No matter how many stars or role players, our problem isn't talent. It's tension. I don't know how many of you work. I don't know if any of you have ever witnessed an employee having problems with another in the workplace is about ready to get fired, but I have. I see everyone, including myself, are all tense. They can't think straight. They worry about what they say or sides they take, knowing that if things blow over, they don't want to be the one on the "wrong side". Fact is, I believe our problems are mainly from tension within the organization. Either it be with players, roles, coaching decisions, management or expectations, something is making our team second guess themselves. The reason we were more loose last season was many didn't expect us to do anything. The players win, then it was a bonus. We lose, and it was expected. Now the media attention, but mainly the attention in the city itself thinks we are contenders or close to contenders. So any little mistake, terrible loss or players not playing to expectations have completely took over the loose, have fun mentality the Blazers had last season. Personally, the only way I see anything changing for the positive, is for the coaching staff and management instill that it's okay to lose games. Oden doesn't have to feel terrible about being in foul trouble. Roy shouldn't think all day about those hurried dribbles that fumbled a turn-over. I, for one, will cheer this team on. I think things will turn around, once they go through the "growing pains" of being expected to be better. Until then, it may be a bumpy ride. Mags
I just figured that out brother and thanks for the update. I will change it now. I am a little "upset" about our play lately, which has effected my "grammar and spelling"... hehehehe. I just feel like this is such an easy fix. But it's a fix that everyone needs to be a part of.
Hmm, over half of the problem tells me he's THE problem. I do think we need a third option on offense but we also need one of two things: -Nate to run A LOT more. -New coach. It's really that simple.
Hey word "Not only the problem". Just sayin. And believe me, I'm not too happy with Nate right now. If he gets fired, it could very well be a complete turn-around for the team positively.
Our other problem (implying Nate is not the only problem) is the team is hitting their shots less and taking less shots. Nate does not control their percentages other than hitting down low to Oden and LMA. Yet Oden's % is the same from last year and LMA % has gone up this year. Thus, Nate is not the only problem. He is a part of it.
There is a weird mix of personnel, but I see that as only part of the problem. This roster isn't bad per se, but there's too much replication and not enough hustle guys on the team who make their living off of hard nosed play, defense and being a role player. Another key issue is with our guards and wings on defense. Whatever you want to say about Blake and Miller duking out the point guard spot and who should start, etc. Neither is getting the job done in a man-to-man defense; we're getting murdered by dribble penetration and most of the rest of our wings are getting killed on defense too (Brandon, Rudy and Travis) ... it's not an accident that Joel, Greg and LaMarcus are constantly in foul trouble because guards and wings are constantly running into their chests on straight drives to the hoop. Lastly, as for Nate being the right coach, I have pretty serious reservations at this point (anybody that can turn Andre Miller into a bad point guard overnight is probably not a very good coach) I don't know if it's lack of imagination, or sheer bloody minded stubbornness, but he seems pretty incapable of adapting style of play to fit his people. He keeps harping on defense (which is fine) but he doesn't have a roster of defensive minded players, conversely KP hasn't drafted hard-nosed physical players, he's mostly drafted finesse guys who like to hit long range jump shots instead. So there's a twofold problem, Nate isn't getting what he wants out of his players and KP hasn't given him players who can give him what he wants. But even if you were to fire Nate and hire a run and gun coach with an offensively minded approach this team still wouldn't be a contender come playoff time, some roster tweaks are in order.
This is the same roster we had last year with the exception of Webster for Batum and Miller for Sergio... Since Sergio was pretty much garbage - the issues are one of two: 1. We miss Nic an awful lot more than we expected or 2. The team is having a very hard time playing with Miller. I suspect it is a combination of the two. We could have used Batum last night on Joe Johnson. And - I already said it - but the spacing seems all wrong to me with Miller in there - so something has to be done about that, pronto.
You said it perfectly. Our perimeter D is atrocious! You may argue that point last season, since mainly Oden was the one usually in foul trouble, but most our bigs have been this season so far. There is something to be said about that. Teams are seriously exploiting this and using their guards to get our bigs in foul trouble, then playing us "Straight Up" in the 3rd and 4th quarters after our bigs are so out of sync. You nailed it again. How in the hell does a player like Miller go from being one of the top 10 PGs in the league last season, to a "OMG he can't play worth a shit guard" this season? That has more to do with coaching and chemistry, than actual talent from the player being brought in. I wish I typed what you wrote because I believe you nailed my thoughts all in one nut shell. I would also like to add that we lack serious leadership as well. Like I said in some previous posts. Last season, I saw a lot of huddling during dead balls and communication on the bench. Now I see players sitting on the bench and keeping to themselves and no huddles after dead balls. What the hell happened?
As much as I agree that we would be better off if we could use Batum and Webster as a great 1-2 punch on the wing, I also think that just Batum isn't the solution. There is something wrong internally. I see no communication on the floor, on the bench and I suspect the same in practices. No one looks used to one another. I see a ton of tension in the air as well. It just doesn't seem like everyone is confident in each other. Almost like there are cliques within the team that are sticking together, while the others do their thing. We need unity both offensively and defensively. I remember there are teams that don't have good perimeter one on one defenders, yet they don't have these types of problems defensively. It's because of communication and team unity. They help each other 100% of the time, which covers their inabilities in numbers.
Frankly I thought the team overachieved last year. Despite the team's pretty substantial point differential, we won way too many comeback victories to expect that they'd be able to repeat that again -- that kind of performance was something of an anomaly, and regression to the mean is always something you have to think about. Nic's perimeter defense is certainly missing (though Webster is doing an admirable job), and while I don't think it's that the team is having a hard time playing with Miller I fully agree that Brandon is having a hard time playing with him. In any case the problems run deeper than a Miller problem, or simply missing Nic's defense 18 minutes a night. Rotations are a mess, players look confused, roles aren't being established and for me it all comes back to having too many players that need shots and rhythm to be effective, and not enough dirty work or defensive minded players to compliment Brandon and LaMarcus.
"you must spread some reputation around before you can give it to Nikokulous again" You absolutely nailed it brother. I think there is a problem with Miller and it's that he's being used wrong. He is not Blake 2.0 and Roy and McScribbles need to come to terms with that and adjust. It seems that Roy and McScribbles are very stubborn. Roy wants to be a Superstar he should be able to adapt. He also wants to be a leader, he needs to establish a relationship with Miller and Rudy. I often felt last year like Roy wanted to be a solitaire type leader. It took a strange turn of events for Roy to befriend Aldridge (some commercial shoot) and it still looks like Roy isn't super friendly with Rudy or Oden. Roy seems to like "Omega Dogs" to his Alpha (paging Travis Outlaw!) and he needs to get over that and work with the talent and mould himself and them to a synthesized game plan. Sure let Roy handle the rock 80% of the time in the half court, but let Miller and Rudy run. This team seems like a square peg being mercilessly hammered into a round hole by McScribbles and Roy. I love Roy, I LOVE HIM, but he needs to step up to the leadership/superstar role he claims he wants to fill. I know he can do it, he just needs to learn what Kobe learned, trust your team mates and get a presence in the post involved. Hopefully Roy's learning curve is steeper then Kobe's other wise it could be awhile a LONG while before we win a ring. I hate to say it but right now it looks like Boston and Orlando are favorites to win this year. LA is having issues too.
A couple of lineups I'd like to see: The half-court death machine: Bayless Roy Martell LMA Oden Uptempo game #1: Miller Rudy Martell LMA Oden Uptempo game #2: Miller Bayless Rudy LMA Oden/Przybilla Closers: Roy Rudy Martell (for defense for FREAKING DEFENSE!!!! and 3 point shooting off Roy penetration) LMA Oden Our current lineups are not getting it done. It's worth experimenting at this point. Oh and STOP THE FUCKING RETARDED MINUTE BASED SUBSTITUTIONS!!!!
I would like to see these as well - but what worries me is that the Roy/Miller combo does not seem to mesh - and that is going to be an issue going forward.
I agree, those two have got to get some chemistry going. Roy needs to spot up but also CUT TO THE FREAKING BASKET when Miller penetrates. Miller would be more apt to look for Roy if Roy did something other then hang out at the 3pt line waiting for his turn to penetrate or shoot a three. Miller is ball handling PG who excels in an up tempo environment. Roy is a ball handling SG who excels in the half court. It seems pretty obvious to me that Miller needs to push the break and if it isn't there pass it to Roy about 75% of the time. Then he needs to be setting screens for shooters or posting his man up, because he doesn't do anything else well off the ball. EDIT: I feel like I've seen Miller try and give Roy the ball in the half-court which to me shows he is trying to blend in. Roy on the other hand seems to think all PG's should be Blake. That concerns me. I'm not saying Miller doesn't need to step up, just he is being used wrong by Nate and Roy.
If that's the case, then Miller should be moved the minute his contract becomes tradable. Having Miller come off the bench won't work.
Quite a divisive issue. I noted during last night's game that sometimes it seems Roy wants to carry the whole load on his back and at times that caused some weird shot selections and some forced shots. At the same time, isn't that what we should expect? Would you tell Jordan that, hey, you need to adjust to Steve Kerr and let him run the show for a bit? I think not. Miller is a good PG, he is. And maybe it's Nate or Nate's system that isn't working for him. But I think Miller has to adjust as much as anybody. Overachieving or not, this team won a good deal of games last year. Something HAD to have clicked for them to respond as a team and win a comeback game. I honestly think that: A) Our shot selection sucks B) Our shots when taken suck C) Our perimeter D sucks D) Our chemistry sucks E) The refs still suck, so screw all of you who think otherwise As much as I hate the idea of moving people around just for the sake of moving people around, if I were Nate I'd stick Miller in the starting lineup for 10 games and see what happens. It certainly can't be any worse, I think. Either the team will man-up and adjust as a group or they'll fall apart and it will become painfully obvious a trade has to be made.
