Agreed 100%. Here are some links to remind you what should happen to coaches not getting the job done http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/basketball/nba/04/18/rick.adelman/index.html http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=6384752 http://www.blazersedge.com/2011/4/18/2118939/rick-adelman-fired-by-the-houston-rockets
If you have a coach who has had more players games missed do to injury in the history of the league yet gets the most out of what he's got, he should be considered a competent coach..... BAM!
When your team in 1-9 in close games your coach should be fired before they have a chance to go to 1-19. The LAST and ONLY time the Blazers have won a close game this season was OPENING NIGHT against the 76ers. Since then they have gone 0-9 in close games. And it's not like they are just losing close games to good, or even above average teams. They are losing close games to some of the worst teams in the league (Kings, Pistons). Basically, if the game is close, the Blazers will lose. Perhaps it's time for the coach to make an adjustment, or perhaps time to find a coach who will. BAM, BAM, FUCKING BAM!!!
"When first asked whether he would make any changes to his lineup, McMillan replied, 'We change every time I substitute." Eventually he acknowledged there would be no changes." Of course there won't be any changes, Nate LOVES consistency, even if that means losing consistently. They've lost NINE CLOSE GAMES IN A ROW. Why on earth would anyone want to change that? BNM
Serious question: how is it that 4 key players - Felton, Crawford, Wallace and Matthews are all playing below reasonable expectations? Are we really arguing whether a coach has any responsibility when 4 previously useful to very good players are all playing like crap?
Which is the cause, and which is the effect? Do they suck because they've all suddenly gotten worse at EXACTLY the same time, or do they suck because they are playing in an unimaginative offense not designed to take advantage of their talents? BNM
I think there are a lot of factors involved in how poorly we are playing this year but to ignore that Nate is one of those factors is naive and homer-ish beyond all rational reason.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Gerald Wallace - worst season since 2005-2006 Ray Felton - worst season in his career. Jamal Crawford - worst shooting percentage since 2003-2004 Is this supposed to be some kind of coincidence?
McMillan is a good coach for players. After all, how many guys have left his Blazers and gone on to have better careers elsewhere? Outlaw, Webster, Telfair, Fernandez, Rodriguez, Bayless, Blake, Udoka, Magloire, James Jones, Dixon, Miles, Khryapa, Monia, Ratliff--just look at all these guys that went on to have the same, worse or no career after leaving Portland. The best I can see are Andre Miller, Channing Frye, Zach Randolph and Jarret Jack. Andre's winning more now, but really he's putting up the same PER in Denver that he did here. Fry had his moment in the sun in Phoenix, got his fat contract, and is worse than he was when he was here now. His moment of success had less to do with great coaching and more to do with great fit/great money motivation. Zach Randolph is undeniably a better player now. (Well, when healthy.) Were there things Nate could've done to get his current level of passing, willingness to defend a little and overall team play? Maybe. But I think a lot of his turnaround was just hitting rock bottom. Getting passed around like a spliff at a Dead concert by Portland, New York and even the fucking Clippers maybe made him grow up a little. Jarret Jack is the only other guy that I can see who has really blossomed after leaving Portland. And that's only this year. He's now on his fourth team. Was it Nate really holding him back or just finally him finding his own way? I'm to the point where generally I don't really mind trading guys because I have a pretty good idea they won't "blow up" elsewhere (a la Jermaine O'Neal). I could tell when we ditched him that Jack was going to have a solid but unspectacular career. I hated dumping Zach (still do) because I knew exactly what he was worth on the court. Nate in general gets the most he can out of a player. He's incredibly stupid and stubborn about lineup changes, and I can't understand how he's leaving Batum on the bench. But I don't really put all these close losses at the feet of Nate. Matthews is not a closer. Crawford and Felton are just shitty guards who can't seem to run an offense. Gerald Wallace finger rolls everything when he used to hammer down dunks, so you know he's lost a lot. (He seems to be approaching the latter end of the Ron Artest career path.) If we trade any of these guys I have very little doubt they'll be the same or even worse elsewhere. So don't fire Nate?!?! Well, not exactly. I kind of want to see how Batum and Aldridge, and really the rest of the team, would fare under a coach who had a real commitment to the fast break. We're playing at a faster pace now, but the actual execution of that pace has been pretty unimpressive. Nate hasn't much experience coaching a fast team and it shows. Batum and LMA have never had another NBA coach, and I think they could benefit from a different opinion. But I'm under no real illusions. Batum is not going to instantly blossom into a 22 PER player under a different coach. He'd do about what he does now, but for around 8 more minutes a game. It's time for a change, but not because of some recent close losses. I pin those losses on our guard talent. After all, McMillan was a great coach at squeaking out close games when he had a great guard in Brandon Roy. But sometimes an organization reaches a point where it's just time to turn over a new leaf and get some fresh ideas.
I think a lot of Wallaces missed layups are to blame on finger rolling and it definatly makes him look bad. You have to remeber that he has two possibly broken fingers on his shooting hand making it almost impossible to dunk. Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk
Actually Yea, First Lockout since 1999 It's a team sport, and this team is lacking some serious on court chemistry.
That's the most frustrating part (along with a predictable, unimaginative, totally ineffective 4th quarter offense). Why the FUCK doesn't Nate give those extra 8 minutes a game to Batum? It makes no sense at all. He's clearly the second best player on this team, both by the "eye test" and the advanced stats. With the way everyone else not named Aldridge is completely sucking, why the hell wouldn't ANY coach with half a brain give more minutes to his second best player? Our second best player is 6th on the team in minutes. Add in the fact that he can play two positions on offense and guard four positions on defense and it makes absolutely no sense that he doesn't get more minutes. BNM
Well said, been praying for a coaching/mantra change for years. Time to get some new views, new offense, new defense, new everything. Aldridge isnt getting any younger, we are wasting his years on our same-ol, same-ol no improvement team.
The more I think about the more frustrated I get because I start to run out of excuses as to why this is happening. At some point there is nothing left to say but its either stupidity or stubbornness or a lovely and previous thought impossible combination of the two.
