WTF were you thinking, McMuffin?

I love when the Mike's say McMillan is telling the team to push it and stop settling for jumpers and get to the basket.

Well design something for it then coach, fuck. Just yelling at your players to do something is easy.

 

...that has a nice ring to it

 

At this point I'd like to see Joe Prunty or Monty Williams get a go at HC.
NO WAY could they be worse than McMoron.

JBay should also get a run. . .

 

I'm surprised that Bayless hasn't blown up yet at the coach. Hes had no playing time in the first 5 games so far. I seriously thought Nate would throw him in against Atlanta with their fast pace style. I have a feeling that Bayless will want to be traded by the mid season deadline or by the end of the year. I'm really pissed at Nate right now on his decisions tonight.

 

Well, I am merely pointing out that the coach should have at least experimented and see what Bayless could do in the Atlanta situation. Millers shots weren't going down and he got clobbered in the 4th trying to drive down the lane. I saw Bayless in the loading dock and he headed straight for his Black Range Rover. He looked down in the dumps.

 

My God why is he such a tool?
Rotations are certainly one of his weak spots, and he has plenty.

Sometimes I wish he would get tossed so Monty could coach the game.
Oden needs to cut down on silly fouls, but Nate has to let him play throught it.
Nice to see the team has improved it's perimeter defense that their coach is demanding
I'd love to see a coach in here that had a different philosophy on defense.
Constantly saying we have to makes stops and make shots is not acceptable.

All Nate will ever be is a good motivator.
Sure we had an efficient offense last year, but as I have said 1000 times, it's from rebounding.
Sometimes it's ok to push the ball and draw fouls, Nate.
Centers can be a good part of an offense if it's designed to take advantage of one.
Letting Roy go ISO is not a very good way to score the ball consistantly.
Oden and LA need to see the ball more in the low block.
Why is it that he thinks having Blake and Miller launch jumpers is a good offense?
Nate needs to loosen the leash a little bit and let the kids play.

Micromanagers all suck, and coaches are no different.
Calling every play from the bench will wear on a team quickly.
Slowing the game down constantly is not the way to go
Can he adjust? I don't know? He didn't in Seattle, and it almost got him fired.
Right now this team is tuning their coach out.
I'd like to see him enforce his "push it" talk by benching guys that don't do it.
Basketball is a pretty simple game. Find a mismatch, and attack it.
Blake shooting jumpers is not a mismatch, it's a rest for the defenders on that possession.
Lack of motion is what is hurting this team.
Eventually every team will see how easy it is to stop us like Dallas did last year.
Seems to me Bayless should get a shot as well.

 

God damn, well put. That game was fucking horrible.

Webster goes off in the 3rd, and gets sent to the bench for his "rotation". Terrible.

 

Why do I think that Bill Simmons might actually be on to something right now?


Oh right, it's because the team does look like they are disjointed and have tuned out the coach.

Just like Bill said they would.

Which sucks total ass btw.

 

The small lineup is not new. It failed in every pre season game, and it has failed in every regular season game. In fact, now that I think about it, I am going to see if it is in 82 games so I can demonstrate this.

 

Well it looks like 82 games isn't tracking this season yet. I wish they were.

 

I cannot stand Nate anymore. He has GOT to go.

 

You seem a bit testy, Soda. Is something bothering you?

 

I think it's fair to ask why he is our 3rd string PG. I truly feel Bayless is better for this team right now than Blake, meaning, that by the end of the season we'd be better off with Bayless receiving playing time now. Bayless will show himself in the NBA to be a far more talented player than Blake, offensively and defensively, and if he doesn't do it in Portland it will be because of McMillan.

 

lol@McMuffin.

 

Fair enough. But I think it's also fair to say that Bayless has at least shown enough in the past to be on par with whatever it is that Blake has shown this season(nothing).

 

Losing to inferior teams because of boneheaded coaching decisions.

 

When you have an advantage you should NEVER give up that advantage and play to your opponents strengths. We have TWO great rebounding, excellent defensive centers. Yet, they are both sitting on the bench while our opponent takes the lead and pulls away. Nate did the same damn thing last year in February's embarrassing loss to the Thunder. In that game, he played Greg 16 minutes and Joel 14 minutes which means we went nearly 18 minutes without one of our centers on the floor. The Blazers got out rebounded 43-37 and lost 102-93 to an inferior opponent.

Just five days later, Nate appeared to have learned his lesson. We played the Thunder again and Greg played 24:33 and Joel played 23:27. If you add that up it comes to EXACTLY 48 minutes - meaning one of our centers was on the court every second of that game. The result: the Blazers out rebounded the Thunder 48-35 and won the game 106-92. The next two times we played OKC, our centers played big minutes, and were only pulled during garbage time where we were up by 30 points. The Blazers owned the boards in those two games (57-32 and 54-36) and absolutely dominated the Thunder (107-72 and 113-83).

Seems to me we have a pretty well defined recipe for success here: play your big guys, own the boards, defend the paint and win the game. Seems simple doesn't it? We have a clear cut advantage, as long as our coach is willing to use it - which he was during last season's stretch run.

So, how did he manage to forget such an important lesson over the off season?

On opening night when the Rockets cut the lead to 6 in the 4th quarter - it was with both Greg and Joel on the bench (for no apparent reason). I remember when Budinger drove right down the lane and dunked to cut the lead to 8, I thought, "that would NEVER happen with Greg or Joel in the game". Oden came back in with two minutes left and within seconds blocked Kyle Lowry's driving lay-up. If Oden hadn't been in the game, it would have been another easy lay-up for the opposition.

So last night, when does Atlanta make their run and pull away in the second half? When Nate decides to go small and has both Greg and Joel on the bench, of course. Yeah, Greg was in foul trouble (but Nate NEEDS to let him learn to play through foul trouble - and if he fouls out we have Joel who would be starting on over half the teams in the league). So, what about Joel? He was sitting on the bench with 2 fouls. There was absolutely NO reason to go small last night. With Greg and Joel, we are one of the best rebounding teams in the league - when they are in the game. They can't pull down any rebounds when they are both glued to the bench. Last night, the Blazers were out rebounded 46-36, and predictably lost. And, it's not like Greg and Joel were playing bad. They were a combined 6-8 from the field for 12 points and 15 rebounds in 30 minutes.

Nate has now proven what I've known all along - when you have TWO great rebounding, excellent defending centers, you should NEVER go small (except during garbage time). Rebounding and defense wins ball games. When you have a clear advantage in both areas, you should never give that up voluntarily. If you do, you deserve what you get.

BNM

 

Did Bill Simmons also predict our coach would inexplicably decide to play small ball when we have two of the best rebounding, best defending centers in the league on our roster?

If Nate continues to pull stupid shit like that the players should tune him out. The guy preaches defense, defense, defense non-stop and then when the game is on the line, he has our two best defenders on the bench.

BNM