There's been rampant (fairly justified, given what happened to Penn) speculation that Pritchard is done at the end of the season. Not so much with McMillan. I wonder whether Pritchard's and McMillan's fates are linked, or if McMillan is seen as untainted by/opposed to Pritchard. I know there were rumors that Nate didn't like Pritchard, but he stood up for him recently (but then again, that sounds like an old school loyalty thing and not necessarily a sign of warmth). If the Vulcans get rid of Pritchard, why not let Nate go? After all, he doesn't even have a contract for next year, and it'd be the simplest way to save money. Then they could promote popular Monty Williams and pay him less because it's his first gig. 2/3 of this board would be cheering.
I think Nate has one more season, mostly because it's much more of a headache to replace a head NBA coach than a general manager. Plus doing both at the same time would cause ven more disarray in an already nutty organization. Since Nate refused to renew his contract long-term, I honestly think Nate has his eye on a higher profile job like the Lakers, Cavs, Orlando or Boston if any becomes available.
All I will say is this, the past season has been so far off the script that I don't really know what to expect from both the Vulcans and Nate (throw KP in that mix too). Would I be OK with Nate being let go and Monty taking his place? I think so, but who's to say Monty would want the job when his name is starting to be floated in so many vacancies around the league. At this point I expect nothing, and nothing would surprise me.
I want a coach like the Thunders coach. That guy was awesome when he was mic'd up. He was like (not so much in these words) "get your shit together, start doing this and this and this, because you are not and they are kicking our asses, etc etc etc". It was passion and it was desire to win and push those guys to succeed... What does our coach do?? "Come on guys we gotta scrap!, Scrap Scrap Scrap and hustle! come on guys, hustle, get in there and scrap and hustle!" I mean seriously, what the fuck? I hear that every time Nate talks. After watching all of our games, you'd think the players are just tired of hearing the same thing over and over.
How about Larry Brown and Nate switch places? Our roster (when healthy) looks a lot like the Pistons when Brown took them over, and Nate went to NC State, so would be "coming home" to Charlotte.
I thought Nate only signed a one your contract and would have to sign another contract after the season?
Nate is a defensive minded coach first right? His team has been crushed by almost 90 points in three playoffs games! This team also has no known offense and as with LA when the double comes our team and players are lost as to what to do. That's all coaching!!!!!! Iron clad substitutions that fail, taking out hot players and leaving guys like Rudy in for extended periods to lose and often land us 10 points down at quarters end is all not good coaching. I have heard 95.5 announcers saying that the practices are not run hard and it shows in the games. We are bigger and stronger than the Suns yet "they" a run and gun team are pushing us around the court. Why is Pendagraph not in there 5 minutes a game to keep Amare honest in the paint? Our team looks scared just like last year against the Rockets. I'm just glad we drew the Suns and not the Jazz or Nuggs! Could ya imagine how ugly that could have become? When it's all said and done we have some great players who are able to spackle over the fact our coach is not very good! 90 points in losses have proven that pretty clearly I think!
Well duh, of course this season practices aren't as hard as the games. We can't afford to lose any more players, you can't go hard in practice if you barely have enough bodies to field a team as is. Even as is right now, half the team is banged up badly. You are wondering why we are losing games to PHX? Where should I start. No healthy Brandon Roy. Thats about 22 points per game off the books. Batum and Camby beat all to shit. Batum is our primary Nash stopper but you will note he has only played the first half of most of the games for the most part. Last but not least, Nate can't take open jumpers for Rudy. It is up to the player to nut up and hit their open shots.
Let me predict it now: Nate will be the Nets new coach. Over the summer, Vulcan will let Nate go, they'll re-sign Pritchard and hire Monty as coach. The nets will land one, maybe two stars (Wade? Rudy Gay? Steve Blake? lol) and they'll also win the ping pong ball drop and get the #1 overall pick in the upcoming draft - selecting Wall.) Shoot, if I were Nate, I'd take the job in Brooklyn!
Actually it's even worse than that.... We've been blown out in 5 of 11 playoff games under Ronald. And that's playing 82 games of his brilliant young coach who's been coaching for 10 years "playoff style basketball" to get us ready! And he won't even sign a long term deal
i know a lot of people are not thrilled with McMillan, but he earned a lot of positive comments from players on the Olympic team including Kobe. I don't think lots All-star players feel they need a lot of coaching, but I know he has received props from various players visiting during the season. We need a defensive coach. Greg Popovich runs a defensive game plan and his offensive never has been that great, but he has NBA championships. The Lakers are one of the top teams when they actually try and play defense. Phil Jackson isn't coming, so who are de going to get? Some retread? The only decent coach available is Jeff Van Gundy and he is a defensive coach too. We need a better offense, but not at the expense of our defense. I say keep McMillian.
Comments from Olympians who played for Nate mean nothing. It's all about message board cred and armchair quarterbacking. That's how I form my opinions, at least.
