is Sergio Rodriguez, too bad we never see enough minutes of him to find out how good he could be, does Nate have a serious vendetta? On a side note, when he was pulled last night (after about two minutes) in the first half did anyone else see Rudy raise his hands up and roll his eyes as Blake came in...pretty comical (and frustrating). Why don't we just guarantee 20 minutes a game for Sergio, and more importantly Rudy (W/SERIO) for a fun second unit. Just always give them from around 3 in the first to six in the second (and same in 3/4 quarters)? Rudy is a smart enough player that I think it'd be a good risk and totally throw the other team off, they're having to prepare to essentially defend two different teams. STOP TRYING TO TURN SERGIO INTO DERON WILLIAMS NATE.
There's no vendetta or conspiracy against Sergio, he's just not a Nate style point guard, and his defensive awareness still leaves a lot to be desired, which kind of undercuts his effectiveness as a heavy minute player -- it's great that his assist numbers are up and his turnovers are down, but if you can't stop your man from getting dribble penetration you kind of nullify whatever good you are doing on the offensive end (although I still think he's been a slightly net positive player). The bottom line is that Sergio probably does need a change of scenery, and Nate probably does need a more legit starting point guard than Steve Blake that fits his philosophy, somebody in the mold of Kirk Hinrich, who can hit the occasional open shot, play a little bit of off-guard offensively, and play solid defense.
Blake is damn lucky he is playing under nate or he'd never be starting in the NBA. I have never really understood why he likes Blake so much... not a great passer defender or anything really... Roy has twice as many assists and Rodriguez 3 less assists in 1/4 the PT.
At the start of the season Nate said our 10th man is the backup PG and he will get 5-10 mpg. I don't like it because Blake shouldn't be playing a lot of minutes... he should definitely be under 20mpg.
I generally agree but BLAKE's D has been just as bad IMO, so I just don't think D can be justified as the main reason Serg does not get more than 9 MPG. Blake's D has really been bad this year.
Same old Serguio. His shot looked better in preseason, but now that the real games have started, he's back to the same horrible shooter he's always been. Yeah, the sample size is small, but his FG% is 0.273 and his TS% (True Shooting Percentage) is at 0.364. Blake's FG% is 0.450 and his TS% is 0.592. I agree that Blake hasn't exactly been playing great defense these first five games, but Sergio is worse. He simply can't stay in front of his man, and rather than move his feet, he reaches and grabs and commits fouls to try to keep from getting beaten off the dribble on every possession. As a result, he's committing 7.2 fouls/48. So, he's either letting his man blow by him for easy baskets, or sending him to the line for free points - while he hasn't been to the line once this year at the other end. The guy can't hit a shot to save his life and is a horrible defender, but demands a trade because of lack of PT. He still has the same weaknesses he had last year. He knew the areas he needed to improve to get more PT, and he hasn't improved in those areas. As a result, he once again finds himself getting 9 MPG. Some people like to blame Sergio's problems on Nate, but Nate has been incredibly consistent in his handling of Sergio's PT. Sergio doesn't get more PT because he doesn't deserve it on this roster. Trade him to a crap team that doesn't care about defense and winning and he'll get more minutes and make more highlight film passes, but he won't help his team win more games - which is really the point and the reason for his lack of PT in Portland. This is a team trying to win games and make the play-offs. On this team, his extremely poor shooting, and weak defense is his downfall - not his coach. Package him with Raef's expiring contract and Travis Outlaw for an upgrade at either small forward or point guard. BNM
Sergio will get Nate fired. KP will have to trade him and he'll end up on a team that runs and he will flourish. Nate is an idiot when it comes to his slow down style. He is the only coach that would probably start Blake over Tony Parker because Parker plays too fast. And NO, I am not comparing Sergio to Tony Parker
I'd like to see Sergio get a 15 game stretch where he gets about 18mpg. That should give us a good indicator of his value to the team,.
As much as I do like Sergio, it doesn't make sense that his agent demanded a trade... I mean he isn't like a disgruntled superstar or something... he is kinda an average player that is on a very deep team... what would we say if Bayless demanded a trade since he isn't gettin' PT? And i just don't like that his agent went public with it.
Last yr was the time to really gove Sergio some minutes and Nate never did, this yr is just a contunuation of last even with Sergio seemingly playing better and somewhat more of a Nate style (as much as he can). Either Nate or Sergio needs to go and that battle appears a no brainer
Or, more likely, he will suck there as well and will be out of the league in 2 years. Let's face it - the two teams that can really overlook his no-show on defense are Golden State and NY - but even there he will not work because they need shooters and Sergio is not... Sergio is who he is - with his iffy shot (back to last year's "standard") and matador defense - he is a 3rd string backup PG at best - and that's where Nate plays him - just like he did last year (behind Blake and Roy). Add the fact that this year's backup small-guard (Rudy) is a better play-maker than last year's backup small-guard (Jack) and that Jerryd Bayless will be a perfect back-court mate to Roy and a star - and the writing is on the wall. It's a shame that he can never really improve his deficiencies - since his passing is almost magical, especially with Rudy on the court.
I wish this team was ready to move on without blake but the fact of the matter is I think it would be devastating if this team lost Blake instead of Sergio right now without getting a better pg back. That said i hope Sergio goes to a team like GS or Miami where he can run with a group of athletes
Do people here REALLY think Sergio should be a starter? He is an absolute liability on defense, and his shot in atrocious. Can you REALLY imagine Sergio running a team in the playoffs? I can't. If Sergio wants to go to another team, so be it. If he is as good as people say and he should be getting playing time, I look forward to him getting significant playing time against us when we have the backcourt of Roy and Rudy. We would eat him alive.
Sergio would be incredible in Houston, for example, feeding McGrady and Yao. He just needs to play with someone long enough to build the kind of understanding he has with Rudy, and he'll be a star. He'd be a star at Portland, too, if he got the run at the position. iWatas
