Zach needed to go and I thank Roy each and every day for forcing the issue. But if he is doing this with Oden, and I sure the hell hope he doesn't, I will lose all respect for him. If this is true, it's got Kobe vs. Shaq written all over it.
Well I just don't know if I believe Roy had much to do with this decision, unless he is really good at hiding his "evil side" LMAO! Personally, I have seen nothing but class come from Roy, which is why I'm scratching my head. Now on the flip-side, I could see Roy complaining about Miller. And it could be possible that Nate sees Miller work so much better with Oden.
So, are we supposed to take your hypothetical blaming of Roy at face value? I'm not really understanding your certainty that Roy is calling the shots as to who starts and who doesn't start.
I'm presenting a theory...one that fits what we have observed in the preseason. Miller and Oden are playing well, and I don't think anybody would deny that integrating Oden into the starting 5 makes sense for our future. One obvious explanation, is that Roy is not "comfortable" with Miller and Oden. If you have a better/more likely explanation, I'm willing to listen.
I'll disagree that Miller is playing "well", at least in terms of what I thought the Blazers were getting in him. He's either 1st or 2nd on the team in shots attempted, and his assist rate isn't any better than what we saw from Blake, who had a much lower usage rate, last season. Other than that, I'm not offering up any other explanation. I was only challenging your assertion that ... Seems odd to be placing blame on Roy without having any actual proof.
I can offer one: Having Miller and Oden in the starting lineup will cause the team to get off to a slow start. They will need time to gel. Nate is in a contract year. He can't really afford for the team to go into a lull without putting his job at risk. So, instead of doing what is best in the long run for the team he does what is in his best intrest for the short term. Namely, go with what won 54 games last year and hope Portland can manage the same performance again. Roy doesn't have to say anything to Nate. Nate can see he is struggling. Instead of trying to help Roy through that transition Nate puts it off until another day. Unfortunately, the long he waits the harder the transition will become. This is at least as probable as Roy demanding Oden and Miller come off the bench. In the case of Fat-Bo, that pile of monkey shit needed to head down the road the year before they even got Roy. Portland was probably already thinking of shipping that dude off while the rest of the league was mezmerised by his stat line. Roy's comments to the coaching staff were just icing on an already delicious See You Later You Fat Shit Bag cake.
He's shooting 54% in pre-season. Find somebody else on the team shooting that high of a percentage, and your argument won't look QUITE as idiotic.
I have nothing to add, I just saw that tlongII had posted in here, and I always enjoy a glance at that picture.
I don't think that Miller needs to be leading the team in shots, in least in terms of what I thought he was bringing to the team. This is what I meant by him not playing "well", which is what I posted in my original post, and you apparently ignored. Plus, Miller is just as much of a sieve on the perimeter as Blake allegedly is. You can call me an idiot all you want to, but if somebody can honestly say that after 5 games they expected Miller to be leading the team in shots attempted while the team goes 2-3, please link to your post.
Oden is shooting the same percentage. He's 3rd on the team in shots. Miller is average 4 assists and 3 TOs in 22 minutes. Perhaps feeding Oden makes more sense as opposed to dominating the ball? Juwan Howard is shooting 69%. He's 9th on the team in shots. http://www.nba.com/blazers/stats/
This trend is another reason why I am not all that torn up about Miller coming off the bench. Portlanded needed a good passing/penetrating point guard who could defend the perimeter and hit an open 3. Pretty much Blake + actual point guard play. What they got was a dude who looks for his own shot way too much, can't play any better defense then Blake and isn't as good a 3 point shooter. Not exactly an awe inspiring pickup right now. That may change in the future, but right now the team actually is better off starting Blake (a small part of my soul just died typing that).
He is playing very well. 1st in points, 2nd in assists, and he is tied w/ LMA in rebounds at 3.6rpg. Also, Cunningham and Howard are the only players to shoot a better percentage, and they've only played in 3 of the 5 games, and only have 27 shots combined, which is half of what Miller has. On the contrary, he does lead the team in shots, and is 2nd on the team in turnovers. Blake is first in turnovers per game, even though he is playing six and a half minutes less than Miller. He said your statement was idiotic, not you. Oden has more shots per minute than Miller. I believe Oden is first on the team in shots per minute.
I just want Miller to be who I thought he was going to be. A distributer of the ball who has three times the weapons (Roy, LMA, Oden) on offense to get the ball to than he had in Philly (Iguadola). HE needs to adjust his game, because there are 3 better scorers than him in the starting 5 (well, at least when Oden starts, which had better be soon). It's ridiculous that he is averaging over 10 shots/game in 22 minutes of action. I realize my opinion is viewed as "idiotic", but as I see it, if Miller is going to continue to hog the ball, bring him off of the bench to aid the comparatively punchless group of Przy, Webster, Outlaw, and Rudy.
Semantics. Plus, since Oden is shooting the same percentage, and Howard blows them both away, I'm apparently not quite as big of an idiot.
I guess we have our answer whether Outlaw's shots would go down if his minutes went down. He isn't even averaging 20mpg and he is 5th on the team in shots (Andre, Oden, LMA, Roy) and 4th in shots per minute (Oden, Andre, LMA), yet the 3 people ahead of him in shots per minute are shooting 49% or better, and he is only shooting 36%! So I guess he is just gonna put 'em up, lol. Let it rain T-Law.
