A small forward version of Steve Blake? I pretty much agree with that. But rather that "fitting" lesser talents into a system, I'd rather McMillan adjusted his system a bit to better utilize better players...which, to his credit, he has done with Miller.
About 3 or 4 months too late. I will never forgive McMillan for wasting the preseason to try to iron out the kinks with Miller & Oden.
Not just the preseason but a good chunk of the early season. I have to admit that as successful as the regular season is turning out in spite of the injuries, and Nate deserves a lot of credit for that, I'm still having a hard time getting over Nate's shear incompetence at the beginning of the season. I hope such episodes are in the rear view mirror for good.
Your hair will grow back. Next time, go to a barber like everybody else. We are where we are now because Nate went where he did back then. Scrappiness and swagger doesn't just happen.
After going 8-3, we proceeded to go 4-5 to close out our first 20 at 12-8. Here's the losses: Denver Houston Atlanta Atlanta Golden State Memphis Utah Miami Out of those, two are unforgivable (GSW, MEM). And none of the remaining 6 were so much better than we were. I'd like to have 4 of those losses back right now. Now, would starting Andre have done that? Knowing he starts every season out of shape, and plays his way into shape, I don't know.
What if Nate starts Miller, Miller starts out slow as you suggest, Portland struggles early, the fans, media, and players blame Miller for the slow start, become upset with Nate for screwing up what they thought at the time was a winning formula with Blake and never quite recover from it. OK that is an extreme, but maybe Nate wanted to make sure the new guy earned the starting position first. Maybe he wanted to make sure the players saw for themselves that Miller was the obvious choice. And the best way to do it was to wait until they struggled first. Remember BROY was not convinced at the start of the season. The best way for a coach to lose his job, is to lose his star player.
As you can imagine, Hedo isn't terribly happy that fans are keeping tabs on his movements around the city. "It's all good, man," Turkoglu said. "I've been dealing with this [stuff] the whole year. They've been on me on this [going out] the whole year long. If I wasn't out, sick or healthy, they [the fans] would still say something. I don't say anything. Ten games left of the season, all I try {to do is] finish strong." The fans are mad at Hedo for underperforming and going out, so Turkoglu goes out then gets mad at the fans. Interesting choice. Sounds like a very fun situation for all involved. But Torontonians need to be careful — there's another guy running around the city, looking like Turkoglu, and he loves clubbin'. Don't take it out on Hedo that Tas Melas spends so much time chillin' at Lobby.
I really hope we're looking at the situation up in Toronto and make it a "teachable moment". When it comes to players at the end of their career looking for their last big contract, we need to look at more than fit or skill, we need to look at motivation. What's going to keep them hungry? Theo Ratliff was the guy that fooled me. He was terrific for us, but the minute he signed that extension, in his mind he went fishing. I saw some of the same traits in Hedo. Not that I know anything about hoops, but my spider senses were going off with that guy. Beware the player who has a career year at the end of their contract. I maintain that Andre Miller was going to be a Blazer whether we signed Hedo or not. I think we had a deal lined up with Philly for Blake and either Outlaw or Webster in a sign and trade if we didn't have the cap room to sign Dre. There was simply too much talk of how badly we wanted him.
Theo had me fooled. That year he played for the Blazers, he played with a lot of heart and was third in voting for defensive player of the year. He embrassed Ptd and seem to be a good fit for the team. Then like you said, as soon as he signed the hefty extention, he wasn't the same player and seem to lost all heart to play the game. He was more into his energy drink and making money than his court play. I wasn't big on Miller, but never doubted that he would work hard on a last contract or lose his motivation. I'm not sure what motivates Miller, but I don't think it's all about money. I would like to believe deep down inside he wants to win a title to shut up all his critics and ride off into the sunset with as few interviews and public exposure as possible. That would be classic Miller style of getting in the last word. So what do you think of a Camby extention . . . what's his motivation?
Well, if it's any consolation, Theo Ratliff has conned 6 different teams into paying him since leaving the Blazers. He's not getting paid nearly as much as he did by Portland anymore, but still.....The guy must have a hell of an agent to be getting contracts at the age of 36 with his kind of effort level.
Camby scares me a bit. I've seen him unmotivated, petulant and selfish (his last year in Denver). Right now he's playing for his next deal. He knows the best way to get a deal is to get Portland to offer him something outrageous and leverage that into a great offer in someplace he wants to be. The difference between Camby and Theo is the talent level. I think Marcus playing behind GO for 20 minutes a game could still be pretty good. What we can't do is give him a long deal. Something like two years with a third year team option at $5-$6MM would be okay. If he moves elsewhere for that money, then no-harm, no-foul.
From a Toronto sports writer: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor.../no-hope-for-the-raptors-none/article1515947/ The writer goes on to discuss how a lot of people feel Bosh has also checked out and has gone into "protect myself from injuries" mode, focused only on his next contract. Wow. Crappy situation in Toronto. I feel sorry for Raptor fans.
There is one thing I would point out about this. Bad franchises have a a way of tearing down the best of players, ruining teams with upside, and in general, finding a way to blow it. Toronto has a record of that.
