Quick after pracice today; Lineup changes

appear on the way;

There are strong indication Andre will start and Jarryd Bayless will get much more playing time....around mid 20's in minutes for Bayless. Steve has been playing a ton of minutes and if Jarryd is going to get more minutes, it will probably be at the expense of Steve. The coaching staff likes Bayless and Miller together.

There is frustration over playing time and rotations. That being said, I thought in the last three games, the team played hard but I'm not sure they believe they can win on a nightly basis. (Same as what he said this morning) That is the coaching staff's biggest challenges is to get the team to believe again. Nate was telling them they couldn't quit on the season. They have to hold out until Rudy and Nicolas get back.

This is the right move that had to be made and will determine whether Andre is a fit here or not. It will determine if a trade has to be made.

Rudy says he is feeling much better. It is a low pain threshold that still requires healing and he has to be careful and not come back too soon just because he is feeling good....they don't want another Martell situation.

As for the team believing, the injuries are causing a lot of guys to play major minutes and out of position. Jeff Pendergraph may be back around Christmas or early January. He is still feeling a bit of pain but right on schedule.

Practice was very good today and I was impressed with their attitude. Brandon talked about playing through this and getting better. I saw a lot of smiles on their faces. Just having Nate back was good for this team. He had to coach from a chair. The team gathered around him after practice and seems to be regrouping around some of the changes ahead.

The team has missed his leadership. Nate was getting ready to make changes before the injury but the staff didn't feel that was the right time to make that change with Nate back in Portland while the team was on the road trip. All indications are there will be a change in the lineup.

KP was not at practice so I couldn't talk to Kevin but I think they will let this play out and see if it lights a fire under Andre

Credit to TbPup on another board for the summary

 

Hell, it couldn't get any worse.

 

Do you just like tempting fate or ???

 

Blake could get hurt. How would Roy manage without him?

 

Well that depends. Would his injury prevent him from coach BJ duty?

 

What is your deal bro lol

 

Who has played out of position because of injuries? I can't think of anyone other than Roy at the SF, but that was more because Nate refused to bench Nate than because we had injured guys at that position.

 

Blake and Miller have both taken stretches at SG.

 

That has nothing to do with injuries, though. Nate just won't take Blake out, so that mixes up the back court assignments, and Blake has often played more SG than PG alongside Roy, anyway.

 

Yes and no. SF injuries force Roy to play SF and that in turn causes one of the PG to play SG because Nate is a dumbass, and chooses to play one of two PG out of position even though we have multiple talented SG who can. So partially because of injury. Part of it is on the coaching staff. You can bring up ambiguities about what position they play and make me wrong every time. I just go by the position as they are listed on the roster. Blake is listed as a PG and Roy is listed as a SG. Until they are listed differently, I shall refer to them as playing that listed position.

 

That was 100% an excuse to keep Blake in the starting lineup while giving in to the pressure to start Miller, never anything to do with SF injuries. Webster was still healthy and was "good enough" to start before and after that experiment, and Rudy wasn't yet hurt and is capable of sliding to the SF as well as Roy is. And Outlaw plays more PF than SF, so that doesn't count, either.

So, I repeat, who has been forced to play out of position by injuries, rather than by coaching decisions?

 

Well, we have only one healthy C and one healthy SF, so unless either of them are playing the full 48 minutes, someone is playing out of position due to injuries.

 

See here is the problem. You asked for who was playing out of position. I said who was. It has nothing to do with your view of whether it was a coaching fuck up or not. They were playing out of position, and that is all I was saying. I don't speak for the coaches, and I definitly do not endorse their coaching style. Excuse or not. They were playing out of position. Capiche? That is all I was saying.

 

I don't have a deal. Apparently you're deal is that you believe that I have some kind of magical jinx powers.

 

I am pretty sure after reading the other articles Nate isn't going to change the lineup. I am assuming as much until I read the stat board at the game tomorrow.

 

That was the case even when Oden and Pryz were both healthy. Again, coaching decisions...

No, I asked, "Who has played out of position because of injuries?"

 

Oh ok you win. You are the master!

 

But..you do.

I've seen the shrine.

 

Bookmarked! We'll need another scapegoat now that BLANKY is being benched, and your denial of your obvious magical jinx powers isn't fooling me, mister.

 

Oddly I look forward to becoming the new BLANKY