NATE MCMILLAN NAMED WESTERN CONFERENCE COACH OF THE MONTH FOR APRIL Trail Blazers go 5-2 in April, head to playoffs for third straight year PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Nate McMillan was named the NBA's Western Conference Coach of the Month for April, it was announced today by the NBA. McMillan led the Trail Blazers to a 5-2 month, the best record of any Western Conference team in April, including wins against Oklahoma City, Dallas and the Los Angeles Lakers. Portland enters the 2011 NBA Playoffs as the number six seed in the Western Conference. In his sixth year as Trail Blazers Head Coach, McMillan became the third coach in team history to reach 200 wins on October 27, 2010. He became the ninth-youngest coach in NBA history to reach 450 career wins on March 19, 2011. This is the third time McMillan has received the honor as Head Coach of the Trail Blazers (April 2009, December 2007), and the fourth time overall. McMillan is the second Trail Blazers coach to win the honor three times, joining Rick Adelman (March 1990, November 1990, April 1991). Chicago's Tom Thibodeau earned the nod for Eastern Conference Coach of the Month. http://www.blazersedge.com/2011/4/1...stern-conference-coach-of-the-month-for-april
Congrats to Nate. I've not always been a fan of his line-up/substitution patterns, in-game play calling, and stagnant 4th quarter ISO heavy offense, but I've always acknowledged that Nate does a good job teaching young players how to approach the game and motivating his players to always play hard and not make excuses, no matter what. I've also seen growth this season in the areas where Nate has been week in the past. I think his new assitant coaches have helped. Props to Nate for hiring them, and listening to their input. Roy's injury has forced him to rely less on the ISO, and he did the right thing by inserting Gerald Wallace into the starting line-up. A year ago, I would have been 100% opposed to extending Nate's contract. Now, based on the growth I've seen from him this season, I'm 100% fine with his recent two year extension (but I reserve the right to change my mind if he reverts to his old tendencies during the playoffs). BNM
I gotta agree. There have been very, very few times this season when I've asked myself, "What the hell is Nate doing?" (Mostly in the first month, when it was clear we had to give up on Roy.) I have, however, asked myself a few times, "What the hell is Nate supposed to do now?" But that's just a typical injury-riddled season in Blazerville.
The home loss to Golden State had my wife asking, "Why the hell did Nate play Roy so much? He's gotta know Roy can't play like he used to! That was just DUMB." My wife didn't know basketball at all at the beginning of the season, but she went to 30 games with me and that was the culmination of her first season of training. I had to lol Oh, congrats to Nate!
That's why the system changed, not because McMillan himself suddenly changed. After he's canned next season, I hope the next coach keeps the assistants.
Good for him. He deserves coach of the year, but he wont get it. I bet Thibodeau gets it. After all of the injuries and having to work in Wallace and others into the lineup, I believe he did an excellent job. Of course we don't see eye to eye on everything, but overall I am very happy with Nate and I am glad we locked him up for the next two years. I think next season could be a real showing of his coaching, though. If Greg is healthy and a full training camp with Wallace, expectations should be pretty high. If we for some reason have all of that and under perform, then we can start questioning Nate. I believe he has outperformed to this point in time.
