".
Roy could not hold on to his dribble tonight for some reason. I can't count the number of times he lost it.
Sometimes I wonder how successful the Blazers would be if they had someone other than Nate as the coach. We really do need a mid-season trade if the guys on the team can't put it together by the end of the month. I hope Outlaw is the first to go! He makes more problems than helps.
I've been on the fence about Nate, sometimes I think he is what the team has needed to give them some discipline before letting them loose, but I don't think he will ever let them loose. There seems to be no strategy nor do the players seem to have an idea as to what they should do. As has been mentioned, Nate seems guard obsessed and seems to fall back into favorites. Mind you, with as pathetic as our offense has been this year, at least Travis is giving us points (most of the time). He has weaknesses elsewhere but with our lack of offensive production, we appear to be needing his offensive output - otherwise we may be in much worse shape. Depending on your point of view (and I'm slowing climbing off the fence), the plus side to the Blazers pathetic exhibition thus far this year is that if this continues for another couple months (I don't know that they'd let it go too long), we may be in for a new coach. To me, it seems that the players who best adjust to Nate play - not necessarily the most talented players, but those who fit Nate and with whom he has a comfort level. Just as we complain about refs having prejudices against certain players, I'd say Nate does as well and with things obviously being problematic thus far, why not go back to pre-season mode and give some of the other guys (i.e., Bayless) some time and let's see if they can bring anything to the table. It may be that Bayless would burn out again just as he did last year or it may be that he proves to have grown and will earn consistent minutes. I have long been a Blake fan - not as a starter but as a backup but he has, for the most part, stunk it up this year and I'm thinking that if we're going to have someone stinking it up, why not let it be someone with more energy and speed and give Bayless burn rather rather than letting someone who is obviously not getting any better continue? Ah, the joys of being a Blazer fan....full of unrequited optimism. Gramps...
roy looks like he's trying to do too much so far this season. if starting miller would fix that, i'd be all for it. not sure that's the case though. people complain that nate always sticks to his rotation, but then also complain if he ever changes his rotation. basically nothing he ever does will please anyone. i'd say it's time to get over the "nate's a terrible coach" thing. constantly bitching about it does nothing. both miller and blake are playing like shit. i think it's time to see more roy/rudy together in the backcourt(and not as part of a 3 guard set), especially to close out games. at some point oden is going to have to be allowed to play through foul trouble. if he picks up too many fouls to where he absolutely has to come out(3 in the 1st or 4 before the 4th), that's what joel is for.
Travis Outlaw=Thinking off Seriously if he didn't flinch and had shot that open three, we would have actually had a chance to win this game.
Umm...KP....the cake is burning. Will this team go the path of the babybulls? A young team so full of promise, and they suddenly collapse? The blazers are not well coached, and they could definitely use a shake up of their personnel. The supporting cast around Roy and LA hasn't looked good at all this season, except for Oden, who can't keep his ass on the court. I'd like to see some changes...Bayless, Howard...a trade...fire Nate...something. I feel a bit stupid for wasting so much time and money following these dorks.
