Let us readdress this issue shall we? Nate McDillon :fail:

really???? You're claiming they are a constant and not possibly a valid excuse? OKC's entire roster has missed 3 games this season, PDX's near 300. Just remember to do a little research before you post

STOMP

 

freepost

 

The issue was "young talent." Blake doesn't qualify. I think most people realized he had a career-high type of year.

Aldridge has basically stagnated. While that's clearly not optimal, it's also not shocking for a player to reach his prime by around age 23 (last year). Most players improve a bit from 23 to 26, but the vast majority of improvement happens prior to age 23.

Rudy has regressed and is the most worrying. I thought he had the talent to be an above average starter, but I think it's time to readjust expectations on him.

On the other hand, Oden, Batum and Bayless (the three best talents among the "young guys," in my opinion) all improved significantly. That's much more heartening.

 

You've obviously demonstrated your basketball acuity so we must have to believe you....

 

The injury argument is weak IMHO. We saw how Nate complately ignored Oden and pulled him too quickly in the few games he played this season.

This team succeeds in spite of Nate's coaching. We've rode the natural talents of the players as far as we can go. We need a real coach to get to the next level.

 

Wrepped.

Eggzacktlee.

 

If Nate is a bad coach this year because nobody improved, what were your thoughts of him last year when a large chunk of the roster had career years?

 

Did those players succeed because of the brilliant offensive schemes, or was it due to the natural progression of maturity that young players experience when they have been in the league a while?

Since Nate's coaching style is like AAU ball, just roll the rock out there and let players iso and post, I'm guessing the latter.

 

I've already said numerous times, at the start of last season (after the first 3 games) I bet several friends and acquaintances hundreds of American dollars that he will never win a playoff series with Portland.

I must admit that at different parts of the season last year I thought I would lose that bet. A few of the people I'm involved with asked if I wanted to settle for half price.

I thought about it and refused going with my gut. I just kept telling myself to remember it was the regular season.

Then when I saw the way the team came out of the blocks this season I knew I'd won the bet.

They were a shambles and didn't start playing well until he ran out of options. He wanted to run Miller out of town too don't forget.

Nate will never get us where we want to go.

 

What I believe is getting overlooked when it comes to Nate is the respect he gets from his players. there are plenty of Xs and Os guys out there, there are not a lot of coaches who get instant respect . . . and once the players tune out the coach, it doesn't matter how good of an offensive and defensive coach you are, you are not going to be an effective coach.

How about the fact that when Howard sat down with Nate to talk about the team, Howard first said I want to talk about how much I respect you.

To find a coach who can be "sarge" and still be tight with the players, that is a tough combination. In fact I don't think Nate will last much longer before the players tune him out. Maybe, just maybe, the Blazers are lucky enough to have a main stay like a Sloan or Pop who will always command the respect of the players.

 

Overlooked? If anything it's what people talk about with him. It's certainly not his X's and O's.

I can't say how true any of that is or not other than the Howard quote.

Some probably do respect them. Maybe others don't.

To be honest I don't really care how much they respect him if they don't win playoff games and/or entertain me.

Next year is going to be the tell all year though. Next season this team MUST progress at the very very VERY least to the 2nd round and get it to 6 7 games.

At the VERY least. How exciting that would be eh?

Hoping we get to the 2nd round over a year from now.

How confident do you feel about that?

 

Odd that the OP neglects to mention Oden. Greg was clearly making a massive improvement before going down with injury. 8.5 boards/game in 23 minutes? Sign me up! And he was also getting in 7 shots a game (60% FG!), a clear indication that Nate intended to make him more and more a key part of our offense (no matter what he said to the contrary in the first week or so of the season). Not Nate's fault that Oden went down.

I'm also a little stunned at how flippant the OP is about Batum. It's not about PER or even basic stats. Didn't you see him just the other night hold Tyreke Evans to 6 points on 16% shooting? Evans has had single digit scoring nights only 4 other times all season. Or how about the way he bottled up Dirk in overtime in our last Dallas game? Batum is becoming a serious candidate for an All-Defense team as soon as next year.

McMillan really fucked up with Miller early in the year, but I'm over it now.

Roy and Aldridge have stagnated somewhat, but so what? Not everybody gets to be Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan. Sometimes you just have to live with guys stuck being either an All-Star (Roy) or perennial All-Star-Wannabe (Aldridge). (If you find that too depressing, try and remember what it was like hoping for Telfair and Khryapa to amount to something more than a pile of steaming turds.)

If Oden and Batum hadn't got injured, it's pretty clear to me that my preseason prediction of the Blazers being a 60 win team was perhaps even too low. That they still might win 50 is a pretty ringing endorsement of both the team and the coach.

 

If we have a healthy Oden for the playoffs - very confident.

 

I agree, Nate deserves a 5 year extension for your 60 win prediction they didn't reach.

I wonder if he'd sign it.

 

The 7 teams above us do not have Greg Oden.

We didn't have Greg Oden in 1977, 89-92 or the 99-02 teams.

If getting to the 2nd/3rd round of NBA playoffs is dependent on Greg Oden, we're in worse shape than I thought.

 

Glad you agree that this team wins 60 games if Batum and Oden don't go down. First sensible thing I've seen you write in this thread.

 

I may not be sensible, but at least I can read.

 

I don't understand the McDillon.

 

©Ronald McDillon

Like he's a clown.