If we can stay consistent with all these injuries, Nate has to be the frontrunner for Coach Of The Year. 26-15 with this roster is crazy. I will never rag on McMillan again. Well, for the time being
For as badly as he mishandled a fully loaded roster before the roster got decimated with injuries, he sure does seem to have a knack for squeezing blood from a stone.
Nate definitely deserves some props. His defensive schemes against the Spurs (defending Duncan), Lakers (slowing down Kobe), and the Magic (limiting D.Howard) were all marvelous. We could've been killed by all these teams, especially the big men, but our coach does a terrific job of mixing up defenses and double-teams.
Mike Schuler Del Harris Avery Johnson Mike Brown Just to name a few COY winners. Sometimes it's more about the roster.
It's not just "squeezing blood from a stone" though. We're starting to get big leads in games like we did towards the end of last season. The only difference being that we lack the depth currently to keep the lead in the 4th. I'm of the opinion that, even without the injuries, things would have shaken out between the guards. It was getting closer to that anyway, if you recall, before Rudy went down. That's not to say the roster wasn't overloaded; it was. But it seemed more like the dissonance between coach and player was settling down a little even before Rudy went down. The connection between late last year and the last ten days when we've really started to lay wood to some teams seems to be familiarity with each other on the court, familiarity with the system on the court, and trust in both directions between player and coach. What I'm saying is that it isn't just raw motivation driving talentless hacks to success. It's quality players, motivated by their coach, accepting of their roles, playing within a system that's solid enough to stand a talent shift of 30% or more towards the end of the bench. I think you can point to Jeff Pendergraph's success and Martell Webster's improvements as signs that the comfort level is rising. Of course the work isn't done yet; gotta integrate the ingredients back into the lineup as they come back. Maybe there will be less grousing about minutes and roles now that players have survived the shit really hitting the fan as far as injuries go. Maybe a summer trade (we won't make a mid-season trade) to consolidate the lineup will help ease tensions. But you have to look at this success not just as "the players winning in spite of the coach" as many here insist on doing, but as the coach, the GM, and the players each deserving of significant credit in this success.
When I said he drawing blood from a stone it wasn't meant to imply this team is devoid of talent, I only meant that Nate seems to be at his best when his options are limited vis a vis, playing without a true center and having no set rotation and the team seeing a new guy out with injury or illness seemingly every 4 or 5 games. So I'm not sure where you're getting the impression that I said the team is winning in spite of their coach right now. But I wouldn't be completely shocked if the team goes back to under performing next season when they have a roster full of healthy bodies that are all capable of playing; Nate still hasn't shown that he's a coach that knows what to do with a full plate of talent.
The one thing that amazes me the most about Nate is his wide array of defenses. If you look at this team on paper without Oden, Joel or Batum, they should be one of the absolute worst defensive teams in the league. But they still are an above average defensive team and that belongs to Nate. There are a lot of problems I have with Nate also. For as creative as he can be on defense, his offense is stagnant, limited and often poorly gameplaned. He is getting better on O, but I think a lot of that really rests on the talents of the roster. Also, I wish Nate would care a little less about the feelings of his team and, when the roster is full, play the better players more minutes without the rigidity of his set-in-stone substitutions. I really wish he would get a assistant coach that is true offensive specialist.
I don't think you can characterize our roster as simply being a full plate. That would imply that there was room on the plate for everyone. This roster has proven that it was in fact not just a full plate, but two full plates of talent. Very literally, the B-Team is as good as the A-Team was last year. We have two 8-man rotations when fully healthy. And that's a problem. It's like Thanksgiving, trying to fit all those tasty morsels onto one plate. Nate still got success from an embarrassment of riches; he just did it by not taking every dish passed to him. I think this summer will see some players leaving the team, probably not to be replaced (especially if Martell continues to shine). We may pick up a 3rd center, but other than that, we're probably set for a decade. I'm satisfied with Nate's effort this year. He's a little more trusting and flexible.
The entire "can't handle a full plate" argument is silly, imho. Big changes in the rotation, integrating big new pieces - takes some time. It's that simple. People here think that you just come to camp, wave your wand and everything works great after that. As disjointed the team looked - they still won at a very nice clip. Expecting everything to automatically fall into place is just silly, imho. Nate is a very very good coach, the results are there, the opinion of his peers and rivals are there. Just because some deep thinkers in the forum can tell you that "for sure this should happen" - when at the time the players were not buying into the system, finding their way and Nate himself was experimenting with the rotations to find fit - does not mean it really is so. Rant off. It does not matter what the results show - sooner or later the silly remarks will return. Why do I even bother?
You should be thrilled by the prospects of Nate winning coach of the year, given that it surely means he'll be fired the following year.
Nate is Coach-of-the-Year to this point. There isn't a close second. Even though I've said he's not the Coach that can get this team to the Championship and his style of play is in contradiction to what KP wants, what Nate has done since he's been here is worth a 3-year extension at top pay if he wanted one. He's earned it. There comes a time when one should be rewarded for their work. (unlike Marvin Lewis who sucks and is a crappy coach, whose Bengals did what they did because of Mike Zimmer and Mike Zimmer only).
No Coach has ever been in this situation before. A month from now, the Blazers will have lost a total of 5 whole seasons' worth of player games missed from their regular rotation, including their #1 and #2 Centers. No team has ever gone through that before.
Yep. He didn't want to give Martell the time Martell needed to get back into a rhythm. Bayless never would have seen any minutes whatsoever (Bayless will still end up with less minutes than Sergio had his rookie season of 1100 minutes). He sacrificed games and put his best Center on the Bench in Pryzbilla so Oden could start. His manlove for Blake borders on insanity. His catering to Roy nearly tore apart the season. His refusal to run because it takes away his slow, plodding, boring, controlling basketball has always been an issue despite being given more horses by Pritchard than any other Coach in the League.
Our offensive execution is better than 75% of the NBA atleast......and if you don't like the look of Nate's offense you could say that about well....75% of the league's offenses.
