Adelman is a coach I've really wished Portland could get. I think Phil Jackson is the best coach in terms of playing to his players' strengths, regardless of which players he has...but I think Adelman is also very good at that. I'm not particularly unhappy with McMillan, but I don't think he's the best coach in the league or anything, so like any other position on the team, it's interesting to think about possible upgrades.
I didn't mean to imply that Oden is David Robinson in waiting and we just ignored him. Clearly his offensive game is primitive. I just think we're crazy for not delivering him the ball in the restricted circle and forcing the opposition to foul him. Brandon shot 11 FTs tonight. I'd like to see GO shoot that many FTs, and there's no reason he shouldn't.
Hey--I agree. I think that he had jitters that just didn't go away tonight, maybe. I expect he'll settle down soon and the team get more faith in him. At least they BETTER! Ed O.
I think Nate is a better developmental coach, but Adelman is the superior strategist. Hell, he made Duck and All Star. He understood Clyde, Terry and Buck were going to get most of the attention, so he made them pay with #00's elbow jumper.
Amen to that. Portland fans didn't appreciate what they had in Adelman. I can't tell you how many times I heard people claim that Rick just "rolled out the ball, and let the players play." You'd think fans that had been exposed to control freaks like Schuler and PJ (and Nate, to a lesser degree) would understand the value of a guy who doesn't over-coach!
You might be right, but it just wasn't going to happen tonight. When they did go to Greg, he turned the ball over often. Now why would you just keep feeding a guy that keeps giving it to the other team? He will have games where he shoots 10 FT's - I guarantee it. Tonight he just didn't have it. We're not talking about 2-3 to's here - Greg had 7! For a guy who had limited touches that's not good. Not to mention Houston did a pretty good job of not letting Greg get deep position when there was a passing lane. Just wasn't his night & I don't fault the team or the coach for looking in other directions for offense.
The biggest letdown for me was when TNT showed the Blazers getting Andre Miller in the offseason and the whole TNT crew said it wasn't even worth mentioning during the pregame celt/cavs.
At one point we had 19+ turnovers and we were still almost up by 20. Fuck, I guess you guys want perfection every game. Yes there's things to complain about, but we won! 1-0. It's gonna take time to smooth things out. We've got new players starting and new guys on the roster and we're missing a guy from last year. These things take time. We're lucky we could grind out a win and play so sloppy. This just proves that we're good enough to win even on a bad night.
Look, I didn't see the game, but to answer your question in principle: I want this team to win a championship. Pretty badly. I imagine most in here feel the same way, with varying degrees of impatience. Last year, there were warning signs from about 2 minutes into Game One that showed we'd be in trouble if certain things didn't change. they didn't, and we lost in the playoffs---even with our magical 54 wins. One game is way too early, but we can't turn the ball over 26 times and think it's ok by any stretch of the imagination. I think Nate said as much after the game. Yes, we're 1-0. Yes, if we have a few games with low turnovers, this'll probably be forgotten. But there are too many smart basketball people who post here to think that stuff like 26 turnovers or 22FTAs won't get noticed--win or loss.
I was just happy to feel the surge in the 1st half...gives an idea of what can happen as the team gels. It is very early (OBVIOUSLY) and sure there are areas that need to be worked on, but I didn't see any huge issues that I don't expect to be remedied with a little practice and game-time. It is going to be a fun year to watch this team evolve and improve...enjoy the ride!
Didn't you get the memo? Unless we double people up and win by at least 10, these so called "wins" aren't really worth counting.
Huh? Andre Miller was the only "new" guy who even played last night. And he wasn't responsible for Oden having 7 turnovers or Roy shooting horrendously. In fact, we expanded our lead when Miller was in there in the second quarter.
Remember also a last minute change in starting lineup due to Batum's surgery meant roles had to be redistributed on the fly. Aldridge started strong but ticky tack fouls, including at least one phantom, benched him. Oden needs to hold the ball up - coaches must work with him on that. Sheed does that, holds the ball high, makes his shot unblockable. Outlaw, whom so many wanted to dump, was spectacular and after a year's furlough Webster looked surprisingly good. Refs clearly out of synch - one decent point the Rockets broadcasters did make was the preseason is the time for the refs to get in game shape as well. But the end result is Portland now sits on top of the Northwest Division. Who can argue with that?
Yikes! Always someone in yellow cornflakes! I disagree, but I hear ya. I think we will be fine. Combination of 1st game jitters and refs 1st game back as well. Things will iron out.
I'm thinking Oden not getting touches might have had more to do with who we were playing, more than a lack of trust in him. Give him a guy like Nene to bang against, and I think we'll see him with mroe touches Thursday. Too much room for flopping with little guys, and my guess is Nate thought they would go to the flopping early, and take Greg out of the game with fouls. His defense and rebounding inside was huge for us, and I'll take that and 0 points every night if we win. I don't think we CAN win consistently that way, and I want him to get the 3rd most shots on the team. I'm just not going to flip out after 1 game against a 6'7" center and think nate is ruining him and Oden can't score.
It's not how much we win by . . . it's how we play. Take a look all over this board today. Lots of people are concerned with the team and its performance last night. I'll guarantee you that the coaches are also huddling today and talking about what must change. We're all thrilled that the Blazers won, but we want the problems corrected. That's all.
