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

Neat story.

If you don't understand why fourth and fifth place finishes in the division are better than NBA titles, you clearly don't watch the games.

 

is being the 3rd best team in the west but losing to the 2nd best team in the west in the first round really that terrible of a thing?

 

I won't consider the Camby trade significant unless he signs with us. A 2-month rental in exchange for 2 of our top 7 players would not be a feather in Pritchard's cap. It would just be a forgettable dump of contracts expiring only 2 months later.

And by McMillan driving only in 2nd gear, I didn't mean a low number of wins. I meant the lack of a fast break offense and the lack of a defense against the fast break.

McHale's making way less than 5% of what he was paid as Coach or GM. Probably way less than $100K per season for a very few appearances vs. maybe $2M.

 

How do you know he's not?

 

Didn't he win a title for Seattle?

 

l:

by the way you are dancing around my question I'm going to take it you were one of the many who were popping off about what KP will/won't do and then shown to be dead wrong. Your speculations on him being somehow threatened by adding a potential big name coach like McHale are baseless but whatever... anyone can hold whatever opinion they want.

silly me. When you were mentioning Nate being a good coach for a team needing to get up to a 0.550 winning percentage I thought you were talking about wins. Now that they've won 80% of their last 20 games clearly Nate is ham handed greasy mechanic holding them back

You know what analysts make how exactly? Besides, he's probably making way more then 100k yearly in interest off his career earnings... I really doubt he's hurting for bank. If McHale wants back into the league it will be as a coach and only a coach. His record as a GM shows him getting fleeced time and again. I'd put the chances of an owner handing him the reigns of their franchise about the same as Elgin Baylor's.

STOMP

 

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the actual facts since the trade show that it positively impacted our season. Thanks for again sharing your own personal thoughts.

 

Wait. What? You do realize Blake and Outlaw were expiring as well, right? And that there's a decent chance we get Blake back this summer anyway? And that we were completely out of the running to even have the opportunity to land Camby this summer before the trade?

Camby is now (at worst) the 4th best player on the team (I'd put him in a tie between him and Miller at 3rd, but whatever). So we traded our 6th and 7th best two-month-rental players for a high quality two-month-rental starting center.

A guy without whom we might be missing the playoffs.

That trade was an immediate success, and continues to be. Our ability to re-sign Camby and possibly add Blake back this summer will certainly augment that success. But it's a nice win if it only results in a two-month rental.

 

Re: l:

Hold on now. Who is calling McHale a big-name coach? I know those aren't your words, but McHale was 39-55 as a head coach and has never coached a game in the playoffs. How can anybody be taken seriously when the advance Kevin McHale as some sort of huge upgrade as a coach. McHale was known to be a lazy player; how the hell does he have the intensity to coach? [/QUOTE]

 

Re: l:

jlprk stated that KP... "will never hire a former GM as Coach to become a possible rival. It would have to come from above him."

McHale is a big name and we are discussing him potentially being the next Blazer coach. We both like that idea but we disagree about KP somehow being threatened by him

STOMP

 

Re: l:

I know that it is jlprk's take. That said, what gives either of you the idea that McHale would be an improvement on Nate? I find that a crapshoot, at best. McHale was constantly berated by Larry Bird for not practicing hard enough, and for being basically lazy. I sure wouldn't stake my GM job on bringing that slug into Portland after letting McMillan go.

 

Re: l:

Unlike a lot of posters here, I don't pretend to know much about whats what with coaches. Most of their work happens in practice and probably a good portion of the reasoning for game time decisions is outside of my scope. For the most part I cross my fingers that the GM backs the right guy for the right reasons as they're in prime position to observe/judge them.

That said, I'll direct you to my earlier thoughts on McHale (post #68 in this thread) on why I'd consider him. If he really has the flaws that you suggest (which a good GM would know about) then of course he won't get the job.

STOMP

 

Who Nate?




OK fine, Don Nelson has won 47,001 games... Who gives a fuck?

 

I have to leave so here goes. Stomp said, am I one of those who said Pritchard wouldn't make a big trade of veterans, since he never has. Because look at the Camby trade. I answered that that doesn't meet the definition of a big trade unless we re-sign Camby, because otherwise we just traded expirings for 2 months of play. So he answers that I'm dancing around the question. Nope, I answered it straightforward. And the straw man argument of McHale won't be hired by anyone to be a GM--I never said he would. I advocated him as a Coach.

Mook, Camby didn't get us into the playoffs. We are way ahead of Memphis and so would have gotten in without him.

I'm not saying the Camby trade was bad--I'm saying that if we only get him for 2 months, and if it doesn't cause us to progress farther than we would have (to the 2nd round), then 5 or 10 years from now, no one will list it as a consequential trade. Stomp challenged me on a "big" trade, not a "temporarily good" trade. If we keep him and he stays healthy, or if he gets us into the 2nd round, then it was big. Otherwise, it temporarily made us feel better.

 

fixes in bold

Most everyone sees the Camby trade as a big one except a certain someone squirming for an out having been proved wrong. In fact you just stated that they gave up "2 of their top 7" rotation players to get him so big time players were involved by your own assessment. They have his Bird rights. In all likelyhood they will resign him because (with Joel down) they have a need for another quality Big and the means to retain him. Regardless, it was a big move where KP gave up some of his vets who he was purportedly too close to that has paid off in spades... winning at an 80% clip is no joke.

speaking of strawman argument you're not even close to addressing my counter to your threatened nonsense on McHale. Why in the world would the GM be threatened by someone who would only be the coach?

here's a few of the many ironic posts from you prior to the Camby move bitching about KP's lack of trades...

excuse for not clearing out the deadwood
It's best for GMs to sit on their fannies and never make trades.
We've heard "next year" ever since Whitsitt quit almost 7 years ago. That's the last time we heard about "this year."
we undervalue experience
Pritchard's cowardice holds us back.

thats just a sampling from a few weeks of your bitchings about KP before the Camby deal. There was no mention of contractual status but there was plenty of emphasis on winning now. Since then you've made umpteen mentions of KP needing PA's 3M to make whatever deals he does execute possible despite this not being the case in the Camby deal and several others. You got what you wanted (a big trade) and the club has been killing it since yet you're still complaining... what conclusion is the reader to draw?

STOMP

 

Roy regressed? Maybe...but by how much? His stats look nearly identical to last season's stats. Could be that he simply had a great season last year and a good season this year. Is that 'regressing'? I don't think so. Is it the fault of the coach? No.

Aldridge is shooting better and rebounding better. Basically the same in all other categories. How is that regressing?

Rudy has sucked this year. I'm guessing it's because he has sand in his pussy. How is that the fault of the coaching staff though?

Blake is no longer with the team and wasn't very good to begin with. So what?

It seems like a clear-cut case of people having higher expectations dashed by various bad things happening to this team. So people start blaming the coaches. I think McMillan is a fine coach and it's entirely possible that we could be a whole lot worse off if he wasn't able to circle the wagons as well as he has.

And teams all have injuries. But the vast majority don't have anywhere near this many.

 

Obvious to most, it's because having an experienced GM as Coach would make it much easier for Pritchard's bosses to crack down on him. Instead of going through a year of a replacement GM learning the organization, scouting system, and draft secrets, an experienced GM who already knows the Blazer organization would be permanently available in the wings. This would give courage to Pritchard's opponents in the bureaucracy. McHale wasn't a great GM, but he could function in the role temporarily until somone permanent got hired, so this would be a threat to Pritchard, so he would not hire McHale as Coach.

 

I guess all those underlines are to prove to me that I post against Pritchard a lot. You didn't need to convince me. Just ask if you're not sure, and I would have told you that. Even more than you, I already know what I think of Pritchard. Thanks for keeping me informed of my own opinions, and next time I'm not sure what I've posted in the past, I'll ask you.

Since you enjoy researching my post history, I'm starting to think of fun projects for you: Find where I said Pritchard will never make a "big" trade. What I remember saying before Camby is that Pritchard had never traded for a player who had been a regular starter for another team. I did not predict this would never happen. I said that he needed to start doing this for him to be considered a rounded GM who can do more than just 1) be a scout and 2) trade experienced players along with Paul Allen's money to get draft picks.

Now he has gotten an experienced starter, by taking two shortcuts. So he proved himself partway. Now for the next step, finally, after 2-3 years of Pritchard having decided our trades. How about finally trading to get a starter who is 1) normal-aged, not on his death bed, with family refusing to leave his former city, and 2) not an overpaid expiring contract being dumped by the other team, which very few owners other than the generous Paul Allen would take on. How about actually making a full-fledged trade instead of trading youth for old age, accepting the other team's elderly throw-off, and not having to use Paul Allen's money to make the trade look in Pritchard's favor as long as the money's not mentioned?

When I see Pritchard making at least a couple of regular, normal trades per year, then I'll respect him as a full-fledged GM, instead of a clean-faced junior version who attracts the Ovaltine kids at the Oregonian. Until he can do all facets of his job, I will argue against the worship he gets from those whose minds always follow the direction of the media. I don't think he's terrible, but I also don't think he's above average. I think we should be like most teams and see our Coach as the leader, with the GM seldom-seen and making deals out of the limelight. For other teams, if they win or lose, the Coach and players are held responsible. Here, it's if we win, praise be to Pritchard's past trades, and if we lose, it can't be him or his players, so it must be McMillan's fault. Why must a stage-hogging GM be the center of the universe here?

 

And why does Pritchard get adored for bringing in Camby, who was on the take for money, cars, jewelry, and prostitutes during college from 3 agents competing to represent him, causing his college to forfeit 38 wins, plus $151,000 of Final Four revenue, with its Final Four appearance erased from history, and 2 of the agents going to jail because Camby saved himself by testifying against them at trial? ...Because the Oregonian hates Bob Whitsitt and loves Kevin Pritchard.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1010875/1/index.htm

 

But don't let any of that dissuade you, Stomp. If you have any problems with my posts, don't be shy, be sure to tell me about it.