Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan is targeting Bernie Bickerstaff to serve as his lead assistant. Portland lost Monty Williams, who is now the head coach in New Orleans, and sources told the Oregonian that assistant Dean Demopoulos and Joe Prunty will not be retained. McMillan on Sunday said he is "looking to make changes" with his staff. Bickerstaff, 66, was an NBA head coach for 13-plus seasons, including the first four of McMillan's NBA career in Seattle. http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/06/trail_blazers_coach_nate_mcmil_1.html
Credit where it's due - Kenny Vance broke this story on 95.5 The Game about two weeks ago (I think I've got the timing of that right). Nate is a good defensive coach. I'm not sure he's a good offensive coach. I think it's a good idea to get some better x's and o's guys on the bench, considering the way the Blazers' offense is still too stagnant and confused too much of the time. I don't know enough about Bickerstaff to know if he'll help significantly in that department.
