-Orlando Sentinel Maybe he can actually teach Greg a thing or two? I'm so sick of Nate's routine of taking out Oden after a certain number of fouls. Two fouls in the 1st, he's out. Three in the 2nd quarter, he's out. Four in the 3rd quarter, he's out. 5 in the 4th and he won't go back in for whatever damn reason. I know this is what every coach is supposed to do but it just seems so formulaic and does not seem to be helping Greg learn from his mistakes. Why doesn't Nate just leave him in there and let him foul out? At least he'll still play a decent 20-30 minutes in rhythm instead of being in-and-out. Greg can impose his will on 75% of opposing centers but there's rarely been a game where he's been the focal part of an offense. I know he's just a rookie, but the Blazers have played countless games where opposing teams lack any real bigs either by chance or injury but Nate never knows how to take advantage of it. Patrick Ewing has done wonders for the Magic and Dwight Howard. This is one of the only reasons I'm hoping the Blazers miss the playoffs. So that they realize how overrated a coach Nate is and fire him. I was actually really excited about him when he first arrived but I've changed my mind. I know everyone has already said this, but he's supposed to be a defensive minded coach. He's always talked about as a top 10 coach in this league but his best coaching years (the Sonics 50+ season and Blazers this season) have been all about jump shots. Why does he allow Aldridge, Frye, and Outlaw to take so many jumpers? Sometimes it seems like that's what he wants. He's a good guy, and probably does make young talent a lot better, but his team schemes are just flat out terrible. Don't even get me started on Bayless. Almost as if Nate's ashamed to play too many rookies. I don't think it's likely he'll ever get fired and I hope I'm wrong about the guy, but Ewing does sound promising.
I've been in favor of a big man's head coach, but I'm not sure Ewing is the man for the job. We don't need to break in a rookie head coach. What we REALLY need is a coach with some playoff experience. Someone like Jeff Van Gundy would be interesting.
Well he sure as hell did a great job developing Howard over the last couple of years. Developing a center does not necessarily translate to being a good head coach though.
