I love how the PGs on this team keep having trouble with Nate. Miller's just been the first one to have the track record to be able to stand up to it.
The point remains ... why the fuck would you put a tow package on that thing and why the fuck would you use it to haul garbage to the dump? Especially when you've got a perfectly suitable Ford Ranger (Steve Blake) sitting in the driveway.
Yea, but at the same time, until this season, we hadn't had a decent PG in a really long time. I think Miller is a decent PG if in the right system. The right kind of system, isn't one where he has to look over to the coach to call a play every posession. What really freaks me out about the loss to Memphis, is how many people miss out on the fact that the reason the play took place where Mayo attempted to steal the ball from Roy and Roy got a foul called on him, happened because Roy looked over to get a play call from Nate, and Mayo jumped on him at that time when he turned his head. The facts are, Portlands players have to think way too often and that is half the problem. They are tight out on the court because of it, and it comes back to bite us all the time. Stars will make plays with no intervention from a coach in crunch time. You just have to let the reigns loose, and let it happen.
Well if you are a garbageman . . . I mean sanitray custodian . . . and your job is to haul garbage to the dump. Your boss gives you a sports car to do your job. You put a tow package on the sports car and you use that vehicle when the Ford Ranger isn't performing well . . . and being that it is a ford, I would slap that tow package on the sports car as fast as I could. Now what this all has to do with basketball, I don't know. Just trying to play along.
Well if Miller is a passive-aggressive asshole, then I would say there is a good chance he doesn't get along with most people . . . including the coach.
Rick was a Petrie guy, not a Whitsitt guy. So, Bob fired Rick the first chance he had when Rick coached them to "only" 47 games without a healthy center on the roster. Dudley was Whitsitt's big FA signing. He played 6 games before braking his ankle. They ended up splitting the center minutes between 6'8" Buck Williams and 6'9" Mark Bryant. Clyde was also injured that year. It was the only season Rick led the Blazers to less than 50 wins. So, Whitsit fired him and hired PJ Carlesimo (shudder). In spite of two years in Golden State and inheriting a 27-win Kings team, Rick actually has a higher career winning percentage as a coach than Jerry Sloan (0.614 vs. 0.601). Rick is currently 327 games over 0.500. Nate's career winning percentage has been waffling around 0.500 all season. He's currently 4 games over 0.500 at 382 - 378. He could be back below 0.500 by the end of the month. BNM
To keep up with the analogy: When Nate was growing up, Nate's buddies liked him b/c he had a dependable Toyota minivan that he could drive all of his friends around in and be pretty safe, though not sexy. Then, one of his buddies (let's call him "Gary") got his license and Gary's parents recognized his innate driving ability and bought him a Porsche Cayenne...still enough to get everyone where they needed to go but much cooler and effective. No one needed Nate to drive anymore. 15 years later, Nate has graduated from that and he's been tasked with the office carpool. He's entrusted one of his employees (let's call him Stevie) to drive all the time, even though Stevie has a Chevy Astro that probably shouldn't be used for 48 miles of freeway commute every day. Other guys in the carpool offer to drive...but Sergio's zippy little car barely holds everyone and he gets a ticket every other time he drives...he let Jarrett try for a while but he would sometimes fall asleep at the wheel...so Nate just made sure that dependable Stevie and his Astro (which reminded Nate of himself in the good ol' days) kept driving the carpool around. One day, Andre gets hired and is told that he'll be driving the carpool around, but only on days that Stevie's sick. Andre doesn't understand, b/c his Suburban is more powerful, gets better mileage, can carry the entire office if needed, is more dependable and only has a few more miles on it. But Nate seems to think that unless you're driving a minivan, you're not doing it the right way.
Here's what you've got, Nate: Exactly one player worth a damn over 6'6. That one player, Aldridge, may be the fastest power forward in the league. One superstar shooting guard. One rocket-like rookie in Bayless who feasts in the open court, but is uber streaky. One veteran point guard who is fantastic at full-court basketball, but has a shaky jump shot. That's about it. Maybe on a nice day you get lucky and Webster or Blake (when available) got off. But don't count on it. When you have a roster with Przybilla and Oden, sure, walk it up. Play "Nate ball." But the way the team is built right now, the best shot you have at winning is putting the ball in Miller's hands and just let him do his thing to push the pace. This team is a lot like the Sixers were after Brand went down. They realized they had to change, so they fired their coach, gave Miller the reins, and made it (to everybody's surprise) into the playoffs. We're in a deep hole right now, and McMillan isn't helping by alienating one of the last guys standing in pursuit of "Nate ball." Nate ball should be whatever you can get out of this broken down roster.
Personally I think Dre is showing up Nate's ineptitude. Dre's been around the league, seen quite a bit, and is calling out the lunacy that is Portlands strategic system. He's come in, signed the deal after listening to Nate sing his praises (along with some Pritchard silver tongue speak), he's done all he's been asked to do, including taking a back seat to an inferior player, and now the circus of coaching just continues to get worse with Nate pulling a fourth quarter power trip on him. WTF? I for one applaud Andre for calling out Nate's bullshit. As a fan i've been watching McMillan choke this team from the sidelines for far too long. I think he's got every right to be angry.
