Its going to be ugly seeing this guy in shorts working with the players yet alone trying to see him work sets with the players. Dean was always out there.
I don't really have an opinion about Bickerstaff one way or the other. But look at this way, Nate appears to be surrounding himself with assistants who will be less involved in Xs and Os, which means that whatever strategic adjustments and gameplans he implements over the course of the season he'll be that much more responsible for the results -- If he achieves a high level of success and makes a deep playoff run it validates his style and philosophy and if the team takes another early exit from the playoffs it will definitively answer whether or not Nate is the right guy for the job. I think Nate did a helluva job getting a MASH unit, held together with duct tape and bailing wire, to fifty wins, but it was almost impossible to evaluate his ability to coach in the playoffs because of the injuries; effectively a wasted year with no answers provided, just more questions. This coming season should answer once and for all if Nate is the guy going forward. For the sake of the team and my own selfish fandom I wish him well, if he falters I look forward to whoever his replacement will be.
We did get a pretty good sampling of Nate's excellence during the first month of the season before Oden went down. You remember. The time when Blake started over Miller extending the amount of time it would take for Roy and Miller to get comfortable with each other. The time when guys actively froze Oden out of the offense. The time when Nate would send Greg to the bench when he got only two fouls in the first half. In other words, the time when Nate sucked. He did a hell of a job getting a team to rally during adversity. No denying that. But he did a fucking piss poor job when the team was healthy and loaded. I fully expect a repeat fail next season. Had the team been healthy all year I have a feeling Nate would have been fired right before the all star break.
[video=youtube;1DU-23NBrHk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DU-23NBrHk[/video] [video=youtube;5EkIOIJe6xY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EkIOIJe6xY[/video]
I disregard the first twenty games because it remained to be seen if that would have worked itself out (I tend to think it would). My only concern is how does Nate perform in the "real" season -- that two month span between april 15th and June 15th -- and we never got a satisfactory answer.
Unless Portland explodes out of the gate, Nate will be fired by the All-Star break and Bickerstaff will become the interim coach.
It's amazing how much has changed since we first drafted Greg and a lot of people were acting like we had already won multiple championships. I always cringed when I would hear/read that. This is why. This organization is a mess.
It all starts at the top. I have to change my stance somewhat on Steve Patterson. I thought he was just an immense douchebag when he was here, but I can see now why he became so secretive. Those were the worst season since expansion days; I can only imagine the shit that he had to put up with from his insecure owner and the owner's band of lackeys. I mean, the 3rd richest guy in the US losing his own arena to bankruptcy should have been a clue...
Canzano is on an anti-Paul Allen kick, so BGrantFan is, too. Canzano is a paranoid clown, so BGrantFan is, too. If Canzano jumps off a cliff, BGrantFan asks how high. How much more evidence do we need that Canzano is posting here? BANG BANG YOU'RE DEAD!
