Is this why they don't run PnRs? Is this why there's never any drive and dishes to Oden? Because he might get stripped? Because the ball might get tipped? It seems reasonable, given McMillan's style.
McMillan is a pansy as a coach. He's afraid of TO's so he won't run, and he wants to win on defense. Problem is we don't have a defensive minded team except for our centers. He did the same thing when he was a coach in Seattle. I was up there during his coaching time, and he was a horrible coach who preached the same thing and they were garbage, and then his last year there, his team pretty much stopped listening to him and just went with the old run and gun system and made it deep in the playoffs. and then Nate quit on them and came to portland.
Of course he's afraid of TOs. We probably play the most conservative style of ball in the NBA, which results in jump shots -- and minimal fast-break points or points in the paint.
I have made my final homer myopic, my rose colored glasses cover all wrong assessment on Nate. The dude lacks leadership, reserve and motivation to bring out the best in the players we have on our roster. Until he can get this team focused to collectively unite as one, our team will have a very very long season of disappointment.
I hate to say this, but I don't think the failure of running is one the coach. Players that are good at running don't wait around for the coach to say "run" or "don't run". There is no time for that. The inability to get easy buckets is all on the players, spacing, confidence, speed, and vision. For instance, there were several fast break/transition buckets available last night if Steve Blake had just pulled his head out of his ass and thrown the ball to the open guy. Oden is open all the time down near the hoop and guys act like he isn't even there. He will be down there, open, hands up flagging that he is open, and nobody will throw him the ball, but Miller. Travis Outlaw will pass up an easy shot for a difficult one, over and over again. Decision making is half of basketball. Making the game easy is how you win.
Yes. The team ran in gameone. Looked good in the process. 26 turnovers happened. Nate took control. TOTAL BS.
So anytime someone brags about Nate's teams excellent turnover ratio. A great big asterisk needs to be placed right next to it. It's a joke. His players (Mainly Blake) are deathly afraid of what he might do if they opened it up. That again is BS.
True. As long as Blake is on the floor, you can expect the offense to slow to a crawl. He plays within his limits, and he is very limited.
My two cents on McMillan: He coaches scared. No risk, no reward. He's the basketball equivalent of Jim Tressel at Ohio State, trying to win every game on defense and 4th quarter grind outs.... I also think he coaches scared because that's all he knows. He's not a good "scheme" guy... Instead of changing things with Xs and Os he tries to change them with personnel shifts (such as last night's benching of Oden in the second half, the long stretches without a C, and the bizarre Blake and Miller at the same time lineup). He can't make adjustments in strategy, only in personnel. He's not a good basketball mind. I know his peer respect him (the Olympic involvement and all that), but I just don't see it... The bottom line is, we are six games in and he does not have a set rotation. He does not have a crisp offense. He does not have a functioning team defense. We can talk about player's strengths and weaknesses all we want, but it is the coach's job to make all the parts function together properly and efficiently. And right now, we appear purposeless on offense and confused on defense. And that is entirely on the coaching staff. This team is not well prepared and confused in their roles. Give me JVG any day. May not be the sexiest brand of basketball, but his teams always looked like they at least knew what they were doing.
but its roE who has the ball 98% of the time its like watching a stone be pulled up to the pyrimads by ten men.....slow....glacier or plate slow.
