I think he'll be our next head coach. If Portland doesn't win a playoff series by next season we'll be looking for a new head coach. Perfect timing. (cue abuse)
Man, I would trade pus our 1st round pick and Freeland for the rights to Pop. He would make us a title contender.
I'm the furthest thing from a doom monger and I think what Nate has done is more than impressive... But a week or so into this season I bet a friend of mine $40 that we'd never win a playoff series with NM as our head coach. Him my brother everyone in the room was crushing me, telling me I was giving away money... I followed that up with the prediction that POP would be our next head coach... the entire room came down on me I do hope I'm wrong though... I want Nate to lead this team to great things....
Nate is just....average....imo. I see coaches like Pop, Sloan, and Adelman run complex offensive and defensive schemes, and wonder why we can't do something similar. Are our players just dumb, or is Nate not doing a good job of teaching them? Sometimes I see Nate mentioned with the likes of these coaches and it just seems ridiculous.
I think Nate will get us to the playoffs but not so much from his coaching, but more from Pritchard's acquisitions. Pop is a Spur for life imo, he ain't going anywhere. Adelman is a realistic guy to go after, hopefully things go terribly wrong in Houston. If Pritchard offers enough money to a guy like Phil Jax or Pop, maybe he can pull them away from their domains, I doubt it though.
He would be the perfect coach for the blazers, IMO. Give him a bunch of young guys with 0 ego, and he will mold them into title contenders.
Nate is getting by because of our players, not because of his coaching imo. Everyone likes to point at our record but look at the players we have, we have basically the most talented group of prospects in the league right now, though inexperienced. The record goes to Pritchard, not Nate.
I love the idea of Pop. and we would be title contenders with him. My opinion the whole time was Nate was brought in to develop the youth, once they were that is when a proven coach was going to be brought in. I know PA will pay through the roof for a guy like Pop or Jackson.
Same thing happened in Seattle. He got the credit for the achievements of Ray Allen and a young Rashard Lewis. The bottom line is that he's a coach with a sub .500 career winning percentage. I'm not impressed.
I read a study on wagesofwins.com that said that no coach, aside from Phil Jackson, was really worth any wins or losses in the long run. I agree. McMillan is hamstrung by our lack of experience. He's not bad coach (as evidenced by our solid winning percentage with one of, if not THE, youngest playing rotation in the league.) The fact that we're actually talking about home court advantage at this point in the season is pretty amazing. Frankly, I think he's done a good to very good job this season and anybody who complains is not really being realistic.
Oh, but Popovich isn't getting by on the skills of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker? Whatever you say. You said it yourself...we have PROSPECTS...not players (aside from Aldridge and Roy). McMillan has done a good job so far in getting us to this point.
Right, Nate is a moron. That's why he was picked to coach the Olympic team by Jerry Colangelo and Coach K. I must say, for a bunch of guys who know a lot about basketball, the coaching IQ here is very low.
Okay so all of our players are dumb and lazy or Nate can't coach D? What do you think it is? Coach K would go crazy if even one of his least talented teams EVER played defense the way our guys do nightly. That's a fact! Could you imagine a Duke team allowing a PG to drive the basket uncontested 15 times a game on them? HA!!!! Nate has no offense either. What is it? Roy one on another team and if he gets to tied up he prays Travis, Rudy or Blake are in some kind of position to huck up a shot? Hardly an offensive set! I wont even get into the fact that Nate can't figure out when to keep hot players playing and when to pull a player that is being torched! Want to talk about his substitutions? No I don't think so! Maybe he could just get them to shoot free throws in practice, is that asking to much? WOW!
You are so spot on with the post. I'm shocked at how little people seem to know when it comes to coaching. I suppose if you've never coached at the high school or college level, it might seems easier than it really is...
Yeah telling your players to box out so non athletic guys like Bonner don't get easy second chance points seems to escape the greatest coaching minds!
I think I heard Nate during a timeout specifically tell his players to not block out, make bad passes, and miss the open jumpers. Apparently you heard the same thing...
