If we had POP as our coach we would be in what place?

I distinctly remember last night that after one of the timeouts Harlow talked about what Nate said in the timeout. He said to attack the paint and ratchet up the weak side defense. The Blazers did neither, and got their teeth kicked in. While I do question some of his rotations, I do think he is telling the team the right things.

 

Interesting. I have no idea how the study was conducted, but off the top of my head, it seems that Larry Brown has worked some pretty significant changes in records without significant changes in players.

 

HA HA!

Last night when we cut the lead to I believe it was 6 and we called a timeout. I text a couple friends "If we come out of this time out and shoot a 21 foot jump shot I'm going to piss all over my computer"

Sure enough Iso up top a bunch of 6 inch passes and Outlaw launches.... Of course he made it this time

Watch when we come out of time outs. They're useless.

I think Nate is a very good coach. But, I do see his team playing ZERO defense for him and game after game giving up 29 points in the first quarter on 61% shooting.

I'm not advocating firing him at all... I just don't think he's the long term answer.

Yes he may be telling these players the correct things... But if he can't get through to them... It's not the 12 players that will be moving on.

 

It's just one of the drawbacks of having a team mostly devoid of veterans or long experience playing together. I believe this is one of the reasons James Jones was so effective last year; he wasn't some amazing talent or a lockdown man-to-man defender, but he talked to people on defense and directed traffic to a certain extent, showing people what to do which is usually a lot more effective as a teaching tool than telling people what to do -- especially in a complex physical exercise like coordinated team defense.

 

Pop relies heavily on vets, and is quite slow at developing talent, so I'd say lottery for 2 more years.

Bayless, for example, would not have even played yet.

 

I agree. Larry Brown, Popovich, and Jackson all know how to get the most out of their teams, and control their teams.

Look at what has happened with Detroit since Brown left. The downward spiral continues.

Phil Jackson may have architected one of the biggest defensive adjustments to impact the game when he put Scottie Pippen on John Stockton. Later to be copied when Bruce Bowen guarded Steve Nash in multiple series later, effecting the outcome of each one.

I think that While Brown, is good with teams that are on the edge of being elite, Phil Jackson and Popovich both are stupendous in developing young talent, and giving them a winners mindset.

 

Let's see... maybe, just maybe good defense is something that veteran teams are better at? Y'know - just maybe? Popovich is extremely conservative - he's built a system over YEARS, with Duncan at the core, slowly rebuilding from the Robinson-Duncan-Elliot-Avery Johnson teams to the Duncan-Manu-Parker team, and just plugging in spare parts along the way. I'm almost certain he would be doing exactly what McMillan is doing. Except, as GM, he probably would've traded for a few vets out of sheer frustration.

Parker is not a good counterexample. For one thing, he's Tony Fucking Parker. The only reason this guy isn't held up there with Chris Paul is because he's a consummate team player (the same reason Ginobili and Duncan are undervalued). For another, he's French. Euro players expect their coaches to treat them like shit and don't have a sense of entitlement. Look at what's happening to Brandon Jennings right now. If he was on some campus over here he'd be God Allmighty. And as Batum has shown us, they tend to come in with more complete games. Finally, he was a tiny part of the big picture. It's okay to start a rookie when you have hall-of-fame players around him (remember Michael Finley in Phoenix, for example). And he still got yanked regularly.

I like Popovich. But the time to wish we had had him was the Sheed-Sabas-Pippen-Smith team. I was wearing my Sabonis T-Shirt ("He's not myVydas, he's not YourVydas...") down the gym the other day and somebody commented, and I got to listing the players on that team (and I even forgot Detlef Schrempf). It was some RIDICULOUS talent. And looking at how shitty Dunleavy is now, I tend to think that the biggest mistake Whitsitt made (even more than the Alvin Williams for Mighty Mouse or the Kemp trades) was not getting a better coach for that team. Imagine them with Larry Brown or Popovich. Or even maybe Phil Jackson. Wasn't he still unemployed when we got Pippen?

Popovich would go insane coaching a team this young. It's almost certainly driving McMillan insane. I really wish they'd bring in the odd Cassell or Andre Miller or Shane Battier, just to help out. It's no wonder Nate started Udoka and then James Jones when he had them. But then Pritchard keeps letting them get away, forcing Nate (whether by design or not) to get ever younger.

 

I tend to agree with this a little bit ... However, I'm not sure if there's a philosophical divide between Nate and KP.

Whatever the case, I wouldn't cry if the team rounds out their deep bench next year with older vets who don't have to so much come in and extend a lead, but rather come in and protect it (or at the very least don't worsen a deficit).

 

Somewhat, but there have been plenty of young teams good at defense over the years. The Sonics with GP and Nate come to mind. They were good defensivly by their 3rd year in the league. IMO it all comes down to the level of talent you have out on the floor, and their basketball IQ level. Portland has so many players which I consider poor defenders, it is no wonder they have problems. There are just some skills which some players will never pick up.

This team is too happy go lucky. Players need to get pissed off and bring some fire into the lineup. I think that is a problem with having so many players that are "friends" on the team. They are not hard enough on each other. There is no vocal leadership on the floor. The D doesn't communicate, or if it does, players are not paying attention.

 

You're right. I should have been a little more clear in post above. I wouldn't object to team rounding out it's bench next year with defensive minded vets with fair to middling offensive skills; just a little bit of balance.

I'm just kind of tired seeing us stuck in the position we are now where we have a second unit on the court that consists of Sergio, Rudy, Travis, Channing and one defensive minded guy in Joel -- that's a lethal mix of 'All O, no D'

 

It's interesting you bring that up about the second unit. The problem I have with it, is that unit doesn't even bring the O that well. I could live with it somewhat if they actually scored a lot while they were in, but they don't.

 

They do score a lot.....at home.

 

had blake not gotten hurt, how much would bayless have really played this year with nate coaching?

 

Exactly.