I am really disappointed in Nate for not letting the two Johnson's play or Collins for the matter. The Blazer won by 41, why not play them?
This is why I don't worry that Babbitt was a huge mistake just because McMillan won't play him in his rookie year. Babbitt will survive McMillan.
Not sure what the big deal is. Sure, Jonson, Johnson and Collins only played the final 3:43, but all 12 players on the active roster saw action and no starter played more than 33:08 - and that was Gerald Wallace who is getting used to his new team and his new role as starting 4. Aldridge played 28:34, about 12 minutes below his season average. The two guys coming off knee surgeries saw limited action: Camby 18:35 and Roy 14:05 and tomorrow is an off day for everyone to rest. At this point in the season, I'd rather see the top 9 guys play together than the bottom 3 guys get garbage time minutes. Nate is trying to integrate one new starter, and also re-integrate Roy and Camby into the line-up. Tonight was a good night for these guys to build a little team chemistry. The passing was exceptional tonight. With so many new/returning pieces, sharing the ball like that goes a long way toward building good will and camaraderie that will be vital during the post season. BNM
Once again, last night's game is proof that there are some people on this board who won't be satisfied with anything. "I'm happy the Blazers won the championship, but they should have destroyed their opponants in 4 games, not let them hang around for 6."
When is the last time we blew someone out? I honestly think Nate was prepared for almost any eventuality except for that one.
McMillan used garbage time (after the first five minutes of the third quarter on) to experiment with some different lineups. We have to integrate a lot of people and we have a lot of options with which to work.
Your point would be well made if our players weren't in the state they're in. Aldridge HAS to be exhausted. He's carried this team all year. Camby's clearly still recovering from his surgery, and he's no spring chicken. Wes' bum ankle isn't improving. Nic seems like he takes 5 or 6 big hits every night. Andre's game is on a serious backslide - you could argue that it has to do with the trade deadline rumors, OR, you could suggest that his age is starting to show. Brandon's knees are bone-on-bone. Sure, he's playing really well right now, butyou can't tell me he's going to be able to keep that up for the next 5 years or so. Wallace, while healthy and seemingly fresh, is potentially only one concussion from retirement. If ANY of these guys had a complication with the above in a 40 pt. home blowout, it would've been a catastrophe. The better question is "why NOT play Armon, CJ, etc."? Absolutely no reason not to...
I agree. what the hell was brandon doing out there? Play the johnsons and collins as much as you can so our main guys dont get hurt
There is almost no practice time between now and the playoffs. Nate treated the second half of the game as a time to experiment with some different situations involving his rotation players. Anybody complaining about Nate taking the limited time available to him to get the team familiar with each other prior to a stretch were 8 of the next 9 games are against playoff teams needs to have their fucking heads examined, or just stop posting altogether. Who needs MIXUM when there are overtly negative threads like this after the easiest win of the season?
Figuring out which role is best for him and the team at this point. Or would you prefer Nate sit the rotation bench players until the playoffs so Chris Johnson and Luke Babbit can get experience? Roy played 14 minutes and people are upset about it?
During the Tour de France, on rest days, teams will still go out for a two to three hour ride. It's been documented that if you're reasonably healthy and an elite-level athlete, it's better to do a bit of work rather than to rest completely. No one played heavy minutes, but they all got in a little work.
I agree. I saw absolutely nothing wrong with the level/amount of play from any of the Blazers last night.
Ha! First they came for MIXUM... j/k Great point about the lack of practice time and experimentation. Plus, Rudy, Nic, and Patty needed a little confidence booster. Good to see them take it to a bad team in a savage way.
it was a good night for nate to experiment with some important stuff, getting minutes for uber scrubs isnt that
LMA was hardly trying; they had nobody beefy enough to even slow him down. It was like watching an inter-squad scrimmage.
The only person I was worried about was Crash. I get that he is trying to integrate into the team, but damn the guy gives up his body on every play. With his injury reputation, he was killing me on those damn charging plays. He doesn't just take the charge, he takes the hit full force and "crashes" to the ground. Anyways, I thought the minutes were appropriate. It's not about the bench players, it's about getting the team ready for the playoffs.
+1 And can we not complain about something for just one game? Geez, blow out the Cavs by 41 and people still find something negative.
Good post. One of the biggest problem for the Blazers since the allstar break has been the lack of continuity. Different players and different rotations = our stupid turnovers and missed assignments on D. (Among other things) Some fans keep preaching that they just need more time to gel, not more time to sit. If this was a road game and the first half of a back to back, then i think you MAY have an argument. But with 14 games left they need to gel quickly.
