http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/01/pregame_homework_for_miller_bl.html Is anybody buying this? By that, I don't mean buying whether or not he actually wrote the 3x5 cards, but this whole "I want to run and "I've been saying it for years." stuff? He never ran much in Seattle, He's always been hyper sensitive to turnovers. I dunno, color me skeptical.
It all comes down to the PG position, IMO. I wouldn't run either if I had Blake and Ridnour as my PGs, personally.
Same old song and dance from Nate. He seemingly wants it both ways. He wants the team to push the ball but he also wants to call every play. Seeing is believing. No one has ever seen a Nate coached team run. No reason to believe that will change in the future.
It seems that if those little cards had such a strong effect (and from watching highlights I think I saw Blake push harder on two plays than I have ever seen him before); then Nate could have employed other coaching strategies that would have made us more of a running team by now. My guess is that he really would like to see them run more but in practice he never gets around to it, because other things like defense, rebounding and running set plays are more important to him. maybe he doesn't actually realize that if you want to run in games , you gotta run in practices and scrimmages.
I always thought the fine print was written on the bottom? Nate can say it all he wants, but until his teams commit to it, I don't buy it. Until a PG who likes to run doesn't come out and say Nate likes to control the pace, I don't buy it. Until Portland is in the middle of the pack in fast break points, I don't buy it. Until Nate stops playing Blake, one of the worst fast break players in the league, more minutes than he should, I don't buy it.
Nate has to learn to live with the mistakes pushing the ball creates. I think that particular part of fast break basketball drives him to distraction. As an aside, that little back and forth break betweeen (I think) Alridge and Miller against MIL was the best fast break I have seen in a few years. The ball went back and forth between the two four or five times without ever touching the ground.
Just playing devil's advocate here, but with hobbled players and few available players, running probably isn't the most sound approach. There aren't many subs available when guys get winded and worn bodies shouldn't be flying up and down the floor. HOPEFULLY, with some rested, healthy bodies, Portland can now "push, push, push".
I disagree. Now is the perfect time to try running more. We don't have a center on the active roster, and are short bigs in general. With Rudy back, we actually have a surplus of guards (Roy, Rudy, Bayless, Miller and Blake). This forces us to go small more often than if we had Greg and Joel - and if you're going small you give up size for speed. Might as well use some of that speed to our advantage. BNM
Well I was referring to when we had no Rudy, no Blake, and a banged up Roy. Pushing uptempo probably isn't going to work out well when you have only 7 or 8 players in jerseys.
True. He's made these comments a few times before and there have been rare moments when we've run, but it's just odd that if he wants to implement more easy fastbreak buckets, why it doesnt happen.
This is a current article. We now have Rudy and Blake back. We probably won't run a lot with Roy, healthy or hobbled, but you don't need all five guys sprinting down the court to have a fast break - 2 or 3 is sufficient. BNM
All the more reason to start running now. Get it ingrained into our system, so that when we get our bigs back the team just won't revert to slow ball all the time. As I mentioned above, you don't need the entire five man unit sprinting down the court to run an effective fast break. No reason to stop running when Greg and Joel are back. The greatest fast break team in the history of the NBA - the Showtime Lakers, featured an old slow Kareem who trailed those trailing the play down the court. Most fast breaks start with a steal or a defensive rebound. With Greg and Joel controlling the defensive glass, it's the perfect way to start a break. We just need to show them old tapes of Bill Walton throwing outlet passes and have them start working on it in practice. BNM
He's never allowed Blake to call his own plays. It's kind of hard to run a fast break when you are looking over at the bench to see what play the coach wants you to run. Not that Blake is the guy you want leading the break anyway. Andre Miller is a guy who is used to calling his own plays and pushing the tempo. Now that Nate is FINALLY starting Miller and playing him more minutes, hopefully he'll loosen the reins a little and let the team push the tempo when the opportunity presents itself. That all sounds good. I'll believe it when I start seeing it. BNM
You mean besides Jarrett Jack? For years we had the worst PG in the league, period. No wonder we couldn't run.
And not to mention when we had Sabonis and he was the trailer. Or the Pistons who used Lambeer as the trailer.
